Entering the world of swimming

Samantha loves to swim.  I’m not sure how that happened because she was terrified of the water for several years.  We had some good lifeguard swim instructors from ages 3-5, and she slowly began to enjoy the water.  I had no idea just how much she would enjoy it.

At the end of summer 2014, she was so sad to say goodbye to our neighborhood pool.  We had been bouncing around at sports, so we decided the next sport would be swimming.  After calling around and ending up at the Y, we started in this weird world of swimming.

We go back to our neighborhood pool during the summer, but we have been swimming twice a week for 2 years now.  It’s great exercise and she enjoys it.  I finally convinced her to try a swim meet.  She loves being timed, but was afraid of the competition from some reason.  After much convincing, we finally made it.

She had a blast.  She only swam in four races (a 25 m of each of the strokes) but she did come in 1st in her heat during two of those races.  Lots of fun.  She wants to try more of the smaller meets.  What an interesting world.

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Mammoth Cave

We took a little trip again this year before Thanksgiving.  This year, we hit up Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.  I was a little concerned about the weather since we were heading north, so we took the easy route and stayed in a hotel.  I’m glad we did because it was very cold that week!  We had a great time though, and I was glad to have some outdoor time.  If you ask the girls what the best part of the trip was, they will tell you that it was the hotel pool.  Oh well – you win some and you lose some.

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We saw tons of wildlife during those few days.  It was quiet and peaceful since no one else was there.  The girls were a little nervous of the cave, and I was a little concerned that I was going to have to walk back up the 500+ stairs to get out, but no worries.  We all survived.  One more national park to check off my list!

Samantha

One of the reasons that fall is so busy is that this little nut has a birthday!

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She’s not so little anymore though.  For some reason I think that being 8 years old is this magic number when she can start doing things on her own. I can remember being 8, so maybe I’m remembering what I did.  Either way, we are here.

She’s creative, fun, and thoughtful, and I can’t wait to see what she’ll accomplish this year.

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