gooooooo family!

last year i wrote about the first time i ever swam our lake. this event happens every year at the celebratory weekend of festivities. last summer was the first time we lived here for it, this summer it was awesome.

the weekend started with the lake swim, (wait, wait, wait! technically the weekend started with tom taking a long weekend from thursday, so we enjoyed the olympics, swam and floated had impromptu dinner with friends on the deck, fab fri and then on saturday...) i swam again and this time i was the only one in the under 40 women's division; so i got a trophy. which is just wrong and funny since every one of the 12 or so women in the over 40 swam it faster then me. but as one of them pointed out to me there were plenty of under 40's still in bed or at the nail salon (or, i was thinking, too tired from motherhood) and i should be proud for showing up and finishing strong. the best part was i shaved 6 minutes off my time from last year, which is huge!! especially for me who is never speedy. i can swim for a long, long time just not fast but i have been working on my breathing and endurance at a faster pace, so ok i'll take it. i only have a few more years till i'm where i belong at the bottom of the list in the over 40 anyway. my support boat was super cool, with tom, r and z cheering me on.

5/6 triathlon, r is 2nd from the right (photo by j.b.)

r participated in his first triathlon in the 5/6 group. he did great!! then came the sand games where the kids participated in a frozen t shirt contest, (nothing like a wet t shirt contest!) egg toss and sack relays. the adults got to play too, tom sack raced with total style points. even though i'm in the under 40 bracket these old lady joints can't take a sack race.

kids sack race gooooo r!

adult sack race goooo tom!! (photo by r.l.)

then came the best part. on friday night, for the first time, r swam the 25m lane from end to end with no break and no stopping. this is huge for him!!! then on saturday for the games he wanted to do the breast stroke race for the 8 and under. when z heard that, she wanted to do the kick board race (they let 5/6 year olds use a kick board and a buddy if they want it in the -8, she's 4). ok sure, let's do it, and they did it!!! they did great!! they were so proud of themselves and it was awesome to see the people that i grew inside of me swimming on their own with confidence. after the races they said they needed to do that again right away. good thing there was a family relay. they were begging us to do it, of course we did, even though the wind was picking up and one of us wanted to go sailing ;) so right after the adult freestyle race, where i swam in the lane between 1st and 2nd place, which was super fun and i wasn't last; i wore my american flag swim cap to cut down on the drag from my skirted tankini...

the family relay was amazing. it was the first time we did something like that as a team (besides a sailboat race) and it was so fun!! r did the first leg with his breast stroke, z did the 2nd with her kick board then me and then tom; our anchor, which is so right in so many ways. what a fun day. we were at the lake from 9am till 9pm, good, good times.

oh but they weren't over!! sunday am held the kids lake swim. tom and r were support boat for one of our swim counselors who swam so fast, she was second to reach the finish. then we prepared for the sister lake sailing challenge held at our lake this year. it was windy and perfect weather, tom and the sailing club defended their winning status from last year and fun was had by all, and we finished the weekend of encouraging and cheering for our family as a team and all of us in individual events where we all did our personal best.

tom got a new sail, it's the red and white stripes

we hung out, swam the lanes where r practiced his version of backstroke and freestyle while pretending to be michael phelps. then we came home to watch an awesome thunderstorm pass through with brought us a magnificent rainbow to finish off a great weekend with "gooooo team c" still being chanted in my head.

this moment

{this moment} - Joining Soulemama's Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

two hikes and a bonfire

busy, busy times it has been... i owe you lots of updates, for instance the birthday handmade's from may... yikes! but for now i'd like to say happy 2012. it's been a red letter year so far. i'm not one for resolutions, i don't really have anything i'm not already trying to do. and i abhor the "starting on monday" thing. once i want to do something i'd just like to get on with it, why wait?

since procreating, there's not a lot of time alone with my man. we've been trying to get a bit more in. just a bit. we like being with our kids all the time. we know it goes fast and we really enjoy it. it's the kind of parents we wanted to be, it's the kind of parents we have been for 6 years. we were married for 7 years before we had kids and we knew each other for 6 before we got married. we've lived in 3 states and in our car, the wanderlust runs deep in us. we waited a long time for our kids, and they are really fun to be around. so it is a rare occurrence that in three days we had three dates. very cool, very us and very fun.

for one hike we walked out of our house, up the street, to the end of a court and into the woods. up the mountain, down, then up, saw our neighborhood from the top, then around, came out through the botanical gardens and then walked back home. so very cool.

for another we hiked up and then around a lake. a hike we've been doing since we were teenagers. we did it when i was pregnant, with our nephew, with friends, by moonlight, with the kids on our backs. it's nice to be somewhere you know so well. when i am near trees and water i know who i am and where i belong.

new year's eve we had the kids in bed and asleep by 9. which if you know us, you know is a magnificent feat of daring, mixed with an ounce of know how and boat load of luck. we made a bonfire in the back yard, the sky was crystal clear, the stars were bright, the lake sparkly. at the stroke of 2012 there were bursts of color in the sky set off by folks around the neighborhood. it was exactly where we wanted to be.

cheers! to doing what you love this year with who you love to do it with.

this moment

{this moment} - Joining Soulemama's Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

this moment

{this moment} - Joining Soulemama's Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.