Corolla, NC

The day after swim champs we packed up and headed to the Outer Banks, NC with my parents.  The trip down was more eventful than I would have liked with a few missed exits and a little unwanted stress, but we all managed to arrive at the house safe and in one piece.  This was our 6th Outer Banks beach vacation and I think if I were to take a vote, it may have just been the best one yet.  Each year it's different, sometimes we have gone with friends, sometimes with both sets of grandparents (sans G-ma Harris), sometimes with my parents, and sometimes for family events: two of our kids (Liam and Gavin) have both been baptized in the Atlantic Ocean at the Outer Banks.  This year we stayed up on the Northern end in Corolla.  In fact, we were a mere mile to the end of the paved road and the wild horse preserve!  The beaches here were unlike any other we've experienced...relatively flat and wide and even Jonah was able to walk out 30 yards into the water and the waves were only up to his waist.  This made for great boogie boarding for everyone and we all spent hours "catching waves".  We decided that even though getting up to the Northern tip of the Outer Banks adds another 30-45+ minutes of driving, that the beaches and smaller crowds were worth it.

This beach week was a needed break for all of us. There was no schedule, no executive education, no swim team, no tennis team, no piano, no violin, no cello, no math, no typing, no writing, nothing but a big wonderful empty slate.  Each morning we woke up to new adventures to be had.  There was a fun chalk board calendar in the house and each day we filled with things like: boogie boarding, skim boarding, Duck Donuts, walk on the beach, paddle ball, game night, movie night, knot tying, fishing, afternoon reading and naps, Steamers shrimp for dinner, an evening and morning thunderstorm, swimming pool games, hot tub time,  and on and on.  Jared was smart enough to take a photo of the beach house's chalk board!

Our house was only one house off the ocean ("semi ocean front") and a mere a two minute walk to the beach access which allowed us the freedom to come and go throughout the day.  The first two days we did nothing but spend time at the beach boogie boarding, skim boarding, digging in the sand and playing a game Jonah made up called "Pow-Pow" where the boys would slam themselves into the waves.  (This actually resulted in some serious swimmer's ear by the end of the week that required a visit to the doctor and a course of antibiotics and pain meds.  Caleb and Liam were absolutely miserable for several days after we got home.  Looking back, it seems obvious that "Pow-Pow" was not such a great idea...)

Besides almost biting off his tongue, this was one of the many times C. would slam ear first into a wave:

More photos of Jonah playing Pow-Pow:

Skim boarding.  The boys all have their own boards and spent more time in pursuit of the perfect wave than anything else that week.  They often wait for 5 minutes or more before they would decide that the right wave just came in.  I tell you skim boarding looks so easy when the boys do it.  They wait for the right wave, throw the board, run to jump on it, then skim into the next incoming wave.  But, it is not simple.  This year both my dad and Jared made their attempts and it only took a few runs before my dad took a hard spill and only a few days' worth of runs before Jared pulled an inner-thigh muscle so badly he had to walk backwards part of the way home and take baby steps for the rest of the day.  There was no camera around, so I'll preserve the image of that moment of pain and agony in my mind forever and remember that I could not stop laughing.  Doubled over in pain, drool dripping down from his mouth, total agony.  For the record, after the deep breathing and baby steps, Jared was laughing too.  (He said "I was acting 20 instead of 40..")  That was the end of skim boarding this trip for Jared!  But the boys never stopped.

One of the evenings after the tide had come and gone, there was a perfect training ground for Jonah to practice his budding skills.  He didn't plan on getting the water, so before heading to the beach he had chosen (despite parental advice) to not put on his swimming suit.

I really do believe that one of these days Gavin or Caleb are going to lose a portion of their tongues.  It's unbelievable how often their tongues take part in their physical activities!

Boogie boarding.  This was the one activity that everyone could do and there was little to no risk of injury.  Even my parents were in the water catching waves:

 Finally there was just plain ol' fun in the sand.  We had to make a quick stop at the Ace Hardware store for more real garden shovels because somehow they got left back in C-ville and you really cannot dig well in the sand without them.  There were random kids on the beach who would see the rapid progress we were making in digging some hole or another and ask to borrow one of the shovels.  Jared shared with the parents where we got them, so hopefully they weren't sold out!

Here are the beginnings of what would become a giant hole surrounded by a mote and castle towers.

The boys also decided to try to see what would happen if they dropped a paddle ball down a crab hole.....they found out those holes were much, much deeper than they ever expected - and required much excavation to retrieve the ball! 

I loved watching Caleb with Jonah....this little boy loves his biggest brother!

There were paddle ball games going on at some point every day and Jared and I reached a new personal best: 409 hits in a row!  One evening we pulled out some kites because you really can't spend time on the beach without getting them out at some point.

We pretty much stayed around the house with a few exceptions, including the one tradition of eating out at Steamers where you order the fresh shrimp by the pound.  We also discovered a new Mexican restaurant, did a bit of souvenir shopping and climbed up the Corolla Lighthouse.  It has been several years since we walked those 200+ steps and I kept thinking back to the last time we were there and Caleb refusing to walk out onto the top platform due to vertigo.  This time I was behind him and watched as he hesitated for a second and grabbed the side of the door, but then made his way out having overcome the fear of heights that had paralyzed him so many years ago.  Both Jared and Caleb even managed to hold on to the railing, but Jared couldn't quite let go of the door frame....he too has a marginal phobia of man-made heights.

Grandma was on the hunt all week for sea glass and a particular kind of shell.  She found tiny, I mean tiny peaces of sea glass and came away with some fun shells.  My dad on the other hand was searching for heart shaped shells for Mom and she had them all laid out the night before we left.  So fun!

Lastly, Caleb needed to pass off a few more requirements for his fishing merit badge, specifically learning to tie some knots and catching a fish.  He passed off both of these with my dad and despite the odds they had given themselves, 70/30 they did indeed catch a fish!  A grouper.  Unfortunately no camera was around to catch the moment - it was only the two of them, out earlier than the rest of us.

Going to the beach every year is something I look forward to, starting in December.  I love the salty water and the power of the waves; I love the soft warm sand on my feet; I love that we all come back to the beach house from the sandy beach every day and skinny dip (boys together, then me by myself) in the pool to get the sand out of all our crevices; I love not having a schedule; I love taking long walks on the beach and listening to crashing sounds of the surf; I love being together with the people I love most in this world and the people I would not survive without.

Swim Champs

The culmination of a summer of swimming occurred last Friday and Saturday when the Jefferson Swim League held it's regional championship in the same pool that the UVA swim team (#1 in the ACC for 7-9 years running) competes.  The pool is decked out with touch pads in the water and a huge screen for the swimmers to see their names and times displayed.  This is big time!!   And to add to the pressure, this year looked like our team, the Crozet Gators,  might actually dethrone the 22 year champions, Fairview Seahorses Swim Team.  Grandma and Grandpa Hill were there for the events and the boys were very excited to show off their form and speed.   They were all looking to beat their best times of the season and with a few exceptions, they all did just that.  It was a remarkable two days.

Caleb and Liam started off on Friday afternoon/evening (12:20-7:00pm), when both of their age brackets were scheduled to compete.  Liam was first off the blocks for an Individual Medley which means he swims all 4 strokes:  butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, in that order.  Liam had the totally unfortunate mishap of stubbing his toe on his way to line up.  It required two bandaids to stop the bleeding and some mental mending.  Tears were shed beforehand, but he had a great swim....not his best, but under the circumstances, impressive.  He was determined to not let this race affect his chance to secure the one open spot in the final freestyle relay reserved for those who have shown their best times during the meet.

Here is his time:

Next up was Caleb for the same event, in his age group.  He was a little more nervous because Jamboree had kept him out of the water for almost two weeks before champs, but he came through and did great.

Caleb's Time:

Then it was time for games and hanging around waiting for the other events:

The neighborhood swim gang minus G. one of Caleb's good buddies.

Liam was next up in the breaststroke and beat his time by 3 seconds....for those of you who don't swim, 3 seconds is a HUGE improvement as he has consistently been in the 50 second range all summer.  He then went on the beat his time in backstroke, coming in a close second in his heat, and securing his spot on the final relay!

Next was Caleb on backstroke and fly, and he improved his time in both events.

We had some more down time where Grandpa Hill took a little snooze and the boys played a little "pinching kitty," a tag game made up by Gavin several years ago when he was a toddler.

The final event was the freestyle relay (200 meter).  Liam had set his mind on that one open spot the day before when his coach told him and two other boys that the spot was open to whoever swam the strongest.  He focused, swam strong despite the bloody toe and they came in 3rd place overall.  Nice work Liam!

Of note: this screen shot of the score was not right....a mess-up from whoever input the numbers:  ACAC was 1st, BHSC was 2nd was our team CGST was 3rd.

Caleb also knew he would be in his relay from the beginning of the meet:

At the end of Caleb's relay we were done for the night and rushed home to grab a quick salmon and pasta dinner and get Gavin and Jonah in bed before their early start the next morning.  Our team was in 3rd place at this point in the meet, about 100 points behind Fairview.

Now for Saturday, I will start off by saying that I was very anxious for this day where Gavin was going to be competing for 1st place in backstroke.  I still cannot imagine the pressure of going into an event like this already having the best time of all 126 boys competing.  I will also note, that because of their 19 month age difference and Gavin's late August birthday, Gavin and Jonah actually compete against each other this season, in the same age bracket (8 and under).  

Here are the two boys before the meet started:

Gavin's medley relay team (each boy swims one of the four strokes: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, in that order) was first off the blocks and Gavin was the first of his team to start the swim with the backstroke.  They were projected to win this by about 10 seconds and came close to keeping that record.  Gavin's first trophy of Champs was earned and 15 points for the team were scored.  The gap was starting to close on Fairview.

The next event was Freestyle which both Jonah and Gavin were racing.  Jonah went first and did a great job and improved his time.  He always gets a good start with his nice dives which I think is in part due to a game we play that started in the Outer Banks 3 years ago with a great friend S. England.  When we are just messing around at the pool, they try to dive in the water with perfect form and I'm the judge.  A 10 is earned if there is little splash, legs together, arms straight, and head down and they are usually so desperate for that 10 that they do it over and over until they get it right.  We also play the game with other moves: pencil dive, cannon ball, sleep-walker, crazy-man, or whatever else they make up.  

Gavin was in a higher heat and made a mental decision to not go "all-out" in freestyle, so that he would have some energy left over for the backstroke.  Jared and I never even suggested this to him, he just put his own strategy into motion.  This is a boy with a plan, I tell you.

I have no photo of the scoreboard of this.....or maybe I will find it......but he did come in 8th place I believe.

Here are G&G watching the events:

Jonah was next up for breaststroke and he did a great job......we laughed because he kept glancing over and checking out his competition, something all the boys tend to do in this stroke.

Next was the moment we were all waiting for, Gavin competing in backstroke.  He was in the last ("winners") heat where the ten boys with the best times race.  We were all a little nervous and Jonah had been saying a quiet prayer for his brother.
 

Here he is on the blocks:

And here are the results:

Not only did he earn another 15 points for his team, he beat his own record of 20.72.  He was so thrilled he fist pumped the water!  Of course we were all screaming and cheering, so much that I thought I was going to faint from loss of oxygen!  I'm not kidding.  Like Liam the night before, he had a goal for himself, he worked very hard, stayed focused, and in the end he kept a cool head and beat 125 other boys for this spot on top!  It's so remarkable that I find myself shaking my head in disbelief that this is my child, my little boy.  How we were all feeling:

Gavin had one final event: the 50 freestyle race.  He was looking to come in 2nd place in this event behind his teammate, but turned one stroke short of the end of the pool.  This cost him some time and he came in 4th overall.  He got out of that pool smiled up at us and came out to where we were waiting for him.  

Here he is on the blocks and starting:

The Gators were closing in on Fairview in large part because of Gavin's relay team who together took first in their medley event and then individually took first in all the other events for the 8 and under boys.  They are total rock stars!  The second and final session were for ages that we didn't have any swimmers, so we packed it up, heading to a new spot for lunch, and made our way home to pack for the beach trip the next day.

That evening I got a phone call from one of our neighbors that told me that the Crozet Gators dethroned the Fairview Seahorses by a mere 20 points!!! The boys went crazy and immediately got suited up to head to the pool for a late night celebration with the entire gators team.  We sent G&G with them because Jared and I had a farewell party for some friends, but they reported back that a lot of junk food was consumed and some serious games of sharks and minnows were played.  The papers ran the story immediately and the team was even on the evening news.....it was history here in Charlottesville and the boys were beyond thrilled to be a part of it!  

There is so much I love about swim team.  I love that the only event I ever missed this entire season was Liam's backstroke. I was frantically looking for him after I finished my job as "sweep judge" to let him know I'd found a ride home for him so that he didn't have to stay to the bitter end (Jared was out of town) and realized after he came up to me asking if I saw his race that I missed it!  So sorry about that Liam.  But besides that I never missed one of their events.  I love being part of a "team" where we see the same friends, some new some old, every morning and every Wednesday evening we spend several hours with each other working our assigned jobs and cheering everyone on.  It's a great community to be a part of and I look forward to several more years of swim team!