Swimming 2012

Summer is such a busy busy time for this family. I'm wondering if I've got things all wrong - maybe we just need to schedule NOTHING next summer and then it might be like I remember - lazy summer days. Or am I just remembering the kid perspective? Maybe my mom thought summer was crazy too.

In any case, we were quite scheduled. Ben continued school through the end of July, all of the kids had swim practice every day (at different times), Eliza had ballet twice a week, and then there were the swim meets besides. I think there was more, but I can't remember now. Anyways, it was a heavily scheduled, but very fun, blur.

Eliza and Ethan both made a lot of progress with swimming this summer. Ben practiced with the team in the spring but did not want to swim in meets - he's too competitive to accept anything but 1st place. Eliza especially had fun at the end of the summer when she swam well at the city meet and even made B finals. She had a very big grin on her face.

Eliza spent a very fun week at Daisy Day Camp. It was bittersweet to send her off every morning at 8am, only to see her again at 5pm. I felt such joy knowing that she was going somewhere fun with people I trusted and knowing that I could just send her - I've never had such luxuries with my boys. But I was sad to see her off and so independent and so young but old enough to do it. Here is my cutie girl all decked out for a fun day at camp. She LOVED every minute.

Blake took 10 weeks or so of daily swimming lessons with an ISR instructor who recently began teaching in Concord. I've been waiting for years for such an instructor to show up around here, and imagine my joy when I learned her pool was just 2 blocks from my home. I am in awe of this method of swim instruction. Who would believe that a 9 month old baby can survive a fall in the water? It's true, and it's amazing. With all the time we spend around water, it's so comforting to know that Blake has an extra layer of protection from drowning - a beautiful "swim-float-swim."

I was lucky to go to San Francisco with my sister's family to see Les Miserables. I'd seen it several times in my high school era, and even then proclaimed it my favorite musical. I've spent hours and hours of my life listening to and singing along with the soundtrack. To see it come to life again, after many years, was amazing. It is such a stunningly emotional and transformative story. It touches my soul. My sister and I laughed as unexpected memories came up - my brother singing to us "you're all alone, you have no friends" and other twists of the lyrics that made us all laugh back in the day.