Last Home Swim Meet - July 14, 2012

***This is my second attempt to get all these photos posted. Thanks to a mistake on my part and an automatic time save right as I hit the wrong button that deleted everything I had just done, I lost all these pictures and the commentary on them. So, now it's just me and the cockroaches up while I try to get this post finished. Maybe I shouldn't bother, but it's important to me to include others that are far away in our lives, even if they don't read the blog often. So here goes the second attempt. Oh the Joy!

We had our last swim meet of the season on July 14th. We were at home, the Maumelle Marlins vs. the Lakewood Waves and the Conway Crocs. It was overcast and cloudy again and we had a bit of rain, but it didn't stop the meet or cause any major problems. There are 40 plus pictures here, so enjoy.

Spencer getting ready for kickboard...lane 3 under the slide.

Zack on the backstroke leg of his 100 yard IM.
His breaststroke leg...

Jordan on the butterfly stroke of her 100 yard IM.
Her breaststroke leg...

Kammie on the backstroke leg of her 100 yard IM.
Her breaststroke leg...

Bringing it home with her freestyle leg.

Zack on his mark for 25 yard Freestyle.

Spencer after his 25 yard freestyle.

Kammie getting ready for her 50 yard freestyle.
On her mark...
The 2nd 25 yards of her freestyle.(She's the one with the yellow cap closest to your view.)

Jordan waiting for her 50 yard freestyle.
On her mark...
1st 25...
2nd 25...

Zack leading off in his 4 X 25 yard 7&8 year old team relay...

Spencer on deck for his 1st 4X25 yard freestyle 6 years & under team relay...(He had been put on a team before, but at the Otter Creek meet, Spencer was the only one lined up in the right lane when the race started, so they didnt't get off with the start.)

On his mark for his leg of the race...(His was the 4th leg--so he was the anchor. [Our coach has the fastest swimmer go first and establish the lead and hopefully the others will hold that lead.])

Away he goes...

Zack on deck for 25 yard butterfly...
On his mark...
He's away...

Kam's 50 yard butterfly turn...
Kam butterfly...

Zack's start in the 25 yard backstroke.
Zack backstroke...

Spencer with a big smile on his face as he waits for his 25 yard backstroke start.
He's off...


Kam's 1st 25 of her 50 yard backstroke.
Kam's backstroke flip turn.
Kam's 2nd 25 yards of backstroke.
Jordan's 1st 25 yards in her 50 yard backstroke.
Her 2nd 25 yards...

Jordan's 1st 25 ofher 50 yard breaststroke.
Underwater...

2nd 25 of J's breaststroke.
Away she goes...


Sometimes they hold a coaches and parent relay at the end of a meet. For one reason or another, we did not do this until this last meet. I thought it would be fun to try, so, I volunteered to swim. We, the Marlins, had enough for 2 parent teams.
Here I am ready to go...

Coach Sarper Turker (who was once the 6th in the nation in butterfly, lead our team off with his butterfly stroke. His butterfly was faster than all the other teams freestyle. I was the second swimmer. I was so ready to start that I was kicking in the air before I actually entered the water.

Video of the 1st half of the parent/coaches relay...


Video of the 2nd half of the parent/coaches relay...


Our team got out touched by the other Marlin's team, so we came in second place. I did a no breather though. (Swimming the full 25 yards without taking a breath. My kids encouraged me to do that.)

The results:
Spencer 25 yard kickboard 45.56 14th of 23
Spencer 25 yard freestyle 34.32 8th Bronze
Spencer 100 yard freestyle team relay 1:43.97 6th place
Spencer 25 yard backstroke 41.60 1st Bronze (5 points)

Zack 100 yard IM 1:52.38 2nd Gold (3 points)
Zack 25 yard freestyle 18.36 2nd Gold (3 points)
Zack 100 yard freestyle team relay 1:25.24 2nd place
Zack 25 yard butterfly 24.00 1st Gold (5 points)
Zack 25 yard backstroke 20.22 1st Gold (5 points) *Marlins new record setting time.

Kammie 100 yard IM 1:26.85 1st Gold (5 points)
Kammie 50 yard freestyle 32.91 Gold (5 points)
Kammie 100 yard freestyle team relay 1:10.24 4th place
Kammie 50 yard butterfly 41.50 1st Gold (5 points)
Kammie 50 yard backstroke 41.10 1st Gold (5 points)

Jordan 100 yard IM 1:30.89 2nd Bronze (3 points)
Jordan 50 yard freestyle 35.40 2nd Bronze (3 points)
Jordan 100 yard freestyle team relay 1:03.52 2nd place
Jordan 50 yard backstroke 45.11 1st Bronze (5 points)
Jordan 50 yard breastroke 47.47 3rd Silver [with bronze time] (1 point)

***Another note: At regular meets they split relays 8& under, 12& under, and 18& under. The coaches put the fastest 4 kids in that age group on the A relay team and have up to as many teams as they can to give the swimmers experience. But at the Meet of Champs, it's done by age group. 6&under, 7&8, 9&10, 11&12, 13&14, and 13&14, 15& up. So the coaches grouped our kids by age this time to give them practice for next week at the Meet of Champs.

Last year it was so hot that our tomatoes never really grew. The plants grew big enough, but it was too hot for the blossoms to hang on and really form into tomatoes. We got a stray one here or there, but hardly any until the end of the season when it had cooled off. We ended up picking a bunch of green ones in October and had them ripen over the winter. Not this year. We came home from our vacation and the tomatoes were ready. I was able to have enough ripe at the same time to bottle them. I got 7 quarts of tomatoes--from our very own garden. It's a lot of work, but worth it. [It may be cheaper to go buy canned tomatoes, but we know we can grow and preserve our own food if the need arises.]

Chick-fil-a Cow Day

Chick-fil-a has a customer appreciation day each year. If you dress like a cow, you get free food. So...we dressed up like cows again. This year it fell on Friday, July 13th. [Kate was gone last year to EFY and this year to youth conference, so she missed out again.]

Outside showing off our Cow costumes...

From the back...
At the restaurant...
Our friends, the Toblers...Love Joe's horned hat that is blocked somewhat behind his daugther's head.

We had lots of fun and enjoyed the great food.

And yes we support Freedom of Speech and feel all should be able to express their opinions and beliefs without others holding it against them. We believe that we have an obligation to obey the commandments of God. But that doesn't mean we discriminate against others or treat them unkindly. Heavenly Father loves ALL his children. And we can all do and become better.

Cardiology Appointment

At Sidnie's well check this year, the doctor spent extra time listening to her heart. That made mom a little bit anxious. He finished and said that she had a Venus Hum. Basically a loud sounding vein. "That's probably all it is," he said, "but I'm going to refer you to a cardiolgist to be sure that the late clicking sound I hear at the end of the heart cycle is normal." So for 3 weeks we had this to ponder and stew about.
They called us with our appointment date and it was none other than Friday, July 13th. (Good thing we're not Superstitious.) Our appointment was at 9:00 a.m. We parked and wandered through Arkansas Children's Hospital looking for the cardiology office and finally found it. We didn't have to wait long before they took us back for an Echocardiograham...Sidnie was very brave.

Then we waited for a bit more in the waiting room before being called back...


She got a clean bill of health from the doctor. Thank Goodness. We feel blessed to have all well with her heart.