We swim swam swum.

It's a good thing I take pictures because I would have completely forgotten how much time we spent this summer at swim team.  Avery and Corban did swim team and I was pretty wrapped up in the end of my pregnancy and the beginning of life with four kids, so I really didn't get very many pictures.

But I'm so glad we did swim-- the kids really benefitted from a daily workout and even the meets ended up being okay.  If it weren't for this ridiculous heat.  We would have been so much better off with meets if they had started at 5:30 am and were over before it got so hot.  But we made do, and it was a good experience overall, and we'll definitely be doing it again.

A few pictures of the kids and their meets:





























If I were a better mom, I would have cataloged what races they swam and how they did.  Is it okay to say here that they really did great for their first year?  They definitely caught on and enjoyed the competitive nature of the beast by the end.  In any given race if they got in the first three, they got a medal and those medals became pretty important for us by the end.  They swam in the younger age ranges so there wasn't an excessive amount of competition and my kids are athletic enough that they generally did score in the top three.

At the final meet of the season, the county championships, they both swam three races each and they both qualified for the finals.  Corban in all three of his events, and Avery for two (she was disqualified in one or her races because of her footwork... they are pretty strict in breast/butterfly to make sure you are doing the right kick).  And then when they raced their races, they did pretty well, if I do say so myself.

I'm looking at the final medals, and here is how it looks like it all went down:

Corban got FIRST!! Woo hoo!! in the boys 5 and under 50 freestyle-- which means he swam the length of the pool two times and beat everyone.  That was pretty cool.  His time was 1 minute and 13.5 seconds.

Avery swam that very same race, but in her age category and she got second.  Which I thought was pretty amazing because girls age 6 is really very competitive.  Her time was 56.62 seconds.

Avery didn't place in the  25 buttterfly, but she got 28.39 seconds.

Corban took fourth in the 25 yard backstroke, with a time of 44.57 seconds.

Corban also took fifth in the 25 yard freestyle, timing in at 33.59 seconds.

We were unable to make it to the awards dinner at the end of the summer, but Corban got a plaque with his name on it, an achievement award.  Avery got a paper certificate also.  It's very hard to place with so much competition in your age range, I felt like both of my kids gave it their very best, they practiced so hard every single day, and in my book they both achieved so much more than the plaques and awards that they were able to amass.  I'm proud of them when they go out, try hard, and do well.  Can't wait to watch and find out what their talents and interests end up being.  I hope they keep wanting to do swim!  That was a great way to spend a summer.