The Big Meet! and other stuff!

Hard to believe it has been a whole year since I blogged about my son swimming at the City/Regional meet and I was updating you all and asking for prayers! Saturday is the big day! Jonathan will be swimming in the 25 m and 50 m freestyle and he has come in first place in both events all four week of our meets this summer, so far , shaving time off every week. Here he is picking up his ribbons from the previous week's meet (he also swam a medley and subbed for someone in another relay in the 11-12 category that week, but typically the max number they are allowed to swim is 3 events)
His times have him seeded first for both events (15.59 and 34.62 seconds) at the UT swim center, so he'll have the center lane (advantage, less resistance from the wall). Oh, it was like watching in him the Olympics at that beautiful pool and big screen last summer! It is considered one of the "fastest" pool in the country, as well as having accurate time keeping rather than a timer at the end of each lane) and last year he took quite a bit of time off his races in this spool from what he'd done before, so we are hoping for that again. (He's hoping to swim a 14.0 and 34.0) If you could please say a prayer he performs well, we are all hoping to watch him in swim for the State team again, this time in Corpus Christi, at the end of July. I'm optimistic he'll make the team for at least one event (only needs to place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd to qualify) having done so well under pressure against every other team and swimmers all season, but in the 25 m there are few boys hot on his heels!

He came in 2nd place at City in both events last year, but 1st place gets a trophy, so it would be especially meaningful if he can do that, and defend his top spot so to speak! Another big accomplishment, he is one of the youngest in his age group this year, swimming with the 9-10 year olds now (being 9 when swim seasn started, last year he was in the 8 and under and he really did have an advantage being so big). It hasn't made any difference, though, bless his heart, he's just gotten better and I am SO proud!! I can take no credit for his swimming other than driving him to practices. :) I think he can swim 50 meters faster than I can do 25...hee hee ;-)
Here he is with one of his teammates (Jonathan on left). They will be swimming a 100 m medley relay with two other boys and it would be awesome if their team makes it to state so they can all go together! They are in my prayers, too!

This year is especially sweet as well because William joined the team and will swim also swim 25 free and a freestyle relay at City. He's gotten so much better at swimming the past five weeks being on the team. Anyway, if any of you have children who you think swim team might be too difficult/not quite ready for because it looks like endless laps and their stroke isn't all that strong, I assure you after 5 weeks of swimming an hour a day, they will really improve lol! He's taken 2-4 seconds off his 25m freestyle every week for the past four meets, went from a 48 to a 35.6 last Saturday! Here he is after last week's race, proudly showing he took 4 seconds off from the previous week's race or a new personal best. Please say a prayer for William!

Tonight they have a diving practice at the pool they'll be swimming in Saturday, and I'm so glad for them to have the warm up and experience there because they don't dive off blocks at the neighborhood meets. William's never raced with the touch pad either for the timer, so there will be a lot of first for him and things to adjust to.

We'll take one meet at a time, but they are just beside themselves thinking about the possibility of getting to travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania next summer for the national meet if Jonathan could place 3rd or better in Corpus! (last year he came in fourth in both! So close!) We're dreaming big, and marveling and thankful at how big and strong they are both getting. :)

Anyway, that's what going on in my world! Hope you are having a great summer! I hear from Gina the new Pretty Patterns set is doing great, thanks so much! Can't wait to start seeing your beautiful ideas and samples in our StampTV gallery for Gina K Designs (Tip: make sure you are putting the tag gkd on all your uploads that use any Gina K Designs images and greetings; otherwise they just go in the general gallery and people may miss them if they are searching for inspiration with Gina K Designs sets, thanks for doing that!) Blog hops start next Monday and I am having a blast in between practices playing with all the new sets! :)

Hope you had happy fourth! We made flag cake with strawberries, Cool Whip and blueberries and had friends over for brisket. We'll be making a pie tomorrow with all the leftover blueberries tomorrow (except mine will have homemade crust!) as we have family coming in for Saturday's meet. Both easy and refreshing summer desserts, give them a try!
TTYL! HUGS!