Let’s Glow Waves!

The day has arrived—

And we could not be more pumped!

Our tent, as usual, was the crash zone

Let’s GOOOO!

(Or Let’s Glow as our theme goes)

My medley relay team was seeded 5th

But we beat the odds a bit and came in 4th!

Tuck’s came in 1st in his heat (which was really exciting to watch)

And 6th overall.

On to the individual events:

Check out Tuck’s start!

He had a good day.

He took off 0.36s in free, for a new PR of 21.34s

And 19th place overall (out of 77 kids!).

His butterfly somehow added 1.8s

Even though it looked amazing!

But the big story was 2.88s off his breaststroke

For a new PR of 29.63s, 9th overall (out of 54 kids)!

Despite an off start,

I had a great day.

My backstroke start was a bit high and deep

And then I thought I touched the wall (and stopped) but missed it.

I added 0.73s which landed me in 13th place (out of 55)

Though I was seeded 10th.

I was frustrated.

But then I rallied.

I took 2.45s (!) off my breaststroke for a huge new PR of 21.18s

And 4th place overall (out of 52 kids).

I really wanted High Point again this year.

So on the advice of Mom and Dad,

I skipped freestyle and went for the IM.

Boy am I glad I did!

I dropped 12.4 seconds (!!!) for a new PR of 1:44.87

And came in 10th overall (out of 28 kids).

Once the individual events were over,

We were super excited for the big event—

The free relay.

It’s so fun to swim.

It gets SO LOUD!

Tuck’s team:

They took another first in their heat, 9th overall.

Here’s mine:

Cooper, Everett, me and the super-fast Jack

All the relayers together

(That’s a good looking B team!) 

We had a good race—seeded 6th, came in 5th.

We’ll take it.

I was nervous.

There were a lot of fast swimmers and

Despite my hard work,

I was afraid I didn’t hit my season goal of High Point.

But guess what?

I DID!

13th in my age group in the city.

Not bad!

My friend Jack took 7th.

I’m so proud!

With the first half under our belts,

The afternoon was all about the Bigs.

Weston had a big day and was finally able to shave some time.

He took 0.11s off his free for a new PR of 38.27s

Despite his awesome start in back

(He’s the KING of starts!)

He added a bit of time, finishing at 46.06s.

He had a great breaststroke though,

Dropping 4.82s(!) for a new PR of 47.65s.

See?

King of starts.

They are beautiful to watch.

Jackson had a great day.  

He took almost 8.5s (!!!) off his freestyle

For a new PR of 1:05.37.

He added some time in back, coming in at 37.27s

But ROCKED his breaststroke,

Taking off 5.66s for a new PR of 43.19s.

It was a really great season for all of us,

Filled with a lot of PRs

And even more memories.

Hopefully we can convince Jack to swim next year!

Thursday Night Lights

We had football camp this week at LSHS.

It was so cool to be on the field at night.

We did a lot of drills, 

got some coaching from the high school guys,

And worked on our skills and speed.

But the highlight?

The unlimited watermelon on the last day.

There was a huge group of us

But there were familiar faces—

Cade and I hung out

(Colby is around here somewhere)

And Tucker was psyched to be there

With Zach, Miles, Austin and Sutton.

Let the countdown to football season begin!

 

A Waves Montage

The last 2 swim meets of the year flew by…

So we thought we’d combine them into one beautiful post.

Some families bring cookies every week—

So we took a turn this week.

Mom found a s’more cookie recipe

And we all pitched in

Our tent always attracts a crowd

And the last few meets were no exception

(And they didn’t even know we have cookies!)

Maybe they are here for Beck’s artwork

His latest masterpiece

On to some numbers…

We didn’t have our best meet the day after vacation

(Not that that was a surprise).

Only 1 PR—Beck shaved 0.4s off his breaststroke and came in a close 2nd.

Our final meet a week later was better.

Tucker shaved off over 0.5s in free with a new PR at 21.7s, 3rd place.

Then he blasted his butterfly, taking off 3.8s(!) with a PR of 31.27s, 2nd place!

And THEN he took over over 3s(!) off breast with a PR of 29.4s, 1st place!!!

Way to go, Tucker!

Beck added some time in back

But took off 0.3s for a new PR of 23.33s in breast, 1st place.

Even cooler—he decided to take on the IM.

He took 7.3s off his last time with a new PR of 1:49.95s, 3rd place!

That’s a great meet!

I added some time on my free and back

But swam a new PR in breast—down 0.6s at 51.88s.

Jack added time in the backstroke

But had 2 new PRs:

Down nearly 3s in free at 1:09.91s and

Down 2.85s in breast at 46s flat.

Wanna see one of the fastest medley relay teams

In Waves history?

And how about one of the fastest free relay teams?

Lots of good memories made this year

With some awesome friends

Help us convince Jack this shouldn’t be his last year!!!

On to Champs!

 

Watersports, anyone?

Dad decided to finally splurge and get a bigger surfboard.

If we can’t surf with this, 

We can’t surf with our boat.

And guess what…

We can surf!

We didn’t get the best picture,

But we got some awesome video!

Dad’s surfing inspired Beckett to try again

And he got it!

And, of course,

I had no trouble!

I stayed up the longest

We couldn’t just surf.

We needed to “couch” as well!

Dad took us for a RIDE!

8 days in Minnesota,

1 night in Iowa,

And a Cabin finale

That’s one epic summer trip!

Wish it didn’t have to end

 

Happy 4th! (On the 3rd)

 Since some of the family has to go home tomorrow,

We moved our Fireworks Extravaganza to today.

And what and Extravaganza it was!

It’s amazing how fast you can blow up $1000

As per usual,

There were some remnants that smoldered

And needed to be put out with…you know…

And when our show was over,

The moon put on it’s own

Happy Independence Day!

An overdue family reunion

We can’t remember the last time

EVERYONE was at the Cabin.

This calls for some pictures

How adorable are all of US??!?!

This also calls for a lot of wrestling and games

Sadly,

This one afternoon on the water

Is all we get—

We just got here (hot off Minnesota!) and 

Orfords have to go home for work tomorrow

We definitely made the best of it!

A “Perfect” Birthday

Mom and Dad came up with the idea to take Beck and I 

To see Dude Perfect, our favorite YouTubers, for our birthday.

But, unfortunately, they are coming in town 

While we are in Alaska.

But wait…

Guess who is in Des Moines the day we drive home from Minnesota?

I’ll give you a hint…

You better believe it!

Dude Perfect!

The show was better than any of us expected.

We had a blast.

Part of our gift was a hotel stay in downtown Des Moines—

Walking distance to the concert.

Check out this cool bridge!

It’s dedicated to “Women of Achievement”

So it felt fitting to take Mom’s picture

Dinner out,

A show,

Hotel swimming,

AND Beckett and I get the hotel bed instead of the pullout couch?

What a birthday!

All good things come to an end…for now

In the morning,

We had some breakfast, cleaned up,

And settled the bets:

Aaron biggest fish, Kylie second biggest fish, Chip best bass

How can it be over already?!?!?

We’ve made some awesome memories over the years:

And we’re already planning for our next one!