Swim

I am so behind on posting, but I am determined not to get any behinder. (That’s a word, right?!!) We spend the weekend at the fabulously fun Bend swim meet. It is essentially one big party. Crowded. Chaotic. (The above picture was taken after the meet when everyone had cleared out.) Most everyone was camping and hanging out all across the extensive park area. 12 and under swim in the outdoor pool. 13 and up swim inside.

Russ was a busy guy. He was swim dad (it’s a big job to make sure kids are where they need to be), swim coach, and swimmer (he competed in 3 races). I was toddler mom (that’s a big job, too). I also had Leif to keep track of. And, seriously? It is exhausting keeping track of everyone and needs met in such a huge area.

We were thinking of just bringing our tent this year until we saw the weather forecast. Thunder showers all three days. Uh, no. So we took our trailer and got caught in the crazy storm on the way over. It got ominously dark and then the lightening, torrential downpour, and hail hit as we were climbing to the top of the pass and over. We were going 15 miles an hour at one point. So not fun when towing a trailer, but I was thankful Russ was driving!!

The evening was nice. The older boys ended up putting up a tent anyway. The first morning went well. Then the thunder storm returned around 1 pm and they closed the pool right before Levi’s last race. They usually open the outdoor splash pool in the afternoon, but they kept it closed and opened the inside pool for rec swim.

Lola. I was hoping to be a “wading mom.” Luckily they do have a fairly large 2 foot deep little kid pool inside, but it was everything I could do to keep up with her. She was non-stop for over two hours. She loved the feeling of being in control of her own body in that water up to her armpits. She quickly figured out how to right herself when she went under. She went down the little slide about 60 times. (Not kidding. And not including the 3 times she jumped off of it. Ack!!) She had a huge grin from ear to ear and kept giving me a thumbs up. Ha!

Today (Sunday, day 2) was beautiful. They opened the splash pool from 11-2, and of course Lola and Leif had to be there. All of the kids had a blast. And, again, it was everything I could do to keep up with Lola. She went down the little slide over and over and over…

Until she realized that Leif was in line for this one:

And there was no saying no. I knew I’d have to be all in. I had to bribe Leif to go down the first time (he hates new things), but Lola was nothing but excited. The second we hit the water at the bottom, she said, “again.” And, “Did you see me?!!!” (Thumbs up.) And then there was no more little slide. Mom and Dad had to take turns going down with her. And Leif, having lived through the initial fright, went down the big slide many more times with a huge grin on his face.

And then we packed up and drove home. And now I will go work on a thousand loads of laundry.