End of the Year Swim Team Awards/Party

Monday night we had the awards portion of the end of the year Swim Team party. (The pool party part was rained out. And we needed the rain, so we'll take it.) Here is a boat load of photos from that event...

Zack getting his team trophy. 2nd place or what they call Runner up in the Central Arkansas Swimming League (CASL).

Zack with Coach Sarper Turker

Kam getting her CASL trophy.

Kam with Coach Sarper.

Besides the team and individual event medals from the Meet of Champs (MOC) the kids received, they also gave out other awards, e.g. most improved or Highest points genereated over the summer of swimming meets that were held. Kam and Zack each got the highest points awards in their respective age and gender groups and received a very nice medal for that.

Zacking getting his medal.

Again with Coach Sarper.

A view of his medal from the front.

Kammie being given her medal.

Kam with Sarper.

A front view of Kam's medal.

A view of the back of the medal (it's the same for Kam and Zack).

The 6 year old boys record setting freestyle relay team. Luke Gustafson, Cole Clausen, Zack Marshall and Holden Fender. Yeah! (They even got their names in the Maumelle Monitor.)

Kammie with friends. Amaya Boggan from her relay team and Maisy Mathews, a friend from school.

Maumelle Marlins who qualified and attended the MOC (Meet of Champs)
MOC metal winners
MOC record settersDave Sweere and Jacob Toland (older boys) each set 4 MOC records. Awesome!


Here's a shot of all of Zack's MOC medals.

Kam's awards and ribbons from the MOC.

Meet of CHAMPS

The Meet of Champs was held this past Saturday, the 24th of July (Pionner Day)!
Kammie and Zack did great and we have truly enjoyed this season.
From the Mock meet they held back on June 7th until the Meet of Champs, we've eaten, slept and breathed swimming it seems, but enjoyed all they were able to accomplish and do.

I will have a few pictures from the meet that a friend took, when he sends them to me. For now, I'll just give a run down of the results.

Their team, the Maumelle Marlins took 2nd place in the Central Arkansas Swimming League and they won the Sportsmanship award.

Zack is in the boys 6 and under catergory. He took 2nd in freestyle, 1st in backstroke (improving his time) and his relay team not only took 1st, they set a Meet of Champs record. Yeah for ZACK, COLE, HOLDEN, and LUKE!

Kammie had a busy meet and improved in some areas, and was tired out in others. She beat out some higher seeded girls time wise and took 2nd place in Freestyle--the first event. She got a bit of a late jump (picture later), but was able to improve her time and finish 2nd. There was some controversy later as they posted the official results and had her listed as 4th. But with a review request from our team coach, they figured out that she did indeed take 2nd. In Backstroke she took 5th. In Breaststroke she took 6th (she thought she might be DQ'd with her stream line at the start, but she wasn't). She took 3rd place in Butterfly. She was seeded higher time wise for the IM, but after swimming the 4 previous events, she placed 4th. And last but not least, her relay team took 2nd place. Go KAMMIE!

Kammie feel asleep immediately in the car on the way home and then these pictures are of her after we got home konked out on mom and dad's bed.

My boys...

Spencer seems to love the dress up clothes--the boy and girl variety. Here he is wearing just about every piece of dress up clothes we own, from Pirates and Indiana Jones to all the girl frilly stuff. Silly guy...


Before we left for Florida, I gave the boys much needed hair cuts. We messed around with Zacky's a little first--giving him a temporary mohawk.

Zacky lost his second tooth.

At Kammie's birthday dinner, we had corn on the cob. It helped loosen Zack's tooth enough that he wanted mom to pull it. It probably wasn't quite ready, but with some pushing and then pulling, out it came! He was happy, but it did hurt a little.

Kammie turns 9 (Happy Birthday)

Kammie had her 9th birthday. Where has the time gone that my little on is now 9 years old and been baptized for an entire year? We began the day giving her two presents that were swimming related [a new towel and a swim suit cover up] and then we headed off to the swim meet. (See the results of the meet on the previous post.)

As always, she enjoyed opening her presents...





Kammie had a great idea on how to design her Birthday cake. The 9x13 pan became the swimming pool frosted in light blue frosting for the water. We made the lane ropes with M&M's and the black marking flags with pipe cleaners and tooth picks. Then she placed swimmers (polly pocket dolls) in each lane. The girl in the middle climbing out of the pool represents Kammie being done with her race and getting out of the pool after giving her coach a high five. As you can see, one swimmer is only half way down the length of the pool and one girl is in just diving in. I've inclued several shots of the cake to try to give you the full effect. It was fun to decorate.





Listening to the birthday song with all the candles lit...


Blowing out the candles...

I'm number one!

Another Successful Swim Meet

Saturday Kammie and Zack had another swimming meet, after not having been to one for three weeks (the Otter Creek Meet on the 26th of June. They had the 4th of July weekend off and then we were in Orlando, FL the next week and missed a meet in Cabot.) We took the whole family this time, so they could watch and see how Kam and Zack do.

Zack got 1st place in Freestyle and Backstroke and 4th place with his relay team. He tried Breaststroke and Butterfly for the first time and was disqualified in both events. He won the breaststroke first, but we didn't know he had to lift his head out of the water on every stroke--DQ'd. On Butterfly, he started out great with lots of energy, but as the event went on his strokes got smaller and smaller. He was DQ'd for not lifting his arms all the way out of the water on his strokes at the end. Oh well, it was good to try new events. (Experience for the future...) Zack will swim in the meet of Champs this Saturday in Freestyle, Backstroke and on a relay team.

Zack lined up and waiting his turn...

Getting ready for the backstroke...

He's off...

Zack on his mark...

In the lead...

Almost there...

under water...

making a splash!


Kammie is an Awesome swimmer! She swam in 5 events: IM, Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke (for the first time), and then was on a relay team. She recieved 5 1st place ribbons. Kammie has a gold time in every event, but breaststroke, where her time is silver. The most amazing thing was that she cut 20 seconds off her IM time. 20 seconds is huge! She will go to the meet of Champs this next saturday and swim 6 events: IM, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle relay. [We do realize that Kammie is the oldest in her swimming bracket this year and that has been to her advantage.]

We had a close call on getting her to the right spot on Freestyle and got her there just in the nick of time. She was the one to beat, so we were lucky to get her to her lane as all the other girls were already lined up and ready to start. She was able to win too...Phew!

Kammie's entry--making a splash...

Ready for backstroke...

On her mark...

She's off...

She wins!

Relay start...

There she goes...

Almost done with her leg of the race (she was the lead off person)...

Kam and Zack with Kammie's relay teammate Jaya. The Maumelle Marlins won the meet.