Last weekend, we had our mock swim meet (yes, go ahead and make a joke about mocking swimmers, god knows I do. Make the joke, that is, not mock the swimmers.). Can I just say that Julianna is blowing me away? Last year she was...slow. She was new to swimming strokes, so it was understandable, but it was certainly surprising the two times she won heat ribbons. Okay, once she was against a really fat girl who clearly had some kind of learning disability. I'm not kidding, so it isn't mean. It's just true. And, well, funny. But this year! She is really burning up the lane. Last year, I'd watch the other girls write "Eat my bubbles" on their backs and think, "Oh please, don't ask for that so I don't die of irony poisoning." But she can do it now. Perversely, when she could barely drag herself over the line, I was totally laid back, all "go have fun." But now that she could actually do okay? I'm all "You're breathing on every stroke! You need to only breathe every other one or less!" Yes. It's true. I can't swim and I'm all swim coach on my kid.
So anyway, she swam in the mock meet. In this one she's next to Brooke, who is only 6. She shouldn't be in the heat and was in by mistake. No, she didn't only beat a 6 year old. Geez.
And here she is, mid stroke. Breathing. Sheesh.
And here she is, eating muffins with Brooke afterward (Brooke is dancing to Brent's themesong):
No, she didn't have to show her boobs to get the beads, you sicko. They were handed out to all the swimmers.
The best thing is that she just LOVES swimming. She's so happy in the water. She races for fun. She even can hold her own against Oksanna, whom my friend Denise imported from Russia JUST to kick all of our kids' butts. So we've been at the pool almost every evening (in addition to her morning swim team practice). Ben is a totally different kid in the water. Last year, he couldn't stand to have water on his face. Now, he jumps off the diving board. He probably could have joined the team this year, but I think he'll do better if he's had some more lessons and has even more confidence. Lily loves the water, but still doesn't want it on her face. It'll come, I'm sure. We're there most nights from 4 or 5 until 8:30. And, in case you're wondering, no, it doesn't make them go right to sleep. Sigh.
Look, Lily is still cute!
Today, we went hiking. The weather was just gorgeous, so we headed out to our usual trail at Cunningham Falls. The cliff trail is just long enough (just under a mile) that we feel like we've hiked. Lily is totally done by the end, but I never have to carry her. Perfect. We hiked to the falls and had lunch and the kids waded around. My camera battery wasn't charged, so I have only a few phone pics. Kids in the water:
And we found these huge ass millipedes. I'd never seen them this big in the wild and we saw three today:
They were really cool and I got to be Cool Mom and hold them for kids who came along behind us on the trail. It was hard to convince Lily that he had to be left behind and not taken home as a pet. She's had joint custody of a cricket with Taro, a boy that lives up the street.
Then we went to the orchard to buy cherries. And then to Candyland!
I kept saying "Come on kids! It's Caaaandyland!" leading them to speculate what organ one might lose at Candyland. Ben suggested that I distract the staff while they load up on candy, so that if anyone loses a kidney, it's me. Rotten kids.
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