Summer Swim Team....again!

We are going on another year of swim team and I just love to see these little monkey swim! It has taught them to be incredible swimmers and to do things they might be intimated about. To face the nerves and dive in.  I'm so thankful for the lessons that come with swimming and the summer friends they have made.  I'm not sure how long they will want to swim but I will cherish these days of them in the water. 

The heat gets to me a little. It is pretty hot out there watching them practice and going to swim meets. But, it is worth it.  

Swimming Championships 2013

UPDATE: here is a cute little video of Brynn swimming breastroke for the first time. Chicken-Star-Rocket is how they teach the little ones to do that stroke.  Well, as you can see that is exactly what she is doing! 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwZ-6QUd7BBdYk1LT0JGVjJUeTQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Swim season has come and is now gone. Whew...that went fast.  I LOVE to be busy and taking the kids to and from swimming and watching them swim in swim meets is SO FUN. 

They all did so great this season.  Improving in every stroke, even Brynn!  I just love watching them have team camaraderie and this year was even more fun because CC and Sam along with Molly and Megan were able to join us.  That made practices and swim meets even more exciting as they were able to cheer on their friends and their friends cheered them on.

Cole, Brody and Trace were able to qualify for a preliminary swim at Championships.  That in and of itself is exciting.  Brody qualified in both freestyle and butterfly. Trace qualified in freestyle.  Cole qualified in Backstroke and Butterfly. 

Once they all swam in the Semifinals swim meet Brody was 9th out of about 40 which earned him a spot as an alternate in butterfly. Cole also qualified in Butterfly and was an alternate in Backstroke. 

Now it is important to know, Cole would want me to tell you, his two BEST strokes are butterfly and backstroke and he was thrilled to have made finals in butterfly but slightly disappointed to be just an alternate in backstroke.   But, he did in fact place 9th against about 40 swimmers which were the top 40 out of about 80 in his age group.  Not everyone got to swim in semifinals and to make it to finals, top 8, or even as an alternate means he was swimming in the top 10 out of the whole Desert Swim League. Pretty awesome if you ask me!

He (Cole) ended up placing 8th in the final race in butterfly.  It took some explaining for him to understand how awesome that was. We are so proud of all of them for working so hard and performing so well.  Week after week swimming their best and swimming strokes that are very challenging as well. 

And for the 3rd year in a row, Bellair Barracudas won the Desert Swim League championship!

Anyhow here are some great pictures of the season! It was a family and friends affair!

One of the best things that we've be given through swimming has been meeting Stefan and his family.  He helps to coach the swim team while swimming himself with the older kids.  He's a wonderful young man who loves Jesus and has taken my kids under his wing and shared his life with them. In that, Justin and I have been blessed to meet his family and they have taken us under their wing and we have learned so much from them.  

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Getting Our Swim On!

Its that time of year again!  It's very exciting.  The kids get to swim every day, I get to stay busy (because frankly I work best under pressure and a tight schedule, Idle hands don't suit me.)  The kids get to win ribbons and race...everyone wins!

Its an all around wonderful thing for the kids to be a part of. Team, competition, exercise...It's awesome. 

I snapped a few pictures of their first swim meet and then a couple from this last one on Tuesday.  I still haven't managed to get one of Brody.  I'll have to be work on that! 

So far they have had 3 swim meets, with several more to come.  It's always an exciting event.  I'm SO, SO thankful we are able to provide for our kids, through God's grace, the ability to participate in activities and be a part of something special.  It makes for a great childhood!

Hot Rods Baseball

This year we decided to let Cole take a break from gymnastics and play his first season of baseball.  We had made the decision long ago that we wouldn't really have the kids get too involved in organized sports before 6 years old.  Our life is already so busy with lots of children and homeschooling along with everything else, and it can get very expensive to have kids in sports so it just seemed to make sense not to waste money on toddlers and young kids playing sports.  

My parents have been so generous as to enroll the kids in things like Gymboree, gymnastics, karate, etc.  Those are things my parents have provided to the children and it's been a wonderful gift.  So, this is our first season enrolling Cole in an organized sport "for real" and he picked baseball. I suppose we could count swim team last summer as the first sport...

We decided to register for Coach Pitch baseball this time around and get him used to the game, the rules, the  basics.  He's really a natural at most things athletic. I chalk that up to both genetics and gymnastics.  Gymnastics has made him so strong.  I'm so glad he's spent 2 years doing that.

Justin volunteered to help coach so that has been so fun for Cole as well.  The twins often get to practice with the team, and we should have signed them up for it this year, but we decided at registration to wait another year.  I'm wishing now we would have signed them up, they too are pretty natural athletes.

They practice once a week and have two games each week.  It's a pretty full season.  Cole seems to really be enjoying it, which is awesome.  He's too cute as he approaches the plate I always get a half smile grin while he struts to the plate.  He puts on his tough face!  Then he slams the ball.  He knows he's good!

I've gotten some pretty neat pics of him so far this season.  He's just too cute!