Making Waves

Swim season this year has been AWESOME!

Here's me and my buddy Sully,

getting ready for our relay

I've been really working hard this season.

My times have really improved.

In backstroke,

I've placed as high as 2nd (and 3rd once too) in the whole meet.

My best time so far is 30.53 seconds.

For freestyle, 

I'm middle of the pack

with a PR of 28.10.

I've even been first in my heat!

And I'm mastering breaststroke now too--

my PR is 45.69 seconds.

I really wanted to swim the IM--

Coach Gray says maybe next year.

As for Jack,

he's been shaving times as well.

His backstroke PR is 27.69,

running middle of the pack.

His freestyle PR is 

23.90 which is generally in the lower quartile for my group.

Sounds pretty fast though to me.

His rotary breathing is SO much better this year!

Coach Gray had Jack swim fly once

(much to his protest).

He DQ'd.

But Mom checked Jack's time--it was around 45 seconds.

An improvement from winter season!

We've had some visitors this season too!

Of course,
Tucker (and Beckett) were there

GiGi was a regular

and went for ice cream too.

Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve came too!

How can the season be almost over???

We're getting psyched for Championships!

Our FAVORITE company!

Guess who came in town for the weekend?

Kaitlyn, Cohen, and Kylie!!!

(and Chip and Chris of course)

They were on their way back to Knoxville

from The Ranch in Nebraska.

We were so excited to see them!

We crammed a lot into our 36 hours together.

We kicked it off with a 

Mexican fiesta on the deck

(I promise Chip was more excited then he looks,

although he was the only adult

at the kids table)

After a game of kickball,

some cookies, and

lightning bug catching,

the kids settled in for a movie

while the adults

enjoyed a few (too many?) margaritas

on the deck

We had a lazy Saturday morning,

so we had plenty of energy to burn

at the trampoline park

(even Mom jumped!)

All 7 of us kids

crammed into the hurricane simulator

to cool off.

We topped off the night

with a bike ride to the pool

for an evening swim

We were all so sad

with the Keim's left the next morning.

Rumor is that we are headed to

Knoxville or Nebraska next year

to visit them.

The countdown is ON!

A "date" with Weston

I've been asking to go get sushi

(my favorite is the crunchy crab roll)

and my toes done.

Well, Mom had a light day today,

so we did just that!

I got mine purple and pink

(my current favorite colors)

with a little flower on my big toes.

Because real men don't care.

Gotta love some bonding time.

A Sporting Night

Mom got a deal on tickets through work

(it IS called Mercy Park),

so we met up with the Brunkhorsts

for a tailgate and some Sporting KC fun

It was rather hot,

but we didn't let that spoil our fun

Enjoying some soccer

The game ended in a tie.

But that was ok...

the fireworks made up for it!

Isn't summer fun???

Fireworks and tubing

We are SO EXCITED

to finally get to the cabin again!

For the July 4th holiday,

EVERYONE was down!

Coleman, Ian, Reed, Alice,

Chelsea, Vince, GiGi, Grandpa...

it was quite the party.

We did a lot of swimming this week.

Dad tried to teach me to dive

"Tried" being a key word...

But the biggest hit

was all the water sports!

We had to cross it off the Summer Bucket list!

First up was

me, Wes, and Reed

Coleman joined in too...

it was bouncy but fun

The next day,

we got out our new hot dog--

we call him Frank.

None of us had ever done this before,

so we were a little nervous

But soon,

Coleman, Wes and I were champs!

There were a lot of other fun things

going on this week.

We gave Grandpa his Grandfather's Day gift

(a bit late)

I think he liked his new

"toddy" glass

There was a lot of 4 wheeling too.

Wes wore his bandana

in remembrance of Utah!

I took Tucker on a few rides

And Jack gave out rides too.

To anyone!

We made 4th of July shirts

Ate a lot of dessert

And of course

shot off fireworks!

None of the pictures of the fireworks came out,

but here's a picture of the carnage left behind!

It was impressive to say the least!

It was a great family week

We did a lot of hanging out

One day,

we decided to try something different.

We headed to the end of the path to swim

It was quite the event.

And we NEEDED to get more Frank time.

This time, we finally convinced Jackson to join us

We ROCKED it!

Dad took it a bit easy on us.

He knocked us off a few times

and we got a huge kick out of that...

and jumping off a full speed just for fun!

Guess who else joined the Frank challenge?

MOM!

On the actual 4th,

it rained a bit.

We didn't let that stop us--

we just put on ear plug and did some fireworks

from the porch!

Another favorite--

shooting the smaller fireworks off ourselves.

Smoke bombs,

tanks, poopin' puppies.

We started to do them at the same time--

we made "World War Chicken"

at one point with 3 chickens shooting

fiery eggs at each other.

Your pyro-technicians...

We had to sport our 4th of July gear

And decided to make a pyramid

as the finale of the evening

Look out!

Falling!

Down!

Between Frank

and the tube

and the 4 wheelers

and the fireworks...

we can't wait to come down again!!!