States

The week after Regionals was States.  We took Joel and Norah out of school Friday so we could all go watch.  I never went to states when I was in high school.  And since we went up the night before we ended up being chaperones for the team.  The coach convinced the school to take them up the night before.  Always in the past they just get up super early and go up for the day. They needed a male chaperone since the coach is female in order to go. All Brent had to do was make sure all the boys were in their rooms at curfew. A few boys that didn't make states convinced the coach to have them come along as "alternates." And it turned out that was a good thing. The day they were leaving, the fastest boy on the team came down with Covid.  One of the replacements in the relay had never swum on a team before and this year made states by default.  Not a bad year for swimming.  

Colin had a lot of fun. The relays swam well but didnt make finals. So he got to relax and just enjoy the rest of the night.  Two swimmers on our team made finals in individual events. 

And Uncle David came to watch! Its always so good to see him! 

Colin was very proud of his athlete pass.

We did not stay for finals. We left and came home. We stopped for lunch in Williamsburg and sent colin this picture.  He and I have been going to this restaurant after his Williamsburg swim meets.  He knew exactly where we were by the picture. It was the first time Brent had been. 

Then since we were 5 minutes away stopped by and saw Uncle Jeff at his store. We sent a text to the family saying we've seen 2/3 brothers today when should we expect to see Dad.

And to finish the night we facetimed Dad so technically we did see all three brothers in one day. 

 Colin got back really late that night. The school paid for a hotel for the team but wouldn't give them a charter bus so the poor coach had to drive the activity bus that can only go 55mph.  He enjoyed the entire experience.  It was a great first year swimming with high school and he made a lot of friends.  Colin saw some fast swimmers and has even bigger goals for next year. I keep reminding him that a year ago he had just recovered from his tongue surgery only to break his arm.  He could barely walk around our small neighborhood.  He has come a long way in a year. And I think that's why we made a big deal of going to states and all taking off school/work to go watch.  We are just going to enjoy the moments that come. 

Regionals

 Colin was really excited for regionals for high school.  Their relay had a good chance of making it to states.  One boy on the team figured out what each of them needed to go to make it to states.  The pressure was on.  

Norah made signs to hang in Colins bathroom to surprise him when he got home from swim practice.

He swam the first and last relay and then 100 free and 100 fly. He dropped time in his individual events and them both relays made it to states. Brent and I were able to go watch most of the meet and seeing them realize they made states was really fun.  

We had gotten Colin a tech suit for Christmas.  Nothing too fancy. Most are hundreds of dollars. This one we thought was still expensive, but it was only $100.  So his team mate wasn't too sure if it was a real tech suit or not.  So he brought all of his tech suits.  Anything to shave time off the relay.  He saw Colin's and said it was a real tech suit. And then passed out his extras to every boy on the team.  Almost the entire team was wearing tech suits.  A few girls passed out theirs as well.  And the team all dropped time.  So there may be something to these suits after all... or just the confidence you have wearing it. 

We surprised Colin with balloons when he got home.  Norah and I were at the dollar store getting them and the man behind us asked if it was a birthday and so I told him no, that my son had just made it to states for swimming. That man then insisted on buying the balloons for us since its not every day our team goes to states.  It is fun living here where there is a lot of hometown pride. 

Black water falls

On the way home we stopped at Blackwater Falls. When we lived in West Virginia a friend always talked about it. It was only 10 minutes out of our way and completely worth it. 

So pretty to see all frozen

I asked Colin to take a picture since his new phone is nicer than mine. This is what he took. 

The stairs were very icy and a little dangerous. This is how Joel decided to go down:

 

Ski Trip

Back in January the kids had a semester break, so we went up to Canaan Valley again.  It really is a great time to go since the slopes are pretty empty on Monday. And we found out they give free lift tickets mondays if you bring a canned good. 

We were excited to see a lot of snow. 

Some was cold, tired, and hungry.

On monday Brent and Colin skied.  

We spent some time in the arcade and pool/hot tub and then went tubing.

We met Brent and Colin for lunch and then walked over to the tubing area. They had a great time.Colin said it was fun seeing how much better he was going on some of the same runs he did last year. Their only issue was they missed the shuttle bus and had to walk back

to the resort. I offered to go pick them up but Brent was sure they were close....about 45 minutes close! I should’ve been asking Colin if he thought they were close. 

The slopes were really icy this year. We flew down the lanes. Joel and I went down together and went out of our lane, into the next lane, back to our lane, then into Norah's lane next to us (good thing she had already gone down) then Joel flew over top of me in his tube and thats when I let go and refuesed to be tethered to either of their tubes. Its a good thing it was so empty so we didnt crash into someone.  Joel likes to tell people how we almost died tubing.  But after all that he has decided that maybe skiing is safer so next year hopefully we can get him to do that. 

Joel talked me into going down the steep lane tubing so I told him he had to try ice skating again. 

Still not a fan at all.  Why do you make me do this dangerous activity mom?  Do you want me to break my bones? 

I love it.  All those years rollerblading.  I could get roller blades but somehow this seems safer to me and less risk of falling. And we have the rink almost to ourselves. 

We ran into one of the head Girl Scout leaders in our area on the trip. Her family was also using the break to ski. I had gone to the lobby to pick up sandwiches for dinner before the shop closed and was talking to her and we saw people in their cars feeding the deer. I remember saying who would let deer eat out of their hands? I get back to our room and Joel and Norah are so excited because deer were outside the room and Joel had them eating oatmeal out of his hands. So my kids! My kids would let deer eat out of their hands. 

It was a quick but great trip.  We came home to all our snow melted and 60 degree weather.  We got our fill of snow this winter!