Well, swim season is officially over. The team potluck and awards ceremony was Thursday night. Rachel is planning on getting together with a group of the girls and swimming 2 mornings a week to keep their "sea legs" so to speak.
So we move on, the holidays are almost here and we are having Thanksgiving with a smaller group this year at another friends house as one of the friends is allergic to cats and ours definitely dominate our house. We will also have Stephen home from college and our niece Caitlin with us.
We will just be us for Christmas and are excited for Stephen to be home for about a month and for him to be done with his first semester of college.
But things are getting any less hectic. This last Monday the school district finally approved the band trip that the band had been invited to join and so now the fundraising starts. It will be a wild four months. The trip with Ely H.S. band to New York City takes place at the end of March so we have a lot of work ahead of us. At the same time the church youth group is fundraising for CHIC the triennial youth conference held at the Univ. of Tennessee. Rachel has an exciting year coming.
She is also learning to drive. Last Tuesday she passed her learner's permit written test and has been behind the wheel a couple of times with Jeff in parking lots. She is the only one of her friends who hasn't driven before (most kids get their permit and drive back to school) and so we are gradually spending time with her in parking lots getting her used to being behind the wheel before we introduce other cars and the road.
I think winter has arrived here. We haven't been above freezing since last Saturday and we're glad we got our stakes in the ground for putting up Christmas lights because I don't think we could get them in the ground now.
Take care everyone and have a great Thanksgiving week.
Diane
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Whew!!
What a wild couple of days. On Thursday Rachel competed in four races at the section 7A girls swimming preliminaries. She (and three teammates) qualified in all three relays races for the finals. She swam personal bests in all four races she swam.
That meant Jeff and I made another trip to Hibbing today to watch her swim in three relays and Jeff had been asked to cover the meet for the paper. So he took photos and will write a story tomorrow. I sat with the parents and cheered all the girls on as the three relays and three individuals competed in four events (100 butterfly, 100 back stroke, diving and 100 breaststroke).
The weather was fine and we only saw a couple of deer coming home on Thursday and one deer heading down today we had no driving troubles which was nice because the forecast had been for snow/sleet/freezing rain/rain etc on Thursday and we only saw wet roads and a little snow coming home and dry pavement today.
Rachel feels good about her swim season but is glad it is over. We are working on establishing morning swims for any interested girls so they continue swimming over the winter and spring.
The other big news is she is planning on taking the written test for her driver's permit on Tuesday. We'll let you know when to clear the roads.
Love,
Diane
That meant Jeff and I made another trip to Hibbing today to watch her swim in three relays and Jeff had been asked to cover the meet for the paper. So he took photos and will write a story tomorrow. I sat with the parents and cheered all the girls on as the three relays and three individuals competed in four events (100 butterfly, 100 back stroke, diving and 100 breaststroke).
The weather was fine and we only saw a couple of deer coming home on Thursday and one deer heading down today we had no driving troubles which was nice because the forecast had been for snow/sleet/freezing rain/rain etc on Thursday and we only saw wet roads and a little snow coming home and dry pavement today.
Rachel feels good about her swim season but is glad it is over. We are working on establishing morning swims for any interested girls so they continue swimming over the winter and spring.
The other big news is she is planning on taking the written test for her driver's permit on Tuesday. We'll let you know when to clear the roads.
Love,
Diane
Friday, November 7, 2008
Last Weekend
All week I've been wanting to write a post and update everyone about our wild, yet spectacular weekend. This week has been slower but I think I must have been recovering from the fun.
Thursday the 30th, Jeff drove down to Morris, MN and spent the night. He and Stephen then drove home on Friday after Stephen got out of class about 1 pm. Meanwhile back in International Falls, I hosted the Little Giant spaghetti dinner and served 25 girls and their coaches dinner. I cooked 6 pounds of spaghetti and made about 3 gallons of sauce. And the weekend before had made 8 loaves of french bread (and used one for a church event).
Friday, Rachel had early morning practice and had to be in the water by 5:30 am. She was picked up by a fellow swimmer at 5:15 am. She then came home and went to church to help with the Fall Fest. I got home, raked leaves and then made an apple pie and dinner to celebrate Stephen's birthday. I handed out candy when the doorbell rang.
Jeff, Stephen and I ate dinner and were just beginning to open his presents when three high school students came by collecting for the food shelf. They asked to come in and warm up and settled in for about 30 minutes as one of them was Anna.
Saturday morning we got Rachel to the school at 6:30 and the rest of us left about 9. We dropped Stephen off at Anna's house in Ray and Jeff and I continued on to Aurora (Mesabi East High School) for Little Giant (junior high girls' swim sections). We had an 18 mile detour and missed Rachel's first race but were able to see her swim three other times for a first and 2 thirds. She swam personal bests all day and was pretty excited.
Sunday I went to early service as I had agreed to read names for All-Saints Sunday. I brought every one to church for Sunday School and following Sunday School we ran an errand, dropped Rachel off at home and Jeff, Stephen and I headed to Morris. Rachel spent the day in front of screens with cats on her lap while we made a round trip to Morris. It is a long day but doable. It was great to talk to Stephen and then Jeff on the way home. We got home about 11:15. The weather was great all weekend for all that driving.
It was wonderful to see Stephen and even more wonderful to feel that he has fit in and has a home at the University of Minnesota Morris. He will be back home for Thanksgiving as well as our niece Caitlyn at the University of Minnesota, Crookston.
Diane
Thursday the 30th, Jeff drove down to Morris, MN and spent the night. He and Stephen then drove home on Friday after Stephen got out of class about 1 pm. Meanwhile back in International Falls, I hosted the Little Giant spaghetti dinner and served 25 girls and their coaches dinner. I cooked 6 pounds of spaghetti and made about 3 gallons of sauce. And the weekend before had made 8 loaves of french bread (and used one for a church event).
Friday, Rachel had early morning practice and had to be in the water by 5:30 am. She was picked up by a fellow swimmer at 5:15 am. She then came home and went to church to help with the Fall Fest. I got home, raked leaves and then made an apple pie and dinner to celebrate Stephen's birthday. I handed out candy when the doorbell rang.
Jeff, Stephen and I ate dinner and were just beginning to open his presents when three high school students came by collecting for the food shelf. They asked to come in and warm up and settled in for about 30 minutes as one of them was Anna.
Saturday morning we got Rachel to the school at 6:30 and the rest of us left about 9. We dropped Stephen off at Anna's house in Ray and Jeff and I continued on to Aurora (Mesabi East High School) for Little Giant (junior high girls' swim sections). We had an 18 mile detour and missed Rachel's first race but were able to see her swim three other times for a first and 2 thirds. She swam personal bests all day and was pretty excited.
Sunday I went to early service as I had agreed to read names for All-Saints Sunday. I brought every one to church for Sunday School and following Sunday School we ran an errand, dropped Rachel off at home and Jeff, Stephen and I headed to Morris. Rachel spent the day in front of screens with cats on her lap while we made a round trip to Morris. It is a long day but doable. It was great to talk to Stephen and then Jeff on the way home. We got home about 11:15. The weather was great all weekend for all that driving.
It was wonderful to see Stephen and even more wonderful to feel that he has fit in and has a home at the University of Minnesota Morris. He will be back home for Thanksgiving as well as our niece Caitlyn at the University of Minnesota, Crookston.
Diane
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Rachel Swim Pics
Hey All,
Thought we'd post a few pictures from Rachel's swim meet last weekend. These are from her 500m race where she finished 3rd overall. She also did well in the Medley, 200m and 400m relays, all three of which she'll be competing in at Sections in a couple of weeks. Enjoy!
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