Tiger trot

This is the 3rd annual Tiger trot race and this year Joel ran it with me. Colin wanted to run but I wouldn’t let him. We had ended up in the Emergency Room the week before with an asthma attack. I think it scared me more than him. It was really humid so I’m glad he stayed home.

It was a heat index of over 100. In the direct sun the entire time and through a grass cross country course. It’s not my favorite place to run but I love supporting Hollys school. 

I will say next year he’s running it on his own. Joel tends to complain every step of the way. But he is so proud of himself and his tshirt. 

 

Anniversary

We had been wanting to do a staycation with this kids down at the oceanfront this summer. It ended up the dates that worked for our credit card points (we get free hotel rooms) and Brent’s work schedule was our anniversary. I think we both forgot last year so this made up for it. 

We swam in the hotel pools and walked down the boardwalk for dinner and putt putt. On the walk back Joel said he was not prepared for the nightlife and prefers to be inside before dark.

Since we had a room on the oceanside we set an alarm to wake up to see the sunrise. Even Colin woke up, he did take a look and then went right back to sleep. Amazingly Joel, the kid up at dawn every day, didn’t wake up. All that crazy night life I guess! 

She went back to sleep after seeing the sunrise. I don’t think anyone is surprised Brent didn’t wake up. He said he would see the pictures later. 

It was pretty

After breakfast Joel declared that he was already looking forward to the day being over! Poor kid. He had tough decisions of either the pool or the beach. 

We went down to the beach and then swam in the pool the rest of the day. 

A great way to spend our anniversary 

 

Swimming

We were very glad when our summer swim team started back. We weren’t sure in may if we could have swim meets but we were able to have all but our all star meet. The kids really missed it last summer. And except for the teenagers looking so much older it felt like we didn’t miss a beat not swimming for a year. We were grateful for every meet because we know how quickly it can all be shut down. 

I love that our kids got to experience a little bit of normalcy before they head back into another weird school year 

Our team rep is not returning next summer so my friend Amanda and I are going to take over and co-lead. It seems a little overwhelming but these kids love it so much. I love watching them swim and cheer for each other. It’s all worth it. Even when we spend the rest of the day after a swim meet like this:

All the kids aged up this year. Norah was so tiny compared to a lot of the girls in her age group but she was one of our fastest swimmers. Colin had to swim 15/18 and our team has a ton of older kids. I think it’s because they are all such good friends they keep coming back. Colin went from the D relay to the B relay in a few weeks and dropped time every meet. Joel had to swim all 50s this year.  At one pool they were handing out a prize to each heat winner. Joel was so determined to get a prize he dropped 5 seconds. I asked him why he didn’t do that at every meet and he said he wasn’t motivated by the dumdum lollipops we hand out. 

He always went to find her before her races to tell her good luck. 

And surprisingly Joel has not declared his retirement like he normally does. He really enjoyed being with friends each day. 

Norah is wearing Katie’s old swim suit. Katie has always been one of Norahs favorite people. 

 

 It’s always a discussion each summer whether to do year round swimming. The boys did a winter rec league one year but other than that have always decided to just be a summer swimmer. This year colin decided he wanted to swim year round. So we’ve joined a team and figuring out daily practices. So far he loves it.