Monday...Monday...

It's finally Monday. I never thought I'd be glad to see a Monday, but today I am glad! We had a very busy weekend.

Allison swam in her first swim meet with her new swim team, Champion Aquatic Team - CAT. She had not been in a meet since February 2009, so it had been nearly a year and a half since she last competed. And, this competition was in a long course pool instead of a short course pool. That basically means it was 50 meters from end to end instead of 25 meters. She has always practiced and competed in a 25 meter pool so she was a bit nervous about being in a longer pool. Once she realized that she would not have to do as many flip turns she was pretty excited.

This is what a long course pool looks like. The length can be pretty daunting!

The meet she competed in was in Shreveport. It started on Friday and ended on Sunday. She competed on Saturday and Sunday. We had to drive to Shreveport and have Ally ready to get in the pool by 7:25 in the morning. That meant we had to get up around 4:30 and leave by 5:45ish. BOTH DAYS!!! It was so hard to get up! Totally worth it though. :)

On Saturday, Allison competed in the 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, and the 50 butterfly. She said her goal was "to not be last" and I have to say she was pretty successful! haha Her first event was the 100 back. She just recently got that stroke and turn down so she was nervous, but after she realized she wasn't the last person in her heat she got rid of her butterflies. Next, she swam the 1oo free. She did really well again and finished 5th in her heat. The last event she competed in was the one that made me most nervous - 50 fly. This is such a hard stroke and so tiring! Even though it was just a 50, it made me nervous. She totally rocked that one though. As hard as that stroke is, she gave it her all and finshed 5th again. I was so proud of her!

When Sunday rolled around, she competed in the 50 free and the 50 back. In the 50 free she was 4th in her heat and she was 2nd in her 50 back heat. I was so shocked and surprised by her 50 back! You would not believe the change in her backstroke from Saturday to Sunday. On Saturday, she had slower arms and her kick wasn't quite as strong. Then, on Sunday, Coach Clark told her to have fast arms and kick! So, she did! She was in 3rd and as she approached the wall, she just beat out the girl ahead of her to get 2nd in her heat. Wow! So proud of her and she couldn't believe that she did that. She beamed from ear to ear.

After her meet on Sunday, we headed back to Longview. Mike's grandma turned 85 on Friday and she had a birthday party on Sunday complete with BBQ and cake. The food was yummy and when we got home, we all crashed out on the couch. It felt goooooood to be home!

Today will be a kinda lazy day. I don't plan on going anywhere really and I want to clean up the house. Got started on it last week and I want to get it finished today or tomorrow. Wish me luck on that....

Hope everybody has a good Monday!

Hugs!

B-