We were Purple Sharks Once, and Young

If it's Wednesday night in the summer, it's swim meet night at stately LLamabutcher Manor. This is our second year for our 8 year old daughter, who is going to be swimming in the 25M free, 25 breastroke, 25 back and probably the freestyle relay. This is also the first meet for the six year old boy, who will be doing the 25 free (and hopefully making it the length of the pool without having to be fished out by the Coast Guard).

The kids love the whole ritual and structure that the swim team creates for the summer, and boy does it take the edge off.

I'll have the wrap-up later.

UPDATE: We didn't get home until 1050, and the meet never really finished: they had to call off the freestyle relays because it was too durn late. The teams were just too big.

Anyhoo, the results: the little man swam his first meet, coming in 21st (out of 21). What mattered was that he finished---he got to the proverbial other end of the pool, and within a minute had a smile bigger than Christmas morning on his face. He whispered to me, "Daddy, I just pretended I was swimming for Gryffindor, and FairView was the Slytherins!" Whatever works to motivate the 6 year old crowd, eh?

The eight year old did great: in the 25 free she was flat and off her seed time by 1.5, but, more importantly, finished right ahead of one of her friends from school, who swam for the other team. Much dancing around ensued. She kicked butt in the backstroke, and did smoothly in the breaststroke. Personally, I was quietly relieved they had to cancel the freestyle relay, as she was pretty beat. This was her first meet swimming three discplines, so she had the delightful combination of elation and exhaustion. Needless to say, I carried her in from the car.

Hallmark doesn't make a card for that.