Summer Swim Team

This Summer was great. We did a lot of things, but some things that we have done in the past didn't work quite as well. One of those things was stations. I had stations all planned as usual, and then Robyn joined swim team. That meant she was gone every morning. Add in our runner girl, June, who was gone most mornings, running with the cross country team. And Ivory had gymnastics two mornings a week. Stations were bound to fail from the beginning. Remember though, it is important to pick your battles. I was happy to let the stations slide. Piano is on hold right now, so practicing wasn't as necessary. The other thing I wanted them to focus on was reading, and we had a whole day devoted to the library, so I figured we would get through and not be the worse off at the end of summer. And I think the girls were better off for the activities they did during the summer. Check out Robyn:

She has never done swim team before. She had been swimming more in the spring, but she took a month off after she got her ears pierced. So I wasn't sure if she was going to do swim team, but she decided she would try it out.

I think it is great to be more active in the summer anyway, so I liked that she had practice every day. So did she...most days. Along with the daily practices, there were four meets during the summer. Robyn missed the first one because she was at Girls' Camp. She was a little nervous going to her first meet (which was actually the second one). She didn't know what was going on, and I wasn't there to help.

I pride myself on helping the kids and participating or attending all their big events. Unfortunately, swim meets fell exactly during the time that I was working at the library. I was so sad to miss her swimming, but I was proud of her for going and figuring everything out on her own. I think it made her more confident and responsible. I came home from the library after her first meet to find her beaming. Turns out she won!

I think she actually came in second overall in the backstroke, but she got first place in her heat. (Sweet! That's winning to me.) I asked how she did in freestyle (I guess they were supposed to compete in two events and she chose freestyle and backstroke) and she said, "I'm not sure, but I think I came in last." Once again, that wasn't quite accurate. She placed 8 out of 15. Her times:

Freestyle: 59.15
Backstroke: 1:01.72

Her second meet she did even better. She came in third overall in the backstroke, but still beat her last time.

Freestyle: 54.48
Backstroke: 58.87

Her final meet was on a Friday, so I was able to come!! In fact, we came back from Lake Powell to attend. That may have been a mistake. Turns out, it isn't easy to come back and swim after you have been playing a lot, learning to ski, and staying up late. Oops. But she was still such a trooper. We picked up her shirt on the last day.

Here she is diving in for freestyle. As you can see, some kids use the blocks, but others don't. Someone told me they liked Summer Rec Team because they learn to use the blocks, but I don't think they ever taught Robyn. She felt more comfortable not using them.

Keep swimming. You are almost there!

Then she waits for a bit until it is time for her second event.

I could tell she was pretty tired. But I was so proud of her for coming to the meet. And I was just happy to be there to see her swim.

She got fourth in backstroke, but you can tell she was feeling the previous few days from her slower times:

Freestyle: 58.07
Backstroke: 1:06.41

We went out for breakfast to celebrate her surviving the week. (And the summer of swimming) I think she is awesome. We went to IHOP. Yum. I promise she was more excited than she looks in this picture.

Robyn opted to not do swim team during the school year, because Jr. High is such a new experience, but I wouldn't be surprised to find her back in the water next summer.