AUGHHH!!! Where has the summer gone?

Where do you start back up when you have not blogged- and I mean "REALLY" blogged- like about our family happenings-- in oh say, THREE MONTHS?? I feel like I have so many pictures and so much to blog about-- but do I start from the beginning and work my way up? Does it really matter what order I blog in- or can I just blog about today and throw in random pictures here and there and say- oh and there is this too?? All these questions have made me sit down and the computer and then be like--- well, what do I do?? And then I have to get up before I actually get to start blogging. So-- I'm just going to START- and it will just have to be random and whatever event or date in time I feel like blogging about at that moment! So, hopefully you won't get too confused- and if you do, just realize that Bertie is a little behind the times:)

So- for this first post back in Ranger land--- I will start off with a swim team post, since that is where we have spent most of our summer - at an hour of swim practice Tuesday-Friday and then meets on Monday from 3:45-10:00. (some very LONG, HOT days!)

But, I have to admit, it is TOTALLY worth it!


The kids LOVE it!

Here is Erin taking a break in between events! Her biggest accomplishment so far has been the backstroke. The 6 and unders don't do backstroke, but they still have them participate in the meets in the 7/8 age group- but in the last heats. Well, Erin is so good at this stroke, that as an under 6er- she is still put in the 1st heat with 7/8 girls! We are so proud of her:)
Dante is such a fun guy to watch! He isn't the fastest- but he is ALWAYS smiling as he is swimming and it cracks us up each time. It never gets old:) His specialty is the breaststroke, and he has the fastest time in his age group on his team. Our most recent favorite stroke for Dante is the butterfly. At swim meets they have stroke judges to make sure that you do the stroke correctly, and if you don't then you get DQ'd and a participation ribbon. There are a few things that go into it- like when you touch the wall you have to touch with 2 hands at the same exact time, etc... So, 2 swim meets ago, Dante is in the butterfly line-up and the horn goes off, he dives in-- and starts doing freestyle! We were all shouting to get him to change to butterfly- but he was really smokin' it. Finally about 3/4ths of the way there, he remembered he was doing butterfly and switched. He got 3rd place?! He should have been DQ'd- obviously- but we thought it was great he got 3rd. The this last swim meet, because of his good "butterfly" time, he was bumped up to the first heat! And this time we reminded him- remember you are doing butterfly. So, horn goes off, he jumps in and starts doing the butterfly-- but with breast stoke legs?? So, of course this time he got DQ'd. I turned to Chet and laughed, and said, "So, you can swim 3/4ths of the pools length freestyle during butterfly and not get DQ'd? But watch out if your legs aren't together!:) We just thought it was funny, and so did the coaches. And here is our little spunky man, Ethan! Man- is he a natural athlete or what? He achieved his first "official" blue ribbon in freestyle at the last meet. He is the youngest boy by a year on his team! We were so happy for him- and you should have seen his face when he got a BLUE ribbon! Ever since he has been jumping off the bar in our kitchen at 18 months- we called him our little x-gamer and NOTHING has changed! And as you can see and as you all know- the best part of ANY sporting event, the concessions- as Ethan couldn't take the ring pop out of his mouth for ANY reason. Now a quick story on Ethan-- and the reason I said his first "official" blue ribbon. This is actually Ethan's second blue ribbon- BUT, his first one was when he was put in the 4th heat for backstroke with the 7/8 boys AND he was the only one left to swim, so he was swimming against himself-- BUT, he didn't give up- it took him 2 1/2 min. to get to the wall-- the WHOLE entire crowd was cheering him on-- because he was swimming the backstroke with his whole entire body underwater-- not understanding, really how to do backstroke. So, of course, he tired out more quickly. And he did the stroke exactly how he was supposed to- he never once turned around to see where the wall was-- and he didn't get DQ'd!- So, that all TOTALLY deserves a blue ribbon, even if you are just racing against yourself:)

We have such awesome kids!

And of course where would they be without their greatest supporters-- mom and dad (above) and Aunt Emily and Jake (below)??
We took video of the kids first swim meet and we will take video again at the last swim meet (This Monday) and I will post them for you so you can see the improvements over the season.

Until tomorrow ( I hope):)