How to Kick off summer right - Lot of Sun, Sugar, & Water

Now that our summer sitter is here to stay (at least until #7 comes), school is out and summer feels a bit more official. If fun was measured in wet clothes, pounds of sugar and square inches of sunburns then we definitely kicked off summer 2021 right. 

First popsicle of the summer

Lady C with her supposed to be popsicle but came back with an Hair-head. All the eyerolls and no more unaccompanied snack bar trips. 

To recap the last week of school (which I underestimated with the amount of crazy - as I thought the two weeks prior were going to be crazy) 

Last day of school pic

First day of school pic just because

Tuesday - swim practice

Wednesday - summer swim practice that got rained out and end of year school party that didn't get rained out. Insert ALL the wet clothes and fun times on the bouncy houses without mom checking in because she couldn't bear the thought of all the wet and dirt and grass coupled with hot dogs and Icee Pops. I won the cool mom of the month award for not nixing it because EVERYONE knew I wanted to

Thursday - E's voice recital followed by skillet cookies because I would have been terrified singing in front of 75 people. Weekly voice lessons were a success!

Friday - end of year swim team party and free play in pool. Tacos, chips, cheese, cupcakes and more water. Another night of fun especially for the big girls

Saturday - Open Water swim meet. Never been to one. It was pretty stinking cool and crazy and terrifying at the same time. We drove 2 hours to the meet. E swam the 2K - that would be 2000 meters, in a lake. Imagine a lake with three buoys in it spaced about 333 meters apart. Then insert 50 or so kids and send them out to swim two laps around the buoys. Its worth noting the 13-14s swam 3K and the 15 and ups swam 5K and the really really brave swimmers swam 5K then 3K then 2K!

The brave 2Kers 

E finished in about 40 minutes which I think was pretty good for her first open water meet. She claims she'd do it again. I was more nervous about her not finishing and the 2 hr trip being for nought. 

This was the start of the 2K. E was in the first wave of swimmer because her coach (thankfully) submitted a time for her so there wasn't as much traffic as a few of the other waves. 

The specks are the swimmers. It was really hard to pick out who was who but their coach was able to spot them from a distance - because she's the best. 

A, C and J were dragged along for the trip. I can't say I'd have them come again because it was really hot by the end of it. J had fun cheering GO GO GO and eating unlimited snacks. 

Just some perspective... having kids brave enough to even attempt the swim made me super proud. 

Then R and M were up for the 800 M 

M was reluctant to do it in the first place but was less than a minute off from 8th place medal. 

R said she was really scared but was glad she didn't have to raise her hand for one of the boats to pick her up! Same girl! Same!!!

To recap my thoughts on the open water meet. I think it is really a mind over matter. I got this. I'm going to finish. I did finish swimming a 2K or 800 so now I can basically attempt or do many other things - whether swimming related or not. All the proud for the girls and I hope it remains in the swim circuit of meets for our swimmers. 

Just to make things SUPER interesting the weekend before Lee and I decided to rent a pontoon boat on Sunday. I suppose it is one of the perks of having church on Saturday nights (but I really will be glad once we have liturgy on Sundays again). We aren't afforded much family vacation time because #poolseason and Lee isn't much of a beach guy - but he is a boat guy - we found out. 

J perched in his favorite spot

The girls couldn't get enough of the tube

C wasn't big on the lake but had a pretty good day

A hated the girls on the tube because they fell off but once he realized they were having fun he was better. He was coaxed on the tube once but not for long. 

They rode the tube as much as they possible could 

We did eventually pull them off every so often for food, drinks and sunscreen - they still ended up with burnt legs

It was a family day for the books and I can say we will definitely be doing it again before the end of the summer. 

We finally got to go for our Open Water meet treat (because we were rushing to church after the meet itself) E got Peppermint Moose Tracks, R got Chocolate and M got Play Dough. Yes I made them wear their shirt from the meet and it kept their clothes clean. All the proud for these girls.