Tennis for the Win!

Dave lives and breaths all things tennis, so he was just a little bit excited when Lacey decided to join the Shipley's Tennis Team this year!

She had so much fun learning how to keep score and play in matches in both singles and doubles.

Her doubles partner, Sophia.

Today was her last day of Tennis and when I asked Lacey if she liked Tennis Team, her response was "I love it!"

The end of year Tennis Team Party was at the pool.  Each player got a medal and a few also got trophies.  Lacey got a "Rookie of the Year" trophy, which was very exciting ;)

And speaking of Tennis, the Citi Open is in DC right now.  Dave is volunteering at the tournament so that he can meet all the players.  

He met Andy Murray....

Andy Murray has won 3 Grand Slams and is part of the "Big Four" (along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic)

He also met Stan Wawrinka, who has also won 3 Grand Slam Titles.

And the most exciting (to me!) was meeting Caroline Wozniacki.  She's my favorite tennis player.  She always has a smile on her face and just seems like such a genuinely nice, friendly person.  I love her!

She also happens to be one heck of a tennis player and is currently ranked #2 in the world.

Dave face-timed me when he ran into her so that I could see/talk to her.  It was so awesome!  I was so happy!  But I didn't think to screen shot our face time!  I'm so bummed!  Even so, at least Dave got a pic with her and I can say that I have talked on the phone/face-timed with Caroline.  Love her!

Six Flags Fun

Well, Tanner lucked out yesterday!  His friend John invited him to go with him to Six Flags!

I grew up going to Six Flags Great America - it was the closest amusement park to us (even though it was still a ways away) and my parents usually made it a point of taking us there once a year.

There are 19 Six Flags spread all over North America, and we're lucky enough to have one just 20 minutes up the road!  Dave and I went once together, but we've never brought the kids, because, quite honestly, we both think Kings Dominion and Hersheypark are a lot better - but they are both 2 hours away!  So, anyway, the stars aligned for T-man and he was beyond stoked when he got the invite from his friend John to FINALLY check out Six Flags!

Lunch time!

He had a great day!  He rode as many rides as time allowed and now he has Six Flags memories of his own!

Hyper Kidz

We've had a deluge of rain as of late, so yesterday I tried to find something indoors to do with the kids.

So, I ended up taking them to a new indoor play place called Hyper Kidz in Columbia.

And since everything is more fun with friends, we invited another family with kids that match up to go with us!

Riley and Sophia

We tried to round up all the kids for a pic, but 6 out of 7 was as good as we got!

Ella was off having fun!

The last swim meet of the season was also last night and I thought for sure it would get rained out.  But alas, the rain stopped just long enough for us to squeeze it in.  Although, that's not really true.  It actually rained on and off throughout the entire meet. BUT, the thunder and lightning held off long enough for us to squeeze it in.

And I'm so glad it did!  Because after an entire season of disappointment, Tanner finished 1st in his heat for the first time! And this is the meet to win heats because each heat winner gets a personalized ball.  He got a PR in both the 50mFree (51.54) and the 25mBack (34.32).

Riley had a great meet too.  She won her back stroke heat and got a PR in all three of her events: 26.69 in 25m Free, 29.87 in 25mBack and 37.53 in 25mBreast.

Tanner and Riley with some of their fellow dolphins.

It rained on and off all night and there were dark clouds looming in the sky.  I kept praying the thunder and lightning would hold off until the kids got all three of their events in.  Sure enough..... no sooner had Riley gotten out of the pool and we packed up our stuff and started walking to the car that thunder and lightning erupted in the sky.  We got in her last event by the skin of our teeth.

I totally debated doing this meet since it was a post-season, optional, away meet.  But I'm so glad we did since both kids ended the season on a high!

Spirit Week

This is the last week of Swim Team.  So, per tradition, they had a theme for every day of the week where all the kids dressed up and then they had a winner each day that got a prize and then they all quickly took off their costumes and hopped in the pool for practice. 

Monday was "America Day"

Tuesday was "Tropical Day" (Tanner opted out of this one)

Wacky Wednesday

Neither of them wanted to dress up for "Tye Dye Thursday" but they both dressed up for "Superhero Friday."

Tanner said he was "Cap-TAN Speedo"

with his good buddy Keith.

Friday ended up being such a nice day that we went back to the pool after swim team and spent the afternoon there.

Lacey and her friend Ava.

Ellie Chill-axing in the boat

And that night, Tanner and Owen did their 2nd Sailing Race.

And despite a couple setbacks, they got third place overall!

And it's a good thing we got that all packed in this week, because we woke up early this morning for our last home meet of the season and it was POURING rain!  It was a torrential downpour for most of the meet, but no thunder or lightning, so the meet went on!

Riley won her freestyle heet and got two PR's!

And Tanner got a PR in freestyle.

Nice to end the season with some improved times despite being no less wet outside the pool than in ;)