The Closing Ceremony

The End...the end of the winter SWAT swim season, the end of the winter Olympics. It makes for a hard Monday morning. But like the Olympic highlights posted all over the media pages this morning I bring you our Wisconsin State Swimming highlights.

The weekend started off with a bang. Despite the three loud giggly girls in my back seat, I made it to Madison on Friday afternoon. I found a ride to the UW Natatorium with a friend who had a parking pass. And Kelly did a fantastic job on her first race, the 500 free. The smallest swimmer in the event she knocked over 12 seconds off her time for a 6:30.67 and placed 10th! The longest event of the meet and her best performance.

The rest of the weekend was filled with many hours of sitting and waiting, but also much excitement. And it was great that Ricky was able to join us Saturday afternoon. A date for the two of us you might say.

But the weekend didn't go without its disappointments. Kelly was disqualified in her best event for her back turn, and again for the same thing in the relay. But these moments made me the most proud of her because she faced the problem and was a good sport.
After wiping away the tears, she went back to the pool, figured out how to fix it, did a pinky shake with Coach George for good luck, and swam two more events where she completing the back turns without a hitch and got her best times. I have to say she was much more confident than her mother, who held the heat sheet in front of her face to hide from the possible bad results.

Not to ramble on I will just say the rest of the events of the weekend were filled with many successes. Kelly and our team did well overall. But the best part for me was spending time with my little girl and watching her. Not only watching her swim, but peeking in on who she is when she is with her friends. She makes me proud in both areas. And as I predicted, her best moments were the ones spent with her pals and the good people who make up the SWAT swim team.

Oh and thanks to everyone for the well wishes. And to my scrapbook friends who are wondering...There was Archiver's about 5 minutes away from my hotel. Another highlight for sure:)