Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer! If you do not like to read stories such as: "My kid did such a great job!" "WOW! Look at how amazing my child is!" this might not be the blog entry for you!? Although, I do not intend to be one of "those" Mom's - I will admit that I was one PROUD Mommy and that I am definitely tootin' a big 'ole horn about how FAB my kids were at the swim meet at their school. ;0) So, if that didn't totally turn you off and you weren't saying, "Oh Pa-Lease! SPARE ME!" You might actually be able to stomach this entry and hopefully you will enjoy it! So, in the spirit of the Olympics and the kids returning to school for year TWO...here is one of our favorite days in the primary school last year. The inter-house swim meet!
Rachel, Erica and Michael all participated. David will be old enough to participate during
the 2012-2013 school year. I have always known that our children LOVE to swim what I didn't know is that they are actually PRETTY GOOD at it! YAY KIDS! :0) They compete against other kids within the school at their same grade level. Boys against boys. Girls against girls. Our children are all sOooOOoo different from one another and even in this event their personalities came out.
Michael is a competitor but mostly he just loves having a "fun" day with his friends. Rachel HATES competition. She kept asking, "Do I have to do it? Do I have to compete?" Erica has "vicious competitor" flowing through her veins. Knowing that it was a competition made it that much more fun and she worked that much harder to "win".
You better believe I was there poolside, donning my sunscreen, big shades and Woot-WoOOOoooOtin' it up for my Babies!
Ended the day with a little friendly swim-competition between the Dads!
Rachel, Erica and Michael all participated. David will be old enough to participate during
the 2012-2013 school year. I have always known that our children LOVE to swim what I didn't know is that they are actually PRETTY GOOD at it! YAY KIDS! :0) They compete against other kids within the school at their same grade level. Boys against boys. Girls against girls. Our children are all sOooOOoo different from one another and even in this event their personalities came out.
Michael is a competitor but mostly he just loves having a "fun" day with his friends. Rachel HATES competition. She kept asking, "Do I have to do it? Do I have to compete?" Erica has "vicious competitor" flowing through her veins. Knowing that it was a competition made it that much more fun and she worked that much harder to "win".
You better believe I was there poolside, donning my sunscreen, big shades and Woot-WoOOOoooOtin' it up for my Babies!
Mikey's BFF and "twin" Arttu!
Mikey Lookin' In the Mirror. Oh. Newp. No Mirror. That's he and Arttu looking at each other! HAHAH! TWINS, Right!?
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Getting serious now. De-fogging the goggles. (I thought he was checking the water temp! HAHA!)  1 - Arttu, 2 - Michael, 3 - Wills, 4 - Gregoire, 5 - Jacob   They competed in several races and did all sorts of strokes that I could never HOPE to be able to do. After competing in free-style, breast stroke, back stroke, and butterfly Michael got 3rd place in the breast stroke!  Although he looks like a GRUMP he was VERY pleased with his medal. (He actually wore it all weekend long! HAHA!) |
Could OUR Michael be the next Michael Phelps?! ;0)
Erica's Turn!
Gettin' Ready!
SoooOOOooOOO Happy!!!
Erica was chosen by the Hercules House Captain (Sacha, in the blue) to swim in the relay. Erica did the backstroke & free style.
At first, Erica was really nervous and not so sure she wanted to compete in the relay but upon further encouragement from her Mother ;0) and the other girls she agreed to do it!
Go Keeka, GOOOOooooooOOOO!
YAYYYY! Victorious!
One more time...
In her element!
YES! Hercules relay team brings home the GOLD again!
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Good Job, Girls! Winner of best overall girl swimmer in her grade   
Rachel and Erica competed on the same day. Same time. In all honesty, at times Rachel was having a hard time being all "smiles" and "Congratulations" to her little sister that was sweeping the competition. Rachel truly is a GREAT swimmer but the competition was TOUGH. So, even though I tried to remind her, "Keep doing your best, Rach!" "Don't give up!" "Swim hard until the last moment b/c you never know when the person next to you is starting to get tired and that's when you pull ahead and beat 'em!" (Can you tell I LIKE competition!? Haha!) So, she listened but didn't really seem to internalize it. It was more of the, "You're my Mom so you HAVE to tell me I'm good at this" kind of listening. Thank goodness, my friend, Vanessa was on hand b/c she gave Rachel a pep-talk before the lunch break and don't you know it....My little sweetie came back from lunch and swam with a new determination, worked her butt off and came home with a third place medal! Sometimes hearing the same ole jazz from someone BESIDES your Mother can make a world of a difference. Thanks, V!!!
  Rachel's friend, Sacha, congratulating her! As a sidenote-Sacha is such a GEM! She was truly tickled and delighted for Rachel when Rachel's name was called as a medal winner. She was a great encouragement to Rachel throughout the day and as I watched Sacha win and lose races throughout the day (MOSTLY win) she was gracious at both! And THAT is not something you see very often! In fact, I overheard a little girl in Erica's age bracket, medals clanging around her neck, walk up to another child and say, "Soooo, how many medals did you win?!" (Already knowing the answer was NONE as all you had to do was look at the poor childs empty neck!) and as the child dropped his head and his eyes shifted to the ground he sadly said, "None." To which the little girl relentlessly replied, "Oh yeah. Well, I've won two and I'm probably going to win A LOT more." (Um, Hello, MEAN GIRL!) Oh man! I had to retract my Momma Bear claws b/c I wanted to march right in between the two children and launch into that little girl my lecture about the difference between being a gracious winner and loser. |
Erica was also REALLY happy for Rachel!
It was good for them to spend the day cheering
for each other.
3rd & 4th grade cup winners
Erica & one of her good friends, Jean-Baptiste.
(We will miss you this year, Jean! Keep in touch!)
Ended the day with a little friendly swim-competition between the Dads!
(Only the ones that wanted to get involved)
Now for the Mom's!!
(NO! I did NOT compete! Haha!)
I can swim to save my life but in terms of doing actual "strokes" .... fuhgetaboutit!
Very proud of ALL my Babies! Doing their personal best, overcoming obstacles, pushing themselves and having a successful and FUN day with friends!
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