Must-have water time

Ooooh, it was a hot week in Missouri!

You had to either be indoors 

Or in the water.

We chose water.

Dad had a remarkably enjoyable wakeboarding ride

(Remarkable because he didn’t get hurt)

And of course, 

Beckett needed some kneeboarding

The water was a bit warm,

But better than NOT being in it!

A fiery farewell

Jackson saved all of his papers since 8th grade

With the big plan to make a huge bonfire 

At the end of high school—

Literally watching everything go up in smoke.

Today is the day.

It got going fast

And was a little bittersweet

He was giving his brothers some ideas…

It looked like a perfect night for this

And it WAS gorgeous…

But also rather hot

We enjoyed it all the same

 

Awww!

They DO like each other!

 

Swim Celebrations

The Waves gathered one last time

To celebrate all the individual and team wins of the season.

We had a lot of High Point swimmers this year—

Beckett among them.

We also had 3 Golden Goggles (er, Glasses) winners this year—

Seniors in their last season.

Jackson was in that crew.

They got to talk about their favorite swim memories.

Jackson mentioned the years they won Champs at the Lakewood pool

And the entire team jumped in to celebrate.

Oh, and torturing his brother this year

By letting him lead entire 100 free races

Just to beat him in the final stretch.

Congrats, Jackson!

Times for posterity:

Tucker with his 2 relay ribbons

And times

Weston and his 1 individual and 1 relay ribbon

And times

And Beckett’s 3 individual and 2 relay ribbons

And times

And how about this?

2 new team records:

Great job, boys!

Always fun to watch you

Leave it all in the pool!

We love Worlds of Fun!

We blocked the calendar months ago—

Time for our annual trip to WoF!

We started the day with Mema’s fave—

The Detonator.

We rode it a couple of times.

We stopped by the bumper cars too

They were especially fun this year!

We may have ridden them 3

Or 4

Or more times…

Continuing on our non-roller coaster theme,

We headed for the taxis

I mean,

Everyone loves the taxis!

Weston was solo

But the rest of us had a chauffeur

We ALSO rode all the coasters…

It was a really hot forecast

Which seemed to scare everyone away

Giving us unrivaled access to a LOT of rides!

We definitely enjoyed cooling off at the pools of Oceans of Fun

And taking advantage of all the empty rides at Worlds of Fun.

And, honestly, the weather really wasn’t all that bad.

Crazy to think we started this tradition 15 years ago!

Definitely a favorite of the summer!

 

CHAMPS!

We’ve been working all season

And the big day has arrived…

Swim champs 2026!

It was a weird day—

It’s the first champs in a really long time

We didn’t have swimmers in the morning and afternoon.

It was nice to sleep in!

We were full of energy and ready to JUMP in…

Tucker’s medley relay was the first of the 20 Reed races

He was the backstroker for the A relay.

They dropped 7.5s from their seed time

And earned 8th place.

Beckett was the breaststroke leg of his team

They took over 3 seconds off their time

And came in 2nd.

Jackson was the fly of the C team

And Weston was the backstroke for B

They came in 11th and 8th respectively

And then it was into the individual events…

Tucker had freestyle first

He swam hard

And came in at 38.97–

Not quite a PR.

Weston swam free too

But also added some time,

Coming in at 1:04.51 for his 100.

Jackson dropped 1.3s

With a new PR of 1:01.09

Then he swam fly,

Pulling his stay-underwater-as-long-as-possible shtick 

Didn’t work well this time,

Adding 3 seconds to his seed time.

Beckett swam backstroke, seeded 10th

He had a great swim,

Taking off 1.08s

Coming it at 36.79 and taking 8th overall

(He’s the one in lane 5, way out in front)

Weston had a great swim too,

Taking off 0.85s

For a new PR of 31.16 and 15th place

Up next,

Everyone’s (except Jack’s) favorite:

Breaststroke.

Tucker added a bit of time,

Coming in at 49.02. 

Beck also added some time,

Coming in at 37.58

But took 5th place.

Weston, though, had an AWESOME swim,

Taking off over 2 seconds

For a new PR of 36.47

And beating Beckett for the first time in a while

At breaststroke.

And then,

The final individual event—the IM.

Tucker was up first

He swam hard

And shaved off 0.28s

For a new PR of 1:36.35

Beckett had his eye on a 4-peat of High Point

And knew he needed a high place to be in the running.

He took off fast

And swam hard

And took off 0.23s

For new PR of 1:18.80

And took 11th place

Jackson’s last individual race was the IM

He gave it his best

But added some time

Coming in at 1:20.28.

He was ok with it.

Which brings us to what is usually the rowdiest event—

The free relays.

Unfortunately, with the new set up at the Aquatic Center,

All the kids couldn’t come in to cheer

So it was a bit subdued compared to before.

We made the best of it.

Tucker swam hard

But his young team added some time.

They were able to grab 8th place, though!

Beck’s team rocked their relay—

They took off over 2 seconds

And seized 2nd

And the best finale—

Wes

And Jack

Were on the same relay

For Jackson’s last swim.

What a great ending!

Speaking of endings,

We needed a picture with the McCarthy’s,

The other 4-boy family we’ve grown up with on the Waves.

Jack and Calum have been teammates a long time.

We waiting expectantly for the High Point awards.

And Beckett did it!!

5th time he’s got High point—

5th in 2021

13th in 2023

12th in 2024

12th in 2025

And 11th this year.

Dang.  That’s a heck of a career!

The 16th fastest 13-14 year old boys in the city:

And the 3 fastest on the Waves

That’s some good company!

Great job, Beckett!

And great career, Jack!

This calls for a picture with his swim buddies.

It will be sad to not have 4 Reed swimmers anymore

But what a fun ride it’s been!