Swim Team

Dearest Torpedoes,

We signed up for another season of summer swim team and one of you (Hi, Colt!) was more enthusiastic about it than the other.  Luckily, our long-time friends and newest neighbors (Hi, Vaughns!) signed up too so that made it better!  Swim practices started in mid-May and had us at the pool each afternoon from 4:30 - 6:00.

Once summer started, the daily schedule moved to lessons from 8:00 - 9:30.  Camps sometimes got in the way of practice so we had to have a few private lessons with Coach Halle. 

 

For the first swim meet, Michelle and I were in charge of this crazy group of boys! 

Colt, you improved so much that you won your heat!!

Your swim team bestie, Connor, was the other heat winner!

Jax, you took home some ribbons too!

For the next meet, Michelle and I tried our hands at timing.

While timing made the meet speed by, it didn't provide many photo opps.  Luckily, Anja sent me some pics she took.

 

The most fun private lesson of the season was shared with friends (so I guess that makes it a semi-private lesson...).  The love for Coach Halle is real!

Swim meet #3 included a special spectator - Grandma!!

The final meet of the season for us was an away meet that had us leaving the house earlier than usual.

But the hosting neighborhood is so pretty that it was worth the early morning!

You both improved a lot this season!  Colt, you become stronger and faster on your freestyle and backstroke.  Jax, you ventured into 50M races (earning a spot on the All Star team for this event!) and even ribboned in the butterfly!  

It was a fun season with these torpedoes!

Summer Week 5

Dearest Boys,

Baseball ended.  This was the last week of soccer.  And swim team only had 1 more meet.  So, pretty much, this week felt like the beginning of summer break!  I'm saving the swim meet for one, huge, summer-swim-team-post but here's what we were up to before that:

Colt, you and Addy fit in a workout at the park.

We got together with a bunch of friends for dinner and a baseball game.

You kids took advantage of every game at Rock & Brews.

Then we sat on the lawn to watch the Roughriders. 

 Well, us adults sat.  You kids ran around and around and around...

Part of your running included running into Daisy, the mascot.

 

The night ended with fireworks!

Another fun event was a family workout!!  On the 4th of July, we all went to Camp Gladiator!  Your efforts were rewarded with purpose defeating donuts ; )

 Later that day we went swimming at Grandpa and Grandma's.  Family was in town visiting and the neighbors were also there so their pool was hopping! - but I didn't take any pictures!

Of course, our 4th of July ended in our traditional spot with our favorite friends.  You kiddos are taking up almost the whole tailgate these days but I'll still ask you to recreate this picture for years to come!

 Yay for Independence and Summer Break!!!

Summer Week 4 (AAYBA)

Dearest Jax,

Week 4 was AAYBA (World Series of baseball) and we spent a lot of the week at the ball fields watching you and your team win 5 of out 7 games.

You got to pitch quite a bit!  When you weren't pitching, you tried your hand at center field.

 

While this picture looks awkward, the story behind it is one of my favorites: Game 6 was important because it decided if your team moved on in the tournament or not and it was a nail biter!  With 2 outs on the board, you went to bat and hit a handsome walk-off double!  Your team stormed the field and drenched you in celebratory water!  It was such a sweet moment but it left you with wet pants (pictured below) that looked like something else had happened ; )

We had the best trophy presenters at the end of the tournament!

Later in the week, the team got together to celebrate an awesome season with a swim party.

All but one of these friends will be back for more ball in the fall.  In the meantime, you get a 2 month break from this sport!!

Summer Weeks 2 and 3

Dearest Boys,

I'm combining these summer weeks because I scheduled way too many teacher trainings during this time so a lot of your days were spent with Dad or Grandpa and photos weren't taken. 
(If future Tiffany is reading this, don't start your summer with a bunch of training!  You're tired from all that comes at the EOY and you desperately want a break so your focus while sitting through presentations is difficult to muster.  Seriously, me, don't make that mistake twice.) 

We went on a family date night to Texas Motor Speedway to watch an Indy race.

It turned out to be a pretty eventful race and kept all 4 of us entertained.

Another outing had us with the Harycki family at an outdoor concert.

We then piled all 9 of us into their minivan and took a hilarious, albeit illegal, ride to watch Grapevine's fireworks. 

Another family date night involved a first for each of us -- our first ultimate (frisbee) game!  Turns out, the Dallas Roughnecks are ranked really well and they were a lot of fun to watch.  It's not a very popular sport so the stands were simple, most people watched from the comfort of their camping chair, and many of the spectators used the neighboring field to practice their own frisbee skills.  Playing in the field together was probably my favorite part of the whole night!!

Instead of MHS basketball camp, you picked Marcus Smart's camp as the first of your two summer camps, Jax. 

One day, we actually used one of our neighborhood's pools and met up with friends for fun with pool floats!

Some days we just relaxed with technology (here we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house and y'all had recently gotten out of the pool)

When we relax at our own house, Senji is always in the middle of it!

 No matter what we do, we're as happy as can be because ........  SUMMER!!!

Summer Week 1! (Football Camp)

Dearest Jackson and Colt,

The last day of school was on June 1st.  

You obliged me as I documented your last day at a 1st and 3rd grader.

We were all pretty excited about a nice, long, summer together!!

Some of the 3rd grade boys got together to celebrate summer's start.

And sports camps started on the very first week of break!  This summer, you each picked 3 camps.  Colt, you picked football, golf, and baseball.  Jax, you picked basketball, golf, and soccer.  Up first was football camp and you loved it, Colton!

The camp was filled with familiar faces!

Like soccer teammates:

Buddies from Stephy days:

And school friends:

Jax, we had some great one-on-one time while Colt was away.  One of our days together involved an unexpected dip in the pool so there was no time for swimsuits!  

The week ended with a fun wedding.  I already enjoy a good wedding but getting to have your handsome dad as my date is the icing on the cake!!

 Those smiling faces above don't care that the first week of summer is over...because there's plenty more to enjoy!!