State Swim Meet

The swimming season is a long season, carried out in the middle of a long winter. The practice schedule has us making laps from our house to the YMCA on week day evenings (Amelia from 6:15-7:00pm, Ava from 7:00-8:30pm, except on Tuesday and Thursdays when she stays until 9:00pm for dry land workouts), cheering them on at all day swim meets for 17 winter weeks. Saturday brought the state championship swim meet, the culmination of the season.  

I've fallen somewhat unexpectedly into the role of swim mom.  We started this because I wanted the girls to know how to swim and swimming lessons weren't cutting it....  But I enjoy the other families, I love the progress they've made in this sport and I am so proud of the dedication they show at such a young age.

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to make the hour-ish drive to Marshalltown for the swim meet.  Last year I made Ava pose in front of this sign, this year, Amelia joins her. Amelia swimming in 3 events, Ava in 1.

The meet is split into two days, day one for the girls, day two for the boys. After warm ups they line the team up for the parade of athletes - the YMCA's version of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. The theme this year was neon, so the kids all donned neon garb and paraded proudly around the pool as their team names were called.  It was very sweet. Ava models so.much.neon. 

Amelia's first event was the Medley Relay - these four sweet girls have been tearing it up in this event all season.   Amelia swims the breast stroke. Posing patiently for me....

"Can we PLEASE do a silly picture?" These silly girls finished 4th in the state.

I tried to take a picture of one my favorite things to watch Amelia do at a swim meet - her focus while she's waiting for the backstroker (Taylor) to get to the wall.  The picture does it no justice, but this girl is fierce and ready.... She's in the water, in the yellow cap.

Goofing around in the warm up pool between events....

Going into this meet Amelia needed to swim a 24.0 in the 25 breast to move on to Regionals.  There was an added layer to this goal - only three 8 and under members of the team have qualified for Regionals, so they need her to make it to participate in any relays.  Amelia's seed time was 24.51. 

The short version of this story is that she had a fantastic swim that ended with a soft touch. The time registered 24.11 as she put her hands on the touch pad to climb out of the pool.  Her coach immediately filed a protest... the back up timers had Amelia's time under 24 seconds, but the plunger had it over.  The protest was denied and her time was officially registered at 24.11, .11 seconds short of regionals.  She was CRUSHED.  Obviously I am sorry for her disappointment, but I couldn't be more proud of her.  Even with the 25 breast hanging over her head, she rallied quickly and swam her free relay like a champ.

Ava had to wait all day, and I do mean all day to swim her free relay.  It was the second to last event of the meet. She was a little bit disappointed not to have qualified for state in an individual event (only two 11 year olds on her team did) and it was a long day of waiting.  None the less, Ava swam the 50 free leg of her relay as fast as she's ever done that event, ending her season with a new PR.

Some of these girls were on her relay team, some were not... I can't remember who's who except I think it is kind of funny they lined up for this picture tallest to shortest....

And just because... puppies.... they both love this dog bed.  They drag it into the sun and fight over who gets to lay in it.  Ellen is not happy that Orbit is trying to intrude.  I know, I should just buy a second one.

Some Winter, Some Swimming

I suppose it would be perfectly normal for a family living in Iowa to feel all the way sick of winter by the middle of February.  So that makes us perfectly normal. We've had little glimpses that the end might, maybe just maybe, be in sight. The days are getting a tiny bit longer, there's been a couple of unexpectedly warm days.... but I am ready to declare myself officially done with winter and start complaining about the heat already!

Saturday morning it was 15 degrees with a -3 windchill and 25 mile per hour winds.  This did not stop a group of my crazy friends from planning a 7 mile run. We hatched a plan to drop cars and coordinate rides so we could run point to point with the wind at our backs. Six of us ran from Banner State Park along the trail to the trailhead and only had about half a mile with the wind in our face.  That half a mile was enough to be quite grateful to turn the corner and finish the run. 

When we got back to park to fetch our cars we laughed about how we were all lined up in the parking lot - not another soul taking advantage of the trail that day....

Sunday was the girls Sectional Swim Meet.  This is the last meet of the regular season and their only chance to qualify for the State Swim Meet.  Amelia proclaims, "Eat My Bubbles!"

There were nearly 500 swimmers participating in the meet and emotions were running high. The kids had all worked so hard and everyone had their eyes set on qualifying for the state swim meet.  Except it is really hard to qualify for the state swim meet. 

Right out of the chute Amelia's Medley Relay team qualified for state with a cushion of almost 12 seconds... They could actually place at the state meet next month. Then came a long pull of individual events which saw Ava setting personal best times, but falling short of state qualifying times.  It should be noted that the 11-12 girls age group is the most difficult age group - that only two 11 year olds on the team qualified for state in their individual events.  Ava had so much to be proud of, but she was having a hard time seeing it that way. 

It was a tough parenting day for me. Watching my kids swim with such heart and such determination makes me so proud I think my heart could burst right out of my chest. The outcome is, at best, secondary to me.  I care because they care, but qualifying or not qualifying does not have any effect on the pride I feel watching them in the water. Watching Amelia's elation and Ava's disappointment left me at a bit of a loss.  Sitting with a teary Ava I told her I would give anything to take her sadness and disappointment away, to carry it for her, if only it were possible.  But if anything that sadness and disappointment made me more proud of her for how much she cared about doing well in a sport she's come to love.

Then Amelia qualified in the 25 breast stroke. A weepy Ava was generous and loving to her sister and I started giving myself pep talks about life lessons for my kids, trying to figure out how to navigate this without leaving permanent scars.

Finally, here come the freestyle relays.  Ava's last and best chance to go to the state swim meet. Amelia's relay team was supposed to be a long shot.... But, of course, they coast to a qualifying time, making that three state events for Amelia.

For Ava's free relay her coach (and my friend) Tiffany mixed up the "A" and "B" relay teams, putting the best swimmer on the "A" relay team on the "B" team giving all 8 girls a chance to go to state if they all have a personal best time. Ava stayed on the "A" relay team, but without their best swimmer they were all going to have to really bring their "A" game to swim a Q time. For the two minutes it took them to swim that relay my hands were shaking and my heart was in my throat. The "A" and "B" relays were side by side the whole way, everyone hit that personal best and both relays qualified for state with a few seconds to spare. I will admit, I cried. 

It's not because the achievement is so important to me - it really isn't. But to see my girl dig in after a long day of disappointment (and personal bests!) and swim her fastest 50 free to date..... almost half a second faster than she swam the 50 free earlier in the day.... To see the stronger, older swimmers on the team who had already qualified in individual events give their very best to make sure the relay team qualified.... to bring their friends and teammates along... well it was almost more than I could take.

I tried to tell Tiffany how impressed I was with what she did.  She could have guaranteed a Q time for the "A" relay and most certainly left the "B" relay behind.  She took some heat from some parents for rearranging the relay teams.  But those girls all stepped up and were rewarded for it with more than just a state qualifying relay.  All Tiffany would give me was a flick of the hand and tell me, "I knew they could do it."

Ava, with some of her teammates after their relay.... Those are some happy humans.

 My fierce amazing girls....

Power Words

Yesterday while I was out for a run I was listening to Another Mother Runner podcast.  One part of the discussion centered on the benefit of having power words when you are running and racing, words like focus, believe.... or for me during Grandma's Marathon, trust.  They also talked about having an annual theme. Immediately I thought about my pseudo new year's resolution = more fun in 2015.  

I travel a fair amount for work, some of it is in state, but several nights a month I find myself in Madison, Springfield or Chicago. Even though the travel can beat me up a little bit, I have enjoyed getting to know Madison and Chicago better (Springfield - meh).  I've found running routes and made some friends. Tuesday night when I was in Madison I went with a new friend to a Badger's game. Even though I had some long work days and I was away from my people - more fun in 2015!

John is an excellent father and more than capable of keeping the trains running on time while I am away, but I know it can be rough on my family. Parenting is a two person job, but when mom's gone, well, mom's gone.  Ellen agrees.....

We are coming to the end of a long swimming season.  Both girls are right on the bubble of qualifying for state and/or regionals, so there's some extra relay practice and renewed intensity for the final push. Friday night Amelia had a sleepover at a friends house.  I picked her up from the sleep over and took her to dance.  Then I picked her up from dance and took her to swimming.  Then she played all day....  Similar schedule for Ava. Saturday night Ava had a party with some friends, so we had a few hours to kill in Des Moines.  We went to dinner at Table 128, then walked around the mall for a little while.  

Amelia - love that sassy pants.  What you can't see in this picture is that Amelia was on absolute fumes. 

I am so proud of how hard the girls have worked at the activities they really care about, but I know yesterday stretched them too thin.  Today we stay home, restore and regroup so we can face a new week.  Ahhhh....

It's A Lot of Snow...

Friday night John made a quick trip to South Dakota to see his mom, see his friend Scott and watch a Brandon Valley High School basketball game. The girls and I went to the Sports Page for dinner where Ava snapped this selfie.... Awesome to spend time with the girls, but the food?  Meh. 

John got home on Saturday just in time to beat the biggest snow storm we've seen in awhile. As of this morning we've had a foot of snow with more forecasted for Wednesday. Blah. Blergh. I know it is February, I know it is Iowa, but sheesh!

John was undeterred by all the snow and come Super Bowl Sunday he set the grill up on the deck to make grilled chicken wings.  They were so!good!

Our school district declared a snow day at 11:00am on Sunday, so we've been a bit cooped up. Get out of the house!  Go sledding!  Please!

Snowy, snowy Ava!

Sickies

Ellen's prior owner was an older woman, who as near as we can tell, sat with her all day. In our house, Ellen's main person is Amelia. I wake up before the girls every morning to do some work and drink some coffee.  I let the pups out and many times I find Ellen laying outside Amelia's door waiting for her to wake up.

Especially early Friday morning I woke up to Amelia crawling in bed with us. I was sound asleep and a little out of it, but when I went to rub her back I could feel she was burning up with a fever. Amelia is so rarely sick we were caught a little off guard. John and I both had work obligations that were difficult to reschedule, so Papa came over for a few hours Friday morning.  By Friday afternoon Amelia seemed to be doing better, but her fever came roaring back Friday night. 

Ellen has been a constant companion for her person, both of them sitting together on the couch for most of the last 48 hours.... Ellen's happy place.

The girls had a swim meet Saturday that Amelia was devastated to miss...  She is close to qualifying times in a couple of events and was convinced this would be the day. Ava and I set off to Oskaloosa without her for a meet in an old, small YMCA with a 4 lane pool. 215 swimmers, 4 lanes meant heat after heat for all 103 events. It was an endurance activity for the spectators (me) but Ava had a great day.  She dropped time in all the events she swam and got a nice boost of confidence along the way.

How you know it's a swim meet day....

Ava was coming off a sleep over, then a swim meet, Amelia with a strep throat diagnosis -  we were all pretty much in a puddle by Saturday night. The girls, snuggling up, watching some television.  A nice reminder that they really do love each other and take care of each other.  And, if you look carefully, you can see Ellen's nose in the bottom of the frame, standing watch over her person....

Two Kinds of New Years

My birthday is in January, so I get two opportunities pretty close together to contemplate a new year, a new age.  Things are, for the most part, pretty great. I really like the guy I'm married to and I know he digs me....  Meghan, Lane, Ava and Amelia are awesome. I have a great job that stretches me and gives me life balance. I am healthy, I've found some new ways to stay that way (CrossFit). I'm totally fine with being a crazy dog lady....

Setting New Year's resolutions, or intentions intentions for 2015 - my 43rd trip around the sun pretty much starts with - "do more of the same." But I do like the benchmark of a new year to try to be more intentional.  I am enjoying being pushed by CrossFit and I want to get stronger and better at that. I want to do more yoga. And.... how do I say it?  I want to have more fun...  I am a major homebody. A creature of habit. A doer - a worker bee. I think I let fun things go by for home and work responsibilities when it really isn't always necessary. 

So, 2015 - more bad ass, more fun.

So far this year I'm doing pretty well, 17 days in...  I went to a cooking class on a Tuesday night (but what about swimming car pool? It's cold! My soft pants!) and had a great time with my friends from the Capitol.  And in that spirit I decided to throw myself a birthday party last night with my running friends. We see each other quite a bit, but hardly ever all together and rarely out of running clothes.  Everyone came to my house, I cooked and we ate and ate and drank so.much.wine.  Seriously, 8 bottles of wine for 8 people.  In fairness, we did hang out for more than 4 hours!

John made tiramisu for our dessert, which was fantastic. His phone took a hit though!

And somehow that is the only photo from the whole super fun night!

John, being the great guy he is, took the girls bowling so we could have a grown up, girls night in at my house. How cute are they?!

I know I've mentioned one of my unexpectedly favorite things about Ava having an iPhone is seeing the pictures she takes that drop into my photo stream.  She takes a lot of pictures and they are very important to her. She got a new phone for Christmas and one of her big worries was that her photos wouldn't transfer.  All 1200 of them.  (They did).

This picture showed up in my photo stream yesterday.  Love my girls and their mildly funky Converse style. 

Big things happen.... you're still a mom...

On Friday a really BIG DEAL project that I've been working on for months came to a successful completion. The details wouldn't be interesting to many, but the task started as seemingly impossible, then some things went our way, then a few things didn't, then all of the sudden (after several months of work) everything fell into place. 

John has been watching me sweat this since September, so when he heard the news he suggested we go out to dinner to celebrate. It made me feel very loved indeed that my people want to celebrate with me, even when no one is really quite sure what they are celebrating. 

Even in the face of a big professional victory and subsequent celebration dinner I am reminded quickly that I am a mom. Amelia was a little bit fussy (but settled down as soon as her cheese pizza arrived) and wanted to play "Would You Rather?" a game she is VERY good at....  My personal favorite from Friday night:

Amelia, to John:  "Would you rather lick a hobo's shoe or never play golf ever again?"

Guess John's answer....

Saturday it was off to a swim meet - if there was ever an activity that demonstrates all the organizational ability it takes to be a mom, a swim meet is it.... Both girls swam 5 events, swim camp was cold so they needed layers to put on and take off, towels and games and a giant bag of Puffy Cheetos to share. 

Opportunities for group selfies are abundant - Ava, all the way at the end in the swim cap.....

Ellen, Bo-bellen

We adopted Ellen from the Animal Rescue League last Spring.  Her prior owner was an elderly woman who had to move to a nursing home.  No one in her family was able to take Ellen so she was surrendered to the ARL. She was 6 when we got her and she's a pretty mellow pup - you certainly get the sense that she was pretty used to laying around snuggling with her owner, being fed and being adored.

Sunday morning we woke up and our house was 57 degrees. Our furnace needed to be reset and given that it was a cold day it took a little while for the house to warm up.  We turned on the gas fire place and Ellen found the warmest spot she could while the temperature righted itself....

Later that day I asked Amelia to tidy her room and put away her clean clothes.  When I went in to check on her this is what I found.  Ellen, laying like a person with her paws around Amelia's stuffed monkey - tucked into bed. 

Extended Family

I came into this holiday season feeling stretched thin. I'd had a lot of work and some personal travel in the weeks leading up to the girls' Winter Break... much of the planning for the season falls to me.... I wasn't enjoying it and honestly I wasn't particularly happy.

I was very fortunate to be able to take PTO for the girls' school break.  I did a little bit of work here and there, but mostly I have been off work since December 19th. By the time Christmas morning rolled around the knots I had tied myself into had loosened considerably. And now, in the last day before I head back to work I feel relaxed, content.... we've all had an awesome break.

We've gone to breakfast at one of our favorite spots, the Waveland Cafe, we welcomed my brother's son Raymond and celebrated Grandma Jo's birthday, we had a visit from Grandma Marilyn, we went ice skating, put the hurt on the all you can eat chicken dinner, we've had quiet hours at home, we've all had friends come over to eat and celebrate....

Last night we rounded out a great break with dinner at our dear friends Bill and Annie's house where we were reminded again how lucky we are that our family includes them.   I snapped a quick photo of everyone gathered around to play a game of Dirty Santa.... Even though we've taken down our tree and restored some order at our house this Christmas season has been the longest and best I can remember.

A very Merry Christmas 2014 - looking forward to all 2015 will offer.

Resolved

I am not much for New Year's resolutions.... 2014 was a great year for our family and I hate that crickets are chirping in this space I've used to document our lives.  So for 2015 I resolve (for reals) to visit here more often, even for short posts, so one day my kids can be assured they did indeed have a childhood.

These people are my very favorite - Christmas Eve night....

We've had a terrific winter break.  Since I have been traveling quite a bit for work we decided to stay put this Christmas.  I took PTO for the girls winter break and we've been relaxing and having some nice family outings along the way.

Skating at the Brenton Skating Plaza on a cold day during a visit from Grandma Marilyn....