Swim Meets from the First to the Last

We already mentioned that Evan joined the swim team.  He was determined to make it through the season and get that trophy, and I've never seen him that determined.  A few weeks into practice it was time for the first practice meet of the season.  We were all nervous about how that would go.  Evan was a little disappointed when he found out that that the swim meets involved racing against other kids, but we convinced him that the only person that he was competing against was himself.  I didn't know if he would even jump into the pool let alone swim across it, but we gave it a try.  He got up there on the block and when the horn sounded for the first time he jumped in and started swimming across.  Actually, he swam straight for the rope and hung on, but 2 minutes and 30 seconds later Evan made it to the other end!  He did it!  He was so excited.

Then, a week later it was time for his first real meet against Hope Valley Country Club.  This time we were nervous because I looked at the heat sheet and Coach Maddie had him swimming three events: freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly!  Now, Evan's experiences with the latter two events were minimal at best and not very positive.  He had only done about two strokes of backstroke in his life and hated being on his back.  Butterfly, he had thrown a fit and refused to even practice it with Maddie.  So, I was concerned.

We got to the meet and he absolutely loved the team spirit aspects of everything.  The big kids came out in costume and all the kids joined together for some cheers, he loved it.  Then it came time to swim freestyle.  He made it across the pool with a few grabs at the rope in about one minute and 50 seconds.  He was thrilled that he had done it, but we had the two stressful events coming up.  He (and Benny) got a ring pop as a reward for a good swim and they were both so happy.

(the Fairfield Fins 2014 swim team-Evan is in the front row all the way on the right.)

(He concentrates on the race before the horn sounds.)

(Evan swims the freestyle.)

(The happy kid with his ring pop treat.)

Then, it came time for backstroke.  Evan gave me his ring pop to guard and headed over.  He told his coach he didn't want to do it.  She made a bargain with him to at least swim the first part on his back so he agreed that he would do it.  Lo and behold, that kid kept plugging along and made it all the way across the pool.  Maddie had to jump in at one point and cheer him on up close, but she never actually touched him.  4 and a half minutes later he was across the pool.  I was so proud of him.  Then, in butterfly, he actually did a passable butterfly across the pool only stopping a few times to rest on the rope.  The first meet was definitely a success!

(Evan prepares for the backstroke.)

(Swimming like a champ.)

(Evan leaps in for the fly.)

We were gone for a few weeks of adventures that I will tell you all about later, but when we got back it was time for the final meet of the season.  This time, it was so much fun to watch Evan goof off with some of the friends that he had met at swim team.  Since all of the swimmers live in our neighborhood, it's a great way to meet friends.  This time, we were swimming against the Duke Faculty Club, and again we had to have a conversation with Evan about how we should cheer FOR our team but not AGAINST the other team.  He was enjoying his first experience being part of a team.  In his freestyle he improved yet again even though he had to go to the rope and adjust his goggles at the start of the race and he finished with a time of 1:15, that cut his time in half from the first mock meet.  In backstroke, there was an even bigger improvement.  He finished with a time of 1:30 and he didn't even disqualify, he stayed on his back the whole time!  Butterfly, he did well again, but still disqualified because he added a little freestyle in.

(My big proud boy!)

So, tomorrow is the last day of practice, and the biggest meet of the year, and I'm so impressed by how far he's come!  He dove in the deep end and swam across, stopping in the middle to tread water for 10 seconds.  I'm so proud of my big swimmer!

Biking to Rise

Ian and I have always wanted to go on long bike adventures with the boys.  After I got my bike a few years ago we immediately bought a bike trailer with hopes of taking the boys on day long excursions.  However, there was the pesky problem of the American Tobacco Trail not being complete, so even if we wanted to go somewhere, there weren't many places we could take them that were bike friendly, especially with the trailer.  Even the little farmers market about a mile away had too many portions of the ride where we would be on skinny roads with no shoulder.  So, we waited.

Finally, a few months ago, they finished several key portions of the Tobacco Trail-the long-awaited bridge connecting the two parts of the trail on either side of the freeway, and the segment connecting the part of the trail down by us to Southpoint Mall and the shopping areas near there.

Once those parts of the trail were finished, we were ready to roll.  Ian took the boys out first and found a great biking adventure, and then I joined them on the repeat adventure.  We started at Herndon Park, which is only about a mile from our house.  It backs onto the Tobacco Trail so we can pick it up there.  We got all four bikes out of the van.  (Did I mention how much I love having a van that can hold four bikes now?!)  Then, we attached the bike trailer to Ian's bike just in case Ben got a little tired on the journey and headed out.  The trip to our destination is about 1.5 miles and Evan can ride there and back pretty easily.  Ben needs a little encouragement, but he made it there this time without having to hop into the trailer.

What destination would be suitably enticing to get the boys to bike 3 miles?  A donut shop, of course!  And we have one of the most fabulous donut shops just off the Tobacco Trail called Rise.  The boys usually just get a regular donut while Ian and I try whatever exotic creations that they have come up with at that moment.  Sometimes I'm feeling like one of their savory creations like their mac and cheese with bacon biscuit, but on that day, I tried their carmel Captain Crunch donut which was awesome!  We sat out in the sun on a bench, enjoyed our donuts, and then headed home.

The bike ride home was just as enjoyable as the way out.  Benny did have to be pulled a little bit in the trailer, but he made it an amazingly long way for such a little boy.  Plus, Evan and I decided to extend our adventure and take the back way through the forest home instead of riding in the van.  Evan thought that was very cool.

We're looking forward to more fantastic biking adventures with the boys as their legs get stronger and stronger!

(my biking family)

(our arrival at Rise)

(a pretty good treat)

(Yum!)

Swim Team First Practice

When I suggested to Evan that he join the swim team this year, I didn't know what response I would get.  But I described what it entailed and just happened to mention that there were trophies and ribbons up for grabs.  Well, apparently, Evan loves the chance to get anything like a medal or trophy, so he was all about swim team when he heard about the awards.

At that point, Evan could swim under water for a small distance in the pool.  He didn't really have much of a freestyle stroke and couldn't take a breath.  So, I emailed the parent representative and asked if she thought Evan would be a good candidate for swim team even though he couldn't quite swim the length of the pool.  She said she thought he would do fine, so we headed over to the Fairfield clubhouse on the rainy sign up day, filled out the paperwork, and bought the smallest size of little swim shorts that they offered.

As the first day of practice neared, I honestly didn't know what to expect.  Evan has been resistant to trying things that take him out of his comfort zone, and I knew that some of the things that he would be asked to do would definitely take him out of his comfort zone.  I didn't know how long he'd last, but we would give it a try.

Now, swim team started this year on May 15, so I knew the first day would be cold.  I had to take Ben to his preschool end of year picnic, so Ian had the task of taking Evan to his first swim team practice.  I packed the bag with several towels, dry clothes, and even some hot chocolate.  I was anxious to hear how everything would go.

Apparently, when he got there, they separated the under 6 year olds into two groups.  Those who could swim across the pool pretty well on their own, and those who were really learning from the beginning.  Evan started in the beginner group, but after the coaches watched his swimming, they actually moved him up to the second group.  Even though he was cold, he stuck with it and swam across the pool a few times, grabbing the rope when he needed a break.  He finished the first swim team practice, cold but feeling positive about the whole thing.  He wanted to go back the next day which I considered a victory.

Practices for swim team were every day, and so we kept heading over to the pool at 6pm every weeknight.  It was cold at the beginning, and it made Evan pretty nervous.  He would refuse to do something that the coaches asked because he was nervous, and it would make both me and the some of the coaches pretty frustrated.  However, when I asked him if he wanted to continue, he always said he wanted to keep going.  I've never seen him so determined.  So, with the help of the incredibly patient head coach Maddie, Evan plugged away at practices.

Soon, it was time for the first practice meet of the year.  I had no idea how it would go, but that is a tale for another day...

(The kids sit and listen to Coach Maddie.)

(A little stroke practice)

(Evan pauses for a picture from the pool.)

(the little swimmer in action)

(warming up after a successful practice)

(Hot chocolate!)

Got to Be NC Festival

Now, I love a good festival, and I spend a lot of time trying to convince my family to love them as much as I do.  Some festivals, they are not as enthused about as I am, but the Got to Be NC Festival is one that we all look forward to and have a great time at every year.  This festival is very similar to the NC State Fair except that it's on a much smaller scale.  It has all of the good things like rides, yummy fried food, and animals without any of the bad parts of the state fair like crowds, lines, and expensive admission prices.

So, we headed on over, and the boys were immediately excited by the rides.  Each time we would walk by one that wasn't too scary, they would want to ride that one.  Eventually, we found one that they wanted to ride and that they were tall enough to ride.  Dad and Benny hopped in one helicopter, Evan hopped in another, and they were off.  Ben and Daddy had a good time going up and down and around in their helicopter, but I loved watching Evan who was tall enough to ride by himself.  He was smiling from ear to ear and laughing as he moved his helicopter up and down by himself.

Next, I actually convinced the boys to ride a little dragon roller coaster with me.  This was a big deal because it was basically the first roller coaster I've been on since I married Ian because he doesn't like roller coasters.  Hopefully I'll have some little ride buddies from now on.  While I couldn't convince anyone to lift up their arms and scream, we all had a great time.  I did happen to accidentally leave my cell phone on the ride, but thankfully the ride operator kindly saved it for me.

After being kicked off a ride for being slightly under the 42" mark even though he had been 42" on the two previous rides, Evan quickly rebounded and rode a few more.  Both boys finished off with a trip down a huge slide with a parental escort, of course.

After that, the fun continued.  We listened to some bluegrass while we ate a snack, ate some of our favorite state fair mini donuts, tried out riding on some tractors, went to a food festival and sampled all kinds of NC foods, and even went into the animal area where we saw some baby chicks and practiced milking a cow.

It's always one of our favorite days, and it gives me hope that I'll actually have some buddies to ride some roller coasters when they get just a bit taller! :)

(Evan takes off in his helicopter.)

(Ian and Ben enjoy their ride.)

(roller coaster buddies)

(Wheee!  Evan is in the first car in front of Ben and I, but you can't really see him.)

(Tractors are fun even if they're not moving.)

(Testing 'em out)

(My boys get up close and personal with a pretend cow.)

Happy Bird-Day!

As you could already tell, it's birthday season in the Davis household.  We had already celebrated Ben's actual birthday in fine style with strawberry picking and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.  Evan's birthday hadn't arrived yet, so we were right in between both boys big days.  It was the perfect time to throw a big party to celebrate both boys.  (I just don't have it in me to throw a big party twice in a row.)

So, what type of party would we have?  Both boys have really been enjoying playing their Angry Birds on either the nearest adult's phone or their Kindle.  When their screen time is done for the day they even sit on the kitchen floor for hours drawing Angry Bird levels and "playing" them.  It was pretty clear, we were going to have an Angry Bird party, so I started to prepare.

Now, I felt like I had prepared for a LOT of at-home birthday parties, so I was determined to keep it smaller and lower key which was hard because it was for both boys.  We definitely couldn't invite all of their classmates that we wanted.  However, we still ended up with quite a few people there.

After much reading on Pinterest, printing out various crafts, and blowing out balloons, party day finally arrived.  Gram and Gramps arrived, Izzy and Carolyn made their way over from across the street, and pretty soon, more friends started to arrive.

Everyone had a great time making Angry Birds out of little craft poof balls and googly eyes, coloring Angry Bird pages, and bowling for tin can piggies.  But the biggest hit of the party was definitely the Angry Bird slingshot that Ian had rigged up on the boys treehouse in the backyard.  We stacked up a bunch of cardboard boxes and green "piggie" balloons and let the kids sling shot them with dodgeballs with bird faces drawn on them.  Everyone had a ball, especially when it all degenerated into kids launching balls at other kids hiding behind the boxes or trying to launch themselves!

Of course, there was food.  We ordered pizza, had snacks (including a container of cheese balls which was far too large and tempting for me).  Ian made some fabulous cakes as usual, criticized them, as usual, and people raved about them, as usual.

In the end, we had a great time with our friends and most importantly, the boys had fun and felt special.  Happy birthday to my two little birdies!

(Angry Bird cakes waiting for the party to start)

(Mom finishes set up.)

(Dad finishes preparing.)

(Ready, aim, fire!)

(Amelia takes a great shot while Alex and Zachary watch in awe.)

(These little birdies need a snack.)

(Happy Birthday, Ben!)

(Happy Birthday, Evan!)

(Anybody want some cake?)

(Nathan takes aim.)

(Evan tries to sling himself.)

(Kara and Anna watch the chaos.)

(Duck!)

(Kids play in the boxes.)

(Hi Carolyn and Izzy!)

(Ian takes a moment to relax after a successful party.)

A Little Reunion

Now, that our summer had begun, we were ready for some fun!  We were ready to live it up in the sun!  Fortunately, some old friends were available on our first week out of school.  We've been friends with the Offenbaker family since before Evan and Quinn could walk, but since they moved a little further away and the boys started to go to school more often, we haven't been able to see them as much. However, the great thing is that good friends will always be good friends no matter how much you see each other.

First, we met up with Abby, Quinn, and Jonas at a great park, and the kiddos picked up right where they left off.  Even though it had been a while since the hung out they were laughing and playing immediately.  Abby and I were having a great time catching up as well.  After our great time at the playground, we headed over to my favorite Tex-Mex place, Chuy's to continue the fun.  We all had a great meal, and it was just as good as I remembered.

There was still more old friend fun to be had.  A few days later we headed down to Asheboro for one of our epic zoo adventures.  We have been many times, even in 98 degree summers pushing a double stroller, and have had a great time every time.  We checked out the new kids' play area at the zoo where there was even a river to get wet and messy in.  We watched some of our favorite animals-the turtles and the sea lions in particular.  We also got to check out the new fabulous bug exhibit where we got "spit on" by a bug and even got to push around some fake "poop"-the little ones LOVED that part!

It's always great to see old friends, and if this is the way that our summer started, I knew there were great things in store for the rest of the vacation!

(Quinn and Evan take a break from exploring the zoo to relax.)

(Jonas and Ben are all smiles.)

(Building and playing in water, can't get more fun than that!)

(My little goober, Benny, posing in the playground.)

(Evan thinks the zoo is exhausting.)

(Playing with "poop" in the insect exhibit....sigh...boys!)

(Our boys)

(Take a look at our little boys a few years ago on that infamous 98 degree day.)

(A little bigger now)

(Watching the sea lions in 2011.)

(Can't wait to see this picture again in about 10 years!)