Birthday Girl

Today Avery turned 8.  I'm so very proud of her.  She's sweet, she's kind, she's smart, she's funny, she's helpful.  She is everything.  She still humors me for photos and the like.  I love that she'll still sit on my lap both at home and during the homily at church.  I know the time for that is growing short.  She asks for hugs and gives the best hugs back.

This year is an interesting one as she will be starting to do chores.  While we went over the things on her to do list and I explained that she would get an allowance (and what an allowance is) for completing her chores, she never once asked how much money -- so we still have that to negotiate.

2nd grade!

 And she's off!  Bus number 14 again, but not our beloved Miss Dawn.  We met our teacher and she seems delightful.  I think it's going to be a good year.

Kennywood's open

We didn't let this summer get away from us without visiting Kennywood.  With her now being "of height" (52") she was eager to ride coasters, and boy did she.  Avery rode every coaster including the Steel Curtain and she wanted more.  Her bestie is still a bit under that magical height, so that tempered some of the coaster-riding.

Butterfly!

I used to call Avery my butterfly when I felt her moving in my belly.  This week she swam like one!

At this week's meet she swam the following:

25 x 4 Free relay - 2:24:47 - she was the first swimmer.  Overall 14/16.  She's been working on her start from the block, but hasn't quite gotten it down -- YET!

25 Free - 36.99 - Overall 21/21, dead last, but that's ok.  She's still keeping the time under 40 seconds, so that's solid.

25 Butterfly - 33.00 flat - Overall 8/10.  GIRL IS GETTING HER FIRST RIBBON!  I didn't tell her.. I'm waiting for her to find the ribbon at practice next week.  I'm so excited for her.  It isn't a relay, she did this, she earned it.

25 x 4 Medley relay - 2:09:11 w/ the second 50 split being at 58.71 - she swam butterfly (3rd swimmer).  Overall 8/14. I got to watch her make up ground on the lane next to her too.  If they do the first 8 for relays she'll get a second ribbon for this event too.  She did awesome!

Keep in mind that for the individual event it is 7-8 year olds, but for relays it is 10 and under.

I'm so proud of her.  I'm so HAPPY for her, she wanted that ribbon and I am so glad she achieved that goal.

Schwim some more!

Avery's second swim meet!  We set goals to get the 25 free under 40 seconds and the 25 back under 50 seconds -- both of which she succeeded in, actually she killed it.  I know that the Upper St Clair pool is yards, but I'm not sure about the CM pool.  Even if we had to convert to meters for an apples to apples comparison I am happy to report that she did make her goals.

25 Free - 34.01 - Overall 29/35.  Converted to meters that equates to 37.75.

25 Back - 42.18 - Overall 32/34.  Converted to meters that equates to 46.81.  Until 3/4 of the way across she had a solid chance to win her heat, but didn't hold it.  I'm hoping for a heat win so she gets a duck -- that will hold her over for a while until we can get her to the point where she can win ribbons.

25 x 4 Free relay - 1:22:49 - she was the first swimmer.  Overall 16/21 and a crazy better time than her first relay.

She was having fun.  You could tell from across the pool area as she was nearly vibrating.

I'm hoping she can make progress on her breast or butterfly as those events are less frequented and would give her a better shot.

Town Pool

Friday afternoon we took to town pool.  She goes all this week for Camp Splash, but I wanted to spend some time with her there first.  I got to see her going off the diving board, rope swing, and deep water slide with confidence.

Girl is officially able to swim.

Schwim!

The first swim meet is complete and she said it was "fun.  no, it was fantastic".  She looked so at place and at ease as she mingled and chatted with different kiddos and coaches between events.  They put her in the 25 free, 25 back, and 25 x 4 free relay where she was the 2nd swimmer (so she started in the pool off the wall).

All that matters is that she had fun.  It's exciting that she did great with her starts (although we haven't mastered diving much less diving off of the block, but we're working on it) and finishes (pushing those hands into the wall fast and hard) - even in the relay.

The times to beat (as she now competes against herself) are now set:

25 Free - 40.54

25 Back - 52.87

25 x 4 Free relay - 2:19.22

I'm pleased to say that the relay team wasn't in last place.

I wish I had more free time and easy access to a pool (why didn't I buy a swim-spa?) so we could 'practice' more together as we did in Cococay.