Reggie's first swim meet:  Well let's just say that Reggie's first swim meet was interesting...  Getting there and situated I thought was going to be the hard part because I had K (Trina and Ainsley were in Santa Cruz at a gymnastics meet) and then the meet started.  It rained the entire time and we're not talking sprinkle, more like a monsoon.  Luckily the swim team we belong to had pop up tents which at least kept us somewhat dry in between Reggie's events.  There wasn't a dry bone in our bodies.  At one point Reggie was drinking hot chocolate in between his warm-up and next event and was shaking like a leaf.  He did well for his first meet and placed 3rd in the 50 free.  His coach was very impressed with how fast he went.  Now we just need to get his flip turns down and his entry dives and he'll be good to go.  The best part was when we were driving home, soaked to the bone and Reggie says "dad I actually had a lot of fun."  That's what it's all about!  I tried to upload a video but it doesn't appear that it will work.  Maybe it is too big.  Next time...

Soccer!!!

K finally has his own activity and he is really starting to like it.  Soccer was a bit rough at first, which is not the reaction I expected at all.  He has lots of energy and is really outgoing and he was in tears the first practice, refusing to play.  The only think I can think of is that the situation was new and totally out of his control, which brought him to a place that he didn't want to go.  We haven't seen his issues in a while, but we haven't done anything out of the norm in a while either.  We worked through it and thankfully he is very food motivated and fairly easy to bribe.  Sounds bad, but when he's refusing (screaming and crying) to put his uniform on before the game, offering a skittle seemed like a good idea.  It is amazing how quickly he can come out of it.

K has played several games and seems to get more excited each game.  He starts out great and then fizzles out a bit, but it is good that he will still run around.  He and some other kids got tripped up in the 2nd game and he fell down a few times.  His memory is nuts, so now he goes near the ball, but doesn't really kick it.  I think it will come with time and as long as he's having fun, I don't really care.  Crazy that some parents keep score at this age!  Fun video:

Many of his teammates went to Lowe's building day after the last game and he and Reggie built a beautiful fire truck :o).  When I saw this picture, I told Ryan he was brave to hold the truck while K hammered it and he said he learned the hard way that wasn't a good idea....K hammered his thumb :o(.

Gymnastics meets!

Ainsley had her first meet last weekend and she was super nervous.  She woke up at 10 the night before, worrying about it and she was up a few times during the night :o(.  Meets are a bit different than when I competed...now they are smart and have sessions, so you are only there for about 3 hours!  But, that means you can get any time slot and we got 5 o'clock on Sunday night.  Not the best for lots of reasons, but we managed.  I think us mom's were more nervous than the kids!

She did great for her first meet and ended up getting 4 medals and 8th all-around.  Yesterday, we had another meet in Santa Cruz (a little over an hour from our house with no traffic) and we got the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Sat. at 8 am.  That was an early morning!  Her nerves were much better and we worked on a few things and she really improved....almost 2 full points better :o).  She got an 8.75 on vault and floor, an 8.7 on bars and an 8.2 on beam.  Competition was a lot tougher and there were lots of girls and way more teams.  All our girls did awesome and we ended up placing 2nd (we must have been really close to first).  Ainsley was super excited because she got 5 medals this time and placed 5th all around.  She still really wants to get on the blocks (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and she still has some room for improvement, so maybe in a couple weeks at her home meet.
They put this picture in the local newspaper and her teacher saw it first!

Ainsley has been loving it and really likes to be part of the team.  We explored the Santa Cruz Boardwalk after the meet for a bit with her friends.  Too bad it was raining, but I guess that was a good thing because it wasn't so busy.  My umbrella was quite the giggling point :o).

I will try to upload her floor routine video in a bit...

Family Dynamics

Having 3 children is certainly interesting and it seems that many times someone is odd man out and it is usually Ainsley.  Thankfully, she is great about playing by herself, but she does get tired of it.  Many times I will play teacher or babies with her or work on gymnastics or paint nails and she loves it!  She will often skip her show to keep playing with me.
She and K play house together and he doesn't mind playing with babies, but he always prefers Reggie.   Reggie and Ainsley have their fun building forts, playing games and doing various older kid things, but the two boys have much more similar interests...a love for lego's, anything Chima or Ninjago!  K can't wait until Reggie gets home to play!!!  He sure loves him!  It is great that Reggie is young minded (that is all he likes to talk about, so it is good he has K because it is hard for me to carry on a conversation about toys)....many of his friends don't play anymore and are all about video games and sports.  Reggie does those things too, but he really does love to play.  It will be interesting to see how things change as time goes on....