Last Summer Swim

Summer is quickly coming to an end. Today was the last Sunday before Labor Day weekend. Temperatures were in the low 80's, and Bode wanted to go to the pool. We figured we wouldn't have many more swimming opportunities, so we decided to brave the elements and go swimming.

We went a little after 2:00, and there was hardly anyone there. You'd think temperatures were in the 60's. We got there and grabbed a table, something that is usually impossible to do unless you get there right when the park opens. Here's a picture of Bode eyeing things.

Next is a picture of Ashley in a swim-suit. She'll probably wring my neck for putting this on the web...

The water was, well, not warm. Bode loves the big waterfall pool, which is I think the place in the park where new water is introduced. This means the water is probably straight from the tap and hasn't had the luxury of any solar heating. Ashley barely put her feet in, while I braved the cold and splashed around with the little dude, which was fun except when he kicked a bunch of water and got my delicate tummy wet.

We spent a couple hours at the pool. The best part of the day is adult swim, which means everyone under 18 has to get out of the pool. This includes the water slides, making the once lengthy wait next to nothing. Here is a series of photos of me going down the big yellow slide. The burst mode on our little camera is pretty cool--I don't know how fast the lens shutters, but it was fast enough to catch me going down the slide :-)

We really enjoyed our time at the pool this summer. We're going to have to find something for Bode to do as the weather gets colder. We're thinking of doing gymnastics, but we'll have to see if that is something he'd want to do.

Speaking of Bode, he did something rather amusing. Ashley was watching a video on our portable DVD player (getting ready to teach her aerobics class). Bode went over to her, saw what she was doing, pressed pause on the DVD player, and said, "I need you to get something out of my closet." As amusing as this was, Ashley did explain to him the proper etiquette.

Big week for us. Saturday is the Auburn home-opener against...Utah State? Hmmm...not really scheduling heavy-weights, are they? Saturday is also the Alter 5k run, in which Ashley and I are both running. Here's hoping we can make it :-) Pleasant week to all.

Fixed

For those of you wanting Harley pups, I'm sad to say that won't be happening. We had Harley spade on Wednesday. She did real well. I took her in first thing and picked her up a little after 4:00 pm. She was quite lethargic Wednesday night, but come Thursday, she was back to her usual self. I am always amazed at how quickly dogs rebound. In fact, it makes me think Ashley was being a wuss. After her C-section, she had to wait 12 weeks before she could really do anything--picking up five pounds was considered stressful. The day after having her guts yanked out, Harley wanted to run laps around the yard. She's been a bit of a pain with the licking that comes along with any dog surgery. Instead of the big cone/lampshade device, we found this inflatable doughnut that straps around her neck.

It works great, and she doesn't seem to mind. Well, I'm sure she minds, but it doesn't really impede her daily activities. Plus, when she lays down, it's like a built-in pillow.

We might try to go to the pool today. Weather is nice, and there aren't many pool days left until it's closed for the season :-( Pleasant week to all.

Tennis Tournament

Today, Ashley and I played hooky from work. Well, legal hooky in that we both took leave. It just isn't as fun doing something legally, but oh well :-) We took Bode to daycare, and then we headed down to Cincinnati to see the tennis tournament. There are some pretty big names at this particular event, so we (Ashley) were looking forward to seeing some high profile players (Nadal's a*s).

The venue is pretty impressive. The center court is big (pictures below), and there are probably 10-15 smaller side courts. Here's a picture of Ashley on the grounds.

When we got there, Vera Zvonareva (a highly ranked Russian player) was going through a practice session. We watched for a bit. For a girl, she could hit the ball pretty hard, but I think I could take her. If only I'd brought my racket.

Following her warmup session was a match between Andy Murray and some French dude. What struck me was how lanky Andy Murray is. I was also impressed by how fast and hard his serve can be. Some were clocked at 130+ mph, which simply doesn't translate when watching on television. Here are some pics of the Brit.

While the Murray match was going on, Maria Sharapova was playing (screeching) on the court next to us. She's loud.

We watched about a set of the Murray match (he eventually won), grabbed some lunch, and then headed to Center Court to watch Rafael Nadal play Marty Fish. Andy is an American, so even though Rafa is a big crowd favorite, there was also a significant portion pulling for Fish. I thought the cheers, "Go Fish!" were a bit silly and reminiscent of a card game, but I'm getting sidetracked. First, here's a shot of me. Yes, our seats are waaay up high.

Next, we have Nadal in various aspects of some points. Note how stretched out he is--he's quite agile and fast. Reminds me of a young Pat McGuirk on the court.

Finally, here's a good shot I got on camera--Fish had a really nice touch.

It's a good thing we went to the quarterfinals, because Fish played outside his mind and won 6-3, 6-4. He had very few unforced errors, hit a ton of winners, and had an unreal first serve percentage. In the court interview afterwards, he was asked to rank how he played on a scale from 1-10. He said, "Eleven." Roger Federer played in the match following this one, but sadly, we had to head back and get the dude from daycare.

Slightly cooler temperatures here. As the Starks would say, "Winter is coming." (A Game of Thrones reference for you fantasy readers). This also means football is near. Pleasant weekend to all, and let me be the first to say Wareagle!