tales from a far-land

This past June, Madilyn and Aiden participated on the Moon Valley Country Club swim team.  Moon Valley is one of several country clubs in the Valley that have joined together in a swim team league for kids.  The kids practiced their strokes every week day morning.  And then, on Thursday evenings, they competed in a swim meet against all of the other country clubs' kids by age group.  The league awarded ribbons to all of the kids at the end of each heat.  Some of the age categories had several heats.  And then, after all of the heats were tallied, then the top five kids in each race would be awarded a medal.  Throughout the month, Madilyn (no picture) earned one medal and Aiden earned two (see below).  From my vantage point, the kids seemed to have a good time.  As a spectator and first time family, we really enjoyed the whole program and were a little disappointed that we didn't engage our kids in this program earlier in their lives.  Th...

The third swim meet of the summer season was held at the kids' home pool, Sunnyslope Pool.  The meet ran so smoothly.  In fact, we were home before 9:00pm.  It was amazing.   This was definitely Madilyn's meet.  She looked strong and focused.  She placed very well in all of her races.   Madilyn placed: 1st -- Free Relay 3rd -- Free 25yd Individual Participation -- Breast 25yd Individual 1st -- Back Rela y Aiden, on the other hand, looked a little off and tired. My little competitive one was very disappointed in his races.  So much, that he wanted to throw all of the purple (Participation) ribbons in the trash.  We had to remind him that this is his first year swimming competitively and that he is still young compared to the other swimmers. Aiden placed: 3rd -- Free Relay Participation -- Free 25yd Individual Participation -- Breast 25yd Individual Participation -- Back Rela y Aiden ready to dive in the pool Madilyn div...

The kids' second swim meet of the summer was held at Deer Valley pool.  This meet focused on the breast and freestyle strokes. The kids did pretty well.  Although, breast stroke is not one of their strongest strokes thus far.  This meet, Aiden was excited to swim all four races as he wanted four ribbons instead of three.  He placed pretty well overall and he had fun. Aiden placed: 1st -- Free Relay 3rd -- Free 25yd Individual 4th -- Breast 25yd Individual Participation -- Breast Relay Aiden at the end of one of his races Aiden waiting with his relay team I called his name... Aiden's 25yd Breast Stroke Madilyn had an okay meet.  BUT, her best race was the freestyle relay.  She had a stellar swim!  Her team was really struggling and was in almost last place until her leg of the race.  She was the anchor. Madi could tell that the team was not doing very well.  She was super antsy and anxious to swim her leg of the ra...

Summer in Phoenix = Swimming.  And more specifically, City of Phoenix swim team.  Madilyn has been swimming with the city swim team for the past couple of years.  Now that Aiden is five, he joined the team too.  He may not have wanted to join the team at first, but after some tough negotiation (we agreed to sign him up for diving lessons), we convinced him to join with his sister. And now, he loves it.  So much, that he wants to join Madi's club team when school starts. The kids' first swim meet of the season occurred the second Thursday of June. The meet was at Starlight Pool.  This meet focused on the freestyle and back strokes.  The kids swam very well, especially Aiden since it was his first meet *ever*. Madilyn placed: 2nd -- Back Relay 3rd -- Back 25yd Individual 1st -- Free 25yd Individual 3rd -- Free Relay Aiden placed: * 3rd -- Back 25yd Individual** 4th-- Free 25yd Individual 1st -- Free Relay***         ...

This spring Madilyn continued to swim with a club swim team, Swim Neptune.  She loves to swim. There have been several days this spring when the club pool was shut down because of a broken heater or various other reasons.  Madilyn was so disappointed she was unable to swim.  She loves swimming that much!  Her strokes and her techniques continue to improve.  She was also invited to move up a level to Trident II.  She is the youngest swimmer in this level.  Sometimes I look in the pool and she seems to be swimming a tad slower than the rest of the kids, but I have to remind myself that she is younger and her day will come.  We are so proud of our little fish. Swim Meet #1 -- 3/5/17 Results: 25 Free 0:25:38 Y (PB) 25 Back 0:36:04 Y 25 Fly 0:38:09 Y Warm-ups On your mark ... Video of Madi's 25yd Freestyle Swim Madi and mommy Swim Meet #2 -- 3/19/17 Results: 25 Free 0:26:08 Y 25 Back 0:34:10 Y 25 Brea...