Swim Meet!

I flew home the Friday night before 4th of July and stayed at my parent's house.  Sheppy spent a couple of nights with us, including that first one.  Since the guest room is nearest to the kiddos nursery, I knew there was a good chance I'd be the first to hear Shep wake up and I wasn't sure how he'd respond to me. I feel like I saw Ry & Beau a lot more by this age and that they knew who I was (Ryder for sure), but I was pretty sure Shep would have NO recollection of who I was and it might freak him out a bit to be greeted by a stranger first thing in the morning.  When I expressed this concern to Beth she told me "Oh, no.  He's real friendly.  Except for when he's rude.  Sometimes he grunts in people's faces".  Grrreatt!  Luckily, when I did get him up that morning, he was quite sweet.  Of course, as soon as he saw that my mom was around and could change his diaper instead of me, he grunted in my face.  I consider that perfect timing since I didn't have to change that nasty diaper (not really....I love doing anything with these kids, including changing nasty diapers)!

Isn't he a handsome little dude?!

We all got ready that Saturday morning and headed to the Country Club to meet the rest of the Mc clan for Ryder & Beau's swim meet.  They don't belong to the Country Club, just get to be part of their swim team and it's a pretty nice little deal because that meant they got to spend some of their summer hanging out at a really great pool!  I was most impressed by the free, unlimited serve-yourself drinks!

I was a little shocked when my mom called in June and said she'd been to the Ryder's first swim meet.  "What?  He can swim the whole length of a pool?!"  My mom's response, "Well, I don't think he's ever swam that far before, but he did it today!"  Ryder apparently complained afterwards that it was too hard, but when I asked him about it on the phone a few days later, he was very excited about it and rather proud of himself.  Beth overheard the conversation and was surprised he'd had a change of heart.  So, he kept on swimming.  At some point later, I learned that Beau had joined the team as well.  Swim team was only a month long adventure with 4 meets.  I was so excited when I learned that one of those meets coincided with my trip home.  I must say, it was rather impressive to watch these little guys.

For their first race, they swam freestyle against each other and a few other boys.  Ryder won!!!  It was so fun and exciting to cheer him on and see him tap that wall first.  He was so proud of himself.  I think Brian and I had a little trouble containing our excitement while Beth was down cheering on Beau in his lane.

Beau is on the left w/ Beth behind him giving him some last

minute tips.  Ryder is two lanes over on the far right of this

picture, bent down and ready to dive in!

Good form, Ry!

By the time Brian and I got over from Ryder's lane to Beau's lane, the WHOLE pool was cheering for Beau as he was the only swimmer left in the pool.  He had to stop every so often and hang on to the lap lane divider to catch his breath, but he finished that swim and was mighty happy with his performance.

It was a long morning with lots of waiting in between races.  The boys had fun playing in the water fountains and on the playground.  I had fun catching up with my family and a sorority sister whose kids were on Ryder & Beau's team.  She was a year older than me in school and I never knew her too well, but she was SO sweet at the meet and I enjoyed talking to her.  She was there with her parents and they happen to know my pastor, so it was fun to make that connection.

Shep was mostly happy to hang out and watch all the excitement.

For their second races, the boys swam backstroke.  Ryder did fairly well, but didn't win this one.

Looks like Ryder knows the backstroke, too!

Beau had NO clue how to do the backstroke and hung out at the far end of the pool while B&B shouted at him to either swim to the other end of the pool (where I was cheering him on!) or swim to the side and get out.  He finally opted to just get out.  We were afraid he'd be upset, but he didn't seem to be bothered at all.

The final race was the butterfly.  Ryder and Beau simultaneously burst into tears when they were given this information.  I could totally feel their pain as I remember feeling the same way when I was assigned to the butterfly race EVERY single meet for the 3-4 summers I swam on a team.  They claimed to have no idea how to swim butterfly.  Beth and I finally convinced them to just swim however they could and make it to the end of the pool.  They finally agreed and did just fine.

Shep lined up for the Butterfly race while

Beth & I tried to pump the big boys up!