Mike, Emma, Madeline and I got to celebrate Abby’s 5th grade graduation with her on the last day of school. It was so fun to watch all the kids march into the gym with upbeat music playing in the background. After a few remarks from their principal, Mrs. Hooper, the entire 5th grade sang “Best Day of My Life,” by American Authors. They sounded really good. Then they called each of the kids down one by one to get their ES completion certificates. Luckily, they did them by classes, so Abby wasn’t the last one to be called. I loved watching Abby’s excitement when she received her certificate from her teacher, Mrs. Lynch. You could just tell that they had a great relationship. Abby had excellent teachers at Mountain View, but Mrs. Lynch was definitely her favorite teacher. After that the kids got their certificates, they threw their class hats in the air and then sat down so we could all enjoy the cute slideshow, with pictures of the kids throughout elementary school and baby photos of each of them. Afterwards we all enjoyed cupcakes and lots of hugs and congratulations from friends and teachers.
Abby and her closest friends spent much of the last few months fundraising at her school so that they could buy trees to plant on the school grounds. They gave presentations in front of the entire school and had posters throughout the school explaining their project to help beautify the outside of the school. They ended up raising almost $200. With the money they raised at school and the help of some of us parents, they were able to buy 2 really great trees. All the girls met early at school to watch the trees be planted in the ground. They even gave the trees names. It was fun to watch all their hard work pay off and to be able to contribute to improving the school grounds.
Abby had her very last elementary school field day and had a blast running in the relays with her friends and classmates. The relays consisted of running only, running and jumping over tiny hurdles, and running while pushing a tire. The tire race was hilarious to watch. Although she had a great time doing the relay racing, the highlight of every field day is definitely the tug of war. Each grade has their own competitions. Abby’s 5th grade class won the tug of war twice and lost three times. Oh, how I will miss watching Abby have fun at field day with her friends.
Abby participated in the ES musical again and was thrilled when she got a speaking part. She was cast as Ms. Smythe, the bank chairman’s secretary. Even though she only had one real speaking part she was beyond excited to be a part of the Mary Poppins Jr. musical where she got to sing and act with many of her friends who were also in the play. It was such a joy to watch her devotion to not only the mandatory rehearsals but also her commitment to practice at home. All of the kids did such a great job in all of their performances. I was fortunate enough to watch the daytime performance with Emma and Madeline where I got to take photos again for the parents. Then Mike and I enjoyed the evening show together. We are so proud of Abby for putting herself out there to participate in these amazing musicals that her ES puts on every year.
Emma, Peter, and Andrew swam in their second meet of the club season at the CMA Valentines meet at Cheyenne Mountain High School. Since Emma turned 13 last month she was bumped up to swim with the older kids this time. One of the things about the older kids events are the elimination of many of the smaller 50 yd events. There weren't too many options in the 100yd events for today and so Emma only swam in the 100 freestyle race. She was way more confident during this meet than she was during the last meet. She did well, swimming the first 50 yards extremely well. Her second 50 yards was a bit slower because she swallowed some water on the second lap. Still, she was able to knock out a time of 1:35.73. Way to go Emma!
Peter swam the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle. He went out too fast for the first lap and ended up losing a bit of steam on the second lap. That's usually how it goes with the butterfly. It's just a tough event. His time was 1:15.31. He did really well, however, on his 100 freestyle. He got a new PR with a time of 1:05.21. It was so fun to see Peter PR in the freestyle and to also try the butterfly event. Most kids don't volunteer to swim in that event. Andrew swam the 100 freestyle and the 200 breaststroke. He wasn't feeling well at all today and his back was bothering him. His times were still decent though. He swam the 100 freestyle in 58.81 and the 200 breaststroke in 2:54.83. I'm so proud of Andrew for pushing through it. The kids have all been swimming with the Rapids Swim Club since the early fall and this was the first meet that I was able to sign them up to participate in. The girls were a little nervous as this was their first real big swim meet. The boys were anxious to see what they could swim at this point in their pre-season to their HS swim team season. I was so incredibly impressed with how well everyone did today and how they cheered for and encouraged each other in their individual events.
Andrew's times were already so much better than the last two seasons of HS swim. He swam in the 50 freestyle, 100 breast, and the 100 freestyle events. He PR'd in 100 breaststroke and swam it in 1:16.17. His previous best time was his sophomore year at 1:18.42 since he didn't swim it his junior year. His 50 free time was outstanding for the pre-season at 26.00. His fastest time was during the Eagle Invite his sophomore year at 25.29. Last year he swam a 25.60 during State and that was after a season of an injured hand. Andrew's 100 free time today was 58.00 which was his best solo 100 freestyle not in a relay. His previous 100 free style record was 1:00.73 last season. His overall best 100 freestyle distance was 56.12 in the 400 freestyle relay his sophomore year. After such a successful meet for Andrew he and I both realized his potential. He hasn't been making it to all the club practices and still swam a great meet which only means that with a lot of hard work from here until the HS season starts and through the season, he could potentially make State with an individual event this year. It will be fun to see how far he can come this year by working hard and swimming the events he is strongest in. Peter PR'd in every event he swam today. He swam in the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and the 100 freestyle events. Peter's 500 freestyle time was 6:28.00 which was 12 seconds faster than last year's best time of 6:42.98. Peter's 200 freestyle time today was 2:27.00 which was one second faster than last year's best time and his 100 freestyle was 1:05.00 which knocked his previous best tie of 1:11.89 out of the park. Unlike Andrew, Peter has been more diligent about going to practice and his hard work is already starting to show. He is so competitive with Andrew and I know that with some more hard work Peter will get the times that he is working towards this year. So proud of this kid. Emma swam in two events today. She swam in the 50 breaststroke and 50 freestyle events. As she was getting ready for her 50 breaststroke she accidentally missed her heat. She got confused because some other kid was on her block. There were a few tears since this was her favorite event. Coach Brody stepped in and got her in the next heat which was awesome. That is the nice thing about the 12&under competition...they are a little bit more lenient. Needless to say, she swam well being a little frazzled. Still, according to Emma, this was not her best time and didn't glide as much as she should have but she was happy to be able to swim in the event. She swam the 50 breaststroke in 43.00. Emma's next event was the 50 freestyle and she swan that in 41.47. Again, not her best time from practice but still a great starting time for her. I was so proud of her for pushing herself even when she was nervous and frazzled. This was a great experience for her. Abby was a little unsure about swimming in such a big meet but she put on her brave face and went with the flow today. She swam in both the 50 butterfly and 100 freestyle events. She swam her 50 butterfly which was the very first event in 1:03.99 and was 4th in her heat. She was so happy with that. Then she waited until the end of the meet to swim in the 100 freestyle. She was so nervous about doing flip turns and being disqualified. Ramon and I tried to encourage her to just try them but in the end she just touched the wall. Still, with her nerves I was just so proud of her for getting up on that swim block and racing. She did the 100 freestyle in 2:06.00. I couldn't have been more pleased with her efforts. Abby had another great cross country season running with the Landsharks running club. Even though she started swimming with the Rapids swim club she still wanted to keep running so that she could be with her friends. I couldn't convince her to do the shorter 1 mile race because she was set on running the longest race with Anna and McKenzie. I was so proud of her for not stopping during her hilly race. This year she ran in the longer race during all of the meets. Even though her best time was during the second meet, her first meet's time was already an entire minute faster than her time from last year. Wow...what an improvement. Meet 1 at MVE - 1.5 mile run in 12:49 Meet 2 at MVE - 1.5 mile run in 12:32 Meet 3 at MVE - 1.5 mile run in 13:03 Photo Above: Annie, Abby, Anna, McKenzie
The girls had their 2nd swim meet with the Falfins today. It was another in house meet so they swam against the other kids in the Falfins summer swim team. Both girls improved significantly since the first meet. Emma used the diving block this time and showed us how strong she is in the breaststroke. She swam in the 50 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke, and the 50 freestyle. Abby did well this time around too. She swam in the 100 freestyle, 100IM, and the 50 backstroke. By far Abby's favorite event is the 100 IM. She loves to swim all the strokes. Abby improved this time by swimming all her events without stopping. I couldn't be prouder of these two girls in giving it all they had during their events. At the end of the meet each one of them got pictures with their coaches. Being a part of this summer swim team was really good for both Emma and Abby and showed them that they could accomplish great things with hard work. EMMA ABBY With a summer birthday the party ideas are endless. Naturally, Abby wanted to do a celebration outside, so we recycled the Luau party from her 6th birthday party and planned a fun party loaded with yummy food, grass skirts and leis for each of the girls, and a slip-n-slide in the backyard. With completely different friends from when she was 6 years old, no one knew that we had already had a party like this, and everyone had a blast. After eating lunch, the girls spent most of the time out in the backyard jumping on the trampoline and cooling off on the slip-n-slide. Abby's friends that were able to come to the party were Avery, Addy, McKenzie, and Morgan. She got some fun arts and craft type gifts and some candy. She was all smiles the entire day. Abby is lucky to have such good friends to help celebrate on her special day.
For Abby’s family birthday celebration, we all headed to Flying Horse for a nice dinner and to open presents. Abby got a new yoga mat from Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz and some cute athletic clothes from Athleta Girl from mom and dad. She was so thrilled with her gifts and her yummy dinner celebration.
Both Emma and Abby did a great job on their very first swim meet with their Falfins swim team. This first meet was just an in-house meet so there was no pressure which was nice for a first meet. Since both Emma and Abby are new to swim team, they didn’t dive off the blocks for every race. Emma proved to be a very good breaststroker. I was pleasantly surprised at how well her form was in the water. Abby did awesome on her backstroke, but she showed determination on her 50 freestyle. Near the end of her race, I could tell she was getting tired and she was struggling, but she didn’t stop, and she finished the race.
It is always so much fun to pop over to the elementary school to see a little bit of field day. My favorite events to watch are the tug-o-war and the dashes and relays. This year Mike was working close to home so he was able to come and see Abby at the tug-o-war with Madeline and me. Abby’s class won a few times but it was the other class with the really big kids that ended up winning the entire thing. Madeline and I came back after lunch to watch Abby run in a few of the dashes. Abby had so much fun showing off Madeline to her friends and just being social.
Abby participated in the ES musical this year and was one of the cards in Alice in Wonderland Jr. She was so thrilled to finally be doing something she loved. It was not uncommon for her to be singing all the songs from Alice in Wonderland around the house. She loved the practices and being able to sing and act with some of her friends. We even signed her up for voice lessons with Deanna Kirkham. The day of the musical came and I had the opportunity to see it twice that day. I was completely amazed and blown away by how talented all of those kids were. I loved seeing Abby on that stage. She looked so calm and so natural up there. It was fun to be able to take pictures for the musical cast and crew this year.
The winter is a hard time to be a runner in Colorado. The weather is usually cold and sometimes snowy or icy which makes for unfavorable conditions when heading out for a run. Sometimes we do get those warmer days but they are pretty rare. One thing is for sure, though, it is sunny 95% of the time. This afternoon Peter geared up to head to the track to do a one mile run for his Physical Fitness merit badge. The girls decided they wanted to tag along and run as well. It had been a really nice day but as the sun started to go down it got really cold. Once at the track we realized just how cold it truly was outside. We were all a little underprepared as none of us brought gloves or hats. The wind was biting and so the kids quickly did their run so we could head back home. Peter had a great run and clocked in his mile at 7:20. With plenty of room to improve over the course of the next few months I think he was happy. I was proud of the girls as well for braving the cold to get their exercise done for the day.
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