Swim team party

On Sunday evening, the swim team held an end of season party. They had food and games and gave out the trophies and awards from the conference meet. They took out the lane lines and had the kids dive for pennies for prizes. The girls have really enjoyed being on the swim team this summer!

Conference Swim Meet

The "B" swim team had their conference meet on Saturday bright and early! The kids had to be at DGS by 6:45AM. They used the small gym to hang out in between races, then headed into the pool for their race.

Up early and ready to go!

First up was the 200 yard medley relay. One of the girls in their relay didn't show up, so for this race, Morgan did two legs of the race - back and freestyle. Avery did the breaststroke and Abigail did the butterfly. Here's Morgan doing the freestyle. They were the only team competing in this race, so they got 1st. Ha!

Next up was the 50 yard freestyle race and both girls were in this one. Plothow vs Plothow! Morgan came in 2nd and Avery came in 5th.

Then, Morgan swam the 50 yard butterfly. She was up against one other girl and came in 1st.

Avery also swam the 50 yard backstroke. And the girls did another relay at the end - 200 yard freestyle. They didn't have a competitor again for this one, so they had them swim against the boys. They actually beat the boys by quite a bit, so they were super excited!

Here they are after the meet! We found out later that DGSRC won and were named the conference champs!

We celebrated with milkshakes at Honey Jam!

Rainy Swim Meet

Our last regular season swim meet was a rainy one! Since there was no lightning, they didn't call it. The kids were ok, since they were already wet and wearing swim suits. The parents were soaked and uncomfortable!

Swim Meet at DGSRC

We had a home swim meet last night, which was actually a make-up from a rain out a few weeks ago. We weren't able to make it to that meet because it was Avery's competition recital. But, we were able to make the make-up meet. 

Avery's events were: 200 Yard Medley Relay (w/Morgan), 50 Yard Freestyle, 50 Yard Backstroke, 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (w/Morgan)

Morgan's events were: 200 Yard Medley Relay (w/Avery), 100 Yard IM (Individual Medley), 50 Yard Breaststroke, 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (w/Avery)

She's ready to go!

Twin power! The first relay the girls did was with Katherine and Elise, another set of twins that go to their school.

It was chilly again, but not as bad as the Lisle meet. We need to remember to bring extra dry towels! Avery brought some slipper socks this time because her feet were cold last meet.

Not a lot of pictures or videos this time. But, there are the girls with Maebel and Paige getting ready for the last relay. They were cold, tired and ready to get home!

The meet ran so late, the lights turned on! We got home around 9-ish.

Fun Friday at Swim Team Practice

On Fridays at swim team practice, they always do "Fun Fridays". Today was "Halloween" day, complete with costumes and trick or treating! Morgan went to the early practice which is less crowded. Avery had to do a presentation at camp, so she skipped practice today. A few kids dressed up... Morgan wore her Dalmatian costume since it was easy to get on/off. After practice, they got to grab some candy! :)

At practice, Morgan picked up her ribbons from some of the recent swim meets (they organize them in folders for the kids to pick up - you don't get them at the meet). She's getting quite a collection!

Swim Meet in Lisle

Last night we had a swim meet in Lisle at the Sea Lion Aquatic Park. It's right by where Ruth lives (like walking distance), so she walked over to meet up with us. The weather was not good, though. It was chilly and overcast and the kids were freezing! Plus, the meet itself was really chaotic... there weren't actual heat sheets until a few minutes before the start time so everyone was scrambling to make sure the kids had their lanes/heats written on their arms. I think we were also down a few swim team coaches, so not as many people to wrangle the kids!

A couple girls were missing, so Morgan ended up doing a relay at the beginning that she wasn't signed up for. She did the backstroke in the 100 yard medley. Then, Avery and Morgan were in the same events after that. We had the 50 yard butterfly and the 100 yard freestyle. Then, they were supposed to do a 100 yard freestyle relay together with two other girls. But, they ended up scratching all the relays at the end of the meet because the meet was running long and the temperature really dropped after the sun started going down.

The girls were happy Grandma Ruth could come watch for a bit!

So many kids trying to warm up at the same time!

Finally got their lane assignments.

Morgan getting ready to swim the backstroke in her impromptu relay.

Trying to keep warm between races!

Avery's in lane 1 and Morgan's in lane 3... ready for the butterfly!

I even grabbed our super warm soccer blanket from the car for the girls to bundle up with!

While Morgan was waiting for the 100 yard freestyle race behind the blocks, she fell super hard on the pavement! There were so many kids there and it was chaotic (it was hard to know what race they were on because the announcer wasn't super loud, so tons of kids were waiting because they didn't know how long it was until their race). Morgan was trying to walk to me so I could give her the sweatshirt to wear while she waited and she tripped over another girl. Morgan landed on her knees, hip and elbow really hard. One of the lifeguards immediately sprinted over to us to check on her. She gave us a couple ice packs and put some band-aids on Morgan's knees.

Of course, Morgan was really sore right after this and her race was up next... the 100 yard free, which is a LONG race. She couldn't decide if she wanted to do it or not, but in the end toughed it out and finished the race!

Since that was their last race of the meet, we took off after that. The girls came home and took warm showers and ate dinner before crashing hard for the night! They were exhausted! And Morgan is sporting a few new bruises! :(

Swim Meet

Morgan participated in the home swim meet at the DGSRC on Saturday morning. A group of Dads grilled out before the meet... pancakes, eggs and tons of bacon! Everyone brings food and they have a huge buffet! Morgan did great at the meet and even did her flip turn in two of her events!

Here she is doing her flip turn... not too bad for her first attempt!

Swim Meet #2

Thursday night was the second swim meet, which was a "B" meet. So, less competitive, better for the starting swimmers! Morgan had a blast and did great!

Here's Morgan's arm with her events for the night. She had two relays, a freestyle and the backstroke.

Here she is getting ready for the backstroke.

Here's a video of her doing the backstroke... she rocked it! She finished first!

Swim Meet #1

The first swim meet of the season was an "A" team meet, which means it's the better swimmers, more competitive and you can get disqualified if you don't do everything correctly. In hindsight, I probably should not have said Morgan was available for this meet since it was very first time competing in a swim meet. But, lesson learned! She participated in a relay with 3 other girls - one from her school (Maebel) and then twins (Avery and Anna) that swim on the Hornets (a travel swim team). Their group came in first! She also swam the breast stroke and free style 50m solo events. She came in 4th in the breast stroke, but there were only four people in the race :). She was pretty upset to come in last in her solo events. I tried to explain to her that the swimmers she was up against had been doing this way more than one time! After talking to another mom, we decided that the "B" meets are more our speed, at least for our first swim team season!

Here she is - ready to go! They write their events on their arms in sharpie!

Here she is doing the free style in her relay. We need to work on the spin turns. She just got to the wall, stopped to see where the other people were, then started swimming again. Ha!

Swim Team - Day 1

The girls had their first swim team practice. There were a lot of kids in their group! They had fun!

Swim team and soccer

Since school has been out, we have kept busy. On Thursday, the girls tried out for the swim team at DGSRC (our summer pool). They had to be able to swim two lengths of the lower pool. I assumed they could do it, but they had never attempted it before. Luckily, they both made it and are looking forward to participating this summer! Avery gave the new concession stand pizza a try. It was super cheesy and little more garlic than she likes, but she gave it a thumbs up!

Avery had a dance rehearsal for her upcoming recital. She is in two recitals this year, one for dance team and the other for her regular dance classes.

Saturday, we braved the nasty weather for a couple soccer games. Avery played in the morning and it was a steady rain the whole time. We had to leave at halftime so she could get to Cinderella rehearsal. Tech Week is kicking off and it's going to be busy! We found out her team tied 1-1.

Here's a video I took of Avery's game... just listen to that rain!

 

Here's our favorite player - #5

Avery's cheering section

Later in the day, we were at it again in Frankfort, IL where it drizzled and rained off and on for Morgan's game. Morgan wasn't feeling well during the game and sat out a lot of the first half. She did end up playing in the second half (her team only had 10 players, so they needed her!). She sucked it up and did great... she even scored a goal! Her team lost pretty badly 5-1.

The field conditions were not good!

When we got home, Morgan still wasn't feeling well. She was even running a fever, so she went to bed early. She was so tired!

On Sunday, Morgan had a soccer game at noon. Her team won 3-2 and she scored a goal! We celebrated afterwards with lunch and custard at Culver's.

It was Morgan's turn for the trophy this week!