Swim Team 2011

Emma, Lauren, and Ellie all did swim team again this year. They have all improved a great deal and are becoming quite good swimmers. Emma's best and favorite stroke is back stroke. Lauren is best at freestyle and Ellie is becoming quite the "fly" girl winning several blue ribbons in this event. Butterfly is a stroke that many young swimmers shy away from. It requires a good deal of upper body strength and a mermaid kick. I'm sure the constant gymnastics and swimming with the mermaid flippers that went on this summer gave her a huge advantage in this event. On the last meet she wanted to "swim up" on the butterfly (compete against older kids because the round is a 50 meter instead of 25, adding more of a challenge), but her coach wouldn't let her because the team relies on her win in that event which brings the team score up. I think she was probably one of the best fly swimmers in her age group in the county. We didn't actually do the all-county meet, so I'm not sure, but she beat nearly everyone she swam against at the meets. Way to go, girls!

Summer Fun

Lauren and Ellie spent most of the summer swimming and flipping. Here is Lauren demonstrating the mermaid fins.
And Ellie demonstrating the skill she worked all summer at: a back walk-over. Since I recorded this she has also mastered doing the back bend from a standing position and then doing the walk-over. She's becoming quite the gymnast with only the neighbor friend as a teacher.

Family Reunion

Right after school started I got to fly to Utah to have a luau with my family. It was so fun to see everyone. It's never quite enough. I wish I could have brought the kids, but they hate missing school and it just didn't seem worth it for just a couple of days. But it was a nice and relaxing time for me. Thank you JH for putting it all together.

For a better description of the fun read here.

After the Recital

I love 'em.

Dance Recital

Ellie's dance recital was right in the middle of summer. She had a tap routine and a ballet routine. It's just cute. She's taking a break from dance this year. More on that later.