Activities

As with any family, things can get a little hectic when your kids have so much going on...all on the SAME DAY. Thankfully, we always survive these days and in the end all is good. Yesterday, Matt had swim lessons, Alex was at MBU (Boy Scouts), Sophia had a swim meet and then a Girl Scout trip in the evening to the VA Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

Alex attended his last day of Merit Badge University. The BSA Council down here offered this workshop for boys to complete and earn up to 2 merit badges. He had his fair share of "homework" to do in between workshop sessions. He completed the Chemistry and Personal Management merit badges. He was the only boy (out of 9 and the youngest) in his Personal Management class to complete all the requirements....how's that for "personal management"? We are proud of him. We noticed last night that he was in his room flipping through his BSA handbook, looking at what other badges he would like to complete next. Last week he went camping for 1 night up in Richmond. Most of their day was spent indoors at a rock wall climbing facility (thank goodness because it was cold). He had a blast but was aching the next day.

Sophia did well at the swim meet yesterday. She is on the swim team (Peninsula Piranhas) at the Newport News Y. We won't get the final results until later this week. She is getting faster with each meet and is now placed in the first heats for each event. She swims freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. Her coach told Ted that she beat the time of another girl (who holds the fastest time for breaststroke on the swim team) at yesterday's meet. For swimming, ribbons are given out for the top 6. Last month, she and her teammates got 4th place for freestyle relay. The team motto on their shirts read "Bad to the Bone".

Ted is a stroke and turn judge...and most of you know that he swam in both high school and college. He has the great honor of disqualifying kids and I'm sure pissing off parents.

Matt is Matt....what else can I say? We're glad he doesn't fuss about going to swim classes at the Y on Sat. mornings. He loves the water and I think he does enjoy watching Sophie race and cheering on the Peninsula Piranhas.

Tricia started working part-time (twice a week) for her dad. She does posting of insurance payments and is quite annoyed that there are WAY TOO MANY INSURANCE COMPANIES with all their different codes and reasons. At least she gets a free lunch every now and then. She started taking a kickboxing class at the Y .... and thinks she will stick with it. It's nice to know she can get her frustrations out without actually hurting anyone.

***There is a link below (under slideshow/videos) to see a clip of Sophia swimming the breaststroke in the medley relay.