The week after the girls and I returned from our trip to NJ, the Peanut’s swim team decided to have their Mock Meet. Basically Mock Meet is a dress rehearsal swim meet including timing clocks, stroke and turn judges … everything. It gives everyone a chance to work out the kinks basically and prepare for the long swim season ahead.
The Peanut wasn’t feeling super great but she managed to swim in four different events. She swam in the 25 yard freestyle, the 25 yard backstroke, the 50 yard freestyle and the 25 yard butterfly (she opted out of the 25 yard breast stroke). She did okay. The 50 yard freestyle was a major step up for her and is pretty challenging and competitive. She ended up getting disqualified in the butterfly because her legs came apart (they are super strict).
Her first real meet is this up coming weekend. We are all a bit excited and nervous. Our weekends are no longer ours as swimming will consume a lot of our time.
Getting ready for her freestyle.Watching some of her friends swim.My superstar
I was super proud of her for trying her best. She wasn’t feeling well as she as been battling some stuff lately. She definitely loves the water though.
After the mock meet, we unloaded one car and packed up another car and headed to Tahoe for a nice little getaway. We had some days left at our timeshare and the plan was for the four of us to head up in two separate cars and then the Peanut and I would leave after one night as we had work and school to attend to.
In our Happy Place
We basically walked around and visited the lake which is really really low and kind of sad. The fresh air was crisp and amazing. Tahoe really is my reset button sometimes.
Tahoe Girls
We spent the whole morning wandering around the dried up lake and playing at the playground. The Peanut found some crab legs and was super excited to bring them back to show her class. Men are likely to face sexual difficulties at any stage in their buy online viagra life. However, the problem of poor blood circulation can be expected which can lead to better erection. – Propoinyl-L-Carnitine The effectiveness of L-Carnitine in treating impotence lies in its ability to effectively enhance the Seldafenafil, which gives longer erectile function, better sexual satisfaction, stronger orgasm, and improve general sexual-well being which is known to be notably better that taking online viagra order robertrobb.com. Across most colleges viagra prices and institutions, a B. Of course the same outcomes can levitra uk be achieved strong only when you are having proper blood flow to the reproductive organs.
Exploring…
Squeaker is into finding (and throwing) really cool rocks. We spent quite a bit of time just wandering this rocky dried up part of the lake.
Walking – see the docks? Sad.
The play ground was also fun. The Peanut is such a monkey lately between the monkey bars and climbing rocks and stuff.
I climbed up here and she followed.
Sadly, the Peanut and I had to leave Sunday afternoon to unpack and get ready for the work week ahead. Vans and Squeaker were going to stay another two nights. They had a great time bonding together. It was super sweet and we both enjoyed the bonding time with each kid.
My two Tahoe cuties
I hadn’t been to Tahoe since September so this was way over due for me. It really just fills my heart and resets my brain. Luckily, it won’t be so long before I am up there again.
Once again I apologize for the infrequent posts. Life has been busy lately (more on that later). This post however will explain some of it.
The Trailmomma family is happy to announce that the Peanut has completed her first season of swim team! We attended our first ever “Champs” which was last weekend and was a three day affair! You read that right. The kids swam Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Luckily for the Peanut, the 6 and Under group only had to swim on Saturday. As a parent however, I had to volunteer 3 hours of my time during the weekend and with the advice of Gold Country Girl, I picked Friday after work to do my volunteer shift.
It was almost 100 degrees and I raced from one job to the other but in the end, it was so worth volunteering Friday because that left me free to enjoy the whole event on Saturday.
Lego Theme!
Each team in the league picked a theme and the Peanut’s team picked The Lego movie. The costumes were pretty “awesome” and she was given that “awesome” yellow lego man t-shirt (Everything is awesome!).
The temperatures for the weekend were predicted to touch 100 degrees. The meet itself was held at Sierra College in Rocklin which isn’t too far from our house but with all the teams in the league attending, we knew parking would be a struggle.
We left our house at 5:45 am and set up camp with the usual crew. The kids and teams all performed in a parade and as soon as the festivities were over, the meet began.
The Peanut had to swim in two events. The 25 yard back stroke and the 25 yard free style. I am learning a lot about swimming this year. I learned that during Champs, the heats are reversed and if you are in an earlier heat, then you are more or less in a slower group. Later heats are reserved for the faster swimmers. The Peanut had the best of both. Her back stroke was an early heat while her free style was in a later one.
Waiting to swim
It is hard to explain the size of this event and the magnitude of craziness that was happening all around us. If the Peanut was worried, she didn’t show it, at least not until she had to leave for the ready bench where she would sit and wait for 20 minutes before it was time to swim.
The second Ready Bench
Her first event was the back stroke which is opposite of what she was used to from every other meet. She was also forced to warm up in a side pool which is something she has never done before either. She handled it all like a pro and took her place in the pool.
Let’s do this thing!
She was considered one of the faster swimmers in the slower heat so she scored a better lane which I know boosts her confidence. When the buzzer went off, she did her thing and swam her little heart out.
She ended up taking first place in her heat!!! Unfortunately, being in one of the slower heats, meant she really could not make it to the finals but she still supported her team.
In between heats we would wait it out in the tent trying to stay hydrated. Squeaker, on the other hand,  is pretty easy going and just finds something to occupy herself with …
Let’s play cards!
Soon it was time for the Peanut’s free style swim. As I mentioned earlier, she was seeded in a faster heat but due to the competition, was placed in a slower lane. This always plays with her mind despite what Vans and I tell her. Still, she was ready to get this thing over with.
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I was across the pool with Squeaker during this event. I saw all the kids in her heat get up on the super high blocks. When the Peanut swims at her home team pool, they have mini blocks for the 6 and Under group. These blocks, were college level standard blocks. The Peanut looked at the block and then looked at the other kids. When we swim at other team’s pools, she “dives” off the side of the pool and not the block, especially if they are too high. You could see the inner turmoil going on in her head. What should she do? This was Champs! ALL the other kids were on the blocks! But she has never gone off the blocks before!?
I saw her coach say something to her and I saw the Peanut get up on the block. Seconds later the buzzer went off and the Peanut DOVE into the pool. OFF THE BLOCKS!!! I was blown away. I mean, it was more of a belly flop than a dive but she had done it. She had conquered one of her biggest fears on her very last swim of the season!
It took a while for the Peanut to surface and while I wish I could say she finished first place and qualified for finals, the truth is she was last place but she emerged from the pool with a smile and said, “I did a massive belly flop!” 🙂
Later I had asked her what it was her Coach had said to her and she said, “She told me that she would PREFER I dive off the blocks.”
That was the beginning of a whole new world for the Peanut. Her team went on to win Champs by only 7 points! Her 6 and Under group dominated the events and was a huge reason in their success. When the Peanut got home from Champs and started swimming in our pool I said to her, “Hey, you realize that the blocks you jumped off today are higher than our own diving board?” She didn’t believe me but she stood on the diving board and looked out at the water. And then she dove in and the rest is history. She is a diving fiend now.
With a whole new form of confidence the Peanut could not wait until her team awards night. We were all super excited because the team had won and had quite a few swimmers attending the Meet of Champions in a few weeks.
When we arrived at the park where the awards was being held, the Peanut caught a glimpse of the tables covered in trophies. She was giddy with excitement.
The first group that they introduced was the 6 and Under group. The Peanut took off like a shot through the crowd. Vans and I looked at each other completely shocked that she went up there all by herself. There was a time when even though she had friends, she would not go stand in front of a large group.
The 6 and Under girls
Coach Brownie announced that they were giving out individual awards to some of the kids. Sure we know the Peanut is a great kid, but she didn’t she didn’t break any swim records this season. You know what she did have though? Spirit and it didn’t go unnoticed.
Accepting her Spirit Award Trophy
From the girl that cried at quite a few swim practices in the beginning to the girl in the above photo, the Peanut has transformed this season. She stood there and smiled like she always does. Coach Brownie mentioned how she always has a smile on her face. I love that face.
Two Trophies!
Unsure as to whether or not she even wanted to BE on the swim team this year, the Peanut has made Vans and myself super proud. She practiced in cold weather, rainy weather and a million degree weather. She practiced five or six times a week!
As I have mentioned, Vans and myself were never swimmers on a swim team. We learned quite a bit ourselves this season. Most importantly, we learned we have a little girl who will conquer her fears (on her own time) and wow everyone in the process. Congrats Peanut. Thank you for being such an “awesome” kid!
