Pete and Re-Pete + 1

Big news.
I swam a mile last Monday.
Then I did it again on Wednesday.
Then I did it again on Friday.

I call that a three-peat.



cue the music....
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.
What do we do? We swim, swim...."

I have a goal

Aren't you proud of me? I worked really hard last fall at overcoming my fear of swimming. Now really, I'm not afraid of water. And I was really surprised that when I tried to swim some laps I kind of, sort of, had a bit of a panic attack in the middle of the pool. Yikes and embarrassing. Our homeschool association has a swim club that all the kids are part of. Three mornings a week, we all haul it out early to the college swimming pool. The older kids swim for 90 minutes, Danny has a toddler swim class for 30 minutes, and I usually get about 60 minutes to swim laps.

Yeah, that's right. There was a whole club worth of kids around when I had my little freak out session. Honestly, I panicked when I looked down and saw how far the bottom of the pool was. I really didn't panic too badly. Just had to talk myself back to the side. Then practiced deep breathing for about 20 minutes. I spent the rest of the semester with fins and a kick board. The last week I actually was able to swim freestyle for a few laps each day. Go me, right? I mean baby steps all the way.

Well, to make a long story even longer...our club coach has me training (oh, yeah, that sounds really athletic of me doesn't it?) to swim a mile by the end of March. At the beginning of February I could barely swim 50 yards without feeling like my heart was going to explode. Now I'm up to 1500 yards. Six hundred of them are with. out. stopping. That heart of mine - not exploding:)


So this is pretty much what I look like...

Honestly, I probably don't look like that at all. But at least I can stay on on top of the water, move my arm and legs, and breathe at the same time. This is major people!

I will most definitely keep you posted on my progress. I'm planning a big ole celebration once I can swim the whole distance...and for everyone's support, I'll make sure that you get a front row seat to my debut at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Summer photo dump

Ahhhh summer, why do you have to leave us so soon? (Actually it's just starting to get to a temperature here where you can stand being outside for more that 45 seconds....think summer in the northwest.)

Out of respect for the season that is leaving us today....I'm going to take this opportunity to post summertime pictures that just never quite made it to this space (because of my time, not because of picture unworthiness).

Before driver's permit/after driver's permit... the smile says it all

 

 These are from our anniversary in May. We went canoeing on a lake. It was a tad less stressful than our last anniversary.

Danny and Zachary had a great time fishing together. They competed in a fishing derby (Zach was Danny's coach) and Danny won a trophy. We got to eat the catfish for dinner. Bonus!

4th of July goodies

It was a summer filled with swimming. Every morning we were at the pool by 7:30. 

Rach loved it.

Here she is on the "fly".

These next several are from the Smoky Mountain Invitational. It's the biggest swim meet in the country.

2016?

Okay, now THAT'S a slip n' slide. We were at our friends the Smith's house. A quote from the day, "Dude, that was aweome!" 'Nuff said.

Rachel and Clare. 

The Dimock's were in Nashville for a conference and we had the pleasure of spending a day with them. It was so good to see some friends from WA in our neck of the woods.

We spent a day at the river with our friends the Henderson's. Super great family. We had such a fun time and found out that we have mutual friends. Fr. Paul Grala and Sr. Miriam James. Small world and all that.

Don't let him grab you by the toe!

Farewell dear summer. We enjoyed you and part with such sweet sorrow. Please come again soon to woo us with your loveliness.