MAC

My Lily Grace.  My gorgeous, fun, athletic, and strong daughter.  I am in awe of her.

This young woman has found her passion.  The pool.  We have always known she was a fish.  She can be in the water for hours and hours and hours.  Its like a second home to her.  BUT, this year, she decided, of her own volition, "Mom, I want to be a swimmer."  So we made the call and had her try-out for the Mesa Aquatics Club Swimming Team.  She easily cruised onto the Novice team and has been swimming her little heart out 3 days a week since August.  

Last weekend was her first big swim meet and look at her!  She's amazing!

The world of competetive swimming requires a bit of a learning curve.  I learned in short order that everyone looks the same so you have to put a defining something on her!  I sharpied a lily on her back......seemed appropriate, and now I hope it becomes a staple for her.  

Lily started her day anchoring a 4 man relay.  The girl can swim, and she pulled well past the remaining teams at the end.  She is all power.

She rested and then competed in 2 different back stroke events, 2 freestyle events, and one breast stroke event.  She loved looking up at the board to see where she placed in her heat.  The passion, drive, and joy she found was really delightful to watch.  

My kid is an amazing swimmer.

The week of this event Coach Jenny met with all of us parents to discuss some team basics.  She also let us know the requirements for moving up into the next level team.  Most kids stay in novice for 6 months to a year before being promoted.  The next level requires 200 meter competency in all 4 legal strokes.  Its a big leap.  Jenny emailed me to say that Lily had already proven herself ready for the next team after 6 weeks on novice.  Not kidding.  Her words via email were "Lily is strong and determined, but what makes Lily amazing is that she is coachable.  She always looks me straight in the eye, listens to what I tell her to do, and then does it.  Lily is going to have a very successful swimming career."

I could care less if Lily wins all the medals, she has already won top prize in my book.

Lily, I am so dam proud of you! Go Baby Girl, GO!

A Wee Tee Pee!

Arizona is one of those states that is honestly so surprising.  So many people get stuck on the "hot as hell" valley and forget that Arizona is AMAZING and varied and full of spectacular places as spaces. Flagstaff is one of those amazingly beautiful spaces.  A mere 2 hours from the valley it boasts gorgeous forests and cool temperatures.  Its beautiful.  

We usually find ourselves in the White Mountains so we jumped at a chance to spend a couple of days in Flagstaff.  One of our good buddies, Josh Blake, came out and wanted to hike Mt. Humphreys peak so Bob and I decided to make it a little vacay and head out of the lingering Summer heat.

Lily was at a birthday party for the weekend so it was just the Bee.  What a treat.  I heart this little girl and she and I got to spend some real quality time together.

Given the fact that we were only going to be there for about 36 hours, we decided to try our luck at "glamping" at the Flagstaff KOA.  Camping is all fine and good, but when you have to pack everything, set it up, tear it down, and re pack it, that is a lot to do mostly by yourself.  Given that the boys would be out hiking for most of the second day I voted for glamping so that Evie and I could play and not pack.  It worked perfectly and we all had a blast! The teepee had a double bed with a twin bunk on top and a big sleeper chair in it.  It was perfect for the 4 of us!

The guys were out early for the trek up to Hmphreys and Evie and I had a blast hiking and checking out the campground area.  Our really big thing was that I planned to go to the local ski resort and ride their chair lift!  After a treat at Starbucks and some working, Evie and I headed to Snowbowl!

Meanwhile, the guys were in the middle of the challenging hike up the mountain.

They, of course, made it and I am only a wee bit jealous of the gorgeous view they were able to experience.  What a cool reward!

Evie and I had our own view from the top of the mountain after we got to ride up on the chairlift.  So much fun to do that in shorts!

Arizona is full of old and ancient volcanoes and Snowbowl is no exception, it is literally a ski resort on a volcano and the volcanic rock is just astounding.  Evie and I got to the top, pottied in the "highest bathroom in AZ," and then had a little geology camp looking at all the different rocks.  Such fun.

I think our favorite part was getting to ride the chair lift down the mountain.  The views were spectacular and in between a heated game of rock paper scissors, Evie and I had such a special time.  Gosh I love that kid.

The trip was wildly successful all around.

And we brought home a very tired Daddy, and and Evie who cannot wait to go back to our TeePee!