Mondays Are All Wet

As any regular reader knows, Mondays in the summer are always swim meet Mondays, yesterday being no exception. It was a hectic meet for me as I was training to be the lead computer person, responsible for entering times and creating result sheets. I'm pretty well suited to the task and the evening went remarkably quickly. The next time, I won't have the pro with me so we'll see if I am feeling as positive then.

This meet had all my kids' least favorite races. It was 50 free and 25 fly for Eion and the 100 free and 50 fly for Maggie. Yuck. But they toughed it out. Poor E failed to earn points, much to his dismay, but completed both races and was legal in butterfly for the first time.

It wasn't pretty, but it was legal.

Maggie was 6th silver in the freestyle and 3rd silver in butterfly. Considering all her races doubled this year and these are her least favorites, she's doing pretty well.

Morrigan was helpful as ever and worked the bake sale the entire night. In spite of her willingness to step up in such situations, we've been struggling with her a bit. Once summer hit, she reduced her physical activity from little to essentially none. She's more than happy to hole up in her room and read or watch Netflix all day. Taking away the electronics doesn't do much, she'll just read. Granted, one of the things she's reading is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, if only to spite an adult who said she wouldn't be able to, but the girl needs to get out. One hates to tell her to stop reading so much but it might just be what we have to do.

Terrible Storms That Weren't Really So Bad (For Us Anyway)

So Thursday, the forecast was all like

Twas not looking good my friends. Maggie and E were both at their friends' houses and we hunkered down for the storm. Though we lost power, our street was largely unaffected. Can't say the same for Peakwood, where Eion was. 

He was more than happy to be there and according to Kirsten, he found the power outage great, as it meant he could stay longer. When we went to get him, we ended up parking at the end of the street and walking around the many downed trees. But we retrieved him without issue and headed to Casa Fraught, who were kind enough to take us in for dinner. And you have to love Amy, who opened the conversation for the evening with global warming, which is bold considering the Venn diagram of our views on the subject is as follows:

O  O

(She's all in, I'm all out.) But what was better was that we could have such a discussion and still want to go to the baseball game together the next night.

Since the weather was delightful, the lack of power didn't impact our sleep a bit. We put the contents of the freezer on ice and enjoyed a day at the pool. Then it was off to the Red Sox game!

Why he is in love with Kira's neighbor rather than her 

I will never understand. Look at how sweet they are. 

And check out E's snow boots. 

After a fantastic double header, we arrived home to restored power. Hallelujah. Saturday, we were off to the pool, minus Tim, who was working. But I got to enjoy the day with these girls:

And these girls:

And more importantly, their parents. Not a bad storm to tell the truth.

Brought to You by Summer - The First Swim Meet

It is summer and it was Monday which can only mean one thing, swim meets.The weather was dicey all day and all of us were wondering if this was going to be postponed. Before we left, I looked at the radar and became convinced there was going to be a break in the showers and it would all work out. It did and we had some rainbows to boot!

We were at Hunting Hills CC last night, which is lovely because then I know everyone from all the teams! Maggie aged up this year to the 9-10 year old division, which brings with it the switch to all 50 meter+ races. Any concern over how she would fare was unfounded. Nine months off swimming seems to have done her well.

In the 50 backstroke she placed 1st silver (4th overall for her age group.) She made the flip turn and generally rocked it!

Her other race was the 50 freestyle. She won her heat and came in 2nd silver overall. 

As far as I can figure, she has finally figured out how to race. In years past, she would do well but her speed was the same as every lap she swam at practice. All of a sudden, she managed to turn on race mode. 

Eion's first race was the 25 backstroke. In his nine months off, he has discovered how to swim without it resembling drowning. He was legal for the very first time in this stroke. That only took three years.

He was 5th place bronze which means he got a point, the very first in his swim team career. Go E!

The 25 freestyle looked great too. He was 8th bronze BUT didn't come in last for (I am pretty sure) the first time. Babysteps people.

No drowning here!

While the racing was great and all, both kids really enjoyed socializing. Maggie, a quite civilized kind.

And Eion, who joined a pack of wild little boys in some sort of Fight Club/Lord of the Flies demonstration on the lawn. No pictures. I didn't want to be known as the Mom who noticed they were all trying to kill each other and didn't put a stop to it.

Now it feels like summer.

The Lazy Days of Summer, With an Expensive Twist

We've fallen into a wonderful summer pattern of days, when it is not pouring rain, of enjoying the pool. Which, in retrospect, was only about half the days this week. It has been mighty wet. On one of those wet days, we got to enjoy a trip to the orthodontist. Our regular dentist told me that the next time Morrigan happened to be going in to have Dr. Lampros take a look in E's mouth as he might need a baby tooth pulled.

See that front tooth coming in at a 90 degree angle? 

Can't be good.

After a look, and some x-rays, it was determined that we need to see an oral surgeon for the removal of six teeth. When I relayed the news to Tim, he said, "That sounds expensive." 

It does indeed.

Now It's Summer

We've moved into full summer mode. Personally, I went to sleep at 8:15 last night and got in a good 11 hours of sleep. The kids have all started staying in bed later too. Delicious.

But we won't neglect the last moments of the school year here. That would be E's end of the year party. I don't know why I go to these stupid things. Eion always gets belligerent and refuses to participate in anything leaving me frustrated and embarrassed. And he didn't disappoint this time either.

Coaxing from his substitute teacher got him to play with the bubbles.

Next up: more skulking.

But he quickly reverted back to his more obstinate state. Luckily, Mrs. Witten, his regular teacher, was also on hand and took him aside to hang out. 

The woman is truly a miracle worker. He still didn't play the games or anything but he was happy. I wish we could clone her and have her teach E for the duration of his academic career. Sadly, we have to roll the dice with new teachers in 2nd grade and break them all in.

After the party, we pulled Morrigan out of school early, interrupting some game in math class, to hit the pool. The school system may have decided that the kids need to continue to go to school that week, even though they were doing nothing, but I didn't have to comply.

Then it was The Day, the last day of school! 

After last year's debacle, Amy and I had more of a nudgenudge winkwink kind of surprise for the girls when they got off the bus (as opposed to last year's honest to goodness surprise, culminating in many tears.) We laid in wait with water guns only to find they had planned their own surprise: after they exited the bus, they ripped off their clothes, revealing bathing suits they had worn all day. 

Which was really smart. I ended up soaked! Just to make sure things didn't go too smoothly, E ended up in tears this year, angry he got wet at a water gun fight. Next year, I'm crying.

Regrettably for my children, I had scheduled their dentist appointments for the last day of school. Oops. So we had to dry off and go to get teeth cleaned.

The report cards glowed with all A's across the board. Eion even received the quite surprising all "outstandings" from his talented and gifted teacher. So the educational front is a-ok. Or we are the lucky recipients of rampant grade inflation. Either way, whatever.

Friday was the first full day of summer.

Our peace and quiet was marred by the dj who had been hired for a pool party but we are all up on our popular music now. And possibly a little more deaf.

These guys, on the other hand, were def!

Though Friday would normally flow directly into a Saturday pool day, friends April and Greg invited us all out to the lake. 

My very indoor children spent the entire day loving the outdoors. As soon as we arrived, Eion wanted to set out in a kayak, which seemed a recipe for disaster. I was sure he would paddle himself out somewhere, get tired, and then cry like a pansy for us to pick him up.

But he totally proved me wrong, happily making his way around the cove on his own power.

Everybody loved tubing, naturally.

She looked that happy the whole time.

After a long day of water fun, the kids built a campfire and roasted marshmallows. 

And danced around the fire with glowing sticks. But don't worry, no one was hurt.

Today marks the start of swim team, about which I am sure you will receive way more information than you ever needed or wanted!

Let's Work Our Way Back, K?

I have been writing post for y'all for days and days in my head. Sadly, my direct from brain to blog delivery system is quite lacking which means I have actually written squaduch. So we'll work out way back over the past week-ish....

These end of school days are packed with festivities, more often than not sucking me in and squandering my last few productive days before summer. I am writing now after being excused from the middle school awards ceremony. Initially, Morrigan did request my attendance, but really only so she could leave early. Upon discovering that she would be getting dragged to lunch (yeah Hole In The Wall!) and to her brother's end of year party, she was much less interested in having me there. I did get to visit her school to clear up incorrect charges on her student account, AGAIN. This time I have the number to the office that can just block her number so we don't have to go through this.

So yesterday. Summer weather (finally) has arrived! Morrigan had been pre-approved to skip school as they were going on an all day field trip to Staunton. Her point was that 1) none of her friends were going (which may or may not have been true - I know one stayed home,) 2) They would spend more time travelling than they would at the destination, and 3) she went to this exact same location last year. Eion, hearing she was released, felt it only fair he skip as well. Call me a softie, but I kept him out too on the condition that he would have to attend the Highland Park field day with me.

Field day was great. It was a good, old fashioned tug of war, foot races and kickball kind of day. E happily joined in and we all had a great time.

Eion was willing to tug with all.

She came in third but is was a heat of all boys.

Since both her siblings were out of school, once field day was over, Maggie rightfully felt she should join them. Her teachers were down with it and we went to the pool. We had forgotten that it was the 4th grade North Cross party at the pool but were pleasantly surprised to find Maggie's friend Margaret there in the middle of the day.

Later that afternoon I went upstairs to see if Maggie wanted some dinner only to find her completely sacked at 6:30pm. We did have a long day of goofing off.

Memorial Day was a pool day too. It was sunny and just warm enough to be perfect. The Club did an excellent job of making it a festive party with an inflatable slide, a dj, free Homestead Creamery ice cream and fun extras like boat races.

Scoping out sodas for the all important dive.

Maggie was stoked another friend had joined for the summer.

While the pool was open all weekend, Monday was our first venture out. It just hadn't been warm enough. We did however, make a trip to Festival in the Park. It wasn't on my radar until I heard the music - at my house. I initially thought someone was having a rocking party but came to realize it was the live bands who were several miles away yet quite easy to hear on our deck. It was worse down the mountain where you could hear so well you could sing along. 

My goals were modest. Eion needed to stop playing xbox for a bit and Morrigan needed to leave her bed. These simple goals were met. Granted, it was at the price of being immersed in this:

It is inviting, no?

"Crafts"

But you know, the kids thought it was great. Morrigan bought some jewelry. Eion had not one, but two over priced lemonades and dominated the bounce houses, including the one that was clearly marked for 5 and under.

He did not feel that meant him.

Which brings us back to Friday. The many illnesses plaguing my children passed quickly. After yakking at school, E was pretty much 100%. In an unusual move, we put both girls on antibiotics and either because of or in spite of them, they were much improved by the following day. 

We're good now, right? I'll check back in after the 1st grade party. Or more correctly, sometime this evening. I'm pulling all the kids out early to go to the pool again.