Valentine's Day Meet, Bay City Western High School

What's there to love about a swim meet on Valentine's Day? A lot, if you're swimming to qualify in the state meet. It also helps when the organizers move the start time from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. I hate going to swim meets in the dark! This one was also better because it was only about 10 minutes away in Bay City and, since it was snowing lightly, we didn't have too far to go in the snow.

Lexy had a full day, with two relays and four individual events. She has already qualified for three events at the league championships: the 50 Free, 100 Free and 200 Free. She needs to qualify in all the other events: 100 I.M., 50 Fly, 50 Back and 50 Breast. These were the four she swam today.

I think you'll love the end of the first relay. This was the 200 yard medley relay, where all the kids swim their best stroke. It's always tough to decide who to put in the anchor position, and this time the coaches chose Bridget. I hope it is as fun for you as it was for me!

200 Yard Medley Relay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41OI9Ke-Zvw

Next was the 100 I.M. Lexy went into this event with a best time of 1:33.25. She needed a 1:31.00 and she got a 1:28.60!!! Help me cheer Lexy on to one of her best time drops ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF0p18cPhWM

Right on the heels of the 100 I.M. is the 50 Butterfly. The qualifying time for this event is a 44.00. Lexy's best time is a 46.12, and in this swim, she drops .09. You'll hear me say she missed it by .03, but she really misses by :02.03

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHGdusKhZ_w

Next was the 50 Backstroke. She needs at 42.00 in this event, and we went in with a 46.47. She Swam a 47.71. We have a ways to go with this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rotLnu46P5U

Her final individual event, the 50 Breastroke, was kind of weird. . .I thought she was getting in line to swim, but she seemed to be just standing around. So I got her attention and beckoned her over, and it turned out she did not realize she was swimming the 50 Breast. I showed her that she was the top seed in the event--last heat and lane three which is the "pole position" for swimmers. The next best swimmer was more than two seconds slower. So, Lex got in and blew away her 49.68 by two seconds! She also came in first in this event! She winds up with a 47.95 -- which is fantastic, but still :00.95 slower than the qualifying time. We have one more second to shave, and we have only one more weekend to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7lRusOT6Yg

And, finally, the girls team up once more for the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwBlS4FOTwA

Looking forward to next weekend, and the Midland/BAYS Dual Meet.

Lengths for Loot Swim A Thon, Feb 10, 2009

Lengths for Loot is the new annual fundraiser for Dolphins and Barracudas. Instead of making the kids (parents) sell candy / candles / wrapping paper / you name it, this year the kids had to swim a prescribed number of lengths based on their swimming experience, and get people to sponsor them.

At Lexy's level, she had to swim 150 lengths of a 25 yard pool (slightly more than two miles) to have her sponsorship count. She did it, in 67 minutes. That's an average of about 22 seconds per lap. She was allowed to wear her swim fins, so that made a huge difference in how quickly she was able to put those laps behind her. A couple of times she took off the fins and the laps took forever!

Here are some representative videos of the event:

Just getting started: HUGE Smile and chatting with Jennifer Yu!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqNk4II0P9I

Lap 35: Lex is getting bored with freestyle already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htLdg02EPhk

Lap 70: She is getting a little punchy. What she is saying is that having a Slurpee makes you go faster!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oy4Ac2Lw7E

Lap 100: 2/3 done! She looks bored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NdhHtc-DI8

The end is near! Four laps to go. That wasn't so bad!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRFB44VwnsI

A different kind of meet. . .

We’re taking a break from swimming this week—but not from traveling! This weekend is the Michigan Open for swimming, but Lexy didn’t have any qualifying times. Maybe next year! Good thing, too, because Sydney has been rehearsing with the Drama Club almost every day after school for the Drama regional competition, which is being held at Holland High School this weekend.

Midland High won the district competition against Bay City and Saginaw a few weeks ago, so this weekend seven high schools across this region are competing. Each high school needs to prepare a 45-minute one-act version of a play or musical. If the performance goes over 45 minutes they are disqualified! I don’t know all the criteria the kids are judged on, but length is definitely one of them.

In 2007, MHS performed Seussical, and in 2008 they performed 45 minutes worth of Godspell. This year, the musical is “Do Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” I wasn’t familiar with the show, but it is fun, and the kids do a great job with it. The basic premise is about growing up while attending Catholic School. Sydney plays trombone in the pit orchestra. She has to dress as a nun.

Holland is the tulip capital of Michigan, and is 145 miles from home! But we’re still a few months “Tulip Time”, as the local festival is known. I’ve only been to the tulip festival once, and the tulips were on the wane anyway.

Holland is also known for its Dutch-inspired architechture, which is fun to look at, as well as a number of outdoor tourist attractions, most of which are closed in February. It is a bit warmer than it has been – the local bank showed a temperature of 49 degrees at 9 am. I guess this is what caused the ice on the roof of our hotel to melt and slide off at varying intervals during the night. I would just drift off and then – BANG—there went another sheet of ice. The wind also woke me up from time to time. I later learned it was gusting up to 60 mph. If it was any colder, there would be a wicked wind chill! But we are thankful it is warmer and the sun is out.

After we dropped Sydney and Julius off at the school, Lexy and I went over to Bob Evans for a ‘real’ breakfast. As we were leaving, a man tapped on my driver side window. Weird, but whatever. He wanted to tell me that he had also once owned a Ford Expedition and that he sold it but kept his third-row seat. He had noticed that I didn’t have my third-row seat in my car. I told him I don’t usually drive around with it because it’s so heavy and I get better mileage without it. I guess he walked away disappointed because he really wanted to get rid of it! After he left Lexy and I laughed for a long time because it was just so weird!!

I didn't make Lexy sit through all seven performances today, so we did a few things while the other schools were performing, and made sure we were back by the time Midland High School went on. We spent a good part of the day at the nicest pool I've ever visited -- and I've been to a few over the past couple of years! The Holland Community Aquatic Center gets high marks from me for being a very clean, modern swimming experience. They had not only an eight lane lap pool, but also a huge curvy slide, a splash zone for the younger kids, several diving boards, tubes, a basketball net and a floating obstacle course. Lexy had a great time here! It was about as much fun as she could have for $5!

Back to Sydney -- we went back to Holland High School in time for MHS's performance. They did a great job, even better than at districts. All this rehearsal time was really paying off! The audience laughed in all the right places, and I enjoyed it even more the second time. The judges were VERY late with their awards though -- almost an hour later than expected -- and since Holland is 2.5 hours one way to Midland, I really was getting antsy to leave. They had to do all kinds of awards for the seven participating high schools but the amazing news is that Midland won the competition against some really excellent schools. They will go to states next weekend. I wish them luck!

Club Wolverine Waterfest, Feb 1, 2009 (part deux)

Goodbye January; hello February. Here is my top ten list of why I was elated to flip the calendar today:

10. We don't have to listen to people whine about the Lions for six months.
9. It's three days shorter than last month.
8. It's was about 20 degrees warmer today than yesterday.
7. TBS will play Groundhog Day tomorrow.
6. TBS will play Groundhog Day tomorrow.
5. TBS will play . . . (just kidding).
4. Drag racing season starts next weekend (that was for Ed).
3. It would be nice not to hear the words "Did you see Dow on the news last night?"
2. I have a nice dinner planned for Valentine's Day.

. . . and the number one reason why February is better than January is:

1. Lexy got three best times at her swim meet today, and four this weekend!

Before I get into the details of the meet, I have to say, I learned a good lesson this weekend. The answer to the following question should ALWAYS be NO! "Shall we confirm you in a non-smoking room with two double beds?"

If you haven't stayed in a hotel lately, let me help: a "double" bed in hotel terms is just a wee bit wider than a twin bed. Therefore, trying to squeeze even two reasonably sized people into one would prove challenging. Since I decided to give Sydney a respite from Lexy's tendency to overtake the bed, I spent both nights clutching my side of the mattress, hoping not to fall off. I was playing the role of bed barnacle, for lack of a better term.

As I mentioned in number one of my top ten list, Lexy had a terrific day today. She swam three individual events: the 50 backstroke, the 50 butterfly, the 100 freestyle, and one relay. For the 50 back, she finished .3 seconds faster. from 46.47 to 46.16.

Watch 50 Backstroke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voEv2s-nzdo

This whole year the 50 fly has not been one of Lexy's better strokes, but today she knocked off almost two seconds, from 46.37 to 44.69.

Watch 50 Fly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63XBwLvaxqE

But the coup de grace was the 100 Freestyle. Lexy has been sitting at 1:21.02 since she set the time several months ago. It was enormously gratifying to see her finish today at 1:18.10.

Watch 100 Free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgHJwmetCr8

And, let me apologize in advance to all you Spartan alums for saying the following: I actually enjoyed myself in Ann Arbor this weekend (wince). Yes, it pains me to say it, but I had a nice lunch at Amer's deli on State Street, and fun shopping at Orchid Lane (a.k.a. The hippie store). It was truly a delightful day -- warm and sunny for February first. There were lots of folks with spring fever; and tomorrow there will be lots of folks with winter colds!

Club Wolverine Waterfest, Jan 31, 2009

Greetings from the University of Michigan Graduate Library! I swore I would never step foot into this den of iniquity, but hey, ya gotta get out of the cold sometimes. And they have free internet access.

Why are we here? It's not a very long story. The idea was that, while Lexy was swimming this morning, Sydney was going to make good use of her Saturday morning and spend it researching a topic here at la bibliotheque. We thought they opened at 8, but they didn't open until 10. So, poor Sydney had to suffer through the swim meet at Saline High School.

Lexy did well today. She swam four individual events and a relay. Her four events were the 100 I.M., the 100 Backstroke, the 50 Breaststroke and the 50 Free. She also swam the breaststroke leg of the 200 Medley relay.

In the 100 IM, she got a best time of 1:34.79, and in the 100 Backstroke she added a lot -- about eight seconds. Not sure what happened there! In the 50 Breast she also added time (about two seconds, to 51.93), but finally, in the 50 Free, she lost .02 seconds for a best time of 35.65. The girls finished 8th in the relay, adding about 5 seconds to their best combined time. See below for the links to all of today's videos.

100 IM Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9i-lsIcgNg
100 Backstroke Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ywmhuFCjug
50 Free Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA739axrN_E
50 Breaststroke Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeqVuul8h4ks

The meet ended at about 12:30, so we were all hungry for lunch. Sydney suggested a place that she had heard about from a friend who spends a lot of time in Ann Arbor. So we plugged "Crazy Jim's Blimpy Burger" into the GPS, and off we went.

Crazy Jim's is in the heart of Ann Arbor, at the corner of Division and Packard. As I turned the corner and got my first glimpse of the "joint" I recoiled. "Eww, Sydney, I don't think I want to eat there!" To which she replied, "C'mon Mom, where's your sense of adventure?" Famous last words.

Welcome to Blimpy Burger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOc8_ngYZ3ss

Crazy Jim's advertises that they're "cheaper than food," but I beg to differ. After ordering four double-burgers (they're MINI) an order or fries, rings and a few sodas, it was as much as we would have paid anywhere. We waited for about 15 minutes in a line of about thirty, until it was our turn to make fools of ourselves at the counter, where we OBVIOUSLY had no idea how to order. The burger guy said "Don't talk to me about cheese!" He also whined at me about taking a video.

Whiny burger guy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqV-Eem5S9A

Let me also add that the line winds through the tables and chairs, which are bolted to the floor and makes it nearly impossible for anyone to get in or out. People were a lot smaller in the 50's! We also got admonished by the cashier for having Lexy sit at a table while we ordered. There aren't a lot of places to sit, and I guess it's against the rules! Whatever. And, the burgers were "OK."

Walking back to the car, belching, hiccuping and feeling generally sluggish, I announced that everyone would be having salads for dinner! The response was lukewarm at best.

With all this grease now coursing through our rapidly clogging veins, we headed back over the library, dropped Sydney off, and thought about what to do. Lexy and I donated all my change to another parking meter and set off for the University of Michigan Museum of Art. The museum is only half a block away from the libary but we were frozen by the time we got there. Correction, Lexy's hair, which was still damp from the swim meet, was frozen. And yes mom, she WAS wearing a hat.

The Museum, of course, is closed until March! The Michigan Union was across the street so we darted over there and asked the woman at the desk if there was anything open. She mentioned the planetarium on the other side of The Diag (that's U of M slang) and it just looked too far to walk in the cold and wind. So we hoofed back over to the library, where we sit now, me blogging and Lexy getting caught up on her Webkinz miniature golf.

The question remains: where is Sydney? Lost in the stacks in the U of M graduate library. She's doing research and refining her topic for her IB paper. That happens to be something along the lines of post-World War II reconstruction of European cities. But what type of reconstruction? Architectural? Political? Cultural? I suppose we must wait.

Caro Dual Meet - Caro vs. Midland - Jan 17, 2009

It was a blustery day in Michigan's thumb. The wind swirled the blowing and drifting snow along Route 81 east to make the road appear to be in constant motion. The sub-zero wind chills made keeping the car warm a challenge. Our toes were freezing as we approached small farm houses with dilapidated barns outlined against miles of white. Less experienced drivers slowed to about 35 miles per hour along a the two-lane road where 55 mph was more likely.

Caro, Michigan is the absolute middle of nowhere. Imagine my surprise when we arrived at their high school to find a very nice 50 Meter pool! It took me a while, however, to realize the pool was 50 meters. Typically in the winter season, we are swimming in 50 Yard pools, which, as you know, are shorter by a good margin. The times posted in the program seemed odd to me, until I figured it out, got home, and did the Meters to Yards conversion. As it turned out, Lexy had a spectacular day!

The first event was the 200 Meter relay, with each girl swimming their best stroke for 50 meters (two lengths). They dropped about four seconds as a team, winning first in their age division.

In the 50 Fly, Lexy dropped about three-tenths of a second from her 50 yard time (converted). This was her best time all year. She came in second behind her 10-year old teammate. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n1rUjKGtRI

In the 50 backstroke, Lexy dropped more than two seconds (converted time). Again, a second place behind the same teammate. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoYxUvvpCDk

And in the 50 Meter breaststroke win, she dropped about two-tenths of a second in her converted time, and finally won a legitimate first place this season. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THZEdOL44Y4

This was a great way to spend a blustery Saturday. By the time we left, there were several inches of snow on the ground. By Sunday morning, at home, we had about eight inches of the fluffy stuff!

Bulldog Aquatic Club (BAC) Winterfest, Jan 10-11, 2009

We are into our winter swim season, and what a winter! It snowed the entire time we were in Royal Oak, to the tune of about 8-10 inches of new snow. With the arctic blast that is coming in this week, we are going into the traditional January deep freeze, with a -20 wind chill predicted by the end of the week. A warm indoor pool isn't a bad place to be, this time of year.

I tried out my new digital video camera this weekend, but I'm not sure I uploaded the right versions of the videos. I'll try to get this fixed, but in the meantime, feel free to get a look at Lexy's performance this weekend. She swam 10 events total -- 8 individual and two relays, but I only have a few uploaded.

50 Backstroke. Lexy is at the top of the screen in lane 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZKhh3UuljQ

50 Butterfly. Lexy is in the middle of the screen in lane 2. She dropped .25 seconds in this race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6-sWZCGhDc

200 Mixed Medley Relay. Lexy and friends swim the 200 yd. medley. Lexy leads off with a nice backstroke start, but gets disqualified for her long glide at the turn. Her compadres are Ally Kiekaefer on the breaststroke, Nehemiah Mork on the butterfly and Jennifer Yu on the Freestyle leg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8CTOG9_nNw

I think you can watch all the videos I have uploaded so far at: http://www.youtube.com/user/jsohayda. If you have trouble with that let me know and I'll try to figure out how to fix it!