Memorial Day Picnic

This year's Memorial Day has come and gone...but I'm blogging about it anyway. We went up to Cicero to have a picnic at the home of Ben and Sarah. Sarah is Jamie's niece. B & S just got married last July and were anxious to host a picnic at their new house-purchased in October.My contribution to the picnic was strawberry pretzel salad. Jamie had told me not to make it since it was going to be a sweltering day and it would just melt into a mess. *sigh* My husband has little faith in me sometimes. I made it anyway, kept it nice and cold on a bed of ice in a cooler, and it turned out just fine!
The kids were able to keep cool in the pool.

I'm not sure what game Audra is playing here...but she looks like she is having fun. I think her Uncle Kevin was squirting water at her and she was catching the water as it fell.Laurie and I kept cool by sitting on the edge and dangling our legs in. I hadn't brought a suit and rather regretted it. Oh well!
Allen was in the pool too but got out to enjoy a game of ladders. He looks on...
as his partner, Ben takes the shot.
They were playing against Jamie and Kevin. I'm not sure who won in the end.

Champs!

Allen's swim team won sectionals! Notice all the shaved heads...and grey and red.
The boys had fun. They were greeted by a police escort into town with a victory parade and then went to Tom Wahl's for a celebration with all team members, friends, family and alumni!

MCCI Finals

Allen competed in his MCCI finals last night out in Gates. The boys all did great and we parents did a lot of cheering and hollering! Very exciting meet!

Snowy Birdhouse

Feeling a bit better. Of course I'm not giving up on my grad work. I'm almost done and I'll get through it somehow. I have to "just do it."
Here's the bird house my father made me. He never got to see it in person after I decorated it with the tools, but I showed him a picture on my digital camera when he had just come home on hospice. He liked it. I think it looks great in the snow. Tomorrow is a day of concentrating on schoolwork and nothing else!

Allen had another swim meet tonight and did awesome on his 500 yd freestyle race! His best time yet. He may have made sectionals. We have to wait and see. It was very exciting! I never imagined I would have such a competitive swimmer for a kid!

Thanks for all of your encouraging words. Gotta go finish Ender's Game, which is turning out to be quite a good book. I'm not usually a science fiction fan, but this book has captured me.

Swim Meet

I took the camera to Allen's swim meet the other day. I got some really nice shots. This is Allen with two of his best buddies, Sam and Eric.
Allen swimming the 500. He got a personal best on Saturday for this event.
His team. Don't ask me what those boys are doing in the foreground. I think they were actually horsing around when I took it. This was at the end of the meet. They had won!
Allen...zoning out while his coach is talking to them. LOL!

Crazy Days!

I just checked the thermometer and it's 4° outside right now!
It has been crazy here with barely time to catch a breath. I don't like that. I prefer a little down time...but it's not happening. Yesterday started out with going to my Bible study, then a quick trip to our insurance office, then home to work on a "secret project" (can't write it here in case one of my kids reads it), then to the DMV office, home with more "secret project" working, quick hiding of evidence before a school bus came, running off to a swim meet, home at 7 PM to cook a quick meal, and shortly thereafter to bed. Today I took kids to school, went to my job cleaning a house, ran few errands, stopped at the library, home for a quick shower, and was cooking dinner when my husband called to tell me the high school swim coach had called him and Allen was ill. They were actually calling an ambulance just in case. I totally freaked out! Jamie went up to the school and called to say Allen was okay and coming home. Apparently he had not had enough to eat. His blood sugar level was way low and they were giving him juices and stuff to get him going. He came home just as I was running out the door to Alicia's orchestra concert. Jamie stayed home with Allen to make sure he as okay.
Now I'm home...and planning on making Allen a BIG lunch to take to school tomorrow. I wish I had pictures of the concert...but I am still working with a camera that has a broken flash.

Fun at a friend's Pond

Every other week I go clean a house out in the country. My friends have a large and beautiful piece of property. I always bring the kids and the dog to hang out and swim in one of the ponds there.

My friend has 3 dogs of her own, so she doesn't mind me bringing Sherman. He stays outside with the other dogs. They have a great time running and swimming. Here is Sherman retrieving an empty water bottle one of the kids threw for him.

We are scheduled to go there again tomorrow. It's been overcast and gloomy...rainy today. If it is like this tomorrow I will probably end up leaving Sherman home and it will be an inside day.

Who knows? Maybe it will clear up and be sunny.

My Little Swan

I went to a friend's house the other day and there on her pond...I saw the most beautiful swan!

my swimmer

Today was a swim meet for my daughter. Here she is competing in the 50 butterfly. She didn't win the race, but she ended up taking 8 seconds off her time!

I am very proud of my swimmer.

Swimming!

Last night I took Audra to her first swim practice of the season. It was good to see her back at her favorite sport...working hard with her teammates and coach. They started out with a little pep talk with a welcome back cheer. I could tell Audra really enjoyed it. Swimming on this team is so good for her.
I'm very proud of my beautiful daughter.

Bathing Beauty

Alicia, taking a dip in Keuka Lake.