PACIFIC NORTHWEST SWIM CHAMPS

December 10-12, 2010 was our Pacific Northwest Swimming Champs and Emily and Michael did great.  Michael is at the bottom of his age group so we were thrilled he made it.  He qualified in the 500 free (where he got 13th), the 100 back (he took off 2 seconds and got 22nd), 200 free, 50 back, 100 fly and 100 IM (added some time in these so....back to practice). Emily kicked butt.  Her relays WON and broke team records (from 1992) in the 400 free, 400 medley and 200 medley relays.  She ended up doing all best times and finished 6th in the 1650 free, 7th in the 200 free, 8th in the 500 free and 50 free (I'm thinking she is a freestyler now) and 10th in the 200 IM and 400 IM.  The best race was her anchoring the medley relay.  She went in a little behind the other swimmer and came back in the last 5 yards and just touched her out.  Her smile on the wall was huge!!!
Aaron Piersol (the gold medal backstroker from the Beijing Olympics) was at the meet to hand out the medals and sign autographs.  The kids really had a great weekend.

Emily first record breaking relay

Michael's 100 back event.

Emily is officially a freestyler.

Michael's 100 IM

Emily is ready...

                                                   but what is he doing??

Aaron Piersol signed lots of autographs.  He was such a nice guy, stayed cheerful and joked with all the kids.  I was really impressed by him.

Emily's medal in the 200 Free

and 50 Free.

SNOW DAY

Last Monday, we woke to a dusting of snow. In Seattle, that is enough to cancel school (at least for Michael).  By Tuesday we did have 3 inches.  It is rare to ever see snow in November (last time was 1985) and as usually, Seattle is completely overwhelmed and shuts down.  But it does mean no school, no work for Mom, few cars on the road and we took advantage and had a SNOW DAY.

In addition to the snow, we have a leak in our water main which made our street literally a solid sheet of ice (it still not fixed!!)

"Mom, a hat will ruin my hair.  Besides, it's not like I'm going to play in the snow or anything!"

Maybe a Christmas card shot?

Guess who won this race?

NO SCHOOL!!!

 Remember making snow angels?

Kodiak will do anything for a treat.

Maybe we should have put away the summer toys....

...or at least put a cover on them. Oops.

Kodiak First Snow

Although Kodiak is almost 2 yrs old, he has not seen snow since he left Alaska at 11 weeks (we just didn't get any last year).  So last Monday when we woke up to snow, I thought he'd be thrilled.  I ran downstairs, opened the door and....he just stood there.  He looked at me, then at the snow, back at me and turned around and walked into the house.  Really?! I later got dressed and made him go back out.  He sniffed around, alot,  and then slowly started to trot and then eventually ran and ran and ran and after awhile, we couldn't get him back in the house.

What is this stuff??

Is there something on my face?

Squirrel?

Since no cars, no leash!!!

After all that playing, I'm exhaused.

Let it Rain

Yes it rains in Seattle but without the rain...no rainbows.  This was a recent shot from our deck.

Kids Swim Meet

Emily and Micheal had their second meet of the season last week.  They both did very well with several best times.  Emily was really excited that she finally broke 1 minute in the 100 Free!!!



Kodiak

Here are a few recent pictures of Kodiak. He'll be 2 in January.

Halloween

Michael went as Michael Phelps this year for Halloween. (Emily spent the night at a friend's house and got dressed there too so no pictures this year)

Mt Rainier on a clear November day