Bode and Ashley have been up at Auburn for the past weekend. Bode was swimming in a big swim meet. This meet was a little different; they had preliminaries in the morning, and if you qualified for the finals, you came back to swim for the afternoon. They had multiple"finals" for each event; Bode was fortunate to make the finals in all his events. He swam personal bests for all races. He swam the 50-meter butterfly in 28.26 seconds, and he placed 20th overall out of 61 swimmers in the 13-and-over age group. He then swam the 200-meter freestyle in 2:11.44, and placed 44th out of 128 swimmers. On Saturday, he swam the 50-meter back in 30.88 and placed 19th out of 62 swimmers. He also swam the 50-meter freestyle in 27.30 and placed 44th out of 160 swimmers. Saturday night, Ashley took Bode out for a big steak dinner, and big is the operative word. The big man ordered a 24-oz ribeye and ate the whole thing.
Sunday was Bode's day of glory. He qualified for the C-final for both the 100-butterfly and the 100-freestyle. Based on his experience on Friday and Saturday, Bode knew that if you won your final's heat, you would get a t-shirt.
The first final was the 100-free. Bode is in lane five (5th from the bottom); he doesn't look like he's doing great at the turn, but he poured it on to finish in 59.02 and win the race.He was quite pleased when he got his shirt.
The final race was the 100-butterfly. Bode is in lane 4. As in the previous race, it doesn't look like Bode is going to win, but he really had a strong finish and won by 0.04 hundredths of a second. Here is a nice shot of Bode, Sawyer, and Fisher after the meet.
Bode had a great meet, and we are very proud of him. Ashley learned a new expression that the kids use. The term is "glowed up" (as opposed to growing up). This is what happens when a younger person suddenly transforms into the beautiful swan. Apparently some of the girls on the swim team are saying this about Bode :-) Pleasant week to all.
A few nights ago, I was sleeping when the dogs starting going crazy. There was a bear in the tree just outside the bedroom. Fortunately, I was able to blockade the dogs inside. Bears look cute and cuddly when they are far away; when they are up close and in the middle of the night, they are a little more frightening. You have to zoom in on the branches to see the bear's head in this first picture.
Here is a much better picture.
He stayed in the tree for a couple hours before hopping down and running off into the bushes. It certainly made for an interesting night.
Here are some more final pictures with Matyas. The kids went to the beach last night; from the looks of it, they had a great time.
Matayas's flight left this morning, so these will be the last pictures...unless Bode goes to visit in the Czech Republic. We told him he could be an exchange student, but he'd have to learn the language :-)
I was able to steal Ashley's phone for a few minutes so I could get some more pictures from the Auburn swim camp. First, a group shot. I think Bode is near the middle.
Next is a picture of Bode standing on the deck with another camper (Bode is on the far left).
Finally here is a short movie.
We have had a lot of storms this week. It is nice for a few hours, but then the thunder and lightening rolls in. I think it is about to rain now, so no pickleball tonight :-( Pleasant week to all.
If you have two hours you need to kill, feel free to watch. In case you can't tell, I'm the one in the red t-shirt (and the one without a full head of gray hair :-)
Bode has a big swim meet this weekend, so I'll probably play some more PB. Happy solstice.
Bode's friend, Matyas, is heading back to the Czech Republic tomorrow. They had a big bash on the beach yesterday. Here are some pictures. First, a nice shot of the group. Bode is at the far left, while Matyas is in the middle. I don't know who everyone, but they are all very nice young men and women.
Here are a couple pictures of them playing on some water-raft.
I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to do in this one, but it sure looked fun.
I think they are all headed back to the beach tonight. Matyas's flight is at 0700 tomorrow morning, so I doubt he'll sleep much tonight.
Bode is doing a swim camp at Auburn this week. Ashley went up with him and is enjoying her time at her alma mater. The camp started Sunday night; Ashley went, and she was lucky enough to meet Rowdy Gaines, 3-time Olympic gold medalist (1984) and fellow Auburn graduate.
The first night of the camp, everyone had to swim three races in order to determine their group placement. Ashley said Rowdy was on the deck, cheering all the kids on. There were 20 lanes going, and Bode won his one race, which I think is pretty cool, winning in front of an Olympic champion :-) Here is a picture of Bode after the swim standing behind Rowdy.
Amazingly, Rowdy brought one of his gold medals; here is Bode holding it.
Bode also got some swag signed by Rowdy.
Later in the week, Tyler McGill came and talked to the group. He won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in the 4 x 100 meter relay. He was nice enough to bring his medal and let the kids hold it.
One of the coolest things Bode did was have his butterfly recorded and analyzed in order to help him get faster. Here is a link to the video and the analysis.
I have been VERY busy while Ashley and Bode have been gone...some pickleball and some light reading. The dogs have also been very busy.
Bode and Ashley come back on Thursday. I guess I better clean the house :-)
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