Seal Meet #4: Wallaceburg - 2010.01.23

Gary and Connor headed to Wallaceburg this past Sunday for another Seal meet - he needs 4 Seal meets to qualify for the Seal Championships in April.

Via BBM (Blackberry Messenger, for you un-Berries), Gary kept me updated of Connor's progress - he did so well!  Final counts were a gold, four silver and a seventh place finish!  This pool was 25 yard pool, as opposed to a 25 meter short course (SC) pool, so it's hard to compare his times to other races, but they're still very good times for him - he bettered all of his times from other 25 yard pool meets!! Here are his times:

10-11 100m IM: 1:28.26 - placed 1st
10-11 50m Fly: 44.29s - placed 2nd
10-11 50m Back: 41.82s - placed 2nd
10-11 50m Breast: 52.15s - placed 7th
10-11 100m Free: 1:19.55 - placed 2nd
11 & Under 200m Free Relay team: 2:16.10 - placed 2nd

In a sort-of, but-not-really related topic, we watched America's Funniest Videos on Sunday and this video gave me the giggles:





Hee hee - is that not adorable!?

Check back tomorrow, when I will share my CP4U project for Challenge #50... but until then, here's a little sneak peek:

Our Little Fish

It occurred to me that I haven't shared Connor's times from the Guelph Dash for Cash meet.  And while you may be secretly groaning, you're just going to have to put up with another Proud Mama post...

10 & under 25m Freestyle - 12th place.  Time:  17.31**
10 & under 50m Breaststroke - 9th place  Time:  55.02
10 & under 200m Freestyle - 5th place   Time:  3:00.40**
10 & under 50m Freestyle - 9th place  Time:  37.52**
10 & under 50m Backstroke - 9th place  Time: 45.49
10 & under 100m Freestyle - 7th place  Time:  1:24.73**

He shaved time off his seed time for all of his races, except for his 25m Free (due to a bad start) and hit personal best times in four of his six races, as noted above**!  WTG, Connor!

This past weekend, he participated in a challenge that his division has each year.  Each child in the Seal division is timed as he/she swims a mile (that's 66 laps!).  Every Saturday, two of the kids swim their mile while the rest of their teammates partake in the 1.5 hour practice.  Connor completed his 66 laps in 28 minutes, 42 seconds - so far, he's in second place!  I'm so proud of him - 66 is a crazy amount of laps to swim at one stretch...

But then after a 20-25 minute break in the cool down area of the pool, his coach called him back to practice for the remaining 40 minutes!  And they were practicing 200m lengths!

I'm tired just thinking about it! :)

Home at last!!

This past weekend, we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Guelph at the Dash for Cash swim meet.  Connor swam exceptionally well, bettering most of his times - especially his 200m Freestyle time, off which he shaved 19.4 seconds!  He is pleased with his swims, with the exception of his 25m freestyle - he won 2nd place last year at this same event, and was hoping to better his time, but had a bad start and ended up adding time.  The final results aren't in yet, but I think it was all top ten finishes across the board!  Way to go, Connor!

We left immediately after his last race, but still managed to get caught in a snowstorm on the way home.  We passed so many vehicles that has spun out or had gone into ditches!  The slushy wet snow soon turned to ice with the dropping temperatures and we ground to a standstill just prior to our turn off at Cty Rd 42, where the OPP had closed down Hwy 401.  I'm not sure if it was due to poor visibility or an accident, but once we turned off at Cty Rd 42, it was complete chaos!  Pure whiteout condition - we could barely see the road!  Luckily, we caught up with a queue of cars, which helped to keep us out of the ditch!  It took us nearly 45 minutes to travel a stretch that usually only takes us 25 minutes!

Thankfully we made it safely!  We're hoping that the rest of our WEST teammates made the journey home safely as well!

Random Facts

Seems like a while since I've updated about our family life!  Not that I'm kidding myself and thinking that someone is waiting on pins and needles for an update...

It's really for my benefit, because at my age, remember what I ate for breakfast is taxing! :s

Here are some random updates:

*  There are only eight more school days left this year.  Even less for Aili, who is still alternate days.  The kids are looking forward to a lot of swimming at Aunt Liz's this year! :)

* We are all adapting to having Gary home (click here if you haven't heard the news).  In fact, we are all adapting quite well! :) 

* Connor competed in his final swim meet of the year this past weekend in Brantford.  It was a 3 day meet (Fri - Sun) and he swam in 8 races.  Most were top 20 finishes.  The pool was a Long Course (long course = 50m length, as opposed to short course, which is 25m) and since Connor trains on a SC pool, it presents a challenge, especially since all provincial races are on LC pools.  The WEST coaches have been lobbying for a LC course pool in the area to properly train the athletes.  Amanda Reason used to belong to the WEST club, but moved to Etobicoke last year to train on a LC course.  Hopefully, it will be closer to our end of the city... :)

* Aili is finishing up her last session of gymnastics for the year, and has begun T-ball and soccer this year.  She has missed a few gymnastics sessions because we have been away a lot this spring but she seems to like it.  I am looking at ballet classes now for her - she has pretty strong legs and toes (she can walk on her very tippy-toes for a very long time!!) and is constantly pirouetting and jete-ing across the room...

* I'll be teaching another Hands On! workshop next weekend in Kitchener at The Art House Studio - looking forward to it!

* I've just finished my Fall 2010 Hands On! photography article for Canadian Scrapbooker, as well as a feature article for this issue on a subject that is close to my heart.  It comes out on newsstands on September 1st!

* I've been pretty good about my Project 52 photo-taking!  Thankfully, I've had events each weekend so I'm taking photos!  We have started my studio renovation and so I will be making my quota by documenting the process with photos!  So far, there's a big hole in my wall where my French doors will be going!  Tomorrow we are shopping for potlights! I'll share photos this week...

* I'm working on plans to organize a large crop in my area.  Still trying to sort out the details like location and pricing, but I'm hoping to have it in August or September!  I may have to settle for October though...

* We are excited to be FINALLY heading down to Pennsylvania this summer to visit my cousins there!!  I think the last time we went for a visit, Connor was only 18 months old!!  It's been so hard to coordinate schedules and timing and $$ too - we were almost ready to go last summer but had to cancel at the last minute!  And even this year, we had just confirmed our plans, when Gary received the news about his job and we almost canceled again.  I'm just glad we didn't have to!!!  Oh I'm so excited to see my cousins again - I'm actually squirming in my seat!!  Not long now, Mary - I'll be parked on your doorstep before you get a chance to hide! :)

I'm sure there are more updates that I just can't recall right now... See?  Clearly, I'm losing my mind!

New Summer 'Do

Remember back when you were younger and you spent all summer in the pool?

Now remember back to that time, and think about what your hair felt and smelled like...  It didn't matter how much you shampooed and conditioned your hair (and at 10, who really had patience to wait the 2 minutes for the conditioner?), it still felt like straw and was bleached out by the sun and chlorine.  Or worse, it turned green!

Now imagine that you are a 10 year old boy who can barely sit still long enough to eat, let along take the time to properly condition your hair.  Imagine that you are in the pool four nights a week.  And that's only practice.  Imagine there are swim meets and recreational swims and pool parties.

Got a good mental image?

Okay, now here's the reality.

As an aside, let's just ignore the obvious flash in these photos... I was lazy and actually shot on Auto!! *gasp*  Don't tell anyone... ;)

Connor's hair has certainly taken a beating this year with all the practices and a whopping 10 swim meets.  Since we were heading to his final meet this weekend (Western Region LC Championship) and school is winding down, I suggested that he shave his head for this meet.

At first, he looked at me like I was crazy.  I think he was picturing a complete shave, like Mr. Clean!  But I could totally see the wheels turning, once I mentioned that he get a Faux Hawk, like Puck from Glee...

All together now, ladies... {sigh}

Anyhow, you may remember from Gary's post about their trip to Provinical Team Champs, he mentioned that they played the entire 1st season of Glee while traveling to Ottawa.  And I'm sure that the entire female population of the bus swooned during each of Puck's scenes...

So he put two and two together and decided to get a faux hawk, a la Puck...

I pulled him out of school early on Thursday so we could make it to my hairdresser's before she left for the day, since we were leaving early on Friday. 

Imagine my surprise when Amanda said she didn't know who Puck was!!?? :)

Somehow along the way it morphed into a more tame version of a faux hawk.  It started with razing the back and sides of his head:

I'm not sure why his teeth are glowing...? Damn flash... *shrugs*

Then Amanda shaped the sides...

Then, in honour of his swim team... Can you see it?

Go WEST!!

Wait!! What happened to my little baby??  Excuse me while I curl into the fetal position and cry...

Just wait until next week when we actually shave it into a mohawk... :)

Provincial Team Championships: 2010.04.16 to 2010.04.18

It's been over a month, but I wanted to share these photos and story about Connor's swim meet in April  On the weekend I was scheduled to teach at ScrapFest, Connor's coach asked him to be one of the 40 kids going to Nepean (Ottawa) to represent WEST in the Provincial Team Championships!  To say he was stoked would have been a gross understatement!! We are so proud of how far he has come this past year.

I'm going to hand it over to Gary, who traveled with Connor and the team, to let him relay the experience.

Hi everyone - Gary here! 

Being fairly new to the world of competitive swimming, every swim meet has been an adventure and learning experience, and the  Division 1 Team Championships topped them all... so far!

First a quick little background... there are a number of divisions in Ontario swimming, and based on swimmer performances over the year (and at events, like the Team Championships), teams are ranked and placed in a division.  Connor's team, WEST, has been in the Division 1 Tier for the last two years. Being a smaller club, compared to many of the other teams in Division 1, there's a sense of pride throughout the team, and a drive to ensure they stay in Division 1. To that end, everyone was ready for the challenge, and to say they did their best is an understatement... more on that in a minute.

Forty swimmers from WEST were invited to participate in the Team Championships, from the various age groups.  Based on his performance this year, Connor was invited to swim in the 10 & Under class with 3 others.  A big part of the team championships are the relays, so you need 4 swimmers per age group (male and female) to participate in the relays.

The event was scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so to ensure everyone was well rested and we arrived in time, we headed up to Nepean/Ottawa on Thursday by bus.  The team required chaperones for the younger kids, so I volunteered and got a seat on the bus... which was good, 'cause I didn't really feel like driving all the way there by myself.

What I had expected to be a raucous 7 hour ride actually turned out to be quite un-eventful, with the kids either glued to their DS's or fixated on Season 1 of Glee, playing on the TVs on the bus!  Upon arriving in Nepean, we went right to the pool for a practice and to familiarize ourselves with the facilities.

Afterwards, we were treated to a very good pasta buffet dinner, organized by one of the other parents.  If you ever want to see something entertaining, throw an all-you-can-eat pasta and bread buffet in front of a bunch of teenage athletes.  Fourth and fifth servings weren't un-common.

With everyone well-fed, we headed to our hotel and everyone crashed for the night... well, almost everyone... except the teenagers!!!!

Friday, the first day of competition, was actually pretty relaxing.  The 12 & Unders didn't have to swim until the evening so there was a lot of sitting around, watching TV, playing video games, listening to music... and the kids stayed busy as well! :-)  But when competition time came around, it was all business.

The entire team did extremely well.  Numerous swimmers medaled and there were over 30 club records broken that weekend.  Connor now holds two of those records with his relay team:  one in the 200 Free Relay (Boys 10 & Under) and one in the 200 Medley Relay (Boys 10 & Under)... on top of placing 5th overall in the competition for relays.  Connor also bested all of his own personal times, with his backstroke showing the most improvement, where he came 10th overall.  Remember - this is PROVINCIAL!!  We're so proud of him!

The Provincial Team Championships were run on what's referred to as a LC (Long Course) 50m pool.  This is split into two 25m pools for qualifying races, but then changed back to a long course for finals (13 & Over) and the relays.

The most exciting part of the weekend had to be these relays.  Every team and every age group is present during relays, along with family, friends and spectators.  The level of excitement, and the energy in the building during these 2 to 2 1/2 minute races is unbelievable.  I swear it was louder than a rock concert in there...next time, I'm wearing ear plugs!

All in all, it was an incredible experience and I'm glad Connor got a chance to participate.  He's already looking forward to next year and is determined to make the team again!

Here are some photographs I took at the meet:

The entire team and coaches.  Everyone received Division 1 team shirts with their name on the back.

The pool deck is always what we refer to as "organized chaos"...

Funny hats ran rampant... :-)

Trying to get everyone moving towards the same place always proved to be a challenge!

Connor, with one of his relay teammates, Cole.

The Relay 10 & Under Relay Team:  Cole, Ethan, Connor and Nick.  Way to go, boys!!

Thanks for reading!

Rain delay

Ok so it was partly sunny and 11 degrees here today.  Still, I have an excuse for not blogging about Connor's Provincials meet yet... The photos haven't been uploaded from our point and shoot to my computer yet!  And what fun is a blog post, without photos??

So, until I have photos, this photo from my camera will have to do for tonight:

How cool is that?  PROVINCIALS, baby!!

ScrapFest Update

... will have to wait!  It's too late already and I have to be up early tomorrow!

I also have great news from Connor's swim meet in Nepean, ON, this past weekend for the Provincial Team Championships...  I'll give you a hint - click HERE.

Proud mama moment.

Still.

London Regionals and the Nikon D90

I am FINALLY getting around to posting the photos from Connor's WOSA Championships swim meet in London in February.  Even though his swim times didn't improve during this meet, he still managed to place in the top 25 out of all of the kids in the region!  We are so proud of him!

I managed to get a chance to play with the new D90 that Nikon sent to me, while my D70 is being cleaned/repaired.  Oh. My. Word.  I am in love.  I was really hoping that Nikon Repair would call and say that it was beyond hope, and would I mind just keeping the D90 as a promo item?  Sadly, they didn't - and it was only about $140 to clean and adjust the focussing sensors so I am still unable to justify a new camera purchase, until I start setting up some photo shoots again.

Even though the quality of these photos should be justification enough...

During warm-ups:

On the starting block for his 50m Backstroke:

In the home stretch for 50 m Backstroke:

More Backstroke:

During the Butterfly leg of the IM (Individual Medley)

Backstroke leg of the IM:

But here is my favourite photo from the whole weekend.  I have plans to enlarge it to at least an 11"x14" and have it dry mounted for Connor's room:

These were all taken with the Nikon D90 and the Nikkor 70-300mm VR lens.

I am truly and deeply in love.

Western Ontario Regional SC Championships: London (2010.02.05 - 2010.02.06)

I'm sitting in a hotel room, in the dark, blogging.

Kinda like a dark, dirty secret. ;)

We're in London for the Western Ontario Regional SC Championships today and tomorrow for Connor.  It was touch and go this week, as to whether or not we'd make it here, after he was diagnosed with rotator cuff tendonitis 2 weeks ago.  But after a week off, and plenty of icing, he was back in the pool today.

He had 3 swims today, and his coaches put him in as the starter for the 200m Medley relay.  Not what we were expecting, and I think it may have put some strain on him.  He was really hard on himself today, but Gary and I both think that after his absence from an injury that is still healing, he did pretty well!  His stamina needs to be built back up - I could see that he tired easily today - but we're still so proud of how far he's come in such a short time.  I think we forget sometimes that this is still really only his FIRST year of actual competitions!

I got to try out the Nikon D90 that Nikon sent me on loan while my D70 is in for repairs - as it turns out, I just needed to have the focusing sensor cleaned and adjusted.  Not as pricey as I had originally feared - although after playing with the D90 today, I think I want to upgrade!  I am too tired to dig through my camera bag for my card to upload but will share tomorrow or Monday!

Now that everyone around me is snoring, and I can't even read my new scrapbooking magazine (unless I resort to the bathroom!), I guess I'll turn in.  Maybe we can take advantage of the pool and hot tub early tomorrow morning, since we don't have to be back at the pool until noon tomorrow.

Have a happy February weekend!

Whew!

There!  I think I'm caught up on blogging our news over the holidays!

The only thing left to share are Connor's swim videos and those are being edited slowly by my editor, a.k.a. hubby!  Here's a montage of Connor's races from the Sarnia meet:


December 6, 2009

This weekend is a free weekend, which is rare around here!  Gary is having poker night here so once the kidlets are in bed, I'm scrapping!! I haven't touched any of my scrapbooking stuff since early December and I'm having withdrawals!  Hopefully, I'll have something scrapping to share!

And check back because I'm going to be giving away another RAK for February - I missed January so maybe I'll give out two... ;)

Seal #4 Meet (Windsor): 2010.01.06

Today (2010.01.24), we were in Etobicoke for yet another swim meet.  As we watched Connor warm-up, I pondered whether it was better to be sitting there in the humid heat of the pool area, or freezing my butt off in an arena at 5am for hockey practice or a game...

I decided this was much more fun.

I thought I was going to have alot of photos to share from today - Nikon Canada sent me a new D90 SLR camera and AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm lens to play with, while my camera is being serviced - and I was looking forward to having fun, playing!

It was not to be, however - Connor injured his shoulder and we ended up withdrawing from his races today.  It was disappointing, as I was looking forward to seeing him race, but of course, his health comes first!  We're off to the doctor tomorrow to check it out to make sure it's okay for next month.

Why, you ask?  What's next month?

Well, I'm very proud to announce that Connor has been invited by his coach to participate in REGIONALS on Feb. 5th-7th in London!  We're all pretty excited that - what a great opportunity for him!  Hopefully, his shoulder will be healed and he will be in top form!  Because this is just his first year in competition, there are no expections of Connor - we simply want him to have fun and try his best! 

Since we don't have any news from today's meet, I will share some news from Connor's swim meet in Windsor last week.  And yes, it will be only news, as I didn't snap ANY photos this time, having left my camera at home! :(  This was his first swim meet in the 10-11 age category and while he was freshly turned 10, most of the other kids were already 11, turning 12 this year.

Because it was a Seal Meet, Connor's races were chosen for him, by his coaches.  He was also chosen to run anchor for his 200m Freestyle relay for the 10-11 Mixed age category!  They came in second, with a time of 2:13.16s, to their WEST teammates' relay team - and considering that the starter for that team had broken or set most of the swim club's records for 2009, I was quite proud of him!

Here are his results in the 10-11 age category...top 10 finishes for all of his races!
100m IM:  1:34.04s - 7th place (-14.14s)
50m Fly:  48.68s - 9th place (-0.17s)
50m Back:  47.5s (-1.35s)
50m Breast:  53.17s (-7.49s)
100m Free:  1:31.31s (-0.86)

Way to go, Connor - so proud of you for shaving seconds off of ALL of your times!

Dash for Cash (Guelph): 2009.12.11 - 2009.12.13

One of Connor's 9 events during the Dash for Cash Swim Meet was the 50 Butterfly.   I didn't take many photos that weekend - I'm not happy with the quality that my D70 is churning out - but here are a few:

It was great because this facility had an electronic timing system so we could see his times right away!  These are the results from his 50 Fly - he was in Lane 3:

It was held at the University of Guelph and they had two pools - this one was where the timed finals were, and next to it (on the other side of the wall on the right) was a slightly smaller warm up pool.

Which was good, because when there are over 300 kids trying to warm up in the same pool, it can get ugly.  I overheard some of the parents talking and there were reports of kids being scratched and kicked in the face during warm-ups, just from the sheer volume of kids in the pool!  Connor prefered to use the warm-up pool, but the disadvantage was that there were no starting blocks so he didn't practice his starts as much as he should have.  He did well overall, but had a couple of shaky starts:

10 & Under: {Race: Time - Place (time change)}
25m Free: 17.74s - 2nd place (--)
100m Back: 1:47.61s - 13th place (--)
50m Breast: 1:00.66s - 14th place (--)
200m Free: 3:19.8s - 8th place (--)
50m Free: 42.00s - 19th place (+1.8s)
200m Back: 3:49.71s - 12th place (--)
50m Fly: 48.85s - 11th place (--)
50m Back: 48.22s - 5th place (-3.87s)
100m Free: 1:32.17s - 12th place (-4.12s)

As you can tell, Connor tried alot of new races, as indicated by the lack of changes in his times.  Way to go, Connor!

Seal Meet #3 (Sarnia): 2009.12.06

Sarnia Lambton YMCA

The Sarnia Seal meet was scheduled to start warm-ups at 8am on Dec. 6th, 2009.

Have I mentioned that it was the DAY AFTER my Shoppers Drug Mart Christmas Party?

Connor and Gary head out to this meet by themselves - Aili had developed some allergy symptoms the day before so I decided to stay home with her.  It was an early morning for them - they had to leave by 5:30am to make it there by 7:45am in time for warmups.  It didn't help that it snowed the night before!

Connor managed to sleep a bit on the way up, but still looked tired:

(I love this look from him - hands on hips, swim cap on, goggles up, still dripping from the last race...)

Connor swam really well at this meet.  He came in second and managed to shave over 12 seconds off of his 100m IM time from the Leamington Seal meet, where he was disqualified for an improper turn!  IM, in case you're wondering, stands for Individual Medly - the swimmers use all four strokes (Butterfly, Breast, Back and Freestyle).  So for the 100m, they complete one length (25m) of each.  (Similarly, for a 200m IM, they complete 2 laps per stroke).

Here are the rest of his times (and the difference in time from last record), in the 9 amd Under category:
100 IM:  1:48.18s - 2nd place (-12.11 sec)
25 Fly: 24.39s - 3rd place (+2.1 sec)
25 Back: 23.03s - 3rd place (--)
25 Breast: 26.13s - 4th place (--)
50 Free: 40.20s - 2nd place (-1.09 sec)

His coach also put him on the relay team, in third place, in the 9 and Under Mixed Relay - 100m Free.  His team came in 2nd place with a time of 1:22.56s!

Once Gary gets the videos captured and posted online, I'll post some video of some of his swims!

Happy Belated New Year!!

LOL!  Wow, time over the holidays certainly flies by, doesn't it?

Well, there has been alot of news around here that I will share over the next week or so but I just realized that I haven't shared any news about Connor's swimming lately!  He loves to read my blog and watch his swim videos over and over again, to help him for his next meet.

On December 6th, (on the day after my Christmas party!), Connor and Gary head out at about 6:00am to make the two hour drive into Sarnia for the Seal meet there.  Thankfully the roads were clear!  He participated in 6 swims that day and received 6 ribbons!  Here are his standings:

9 & Under 100m Individual Medley (25m of each Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Butterfly) - 2nd place: 1:48.18 seconds

9 & Under 25m Butterfly - 3rd place: 24.39 seconds

9 & Under 25m Backstroke - 3rd place: 23.03 seconds

9 & Under 25m Breaststroke - 4th place: 26.13 seconds

9 & Under 50m Freestyle - 2nd place: 40.20 seconds

9 & Under Mixed 100m Freestyle Relay - 2nd place: 1:22.56 seconds

Since it was his birthday on the 13th, this was his last meet in which he could participate in the 9 & Under category.  He managed to shave 12 .11 seconds off of his 100m IM time and 1.09 seconds off of his 50m FS!  We're so proud of him!  Of course, he could come in last and we'd still be proud... :)

I think Gary is still working on uploading the videos to Vimeo so I will share those later.  Along with news from the Dash for Cash meet in Guelph (Dec 11-13), Connor's birthday, Christmas, New Years resolutions and work!  You have been forewarned... ;)

Still here!

It's been a crazy week around here!  Between my work Christmas party last week, Connor's Seal meet in Sarnia and now a 3-day swim meet in Guelph this weekend, we've been busy, busy, busy!  Add to that, Connor's birthday, Christmas shopping to be done and 12 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange that I'm hosting this week (Marsala Almond biscotti, anyone?) and you've got my schedule!

We're just packing up for Day 3 of his swim meet and will brave the icy roads and snow squalls for the 3+ hours drive home - I'll update with photos tonight, and videos within the week!

As promised

Here's a medley video of Connor's swim from the Leamington Seal Meet (2009.11.22):



In most of the heats, he was paired up with 12 and 13 year olds, with a couple of other 9 year olds.

We're pretty proud of him! Next swim meet is in Sarnia, about 2 hours away, on Sunday, December 6th...

Did I mention that it was the day after my Shoppers Drug Mart Christmas party???

Seal Meet #1 - Leamington

On Sunday, Connor attended his first Seal meet in Leamington.  As I mentioned before, he's at the Platinum level, which is still a Stroke Development level, as opposed to the Performance Program levels (Seal, Beaver, Otter & Barracuda).  But at the encouragement of his coach, he swam in the Seal meet.

Well, the day started on an off-note.  Aili had an allergic type reaction the night before - she developed welts under her right eye and they were all red and itchy.  I think it may have been dog-related but I wanted to gauge her reaction the next morning before we took any medicine.  Gary and Connor took off early for the swim meet, anticipating to be there a bit early (around 7:45 am) rather than the scheduled time for warm-ups at 8:00am.

Apparently, someone changed the schedule - they were supposed to be there at 7:30am!  So Connor only got about 10 minutes of warm up time.  Because of this, he didn't have time to check his stroke number for his backstroke, which added precious seconds to his time.

Interesting Fact:  Ever wonder about the flags that stretch across lap pools?  Their purpose is for backstroke swimmers - they use them to count the number of strokes required from flag line to pool edge, so they don't turn too early or late (which can result in a disqualification (DQ))

Despite the wrench in his plan, Connor did quite well - we're very proud of him!

25m Butterfly: 22.29S - 2nd place

50m Backstroke: 53.65S - 4th place

100m Individual Medley: 2:00.29S (DQ) - he did a wrong turn and was disqualified :(

50m Freestyle: 41.29S - 2nd place

He also competed in the 100m Mixed Relay with three other 9 year olds and they placed 1st in their heat AND 1st overall!

I'll be posting the videos of each race sometime this weekend.  I didn't take very many photos because

A) it was super packed - there were over 300 children competing!  And most of them had one, if not more spectators - Connor, at one point, had FIVE! :)

B) it was sweltering - even thought I had mentally prepared myself after the last meet, it was nothing compared to the sauna that we sat in for 8 hours!

C) Aili was super bored - she didn't want anything to do with the activities we brought, despite a knapsack, full of colouring books, toys and snacks!  We finally sent her home with my dad when he dropped by to watch Connor swim his relay race.

Of the photos I did take, I'm not really happy with any - In my rush to get there to see his 3rd race, I forgot my tripod so I had to bump my ISO up to 1600, resulting in alot of noise and grain. 

I laughed when I saw this one - Connor, mentally and physically preparing for a race, surrounded by a bunch of women!  Hopefully not a glimpse of things to come!

At least I will get alot more practice at these swim meets - we have another 2 meets coming up in December, and then 2 (or 3?) in January!

Just a reminder of my November RAK giveaway - there's still time! - and I'm still waiting for the last winner to contact me... Sarah M - email me!! :)

And lastly, in searching for a seal photograph for this post, I was inundated with photos and articles of the seal hunting that is prevalent in Canada, which is inhumane and barbaric.  You can read more about it here and help stop it with ideas found here.  I was sad to read that Versace, Gucci and Prada were among the designers who have used seal fur in their collections... :(

Thanks for reading!

RAK Round 2!!

It's that time again, I think...

Being so close to a border city, the American holiday always causes a stir.  Whether it's plans to cross the border for the awesome Black Friday deals (which I never do because crowds and I just do NOT mix.  Socially - yes.  Retail-based - no.) or reminding us of that Christmas is not that very far away, there always seems to be a feeling of anticipation in the air.

We feel it today - anticipation for Connor's Seal swim meet tomorrow in Leamington at the Frank T. Sherk Recreation complex!  Because it's a Seal qualifying meet, he will be swimming in all categories, and different lengths.  He's a bit nervous, because to qualify for the Seal Championships in April, he will need to have a "B" qualifying time - which is about 10-20 seconds faster than his last meets' times.  But because he's technically only a "Platinum" this year, which is a level below Seals, we have tried to instill in him that this is not about winning today - it's about experience.

He still wants to win. :)

In honour of the big day tomorrow, I'm going to be giving away a RAK!  However, my first RAK that was drawn a few weeks ago was unclaimed so I'm going to draw another winner:

Sarah said...
Since there hasn't been much happening on the message boards, I am glad to see a post here to read! My favorite cartoon used to be Non Sequitor. I don't know if it is around any more, but I also don't ever really read the newspaper anymore, so don't get a chance to read the comics!

October 19, 2009 3:24 AM

Thanks, Sarah, for playing along!  Email me your mailing info and your choice of prize (1) an in-stock standard Just Cre8 stamp set of their choice, 2) a $15.00 Tim Hortons gift card or 3) a $15.00 Shoppers Drug Mart gift card) and I'll get it right out to you!

Now for November's RAK...

I have a prize pack consisting of Hip and Handmade Gifts by Nicole LaRue, a set of Scratched Tailg8 stamps (designed by moi for Just Cre8!) and a bag full of ribbon and flowers up for grabs!  A winner will be randomly selected - all you have to do is leave a comment (with your name, if posting anonymously) with the answer to the following question:

Do you make any homemade gifts for the holidays?  If so, what are they?

(Can you tell I'm looking for ideas this year??) ;)

Leave a comment with your answer by 11:59pm EST on November 30th for a chance to be randomly selected!  The lucky winner will be announced on December 1st!

The Results Are IN!

The results from the RHAC swim meet were posted on the WEST website this week!

Connor's official times were:

Sykes, Connor (9) M

Men 10 & Under 100 Freestyle:  1:36.29S
Men 10 & Under 50 Backstroke  52.09S

I'm proud to announce that he came in 14th out of 61 in the Freestyle swim and 15th out of 57 in the Backstroke!  Considering this is his first meet, he did remarkably well!  His goal is to beat the WEST club record for 10 & Under of 1:19.26S for the 100 Freestyle by the end of this year, before he enters the 11 age group!  He's pumped!
 
Gary edited the video from Connor's 50m Backstroke race - of course, he added Connor's "in the zone" song as the soundtrack! :)
 

Connor's winning heat in the Boys 10 and under 50m Backstroke.
 
Thanks for reading/watching! :)