Nationals

Soon my synchro team will be leaving for Nationals. Nationals is a synchronized swim meet with teams from all over the US. 8 girls, 2 chaperones, and 2 coaches all piling up on an airplane and heading across the country. I am way excited for the plane ride. No feeling has quite sunk in yet about the competition. My team will be competing against 30 other teams. Wow! When we walk through the airport you will for sure be able to tell that we are a team. We will all be wearing our Aqua Star pants, Aqua Star jackets and a plain white shirt underneath. We will all have our hair up and tied with ribbon. And we will all be wearing closed toed shoes. I'm wearing my new poka-dotted converse! When we get there we will have dinner then go straight to bed. The next day we will get to have a practice swim through of team. The day after we will be swimming our routine for the judges. If our team places in the top 8, we will get to go on to figures the next day and Finals the day after. There are so many people there, you have to wait an hour between figures. I cannot really explain what a figure is. I guess it is like ballet's first position in the water. Yeah, good job Maddy that's a good way to describe it. Then on the day after we will be at Finals. Finals is when the top 8 teams compete against each other and that's how you can move your score up or down a place. Then there is awards! They have little boxes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. There is flowers and pictures and everything. After awards even though it is like 9:00 at night we go out for the Championship dinner. Cool, right?

Synchro

Hey, this picture is for all you people who do not know what synchronized swim is or even what it looks like. Picture this, a dancer in the water with the strenth of a swimmer and the grace of ballet. Put it all together with someone who can swim a 25 meter underwater without coming up for a breath and you have synchro. Synchro, well i cannot really desribe what synchro looks like. You have to see for yourself. Here are some pictures of Olympic swimmers showing off the sport they love.

To Z Pool

Today Mackenzie, Molly, Tracy, my mom, and I headed to Kiwanis Wave Pool for a little indoor, recreational fun. It was a lot of fun! The Wave Pool is what it sounds like it is. A big pool with lots of lifeguards and waves spashing and soaking and moving us all. The waves were my favorite part. We got there right when the waves started and of course we had to get in fast so we did not miss the waves. There was a slide that was open when there was no waves, too. I went on it twice but Mackenzie did not go on it at all. She was not tall enough or stong enough to get out of the slide current. Oh well. The waves were great fun except for the fact that they were pure torture on my calves. When I was walking up the stairs later tonight I could feel the burn! I cannot really say much more about Kiwanis except that they were fun. I can't even really say that because I already said that. Bye!

Whoosh!

Hey, sorry I have not blogged in awhile. I have been soooooo busy. Well not really busy. Busy implies that you have been doing something important. Mostly I have been watching out for the kids and swimming, bouncing, and more swimming!
Thursday I went to my moms office. That afternoon I went with her to go pick Tracy, Mackenzie, Molly, Jennifer and Cameron up from the airport. Right after we got home from the airport I headed off to synchro practice. Wow, that was a long practice! The whole four hours I just wanted to be at home. It was a hard practice too. Four of my team members, counting me, had to do 4 50's, sprint dolphin kick there, sprint under back. Shannon, my coach, said that if one of us did not make our unders we would have to do that whole 50 over again! So unfair, but we had to add on two more 50's. (A 50 means 50 meters in a pool. Like, in the lap lanes?) Luckily, for the last half hour of practice we could either get out and stretch or stay in and work on figures. I worked on figures.
On Friday, we pretty much just hung out at my house. Jennifer and Cameron came over and we went swimming. The pool was pretty nice that day. I got the floaties and noodles and squirters out and we had fun. The only thing that could get Mackenzie and Cameron out of the pool was the trampoline. They loved to bounce on the trampoline. Boing, boing, boing! They were natural little pogo sticks! I had synchro practice again. It was only for an hour, though! It was all figures with my coach Shannon. Me and the person I share figures with, Paulina, got in and warmed up. Then we worked on figures for about an hour. These short periods are called privates. This way we get more one-on-one time with the coach. I have these every Friday.
Saturday, I had synchro practice from 9:00-1:00. Four hours again except at a different time. We have to bring a snack. I brought Sourdough toast with butter and I also brought raspberries. Yummy! By the time I got home it was already 2:00. I kept my suit on so I could get in and play with Cameron and Mackenzie. We had fun swimming and bouncing. In almost no time at all it was time to get out and get dry clothes on. Jennifer and Cameron stayed for dinner which was Thai marinated steak, white rice and cauliflower. The Thai steak was excellent and I would have eaten 17 more pieces except I did not want to seem like a pig! After that I read Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew to Mackenzie.
Sunday we had crepes for breakfast and they were Delicious! Then it was time to get swim suits and sunscreen on. We were headed to Canyon Lake! My dad, Mackenzie, and I went early to get a parking spot. The lake was cold and very dirty. It was very fun. Before my mom, Tracy, Molly, Jennifer and Cameron got out there Mackenzie and I made mud pies, played in the waves, splashed water and tried, without success to skip stones across the water. The others got here and Mackenzie and I got out to meet Cameron. We snacked on Cheetos, Poor Brothers salt and vinegar chips and cherries. We had ham/roast beef sandwiches for lunch. We also had limeade, coke, cherries, chips, Cheetos, and best of all, brownies. Yum, yum. We went home and swam, bounced and had dinner. Dinner tonight was Spedies, bread, and corn on the cob.
On Monday, everyone went swimming again, even though the pool was cold. Today the game was throwing dive sticks through a folded noodle. We just hung out and then we had lunch. After lunch Jennifer and Cameron left and Tracy, Mackenzie, Molly and I got ready to go pick my mom up from work. Then my mom drove us to our friend Aleesha's house and dropped Tracy, Mackenzie, Molly off for a sleepover with Kiera. On the drive home, my mom and me stopped at Jack in the Box and got a Oreo shake and a water. Then my family went and met Jennifer and Cameron for Mexican food. It was pretty good but I've had much better.
So that's what I have been doing all this week. Sorry again if I did not update my blog soon enough for you!

Cleaning Camp

Today my mom left me a BIG list of cleaning and other stuff to do. So before I started my chores for the day, I made myself a camp. A cleaning camp. Camp today was not horrible and I gave my self way to much time for everything, so I got a lot of breaks from cleaning. Here it is:
Cleaning Camp
9:00-9:30 Bracelet Making (I am making really pretty bracelets for my synchronized swim team that I'm going to give to them at Grand Canyon Games, one of our competitions.)
9:30-9:35 Scoop (Scooping poop is not fun, but hey, I have a dog!)
9:35-9:37 Empty Recyclables (My family recycles...a lot!)
9:37-10:00 Break (To me, having a break helps me work harder.)
10:00-10:05 Trashes (We have a lot of little trashes in our house, and it's my job to empty them.)
10:05-10:15 Wash Sheets (Even though it is so hot in the summer here I never sleep on my sheets, my mom still wants me to wash them.)
10:15-10:30 Make my Bed (What, do you think I sleep without sheets?)
10:30-11:00 Break (My last break for this camp!)
11:00-12:00 Lunch (Can't clean without a proper lunch!)
12:00-12:45 Vacuum (Hey! I had to vacuum three whole rooms!)
12:45-1:00 Spa Basket (I had the job of arranging a gift basket full of goodies for our guests tomorrow!)
I thought I'd finish at 1:00! I finished at 12:08! Oh well. I'm officially done with the cleaning! Yay! Now I am ready and waiting with open arms for Tracy, Mackenzie and Molly! I still cannot wait until they get here!

Scamper

Right now I am going to talk about my puppy, Scamper. He is a Jack Russell Terrier and he is cuter than you can imagine. My family, my dad Bob, my mom Pam, and I got Scamper in January of 2007. He was so small and really really cute. Scamper is the perfect, funny, sweet, lovable, cute dog I have always wanted. Okay, so maybe he is not perfect because of his chewing habits, but he is still my favorite. Just the other day he was chasing a lizard and he chased the lizard right into the pool! After that he lay down and started growling and barking at it. It was so funny! Then my dad had to fish the lizard out of the pool. Scamper is a sweet, mushy dog. If you sit or lay down on the couch, he'll jump right up to sit in your lap. He always wants attention and to be petted! He is so lovable, the way his eyebrows are always so crazy. When Scamper gets a drink of water from his bowl, his chin whiskers will get wet and go drip, drip, drip all over our floor! Speaking of Scamp, I should go play with him. Nah, it's his nap time now! Enjoy these awesome pictures of my puppy!

Scamper, the first day I got him.

Scamper, at the river!

Sleepy dog!

Summer!

I am so happy but I am also a bit bored. School is out for summer and until Thursday, I have nothing to do. I counted and there is 75 more hours until Thursday. You are probably wondering what is Thursday. On Thursday my mom's awesome bff is flying in with her two amazing little girls. Tracy, Mackenzie and Molly are super great and I cannot wait for them to get here. We had to clean a ton before we felt done. Now our house is all clean and shiny. Do you want the good news about cleaning or the bad news? I'll give you both. The bad news is that I detest cleaning. The good news is that I did not have to clean my room. Yay!