I Am A Sucky Blogger and Maggie Swims

It's true. Every time I've gone to my blog the last few weeks, this little box pops up that says I have to update the html for my buttons (whatever that means) and it freaks me out (so then I'm frucked - Jake's best word of 2010) and I don't do anything.

So, today, I updated the html, downloaded a boatload of pictures and will proceed to blog away. The first installment...Maggie's first swim meet. I actually wrote this right after it happened and never downloaded any pictures, so I never published it. So, without further ado, here you go.

GO STINGRAYS!! In early December, Maggie participated in her first swim meet ever. Scott participated in his first swim meet ever (as a coach). And Jake competed in his first swim meet ever (as a 9-year old -- not his first meet :)

We had a lot of fun. Scott gave the kids a pep talk on the way there (at 6:30 a.m. in the dark, mind you...) It went sort of like this: "Are you nervous? When I was little, I wanted to wrestle, so my dad took me to wrestling practice. I sat down on the mat and all of the other kids were around the coach and I got so nervous that I just started crying, so my dad took me home." The next story was equally inspiring and also ended with him being super nervous, crying and his parents taking him home. Ummmm.

Anyway, I asked him if he was coaching or sitting by me. He told me he was "not" coaching, so we got settled in the bleachers and I asked if he wanted to go buy a program. He said, "Sure," walked away and went over to where the other coaches were. And that was the last time he sat down by me. :) He had several swimmers there (he coaches the youngest kids on the team), and one little girl was REALLY nervous and crying. (I asked if he told her his inspiring story...) She was glad he was there and I think he had a great time coaching and being in the middle of the action.

Since parents aren't allowed "on deck" (which means next to the pool), I've never been able to get great pictures. Since Scott was coaching, he was front and center, so got some great shots.
Maggie placed 7th in her first ever 50-meter backstroke. Jake got bumped up an age group since the last meet, so he was swimming against kids up to two years older than him. He improved his times, which we were very excited about!
At the meets, the swimmers write their race and heat numbers and times on their arms in permanent marker (not washable, for obvious reasons...) Jake and Maggie decided just to draw all over themselves. Maggie gave herself a watch around her wrist; a really looooong shark down one arm; someone wrote "eat my bubbles" on her other arm...you get the idea. Jake was equally covered. Still is. Maggie didn't realize that it wouldn't wash off, and when she was in the tub later that day, she asked me for a new wash cloth because the old one wasn't working. Oops.