Ripon vs. Tracy and Modesto

Our first home meet was Saturday. Ripon's swimmers were full of energy and ready to take on the Tracy Tritans and Modesto Sharks.
My own swimmers were excited and nervous! The coaches did a great job building the energy level up, even my two quiet kids were raring to go!
The Medley Relay started the day. I've never heard so many people cheering for 7/8 year old C and D teams! My enthusiasm began watching Rachel's A team compete in their Medley Relay. What a group of hard working talented girls!
Rachel was up on Butterfly again! We love to watch her go!

It was a good day for the Crews. Rachel scored third place in the Fly, Breast and 100 Free. She earned two first place ribbons with her fabulous relay teams! Bret took 6th in the Breast Stroke. Lilly shaved all of her times this week. 2.90 seconds off her fly, 2.74 off her backstroke, and .29 off her 50 free.

On Monday's the kids get their ribbons out of the box. Lilly was thrilled to find a pink ribbon in her folder! The pink is for 4th place in her 100 Yard Freestyle Relay. Pink - I think she'd like to earn one of those each time, who needs blue, or red - when you can have pink!!

Well, more practices this week and then we are off to the Sea Dog Invitational this Saturday.

Ripon at Turlock

We're at it again...this year we've added Lilly to the Sea Lion family. She is thrilled to be a part of a winning team! With great ambition she gives her all in every practice. We are proud of her effort and thrilled with each improved time she earns!

Lilly getting ready for Backstroke

Rachel doing Butterfly for the Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay

Rachel blew us away last week in Tracy by taking 3rd in Butterfly. This was an Invitational so she had a lot of competition. All those tough afternoons of Butterfly have paid off for her. This week in Ripon vs. Turlock she received 2nd place for the Butterfly, 3rd for Breaststroke and 4th for the Individual Medley.

Bret (no picture this week) has improved all his times from last year. He didn't have a lot of competition this weekend, which was nice!! He earned a 2nd in his Breaststroke and 4th in his Backstroke. I think we will see a lot more improved times from Bret in the coming weeks!!!

Looking forward to Oakdale Invitational next weekend!

Ripon Sea Lions Award Ceremony

The 2009 Ripon Sea Lion's were undefeated this year! Rachel and Bret had the privilege of swimming with a group of talented swimmers. They worked hard along side their team, and significantly improved their strokes and times!

Bret receiving his participation award.

Boy's 11-12 team.

Girls - 13-14 team.

Rachel receiving her participation award.

Lilly - the cheerleader and future Sea Lion!

Bret received a trophy for Most Improved Swimmer for boy's 11-12!

Yeah Bret!

Rachel and Bret are looking forward to their first year of extended team. They'll be working on their strokes from now until October 31st!

2008 Champs/A Great Day!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

This was the verse I taught Rachel - oh so many years ago. She hated swim lessons and she kicked and screamed her way through more than one session! I didn't let up - I knew God would give her the ability. I prayed for her, with her, you get the point!I'm happy to say that the Lord did strengthen Rachel and Saturday was proof of His awesome power and the ability He grants through hard work and effort. Rachel walked away with two heat winners and an 8th place (2nd in her heat) on Saturday! We were stoked!!!
Here's the stats:

100 yard Free Style: 1.1690 (improved time of 12.93 seconds)

100 yard Individual Medley 1.2944 (improved time of 5.97 seconds, 8th place overall)

50 yard Breast Stroke: 46.16 (improved time of 3.16 seconds)

Rachel and Bret worked very hard this season. They started late, but they both improved their times and they're a lot stronger than when they started (especially after biking 3.1 miles to and from practice!). Bret didn't have enough meets to make it to champs, but he enjoyed the day with Dad. They rode their bikes down to see us for a little bit. And were privileged to see Rachel win her heat in the 100 yard free!

What we will do now that swim is over? Tomorrow we'll pull some of those neglected weeds, and then Rachel will settle down to Grammar and Science (at her request!) Our regular school year will begin August 4th!

Hope your weekend was as fun filled as ours was!

Home Meet and More Wood!

Let's begin with Saturday morning 5:00 a.m. - beep, beep... Melissa was off to a swim meet with the kids. Wade, take a guess...he has more wood to cut. (A friend has generously allowed Wade to cut several down trees in his orchard and take the wood for free!) At 6:00 a.m. Wade arrived at the orchard, and I was still getting kids out of bed and breakfast down them. Threats of - you can't make your brother and sister late for warm ups, and why didn't you look for that last night -filled the air! We were finally packed and ready to go sweat in the heat, only two of us got to swim! We arrived in plenty of time to find the nice spot Wade picked out for us just an hour before. The meet progressed like all others. Wade arrived shortly after it began. All the wood cleared out of the orchard and the truck! We cheered and cheered as Rachel won her heat in the 100 yard Medley. She magnificently swam 25 meters of - breast, fly, back and free! Adding to the excitement of the heat winning ribbon was the fact that she also took 8.37 seconds off her best time! Bret also gave us cause to cheer as he took 3.30 seconds off his breast stroke and wound up placing fourth in his event. At 12:00 noon, I dutifully took my place as a timer. Wade, Bret and Garret left a short time after to attend a birthday party. Sometime in the afternoon the other timers and I took note of gray clouds overhead, and just as Rachel began her last swim of the day - thunder boomed in the sky! The coach always tells the kids they can swim in the rain, because they're going to be wet anyway, but we never swim in electrical storms. So we took a break, and about 10 minutes later the meet was called for the day. A little sprinkle came down, but it was still sticky hot, we were glad to be done. A friend and I loaded up our truck - and we went off to get Icee's! Yum! I really needed a treat!

Arriving home, we took cold showers and headed off to Wade's sisters house. We met Wade and the boys there, ate a yummy dinner, visited with a nephew and his wife, and then back home.

Sunday morning, beep, beep ..it's 6:00 (we slept in!) Wade is ..you guessed it. One of our own trees fell down, and we wanted it out before the irrigation water arrived. I got everything ready for the day, snacks for the deacon meeting, paperwork for the deacon meeting, Sunday school books (read the lesson one more time!), and all the kids clothes ready for Grandma's house and a cousin's birthday party. So this was to be another busy day. At church I taught the children that nothing is impossible for God, and that He loves us very much. We talked about Moses and the Red Sea. We poured water in a 9x13 dish and tried to part the water ourselves. One cutie told me she knew she couldn't do it because she didn't have a staff like Moses did! The rest of us tried and failed. Matthew 19:26 (King James Version)
26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

This wasn't our verse, but I've been reminded of it several times today. We faced things that are discouraging and seem impossible to remedy. But we know that just as God saved the Israelites from returning to slavery, He will also care for us and the needs we see around us.

After church we had a birthday party for a sweet niece, then Wade helped my mom spend $$$ on a digital camera. We hope she'll be joining us on this blog ring soon!

Another day full of lessons and blessings from our Heavenly Father.

Wade using fulcrum and lever to pry a stump up so he can cut it. Bret has the dangerous job of rolling the log under the stump after it's lifted up. (He still has 10 fingers!)

Frisbee eating almonds!

Frisbee when Wade starts the chainsaw. He's so excited, but you see that it's doesn't last for long!

Here's my man, cutting up a stump!

Sea Lions Take First

Saturday was our first home meet. This was a Tri-meet. Everything ran smoothly and the Sea Lions took first. Rachel had a piano recital later in the day, so they were forced to swim the early events. These were not Rachel's favorites - but she did a good job swimming the 100 yard Individual Medley, Followed by the 100 yard Free style, and finally the 50 yard Fly. Whew! I know I couldn't do all that!
This was Bret's first meet of the year! He had a great day! He scored 5th place in Fly taking 6.59 seconds off his record, 6th place in the Individual Medley taking 8.72 seconds off his time, and 10th place in Back stroke subtracting 3.13 seconds from his time.

The best part for me was not having the kids DQ! It's so easy to mess up a stroke. I'm proud of them for finishing and placing in each race!

Swimming in the Rain!

The highlight of our Memorial Day weekend was attending an Invitational Swim Meet. It was cold and rainy, not your typical die in the heat, why are we doing this swim meet! Our friends made the day special - we enjoyed cheering for their daughter who received two heat winners, and they helped us cheer for Rachel, watched my kids while I worked and treated Rachel throughout the day! Rachel scored an improved time on her Butterfly stroke, taking off 1.64 seconds!

The rest of the weekend was spent at church or home. Rachel is working on a skit for next week's promotion Sunday at church. She will graduate to the Junior High group - where does the time go!

Is is already Monday?

Our summer took a dramatic turn on Thursday when we rejoined the Sea Lions team. Originally, I said "no way, not this year." But it's been eating at me. I love to see my kids getting great exercise at a sport that I thoroughly enjoy. My out of practice kids pulled it off on Saturday at the time trials, after only one practice. Bret took several 3rd places and Rachel showed some improved times over last year's time trial. They have lots of room for improvement - so this summer between 9-10 you'll catch us at the city pool. Not a lot of time for competition this summer, but we'll be gearing up for next year. Bret is on the left. We don't take pictures out here because it's so hard to get a good one. Thankfully, the Sea Lions have a great photographer. Maybe next time he'll get a picture of Rachel.

After spending a morning/afternoon in the incredible heat I rushed home and made lemonade! I drank 3 glasses. A little too much sugar for me (massive headache)! Then we welcomed my Aunt and Uncle for a visit. It was nice to see them. They brought many, many gifts for our children, and some for me too! Then Wade and I caught up for a few moments until our next guests arrived, surprise visit, etc. I'm getting tired. But wait, we had to make dinner (BBQ) and clean the house for tomorrow. My kind husband mopped the floor after I spilled hummingbird food all over it (yuck, sticky - I was going to cry!) My hero rescued me! Finally, bedtime.

Sunday - happy faces, going to church. Walking out the door, unhappy and grumpy faces. Good message from Pastor Matt on contentment. Philippians 4:10-20. Much to think and pray about. After church, happy faces again. I'm tired from the emotional morning, and my 4/5 year old Sunday School class (sweet kids, but I'm getting old!). Swim and lunch at Grandma & Papas - (short visit with sis and some of the cousins)! Afternoon- meeting with an old friend, kids veg out on a movie from Uncle and Aunt!! Evening - small groups - thankfully, not our house (although it was clean enough)! Wade led, he did a good job encouraging us to forgive others. Luke 6:27-38. More to think and pray about. We arrived home, exhausted but contented! I did my lunch fairy duty while Wade took care of children's teeth and getting the garbage can on the road (thank you)! Prayer and bed. Is the weekend over - phew!