Slip and Slide

This morning at the pool one of our friends that lives in the neighborhood casually invited us and many others to come to their house at 1:30 PM and go down their slip and slide. I was taking the kids to the park at noon for my visiting teaching appointment (love those kinds of visits when the kids are home!) but had no plans for that afternoon. Sounded like fun to me. But I had NO idea what was in store for us. I knew they had a sloped backyard that ended with the creek, but never in my wildest dreams could have imagined what her simple phrase 'slip and slide' could entail. How about 40 feet of tarp. Dump on at least 20 plus (no joke here) bottles of liquid Joy on the plastic and last 60 feet of grass, keep a constant flow of water from the hose and you had a track that was a slippery as ice. Man, it was awesome. So cool in fact I had to try it out for myself. Good thing I still had on my swimsuit from swim team practice. I grabbed a tube and went at it. Not once. Twice. With a running start. On my belly. Talk about a thrill. I had to grab onto the grass just to keep from flying into the creek. I couldn't stop smiling. It was pure bliss. As I looked at the pictures tonight I was laughing once again. Believe me, when they host this again next year. We'll be there. With 1o bottles of Joy for the cause. Ethan, Matt, Alec and LukeMatt's just getting startedJosh and AlecTrey
Matt tested it without a tubeJosh
TreyThe girls like to watch, but found other ways to entertain themselves.Some white whiskersJosh getting some speedTrey finally achieved the ultimate goal: sliding all the way into the creekRiding with Coach Phillip (Pinnacle head swim coach)
Matt
Josh

Having FUN!!

Not a goodbye....

I hate giving someone a hug for possibly the last time. It tears your heart out. When people become so dear they are like your family, you should never have to say good bye. Thankfully our wonderful friends the Badgers are headed west to Utah, so it is certainly not our last time together. Sure, we had a little farewell feast on a late night Applebee's run on Tuesday, but we are meeting at Cafe Rio soon. Like in two weeks. I am counting down the days already!
Most of the gangPacked and ready to go.
We miss you already!!

Pinnacle Pirates Vs Copperfield Crocodiles

This weeks meet was the big one. It was against the Copperfield Crocodiles at their pool. The Crocs won the conference title last year and were undefeated. Our swim team the Pinnacle Pirates have won every meet this season. Copperfield is our biggest challenge. The coaches wanted us to be ready and look the part. They had a pep rally at the pool at 4 PM. They painted the kids faces, sprayed their hair and told everyone to wear black. They needed to know we were a force to be reckoned with.

Josh and MattTrey goes for the three tone look. (I laughed out loud when Matt told me Trey stuck out like a sore thumb with this bright orange shirt.)Stripes for JoshMatt goes all outTrey follows his lead.6:00 PM: Time to swim!! The Copperfield pool was only a ten minute drive from our house. It had a huge pool deck and a playground that was enclosed and next to the pool. It was a great set up for me and the girls since Rich was on call.Brynn is ready to play! (She's such a nut and insists on wearing a swimsuit as well.)Josh was up first on the 25 meter free. For the first time ever he swam the entire length of the pool without stopping or touching the lane line. I was giddy with excitement. He swam it in 31 seconds. That beat his previous best time by 3 seconds. Good job Josh!Matt was in the next heat. He too had never swam a 25 meter free without stopping. The race was close and he just kept swimming away. He looked like a little motor boat moving along. I kept waiting for him to detour to the lane line, but he never did.He swam the whole way and took second place! I was so proud!!
Josh and Matt: real swimmers! Happy Day!Trey swam in the second heat of the 7 & 8 boys division.. His strokes are getting much better. His 25 meter personal best is 25 seconds.He wasn't too pleased he didn't take first. Gotta learn to be a happy no matter what place you take!Another first: Josh swam a 25 meter backstroke for the first time. He looked great! He was just so happy he would be getting two ribbons in the morning.Trey also swam backstroke.Thank heavens we had the park since Trey's backstroke was event #19 and his last event (mixed relay) was event #29.Brynn loved posing with her new sunglasses on.Trey's relay teamTwo girls, two boys, all swim 25 meter freestyle. Copperfield: 249 points Pinnacle: 289 points!!!! Undefeated still. Great job Pirates!