July 2025

 July was really exciting, replete with incredible accomplishments! But, also pretty tough. Summer swim is an emotional rollercoaster, I've noticed! Here are some highlights and lowlights.

MASSIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Nova swam the 400 freestyle for the second time in her life at Junior Olympics, where she dropped 20 SECONDS!! She ended up in third place with two INCREDIBLE swimmers, Emma and Julia, both of whom she has been trying to keep up with all year. We were all THRILLED. 

It's hard to see, I know. But, her time is 5:26.19. She got second place in prelims, third in finals. I still tear up when I think about it. She was SO PROUD of her hard work. In august, she'll go on to get 8th place at Zones, which is a meet that brings together the top swimmers from the East Coast.

The kids didn't swim very well at Divisionals so this is one of the low lights. But just making it to Divisionals is quite the accomplishment! And, more ice cream so they'd (sorta) smile for the pics.

I wanted to include this picture of our superstar, Stevarra. She set several county-wide records this summer. Her mom asked me to snap this picture of her, because she got the 8U 25 fly record at this pool.  A LOT of swimmers have gone to the Olympics from this county, and Stevarra may follow in their footsteps!

The Awards Banquet! It stormed HARD for about an hour and a half. We sat it out so the kids could get their very well-deserved awards. Nova (far right) got the MOST points for the 9-10 girls!! She was so proud! 

Lynx got third place on the team, which was cause for many, many tears. But, he ALSO won The Most Dedicated Award for boys, in any age-group. While Coach Anna expressed why he earned it, she choked up. We're all so proud of him.  

MORE SWIMMING STORIES:

Nova swims all summer, both indoors and outdoors! I happened to be on deck, swimming with Lynx when the whole RMSC Advanced Junior crew sat down together, which hardly ever happens! They are usually, well, swimming. So I snapped a pic! 

This summer, I became a "Stroke and Turn Judge" who watches the swimmers to see if they follow the rules. You raise your hand if someone violates a rule and needs to be DQ'ed.  If you can see my face here, you'll see that I really don't want to DQ this swimmer!!

Lynx's school BFF visited during a meet and saw Lynx win in backstroke! 

Nova before the last swim meet!

Lynx and Liam before a meet!

I get the best smiles when they are eating ice cream!

Lynx and his friends spent a LOT of time digging holes in the playground at Stonegate this summer!

One of Lynx's best swim buddies is Liam, pictured here. :)

One of about 1,000 pictures the team took at the last meet!

Even the parents had pictures taken! Lynn and I are both hidden in there somewhere.

This is Lynx's 8U boys Medley Relay Team. They won...and set a new county record!

This is Nova's 9-10 year old girl medley relay team! They got a close second place at All Star Relays!

While watching one of Nova's practices, us parents were talking about how much time we spend on various swim apps, like Swimmetry, Swimio, Swim Standards, MeetMobile, etc. During this convo, I said, "Exactly. Who needs instagram when we have swimmetry?" They laughed, and my buddy Nicole said I should make it into a shirt. Which I did! 

The big meet of the year was against Stonebridge. It's the "Battle of the Stones." We (Stonegate) lost to them last year by a very slim margin, so the coaches have been plotting their revenge all year. It was really pretty stressful, honestly. The intensity of the expectations were palpable, even for us parents! And, WE WON!!  

The Stonegate kids are just the best! 

Ice cream from Cold Stone! We got caught in a rainstorm and the kids LOVED it.