Swim meet #5- Wildwood vs. Peakland

Last night was our 5th meet of the summer. We had a storm come through during our warm up time, so around 6:15, our kids got back in the pool to warm up. The meet was delayed about an hour total, but we were able to get it completed. Garrett swam 4 events: 50M Freestyle, 25M Freestyle, 25M Backstroke and 100M Freestyle Relay. He did great! I am not 100% certain of his times, but he improved on his 25 Free by just under 4 seconds! He swam the 50 Free for the first time ever and he looked so strong. Hunter swam 3 events, as his 4th event was scratched at the end b/c some of the relay team left (oops!). He swam the 50M Freestyle, 25M Freestyle and 25M Backstroke. He also improved on his times, although I think he could do much better if he'd move his arms just a bit faster. He is having a blast and has learned a lot this summer. Next Monday is the last regular meet and then the following Saturday they will have the "B" meet, which is for all of the swimmers who do not qualify for the Championship meet.

My super heros

On Father's Day Brian wanted to go for a walk. The boys had just put on an assortment of costumes and didn't want to change. So, I let them walk in disguise. I can only imagine what people thought when they saw the boys, but they were having a great time.

Daddy and his super heros

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Hunter may be just a little big for his costume. :)

Garrett crouching and hiding his face when a car passed. He thought he was invisible.

Swim Meet #2

Monday the boys had their second swim meet of the season. We were at the Bedford YMCA swimming in an indoor pool. The final score was 456-104 (I believe) and Wildwood won big! Both boys did a great job and each swam in new events from the previous meet. Garrett did the 25 M freestyle again, but also did 100 M freestyle relay. His relay team was 1st! In addition to the 25M freestyle and backstroke and the 50 M freestyle, Hunter was on a 100 M freestyle relay team for his age group, too. They placed 2nd. Hunter did not get disqualified in the 50 M freestyle event, and he improved in the 25 freestyle (4.12 seconds better) and the 25 M backstroke (6.28 seconds better). I was shocked at the improvement in one week!

Next week is their first "official" home meet and they can't wait! Sorry, no pics from the meet since it was an indoor pool.

Swim Meet #1 part 2

I don't know the specific results yet, but rumor has it that Wildwood Stingrays WON their meet against Oakwood Country Club last night. We were able to finish the meet and I think the boys had a great time.
Garrett had only one event, the 25M freestyle, and he was 2nd in his heat. I am sure he will only get stronger and faster in the upcoming meets.

Hunter had two events tonight, the 25M Freestyle and 25M backstroke. He is not a super fast swimmer, but he tried hard. He completed each of his events, and now he's got times to improve on for upcoming meets. I think that is one really nice thing with swimming. While they compete as a team to earn points for the team, they also are competing against their own times.

We are looking forward to the next meet on Monday!

Swim meet #1

Monday night was the first swim meet of the summer. We were the away team swimming against Oakwood Country Club. As we arrived at the pool, the recently clearing skies turned pretty dark. Just as I unpacked our chairs and took kids to the bathroom, the rains came. Fabulous! Now our chairs were soaked, but the camera made it to the car safely. The rains passed and the kids warmed up.  The meet started at 6. Hunter swam his very first event EVER, the 50M Freestyle. I don't have any photos of the event since the camera was now tucked safely in the car. Hunter swam the first 25 meters no problem. At the turn, he got water in his mouth and he stood up in his lane to catch his breath. Well, that disqualified him in the event, but he swam his little heart out. 

My job at the meet was to round up 10 and under swimmers to get to the blocks in time for their event. I was just rounding up the kids for event #30 (Garrett's 25 meter freestyle debut) and event #32 (Hunter's 25 meter freestyle) when the next storm came up out of nowhere! We got drenched. We waited. According to the league rules, we have to wait 90 minutes before calling the meet and rescheduling. After consulting with weather radar maps, it was clear that the storms were settling in for the long haul. So, we came home after only 25 events completed. Tonight, we will finish the rest of the meet. The forecast is for clear skies today, so we should be able to swim and I should be able to get some pictures to mark the event!

There was an incident...

I was volunteering at the school one Wednesday afternoon in May, just as I have done all year. I was just getting ready to leave when the school secretary came to the art room with Garrett. She began to tell me about missed calls and messaged she'd left for me (and Brian). I figured Garrett was having some trouble breathing and needed his inhaler. But then she said, "there was an incident on the playground and I think he needs stitches." Garrett proceeded to take the ice pack off of his eye, revealing a gash in his eye brow. I then thought, yep, to the Urgent Care we shall go! 

Once I got both boys signed out for the day, we headed to the B and W clinic to see what they could do for my little man. On the way, I asked Garrett to explain what had happened. (I heard an account from his teacher, but I wanted to hear from him). He said they were playing tag on the playground and he ran up the slide to avoid getting tagged and ran into another child's knee. This then pushed his glasses up into his eye brow, causing the gash. I almost felt sorry for Garrett, until the words registered "I ran up the slide". I figure he's been aware of the "rule" to not run up a slide since he was about 18 months old and we started telling him NOT to run up slides. But apparently, 7 years was not long enough to understand what the rule was for. He boldly declared on the way to the doctor's office, "There needs to be a new rule on the playground: NO RUNNING UP SLIDES!" I literally had to hold back my laughter. I told him I thought that was already a rule. He said, "No, it needs to be a rule everyone follows. Someone else could get hurt."

We asked Garrett about why he would go up a slide when he'd been told for YEARS not to, and he said, "Well, I've never gotten hurt before and neither have any of the other kids, so I thought it would be ok." He now sees the error of his ways.

Thankfully, they were able to use Dermabond to glue the wound shut instead of stitches. The doctor said either method was indicated for such a gash, but the glue was less traumatic. I was relieved. Garrett was relieved. Hopefully, a lesson was learned...time will tell.

Here are some "after" pictures, after he was glued back together. Aside from some bruising and swelling the first couple of days and the inconvenience of not being able to get the wound wet for 5 days, this was not too big of a deal. It is really amazing that it was the first "incident" with Garrett that required immediate medical attention.

Memorial Day Weekend project- mostly complete!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Brian replaced the carpet that was in the dining room and living room with laminate flooring. We chose a dark, rustic oak colored flooring, and it looks amazing! Once the floors were in place, I didn't want to move any furnishings back in. The rooms looked so clean and uncluttered, and I wanted them to stay that way. So my big challenge was to find new homes for things like the desk, book shelf and filing cabinet. I am still tweaking where everything will live, but now I'm thinking about painting both rooms. The next big decision is what colors to paint...I need a design professional to help with this!

The boys are even excited about the new floors! They both want to help vacuum them with the new stick vac I got. Perhaps my sneaky ways worked. I told them they couldn't use the new stick vac because it was too much fun and doing chores shouldn't be fun. Well, Garrett has volunteered every day for the last week to vacuum both floors. I wonder how I can "motivate" him to clean up the rest of the house??? Perhaps I shall ponder this thought today.

New Floors

We are in the process of preparing our dining room and living room for new flooring. We (mostly Brian) moved all the furniture out. Old carpeting has been cut up, rolled and removed from the rooms. Old padding is out of here! And, Hunter and I have painstakingly removed the staples from the subflooring. Now the fun part begins. The transformation hopefully will be complete Saturday. Pictures will be posted as soon as we are done!

Wildwood Stingrays

I think I may have officially lost my mind, as I've gone against my hard and fast rule that we don't have a schedule for the summer. Both boys begged to be on the swim team at our pool this summer. I did all I could to talk them out of it, but to no avail. I thought they'd want to participate in other camps or activities, but no, swimming is what they want to do. So, yesterday, we went and registered them for the team. This is a well-run team, I'll give them that. Next week starts daily practices and June 11th will be their first swim meet! We are now officially Wildwood Stingrays!

My Sweet Boys

Last night, Garrett wanted to sleep in Daddy's spot since Daddy was gone hunting. That prompted Hunter to want to sleep in my bed, too. Since I am bit under the weather, I just didn't have the energy to fight them on it. They went right to sleep, which was a miracle in itself. I fell into bed around 10 and the coughing began. I coughed most of the night, and every time, Garrett would stir and pat my arm. He asked me around 4am if I needed anything...isn't that sweet??? 

Today, I have had two wonderful helpers quick to get me whatever I need. If only they could somehow make my voice come back.

One Year

It's been one year today since we got the call in the early hours of the morning that Marcia had breathed her last breath. I still remember the call. I still remember walking into the house that Easter morning. I remember Laurel asking why no one else was crying but her, Robin and Sherry. I remember explaining to Laurel what a funeral service was. I remember helping her write out a tribute to her Mommy for the funeral. It seems like it was just last week, not an entire year ago. How does the time go by so quickly?

There are so many times that I want to pick up the phone and call her. I want so badly to hear her laugh. I want to talk about the kids and what is going on with them. I want to hug her and tell her "Thank you" for being there for Jay when he was struggling. 

I know that she is no longer in pain and for that I am grateful. 

Marcia, I miss you. I love you! I will do the best I can to be there for Laurel and James, although they really just want you. I pray that you are resting in the arms of Jesus. 

Love,
Meredith

Family Fun Day

On Good Friday, we headed down to Danville to join the Douglas clan and the Danville Bowles family. It was a day full of fun and laughter. There was playing on the playground (swing set), basketball, fishing, boating, riding horses, fishing, s'mores, tag, a hay ride, and more fishing! All of the kids, even baby Eva caught fish. It was fantastic! That night, Tiffany and her kiddos came back to Lynchburg to spend the night and have an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. It took a little while to get everyone settled, and of course they were up bright and early!

Brian also got out the BB gun for the kids to take turns shooting at cans. Miss Emily turned out to be quite a marksman (markswoman?) and after the boys has retreated inside, she kept firing away. It was a sight to be seen. In addition, there was lots of running, laughing, squealing, and just a few meltdowns. It was so much fun to watch the boys interact with all of the cousins on the Bowles side of the family. We surely have been blessed.

Inquring Minds Want to Know

The other day while driving to school, I was at a stoplight that had just turned green. Several cars went through as they should, but the car in front of me was puttering along. I was in a hurry and I said "Come on lady. You can do it. You can get through the light." Garrett asked if he could ask me a question. "Sure, that's fine." Here's the conversation:
G: Who taught you to drive?
Me: Granny and Pop, but probably mostly Pop took me driving.
G: Did they teach you to talk to the other cars?
Me: No, I learned that on my own.
G: You do know they can't hear you, right?
Me: Of course I know that.
G: Then why do you do it?
Me: I guess it makes me feel better.
G: Does it?
Me: I don't know.
G: Who is going to teach me to drive?

I have 10 years to worry about that, right?