Swim!

First, just to get it out of my system, I cannot wait for the day when nobody cries themselves to sleep in my house. Someday my sweet Ani-girl will have grown entirely out of the bedtime blues. Right? I have to remind myself that the intermittent bedtime sads are MUCH better than the nightly 2 1/2 hours nightmare we were going through last October. Those were like whole little lifetimes in and of themselves. Everything from rage to giggles to control issues to heart breaking sadness was happening EVERY night. Many nights I ended up in tears at 11pm. And the poor little girl was getting up and going off to school the next morning on only a little bit of sleep. Oh my gosh, it was horrible. This is so, so much better. She often goes to bed without any drama. Ahhhh. The problem is that I hope for that every night and when we hit a bad night it's rather taxing on me. This is where being a single mom hits the hardest. Between about 7pm to 10pm. I'm so done with the day. So tired. And then if she is sad it's just the beginning of a couple really long hours. Tonight I had to be at the high school for Parent's Night, so she didn't get home and in bed until 9pm. But it only took her an hour and 15 minutes of crying and sadness and calling me. Much better than 2.5 hours. Right? It's getting better.

Kaisha and I went to Everett to watch most of Alissa's first meet! Most, because I had to be at Parent's Night at 6pm. Ha! Spread a little thin at times! Kaisha and I had such a fun time! Lots of time in the car to talk about life and just be happy together. So, so fun. We stopped at the Seattle Outlet Mall and did some amazingly quick shopping. She found shoes for the wedding on Sunday. Breath of relief, they go with the dress AND the earrings. Pretzels for dinner. Starbucks for energy. Found the pool without getting lost. Then the fun begins. 

 A little photography talk. I took my zoom in hopes of getting better pictures. It's HARD to get good pictures at a swim meet! But the aperture just doesn't open up wide enough to keep the shutter fast enough to keep from getting blurred shots. So, out comes the trusty 1.4 fixed lens. Light and shutter problems gone, but some photo editing needed to crop out the extra stuff that the distance creates. I love my 1.4.

 See? Most swim shots get deleted because of this. You can't always get their actual face. But you definitely get the splashy water thing going.

 Love watching the girls cheer on their friends. They cheer to a beat...only yelling "go" when the swimmer's ears actually come out of the water. 

 It means so much to Alissa when we make it to her meets. I try to get to know the girls and talk to them. A bunch of really nice girls. Julie. Maddie. Keegan. Chloe. Abby.

 The girls got their new team suits today. Storm colors and lightening on them! Way cool for being Squalicum Storm.

 Spaz.

 These are what the girls are given for each event they swim in. Alissa is on varsity. Freestyle is her stroke of choice. She swam on two relays and a 50 Free and 100 Free. Her 50 Frees were in the 29/28 second range. Great times for her first meet and only three weeks of workouts under her belt. And this pool didn't have any blocks so her starts were all off the side of the pool. Much slower starts that way.

See what I mean? Good swim shots are hard to get. Splashy water shot instead. But the splashy shots are a little bit fun too. The best stroke for pictures are the butterfly, which Alissa didn't swim.

Alissa and her friend, Chloe. See the cool lightening on their suits? And Alissa is using a pair of goggles that are very old school. No rubber on them at all. She seemed to be allergic to it. So glad Riley found her this kind to try. They're working way better.

You rock, Alissa. You know it. So proud of you.