V-I-C-T-O-R-Y--that is our Kingfish Battle Cry!

Our swim team came out strong and stayed "tribal" throughout the swim meet. We won and Tobin made an all star time in breaststroke. Tobin's birthday is a huge advantage for him and even though he is now 13, he is swimming with the 11/12s. Tobin's stroke looks beautiful and he has grown so much. Noah's stroke still isn't pretty, but his strength gives him a complete advantage. If Noah would finesse his strokes, he would be a force to be reckoned with. Noah just told me, "Mom, next time I swim, look at my free and back." Guess he didn't like my comment. I love swim team and can't say enough good things about it. I love that this is a sport where my kids can all participate and cheer each other on in place. The comraderie from the 18 down to the 7 year olds is amazing. I love it.



Tobin is in the far left of this picture with the green, grass skirt. Scary, right?








These two pictures are of Noah getting ready to swim and then swimming his heart out.

Our friend's bar mitzvah

Teddy's candle lighting ceremony! I love this part of the celebration. Teddy lights a candle with help from the people who have meant the most to him.


I love this picture of the 3 of us.



The whole gang! Tobin is right in the middle, sort of hiding behind Teddy's hat.


Our "adult" gang spending time together at the bar mitzvah.




I have loved, loved, loved going to the bar mitzvah's with Tobin. I was so excited to go to this bar mitzvah and celebrate with our friends. Teddy, whose bar mitzvah it was, was so excited. He is usually so restrained and quiet, but on this day, the day of his bar mitzvah, he let loose and had a great time. He was the first to be brought up on the dance floor and I was amazed at the largeness of his movements. Teddy was having a great time. It was so much fun celebrating with lots of friends as well; Andy and I loved who was at our table.

One of the most fun things that the DJ did was a game where each adult had to choose one teenager to dance with. For the first song (from my generation) the child had to imitate whatever we did. For the second song (their generation) we had to imitate what our young partner did. I deliberately didn't grab Tobin, knowing how easily embarassed he gets of us these days; I thought I would let Andy handle him (wasn't that nice of me?). I chose one of Tobin's friends whose parents wasn't at the party. I had a fun time and I think Tobin's friend was happy that I was pretty contemporary.
But I must say, that Andy and Tobin did great together. Some of you will remember Andy's break dancing days; we'll he's still got the moves! Tobin was actually impressed, even if he didn't want to say it. I do think it helped that the DJ gave Andy huge props and high fives for his efforts. Andy loved it! Tobin is quite the dancer and it was fun watching him quickly pick up the latest moves from the DJ. It's called the stinky leg. Look it up on Youtube. Tobin did a great job and was able to add in a bowling ball leg to it. It probably looks better in my mind than yours, but totally fun.

Lazy, Summer Days

Sleeping in, swimming laps at the pool, and walking into my room to find my littlest, cutest, girl being creative:

Celebrating with Family

I'm about to have a teenager tomorrow. Thank heaven there's family to help me get by. Dinner, cake, candles, and laughter. It was a great way to end Tobin's 12th year of life.

Pep Rally Friday Night

Tobin's swim team buddies.



The joy of childhood.



Every Friday before our swim meet, we have a pep rally where the coach, Jonathan, pretty much says whatever he wants to and thinks our swimmers need to hear. He is extremely motivating and we love, love, love him as our coach! However, on this pep rally night, the outpouring of rain falling from the sky like manna was extremely more invigorating than any words. It became a free for all right outside our clubhouse! Yeah, I made them walk home afterwards. What was Tobin thinking?!

End of School Water balloon Party

Yep, that's Tobin hiding by the tree!




Our friends have made this an annual event--the water balloon party. Tobin always has a great time with his friends and I am able to take great pictures from my dry vantange point from the deck. My only question is this: is there a point where you should try and keep these things organized or do you let the kids go wild with the 1000s of water balloons in a bucket in the middle of an open field? let me know what you think.

Father's Day Pictures

Father's Day was a lot of fun for Andy--at least I hope it was fun. Katie and I arranged a golfing adventure with the kids. At the last moment, Noah wanted to go as well. Andy was so good and was totally like, we will make this work. In the end, Noah was completely happy to drive the cart and take a few shots every now and again. Tobin was very nervous about playing with Delaney, knowing how good she was. Andy and Manish set the tone with lots of laughter and silliness. You had some great shots and seemed to enjoy playing with Daddy.