High School Swim Season

The high school swim season is underway. Bode and the team have been practicing every morning at 0500 since July 31st. The first meet of the season was last Saturday (the Freestyle Invitational). Ashley and the rest of the team parents took a lot of great pictures, so below are a few of them. First, Bode and some of his friends.

Here's one of Bode being a goof ball.

Here is a good picture of Bode on the blocks.

The Choctaw team did great, and ended up being third overall at the meet (out of seven teams). Bode swam great, as did a lot of the boys.

We also had a meet yesterday versus Niceville. Niceville has a huge team, so they didn't bring all of their swimmers. Niceville won the meet, 138 - 124, which is an amazing result for our boys. Bode swam great, as did everyone on the team. Ashley has some movies, so I'll try to get them off her phone. Here is a good team photo before the meet.

After the meet, some of the boys went to Moe's for some much needed fuel.

I think we are all ready for a nice, restful Labor Day weekend. Happy end-of-August to all.

End of Summer Fun

Before Bode went back to school, we spent some time goofing off in the water. We took the wave-runners out, and Rowdy wishes he could go with whoever is riding.

Barkley enjoys coming out on the dock, but she is definitely not a water dog.

Rowdy will get in the water, but he must get in from the beach.

Bode spent some time trying to convince him to jump in from the dock, but we have not yet trained him to do this. We think he would be a great water jumping dog.

I guess all good things must come to an end. Bode is back in school, and work starts back up for me. I guess I shouldn't complain...Ashley worked all summer; a big thanks to her for funding my pickleball :-)

Road Race

All three of us did a 5k race today. Bode went in knowing he had no chance of getting a medal because ALL the high school cross country teams competed. I think the winner runs for Fort Walton; he finished in 16:40, which is crazy. We had a lot of friends run the race. Here is a nice pre-race pic of Ashley and Jenna.

Next is a nice post-race pic (note the sweat) of Ashley, Katy, and Sarah (Katy and Sarah both have kids who swim with Bode).

Bode posed for a picture with us after the race. It is hard to tell that I am completely soaked.

We stuck around for the awards. Jenna and Ashley took 1st and 2nd in 50-54 age group. I think Sarah took second in her age group, and Katy took third in hers (I don't recall their ages, and I'm not going to ask :-) 

I surprised myself and won the 50-54 age group (I'm not sure how many runners there were in my age group, and I'm not going to burst my bubble by finding out :-)

We lazed around today not doing much. It has been extremely hot here. I have some yard work I should do, but the sofa was much more appealing. Bode starts rehearsals tomorrow for the youth symphony in which he is playing. We like it when he practices, because Rowdy tends to join in.

It is coming up on seven o'clock; almost bed time :-) Pleasant week to all.

Sophomore

Bode started school this past week. He is now a sophomore, which is simply crazy. Life needs to slow down :-) Ashley took a couple pictures at the start of the day. He didn't seem too upset about going back, but I guess he's now a seasoned pro at this high school thing.

The high school swim season started on 31 July. Thus, Bode has been getting up super early to do some swimming. On the Tuesday before school started, they did a little team-building event at Turkey Creek Park. Here are some pictures of the boys and the coach hanging out in the water.

The first high school meet is on August 26th. The team is slightly smaller than last year, but the boys should have a couple good relays. We'll see how they progress as the season goes by.

Sand Dollar

I have been remiss with my posting. The final summer swim meet was the weekend of July 22. Bode swam six events, but I won't bore you with all the videos; he did swim the 100-yard breast stroke, and he did surprisingly well. He also swam the 200 IM, 100 free, and the 100 fly, all of which he achieved personal bests. First is the 200 IM; he swam a 2:08.

Next is the 100 free; he swam a 51.6, which is great, but he was hoping for something closer to 50. All in due time.

Finally, here is the 100 fly; he swam an amazing 55.5; if he keeps working, we think he has an outside shot to qualify for the state meet come high school swimming (but let's not put any pressure on him, because state qualifying is extremely hard). 

Bode had two weeks off from Coast swimming after this meet. Sadly, the end of the summer means high school season is starting up; this means 0430 wake ups. Ugh!

Sinfonia Audition

Bode is not playing in the band this year due to scheduling difficulties with band and swimming. Therefore, he is returning to the Gulf Coast Youth Symphony. Try outs are on Sunday, but Bode has to work. He was able to record his audition and send to the conduction. He sounds pretty good--he said he didn't want to do multiple outtakes because that would not have been fair to the kids doing in-person auditions.

School starts up for Bode is less than a week. He is far from thrilled :-)