Regionals

Kylie rowed in Northwest Junior Championship Regatta in Vancouver, WA this weekend.  I was able to join her as a chaperone, my first time going to one of her regattas.  Can I brag a little?  She is amazing!  She raced in two events, a 4+ boat and an 8+ boat. 

(As a side note, I finally figured out what 4+ and 8+, as well as 4x, 4x+, 2x, 2-, etc. mean...The + means they have a coxswain, or cox.  The x means each rower has 2 oars, which is called sculling.  When each rower has one oar it's called sweeping.  The - means they don't have a cox.   So the 4+ means there are four sweep rowers plus a cox, 8+ means 8 sweep rowers plus cox.  2x means two scullers and no cox.  It took me a long time to learn this lingo!)


Her preliminary heat for the 4+ boat was on Friday.  They placed first in their heat, and their time was the fastest out of 19 boats!  The girls were so excited.  I was so excited!  It was so much fun to watch them race.  They have worked very hard this season and really grown together as a team. 

The Girls 4+ A Boat:  Hannah, Kylie, Kate, Katie and Madeline (cox)

Carrying their boat out of the yard.

I love this shot!  Wish I looked this good from behind...

Isn't she beautiful?  Can you tell she's nervous?

Getting the boat into the water.

Off to warm up.  They put the boat in the water an hour before their race so they have time to warm up and get mentally preparred.

Their first race!  They were in first place the whole time!  Their time was 8:15:60, the fastest out of all 19 boats.

After their heat race on Friday, we were able to relax and enjoy the beautiful, warm day.  It was a huge treat to sit in the sun all day without any responsibilities other than keeping track of the girls and cheering them on.  I had signed up to help at the start line, but then realized if I did that I wouldn't be able to see Kylie's race, so they found someone else to fill in. 

Saturday morning was their 4+ final.  The top two boats from the three heats Friday raced.  The girls were so nervous, but excited because they knew they had a good chance of winning.  They knew, though, that during the prelims sometimes the rowers don't push as hard as they can because they don't have to win the race to make it to finals.  My race pictures are a little blurry because I was so excited I couldn't get the camera to focus. I guess when you're jumping up and down the camera has a hard time figuring out what you want to focus on!  If you click on the pictures you might be able to see a little better.

They started out in 2nd...

and then started their sprint and slowly crept up...

and over-took the lead for FIRST! 

This graph shows just how close the race for first was!  They won by .15 second! 

Champs!  I am so proud of them!  Saturday was my birthday, and Kylie said, "Winning the race was my birthday present to you." 

Best present ever!

They weren't able to rest and relax Saturday afternoon because they had their 8+ boat prelims. Their 2nd 4+ boat had also won their finals on Friday, so they were really excited to row all together and see what they could do.

Waiting for their turn to launch.  It gets pretty crowded at the launch site with all the big boats!

I love the name of their boat...they were definitely dreaming big!

And they're off again!

They were in 2nd again and started their amazing sprint...

and won 1st by 2.5 seconds!  The parents were cheering and screaming so loudly, and the girls were overwhelmed with excitement!

Here's a shot of the finish line.  We're the boat in 1st, with the yellow suits.

Saturday night they had cause for celebration.  They ran around the courtyard at the hotel and played in the pool and hot tub, but came in early enough that they could get a good night's sleep and be rested for the finals Sunday morning. 

They thought their race was at 10:30 Sunday morning, but when we got to the Lake at 6:45, they found out it was at 8:30.  They have a pre-race routine that includes not eating two hours before the race, visualizing the race with their coach, and putting the boat in an hour before the race to warm up, but everything got crunched because of the time shortage.  They put in about 1/2 an hour before their start time and seemed very jittery!

The race!  They were in second for a stretch, then were overtaken by Sammamish.

They maintained third, and right at the end two boats crept up on them, challenging them for third.  But they kept their lead and ended up placing third over all!  It was an intense race!  Third, fourth and fifth places all finished within three seconds of each other. 

At that point, my camera battery died!  I didn't get pictures of their whole team together celebrating their 3rd place finish.  Somehow the awards tent ran out of third place medals, so they didn't get their medal Sunday, but were told it would be mailed to them.  Someone screwed up!  How can you not have enough medals?  Anyway, when I get pictures from the other parents of their team all together, I'll add them. 

It was an amazing weekend, so inspiring to see the girls working together and really trusting and relying on each other.  I've been very impressed with their team as a whole.  They don't all hang out together outside of crew, but they are very devoted to each other.  Kylie will miss the team over the summer, and next fall she'll be on the varsity team, so it won't be such a tight-knit group.  She has improved so much over the season.  They had their final practice yesterday where they rowed 2K on the ergs and she knocked 10 seconds off her overall time, which is a big accomplishment!  

Happy Birthday to Me!

Saturday was my birthday.  My 39th, for real.  I'm not just saying I'm 39 because I don't want anyone to know I'm actually 42.  I might stay 39 for a while, but I don't think so.  I'm not too worried about my 40s.  My 30s were way better than my 20s, and I'm expecting my 40s will top my 30s.  As I'm getting older,  I'm getting more comfortable with myself.   I'm trying new things, like kaying and running and writing, and I like it.  I'm not as afraid to talk to people I don't know, or to go places by myself.  I'm still self-conscious, but I'm learning to get over it and not worry so much what other people think about me.  I'm stronger and healthier than I've ever been.  I have awesome kids who are growing up to be really great people.  My relationship with my husband is growing and maturing; from him I'm learning the meaning of real love.  We've faced some difficult challenges this year, but we're staying strong together.  So happy birthday to me!   I'm ready for 39 more, at least!

Kylie's Crew Practice

Finally, a sunny day that I didn't have a million things all ready planned!  Brad borrowed a kayak and we went out on Eagle Harbor to watch Kylie's crew practice.  They were "seat racing" today to determine the A and B quad boats for Regionals next week.  Kylie was really nervous.  She has been working so hard and really wanted to win a spot in the A boat. 

Once we got out on the water, the wind picked up and the sun disappeared.  I was so disappointed.  I had imagined a clear, sunny day where Brad and I could leisurely float in the harbor and watch the races. Instead, we were tossed in the waves and struggled to keep in one place.  I didn't get very many good pictures because the boat was rocking so much and we weren't able to get very close to the boats.  It was still fun to watch her, though.  Crew is a very intense sport! 

Getting the boat down to the water

They lift it over their head and flip it over.  The cox directs them in everything from raising up the boat, to getting in, to rowing.  Quite an important position!

Rowing out of the harbor

I love this picture!  The city looks so clear and close!  They were waiting to start a race, so I was able to take several shots and actually get a clear one.  Most of the others were really blurry since my boat was rocking so much.

The coach is on the rescue boat the whole time, just in case!  Good thing, since they don't wear life jackets!

An action shot! 

Blurry, but it's one of an actual race...Kylie's boat is winning!  She did win her seat race and she's pretty sure she will be racing in the A boat at Regionals!

After we watched Kylie for a while, Brad and I paddled over to the ferry maintenance area and floated around under the ferries.  Even though the weather didn't quite cooperate, it was still nice to get out and watch Kylie's practice and spend the afternoon with Brad!

Sieze the Day

I've mentioned this before, but we've been having terrible weather this Spring--it's been colder, wetter, and grayer than I can remember.  I can count on one finger the number of times it was warmer than 60 in April.  (In March there were five days that reached above 60.) So you know I'm not just making this up, here are a few statements from a May 1st article in the Seattle Times:

"Seattle officially set its record for having the coldest average high temperature for April...When you combine our record chilly April with our fairly chilly March, we find that 2011 is the seventh-coldest March-April on record with an average high of 52.0 degrees."

"In addition to setting the temperature record, we were high up the charts for it being the wettest April on record. The month tallied 4.47" of rain -- good for fourth-wettest April on record..."

"While we broke a streak of 56 straight days without an official sunny day on April 23, the overall average sky cover for March and April was 80.1%."

Blech!  So why do I live here, you ask?  Besides the fact that this is where my husband has a job, where both my parents and my husband's parents live, where my children have grown up, and where many of my wonderful friends live, there are days like yesterday.  Days when a good friend calls at 8:00 in the morning and says, "It's going to be 66 today with no wind?  Can you go kayaking?"  And I look at my calendar, at first thinking I'm too busy, then realize I have to "Sieze the Day!" so I rearrange my schedule and say, "YES!  Let's go!"  And we get to see this:

That's why I live here!  

Brentwood Regatta

This past weekend, Kylie had her first big crew regatta at Brentwood on Vancouver Island, Canada.  You've got to click on the link and see the homepage for this prestigious private high school.  It only costs $41,600 a year to be a boarding student there...such a deal! 

She raced in two preliminary heats and one final, all in 8 boats.  In the prelims, they came in 2nd, and in the final, 6th.  I'm so impressed with her strength and determination in learning this new sport.  The weather has been terrible this spring, unusually cold, rainy, and windy, but she's stuck with it and hasn't complained.  I've been hoping to get out on my kayak to watch her practice in Eagle Harbor, but I've been too wimpy to get out in the bad weather and when it is nice other commitments conflict.  There are only two more weeks of the season, so I have to get out before then! 

Anyway, her friend posted some pictures of the regatta on her facebook page, so I copied some here:

Kylie's team is the second boat up on the far left. 

Their uniforms are navy blue with a big yellow stripe down the side.

The "hand-off" from the boys' team to the girls' team.  They have to dump the water out...I wonder if this is really the best way?

Kylie is the farthest back.

I've never seen the boats close up, so I thought this was an interesting picture.

Part of the team...Kylie is the 2nd fromthe left, kind of hidden.

I think this is the team from the A boat, I'll have to ask Kylie.

Playing Catch-up

I thought we hadn't done much these past few weeks, nothing "blog-worthy", anyway.  Then I got out my camera and realized there are some pictures I could post.  I'll combine them all in one post to save time.  Lately, uploading pictures onto Blogger has been a huge pain.  Apparently I've maxed out my free storage space in my Picasa Web Album, so everytime I want to add a picture, I have to delete an older one (or two, or three, depending on the quality of the new picture.)  It takes a lot longer to post anything!  Anyway, here's what we've been up to:

Mariko's First Birthday!  Mariko turned one on April 19.  Tif and Tad hosted a birthday party BBQ at my mom's house (too many guests for their house!) Mariko loved opening her presents.  She wasn't quite as enthusiastic with the cake...

She looks like she's not really sure what's going on!

Then she daintily played with the cup-cake for a few minutes.  Such a girl!

Jillian's Band Concert! The end of the year concert was April 28th.  It's really hard to get good pictures in the Sakai gym.  Fortunately Mr. Burton had each row stand up for a photo-op.  They sounded so accomplished.  I'm always amazed at their progress from the beginning of the year to the end.  Even though we've heard the same songs from when Nate and Kylie were in band, I still love it. After the concert, Mr. Burton talked about the budget cuts that are coming to the school district and how they will probably affect the band program at Sakai.  It makes me sad to think that Ben might not have the same opportunity as his older siblings. 

Carla's 40th Birthday! One of Brad's good friends from high school had a birthday party on April 30th at her dad's classic car garage.  Carla (left) and Lisa (right) are two of Brad's closest female friends from high school.  They are both great people and I'm glad he's been able to keep in touch.  I haven't done so well keeping in touch with my high school friends.  I should have taken more pictures of the cars, too!  They're incredible.  Carla's dad has at least a dozen in his garage/museum, all of them impeciably restored.

Visits from family! My Aunt Sandra (my mom's twin sister) and my cousin Lyn and her two kids, Henry and Fern, came to visit on Tuesday.  Aunt Sandra lives in Provo, and Lyn is in Woodinville.  Even though Lyn reallly doesn't live that far away, I haven't seen her since Tifanie's wedding.  That's what living on an island will do to you!  Lyn and I grew up together until we were five.  She lived across the alley from me and we played together almost every day.  She reminded me of the time we took some white-out from my dad's desk and went around the neighborhood making white X marks on everything...telephone poles, rocks, the neighbors stair railings, the sidewalk, fire hydrants...apparently to help us find our way home!  It was great visiting with her.  She's a busy mom: she runs her own sewing business, does the bookkeeping for her husband's landscape business, and homeschools her two kids.  I'm hoping to visit her this summer with Tifanie and Corey. 

See Jenny Run!

Click HERE if you want to see a scary picture!  Pretty intense, huh? 

I ran in a marathon relay last Saturday!  For those of you who have known me all my life, this probably comes as a huge surprise.  Running was never my choice of activities, but thanks to some positive peer pressure, I've caught the bug. 

A few months ago, Gretchen told us she was going to run in the Wenatchee marathon.  She suggested that I might want to try a 10K.  I looked on the website and found out that they have a marathon relay, which divides the marathon into five legs:  6.2 miles, 3.5 miles, 6.5 miles, 3.5 miles, and 6.5 miles. "Wouldn't that be fun," I thought?  And team MOBI (Mommas of Bainbridge Island) was born! 

Stephanie had these awesome t-shirts made for us!

Click on the picture to see what each of us will run for...

Stephanie ran leg 1, Brooke leg 2, I ran leg 3, Mariann leg 4, and Kendra leg 5.  What an incredible group of women!  Steph is a brand new runner and Brooke and Marianne just had babies.  I am so proud of all of us.  We didn't finish first, or even second, third or fourteenth...we actually came in last of all the relay teams, but we did it!  We each ran our leg and felt good doing it.  And we came away wanting more. 

Before the start...

and after the finish.  We're still smiling!

The race was at Confluence Park in Wenatchee, along a ten mile paved path which surrounds the Columbia River.  The weather was incredible; beautiful sun and 70 degrees, which was actually a little too hot for us Bainbridge Islanders who have gotten used to running in 40 and rain! 

Isn't the park beautiful?  I'm excited to come to Wenatchee again and see more!

Our role model and inspiration, Gretchen, ran the full marathon!  She is amazing!

This experience has inspired most of us to run even more.  I'm seriously considering the half marathon next year!

Solo #2

After a week of winter-like weather (seriously, it was 33 degrees Wednesday afternoon with rain/snow mixed!) today was finally sunny!  I had to get out on the water.  It wasn't as blissful as my last outing, but I still enjoyed it.  I started at Fay Bainbridge and headed toward Manitou.  The wind was stronger than I expected and the water was pretty choppy, so I didn't get as far as I wanted to.  After about 1/2 an hour, I abandonded my idea of getting all the way to Manitou.  I beached my boat and sat on a rock to eat my lunch. 

 I balanced my camera on a rock to take this self-portrait.  Mariann would be proud of me.

The waves don't look too bad in this picture, but they got pretty big!

The sun felt great, but the breeze cooled my wet feet a little too much, so I didn't stay long.  Heading back seemed easier than going out, but the water was still pretty choppy and I got pretty wet from waves splashing over my boat.  (Maybe I should invest in a spray skirt...)  I'm gaining more confidence going out on my own and won't hesitate to take advantage of the next sunny day.   I'd really like to go out on Eagle Harbor while Kylie is at crew so I can watch her row.  Maybe next week. 

Family Home Evening

For FHE tonight, we did a service project:  fixing Grandma and Grandpa's mailbox!  We've been collecting the mail for them while Grandpa's been in the hospital for the past two months. Last week, the mailbox fell off the post and the mail carrier left a nice note informing us that it needed to be fixed or they wouldn't deliver the mail anymore.  So we got out the tools and set out to fix it!

Didn't we do a nice job?

Jillian was the official photographer, and if you're wondering, "Where's Brad?" he was in Seattle taking his sister to the airport.  

Spring Break part 2

Friday morning we woke to pouring rain.  The forecast was for rain all day, so we did what any American family on Spring Break would do on a rainy day: we went bowling! 

Apparently no one else got the memo!  We were the only ones bowling.  A few people were chatting with the cashier, but no one else came the entire time we were there.  

Pretty good scores, huh?  Mine is the 83...

After bowling, the kids headed back home, well not really home, they went to stay at friends' houses while Brad and I stayed two more days at the lake.