Baltimore!

We made an impromptu trip to Baltimore over the weekend. On the spur of the moment, we decided to go to the Aquarium. As it turns out, you really can't go to the aquarium without adequate planning. When we arrived and paid the twenty five dollar parking fee at 2:20, the aquarium was selling tickets for 6:00 pm! We did not feel like waiting around for three hours, so we wandered around and had some ice-cream. We'll have to reschedule when we have planned it out better.

Wrapping Up the Season

We have wrapped up the season with Divisionals and a banquet for Maddie and the Lollipop Meet and a cook-out for Sophie. The girls had so much fun this summer, and they are both sad to see their practices come to an end.

Here is Sophie about to swim her first relay, the second stretch of the kick board competition! To see her swim her 25 meter freestyle, go to the video in the following post.

Madeline came in 10th at divisionals! Since swimmers come from six different pools for this meet, she did awesome! Her teammates made her this poster and hung it up during the night.

I posted a video of Madeline swimming her medley in a previous post.  Scroll down a bit to view it!

Below is Madeline at the awards banquet. We dried and curled her hair. Why? I am not sure since within 15 minutes of arriving, she went for a swim.

 I am really proud of both my girls!!

Sophie's Meet

Go Sophie!

Here's one more video of Sophie swimming at her Lollipop meet. Can you believe she was afraid to put her face in the water? She has done so well this summer!

Sophie Swimming

Little Sophie Swimming

We can't believe the progress Sophie has made this summer. Here is a video of her working on her 25 meter freestyle. She is almost there!!

50 Freestyle

50 Freestyle

The end of the summer swim team is so bitter sweet; your family is exhausted, but it's been so fun! Here is a video of a mid-summer "B" meet when Madeline swam freestyle.

Divisionals Video

Divisionals! 

Click the link above to see Madeline swimming an Individual Medley at Divisionals. She's in Lane 5.

Midwest Trip

The girls and I headed west last week to spend some time with family. Our first stop was South Dakota where we enjoyed our time with Grandpa and Grandma. We shopped and shopped, played with the dogs, enjoyed some great meals, and Maddie even went fishing one morning on Grandpa's boat.

On the third day, Aunt Jessie and company arrived! The girls loved playing with their cousins, especially new baby, Ranger! What a cutie!

We took these pictures at Lake Farley. Thanks Grandma for the matching suits!

Besides good eats, there were plenty of treats.

On day 4, we drove down to Worthington, MN, for a family reunion on my mom's side. The kids enjoyed the hotel, especially the pool.

On the final day of our trip, we drove to see my grandma's grave and her old home. We trespassed, not knowing who the farm belongs to today, to get some pictures of where Margie lived and where my mom spent lots of time while growing up.

This is the original barn built in the early 1900's. The original white farmhouse is there too, but it has been added on to. Back then, my great-grandparents owned 160 acres.  We didn't stay long, as the large dog on the premises looked quite hungry. We're back home now resting up for our big trip to Los Angeles in a few weeks!

Random Events

While the majority of our days seem to revolve around swim team and dive team events, the girls are also taking a pottery class. They love it! I love that it provides me with 90 minutes of time to myself. I usually go to the farmer's market or read. It is lovely!

We took the girls out to celebrate their successful school years. They both had perfect attendance this year! PERFECT Attendance! I have no idea how that happened, but I credit their teachers who made every day one to look forward to.

We have had quite a bit of rain here in the DC area this summer. I love the thunderstorms, but they do "dampen" outdoor plans. One day, we painted birdhouses for our garden.

We celebrated the fourth! Madeline spent her allowance on sparklers, and we headed to Grandma's to watch the annual fireworks show over the bay.  Once again, the best seats in the house, no crowds, and no problems parking. Sophie, who doesn't like the loud noises, watched through the sliding glass door.

Our garden continues to amaze us! We thought we had brown thumbs, but our garden in like a jungle! Maddie planted the beans from seeds at school, and we transplanted the sprouts to our garden. We had her beans for dinner last week.

We are able to harvest this quantity of produce every four days or so. It is amazing!

One thing I have learned about the garden . . . When you go out to pick something quickly, CLOSE the door. Or else, while a certain dog chases squirrels around the yard, she just might chase one into the house! Yes, we had a squirrel in our house. I saw it run in, but then I couldn't find it. I was panicking as I envisioned the girls needing rabies shots and our house and furniture torn apart by little squirrel claws and teeth.  I guess the squirrel was as shocked as I was because it found a hiding place and stayed there.

Luckily, Ralph had a rodent trap. I set it up, and we left the house for awhile. When we came back, we had our squirrel. Kent was able to release it back into our yard, and now we are very, very careful to keep the door closed!

I have taken up my usual summer time hobby, craigslisting.  I love finding inexpensive pieces like the one below. I got this desk for my office for . . . twenty dollars! That's it, twenty dollars! I am not sure if I'll paint it or leave it as is. Right now, I am searching for a chair to go with it. I am imagining something pretty with a fabric seat, maybe an antique-ish one I could paint, for  25 dollars or less. I'll keep you posted!

Sophie!

Sophie has made so much progress with her swimming this summer! I credit the daily Little Sharks program at our pool and the countless hours we have spent at the pool so far. Last week, she went off the diving board for the first time and swam unassisted to the ladder!

Here she is working on her freestyle! She can get about halfway across the pool now, and if she can get all the way across by next summer, she can be on the swim team with Maddie. No more watching from the sidelines!

Here she is showing off her underwater skills.  It has been such a relief for me to know that she is a little bit safer in the water now.