Our Barracuda

Lincoln joined the Bryant Barracudas swim team this year.  Practices started in May and then the meets were in June and July.  Most weeks he would practice 3 or 4 times.  I think it was really good for him.  

He started out in the beginner group because it was his first time on the team.  They went over mostly the freestyle and back strokes.  It wasn't too long before he got moved up to the next group where he was swimming farther in practice and working on the breast stroke and butterfly as well.

Here are some pics and a video of him practicing.

This video was of him doing the medley.  He has a hard time with the backstroke!

We went to 3 meets.  The first one was absolutely overwhelming.  There were so many people and no one was really explaining anything to us.  At one point I was in tears out of frustration because I couldn't find Lincoln anywhere and then found out that they had put him in a relay at the last minute and we didn't even see him do it.  The only race he would do was the freestyle.  That first meet I was so proud of him.  He came in first in his heat. :-)

These pics are from the second meet at Bryant.  This is him warming up.  He has on the blue and white goggles.

Diving in.

At the first meet I tried to get his freestyle on video but my camera froze up on me and I missed it.  At the last meet I used my phone.  I must have hit a button by mistake while I was taping him because I didn't get it either.  I was so disappointed.  At the last meet he actually bettered his time by 4 seconds.  We were so proud of him.

This was his first individual freestyle at Bryant.  Sorry for the screaming.  I get a little excited.  I was worried at the beginning because he was slightly late on his dive in and I thought that that would hurt him.  But he ended up doing great!  He is the fourth one over from where I was filming.

This is him in the 100 freestyle relay.  He was the last leg and his team was way behind.  That is why no one is swimming with him.  :-)

I loved watching all the swimmers at the meets.  I hope Lincoln will stick with this because I think he could do well.

This is a picture of the team.  Lincoln is towards the bottom right hand side on the steps.

Swimming Lessons for Layton

Layton took his first swimming lessons during the first week of June.  The big kids were still in school so it was perfect timing for me to do this with him.  He was VERY excited!  He is not scared of the water at all and I just knew he was going to do well.  We were extremely lucky that his class only ended up being he and another little girl the entire time.  In fact, I think 3 of the 5 days, he was the only one.  So, he actually got some private lessons too.  I really like Molly.  She has taught all three of my kids to swim now.  We will definitely take him back for Level 2 next year!

She started off with the basics--kicking...

getting his head under and bobbing...

laying on his back...

laying on his back and kicking...

At the end she would let him jump in the pool from the side.  He LOVED this and wanted to do it over and over again.  He would jump/dance around at the side of the pool while waiting his turn.  It was adorable.

Here are some videos of his progression during the lessons.






He was having a little trouble figuring out how to lunge in from the step head first and swim to her.  I decided to see if goggles would help.  So, I let him go pick some out.  It made all the difference.  From then on, he was able to do exactly what he was supposed to do and now won't even use his goggles anymore.






By the weekend of July 4th, he was able to do this at my aunt's house.




Then, a few days ago, he basically dove into the pool all my himself and swam to the side.  I love this kid.  He has no fear and is the cutest little thing.


He wants to be just like the big kids.


Everyone at the pool that sees him can't believe how well he is swimming.  They always ask me how old he is.  When I tell them four, sometimes they are surprised.  He looks younger because he is such a shorty.  He might be short in stature, but he is BIG in personality!



Today at the pool, he and Hannah were jumping in from the side.  He did it over and over again and loved every minute of it.  Cute little toot.

More Berry Picking

We just LOVE berries--any kind pretty much.  We already picked strawberries and planned on picking blueberries again for sure, but then someone told me about a place to pick raspberries.  I was there.

It is even more fun to pick berries when you are with your friends.  Stacey, Kenzie, and Karly went along with us this day and then we had a picnic at the park afterwards.

Layton picked a few and ate a bunch.

Sweet kiddos.

We were super sweaty after picking blueberries.

Notice the bunny ears and the mischievious face.

Eating a little lunch at Pinnacle before playing for a while.

I had a lot of berries to put up when I got home.

But I had to have me a little snack first.

We all just love smoothies so we will make a lot of them this summer.  We did discover that raspberries definitely need to be strained before they go in the smoothie.  The seeds make the smoothie not so smooth!

I am really looking forward to finding some recipes to try with these babies!

May iPhone Pics

I almost forgot some of my i-Phone pics from May, so here is a little more about our May.

Lucy had her 4th birthday party one Saturday at the Beggs.  It was crazy cold that day so we are all in our long sleeves still.  Carrie had planned a fun bouncy house with a pool at the end party, but she had to scratch the water part because a huge cold front came in.  It was still fun though!

Sweet, beautiful Lucy!

Hannah with Lucy's cousin Molly who lives in Northwest Arkansas.  They have known each other for a while now and always pick right back up when they see each other.

Opening presents.  Layton was surrounded by girls!  Ha!

Layton and Lucy hugging each other.

I LOVE this picture!  So cute!  Cracks me up how much height difference there is!  Maybe we will show this picture at their wedding one day!  Ha!  (I hope Layt won't be shorter, but my guess is he will. :-)

Fun!

The "big" girls acting big.

Kris cut down a tree that had fallen in his office parking lot and brought the firewood home.  Of course, Layton helped him unload it.  He loves to help his daddy.

Poor Lincoln.  I got a call one day from the school nurse.  He had been playing on the playground and a swing had come back and hit him in the eye.  He was apparently hysterical.  I think it scared him seeing all the blood and I know it hurt.  Bless his heart.  He had a pretty bad cut in the very corner of his right eye.  I called the doctor and ended up taking him in a bit later.

Dr. Byrum thought he needed a few stitches.  Oh my goodness.  He screamed bloody murder.  He was so scared.  I believe it was because he remembered getting staples in his head before and it terrified him that they would hurt coming out like the staples did.  Once they got the shot to deaden him in, he held still enough for the stitches.  He got 2 stitches.

This was the boys in the waiting room the day we came back to get the stitches out.  Rare to find them being so sweet to each other, so I had to take their picture.

Stitches out.  It healed nicely.  You can see a slight red scare on occasion, but it really isn't that bad.  He was lucky it didn't hurt his eye!

This was just Layton trying to skate in the house one day.  Now May is officially wrapped up!