Stanford swim meet

  Over the weekend we went up to Stanford to see one of the few home swim meets this year.  We big time needed something fun to do that was different than exploring houses, neighborhoods, schools, etc.  I wanted to take the kids last year, but it never worked out.  This past saturday also happened to be autograph day, so we went to see if we could get 4 of the 200 wristbands that would get us access.  Thankfully, we got there shortly after the doors opened and we got wristbands!

  The swim meets are held at Stanford's aquatic center that has 4 different pools.  We watched the swimmers warm up some and then explored the other pools.  There was diving practice going on and a synchronized swimming event too.

They were all so impressed by every dive!

 The 3rd from the top is Katie Ledecky, who you might remember if you've been following the summer olympics at all.  She is in a class all her own.  Seeing them swim in a 25 yard pool is also fun.  They dive in, take a couple of strokes and are already turning.  Impressive to watch!

   The other Olympic gold medalist we got to see was Simone Manuel.  She is a sprinter and her strokes look so effortless!

 When you are winning sprint events by body lengths, that's when you know!

The boys got hot, we all did.  We sat on the sunny side and it was quite warm.  The days (and mornings especially) have been really cold.  I was prepared for a snow blizzard (aka the shade), but alas we needed t-shirts!

Joel had his class pets over the weekend and Ava stole one of them whenever she could.

   Getting some shade behind Gung Gung.

 Post-meet autograph session

   I had to show this picture to Calvin after we went through the line and he was upset that he didn't get to see Katie Ledecky.  I should have told him which girl was which, but I didn't want to be whispering about her right in front of her!!

  Ava had us cracking up when Simone Manuel asked Ava her name and then asked if she knew her name in return.  Ava shook her head, which was probably a first that day.  All of the girls were so sweet!

  This was just all around a really fun thing to do.  I know my dad enjoyed it and Mike and I sure were blown away by how fast they were.  I probably had more fun than the kids, but I know they had a good time too!  If anything, Hannah and Calvin were inspired to swim more, but also learn more about what it takes to get into a really good school and do a sport there.