"Don't you want to have fun?"

Today we went to spend some time with some friends in a neighbourhood near campus. They very proactively gave us a tour of their home so we could see how nice it is (hoping that we'll perhaps come live near them). It was so lovely for the kids to get to play and enjoy each other while the grown ups commiserated over the hot weather. 

Rachel's friend Hailey is serving a mission in Manitoba right now and she mentioned that the weather is one thing that everyone is always willing to talk about. Our friend Tim mentioned a similar thing about when their family used to live in up in the northeastern US. He mentioned how when everyone was outside enjoying the summer weather it was with a note of...caution...mixed with gluttony—as if they had to hurry and enjoy every moment while it lasted because winter was always looming over their heads. 

Like, sure—we look happy now...but just you wait until winter gets here.

He described it like some monster lurking in the hills that everyone knows will descend and wreak havoc on their happy little community. 

And it is rather like that. 

Here it's the opposite and everyone we meet is apologizing for the fact that we had to move here in August. Blah. It's the worst...but we promise it's not always like this. It will soon get better. The beastly sun that is a stalking the land will be banished. 

November, I hear, is quite lovely. 

Anyway...

We went to the pool before bed this evening. It was 100°F (37°C), but the pool temperature was lovely. 

County! County! County!

 

Swimming is an interesting sport because we spent approximately 15 hours at the pool over the past two days (5 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday) to watch our three children swim a collective grand total of approximately 5 minutes.

It was certainly a marathon...for the spectators!

Fortunately, they do allow swimmers to leave after their last event and they always schedule relays first (at regular meets they are last) which meant we got to leave "early" after Zoë's relays. Still, it was a lot of hours at the pool!

I took this top picture because it shows our coach (Amy) as a child swimming for Gwinnett county and now as an adult coaching for Gwinnett county. There are 5 coaches featured on this slide for the same reason (and there seemed to be multiple slides of this nature). Such a thing is unfathomable for me (I currently live 2221.66 miles, as the crow oryx flies, from where I first joined a swim team) but is apparently the reality for many people. The Census Bureau claims that in the United States "nearly six in 10 young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up, and eight in 10 live within 100 miles," while this Pew study claims approximately 40% of people remain in the community within which they grew up.

Anyway, Andrew and I were both surprised by how many coaches in the Gwinnett county swim league were also young swimmers in the league.

Last Fun Friday

Phoebe was as pleased as punch to get her ribbons from last night's swim meet—especially her speed breaker ribbon (because it's rainbow coloured). She did not want to "spend" her ribbon to pie a coach in the face (even though I explained that she would still get to keep her ribbon).

Last day of swim team!

The moment Phoebe's been waiting for all summer finally arrived! She is the proud new owner of—not one but—two shiny new ribbons (with more coming tomorrow)!

A birthday and a swim meet

This morning Andrew took the first set of kids (A and Z) to swimming and then came home so he could be here when our moving pods were delivered. I was getting the second set of kids (B and P) ready for swimming when Andrew came home—and it was a good thing he came home when he did because the pods were delivered half an hour earlier than what they stated our expected delivery window to be!

Phoebe was very excited to get to watch the fork lift at work while I braided her hair. 

I took the second set of kids (B and P) to swimming and brought home our two middle swimmers (A and P). Then I went to the dentist and Miriam went back to the pool to pick up the remaining children (Z and B). 

So it was a bit of a swimming circus in the morning.

And I had to get some metal "buttons" for my particularly stubborn teeth...and having braces makes me feel a little bit grumpy. Honestly, we joke about Miriam sometimes because whenever she comes home from getting her braces tightened she needs, like, a three-hour nap to kind of reboot because it just makes her so grumpy. And I...kind of understand that...because...same.

And there are always so many surprises. Like, you might just think you're going in for an ordinary check up and they're like, "Oh, while we have you, we're just going to put a power chain on..." (or whatever).

And, like, sometimes I'm not emotionally prepared for a power chain (or whatever), okay?

So today I was grumpy that I had to get metal attachments (so much for the invisi- part of Invisalign) and elastics. Especially because my Original Plan was to work through twenty sets of trays over the course of forty weeks. That still sounded long to me, but I was like, "Fine. This will be worth it."

Folks, it has been 585 days since I had my braces put on! 

There are only 280 days in 40 weeks. I have been in braces for more than 83 weeks now. I'm so over this whole process. 

I readily admit that I really do have a very stubborn tooth that still needs some fixing, so it's not like it's the dentist's fault. But I still feel a little grumpy about it. 

Couple with that has just been some stress of trying to figure out what to do about my job now that we're moving overseas...and whether and how to continue working...and how to figure out my course schedule and what kind of tuition I will be paying (which depends a bit on what I figure out about my job). And then some things are happening that make me wonder if I even want to continue in that position and what certain things like "free speech" even mean these days when everything feels so stifling. 

Lucky for me there was cake and ice cream when I got home from the dentist. And then I got to have a nap (to try to get over my grumpiness and my cold and have enough energy to make it through the evening's swim meet), which was lovely. 

Packing and swimming news

Thank goodness today is today because I'm not sure I can keep going at the pace at which we've been going for very much longer. In the morning the packers are coming. 

I...don't really know what they're going to do. I thought we had to be ready to pack and load all in one fell swoop, but I was wrong.

The packers are coming tomorrow and they're going to...pack...stuff.

What stuff? I don't know because we actually did a whole lot of the packing ourselves (leaving all the boxes untaped for inspection by the packers) and have everything that might need to go on the boat in The Boat Room. 

And I'm just overwhelmed from making decisions. 

Like, I can't just go into the garage to decide what might need to come on the boat, you know? I have to pull out all the scrap wood and give that away. And then I have to unearth the bocci balls and decide we'll probably play that a time or two. And what about croquet? Well, the croquet set has seen better days so we won't take that. So we start a trash pile (because there's no sense in putting it back "away," having already determined that it's lived its best life...

In short: every project has been much longer than we originally intended it to be.

I still have piles of stuff behind me that I simply...cannot...deal with right now. So I guess none of that stuff is making it on the boat. My brain is just broken from trying to figure out how to live here for the next 50 days with limited stuff and then how to live there for however long with limited stuff and...I just cannot really think about what we will need. 

But I think we'll be fine. 

In other news, Phoebe is going to compete in the swim meet tomorrow—her very first time. She can barely make it across the pool but she is so excited to try for a ribbon.

Stings and things

Another swim meet is in the books!

Here's Alexander, doing very well on his breast stroke (he ended up in third place overall, which is pretty cool—I think he got third last week, too):

Zoë had a bit of a harder time this meet—her goggles kept coming off on her entries (which was tricky and difficult) and she had some hard events (a 100-IM and a 50-fly, for example), plus she moved up an age group and is on the smaller side of things this year. But I'm sure she'll find a good stride soon enough! It's good to be challenged.

Swim meet #1

Today was sunny enough that we stayed after morning practice to swim for a bit longer, partly so that I could make Phoebe do some things. When I asked her how futures went (I was in the parking lot giving things away to my friends...) she said that it went very well, that she was very "nice" and just said, "No, thank you!" when she was asked to float on her back.

So we had to practice back floats, obviously. 

Because these sweet little coaches are like, "The little lady said no thank you," whereas I am like an auctioneer: "Can you hold a back float for five seconds? One, two, three, four five! Five bid. Five. Do I hear ten seconds? Ten..."

What I mean is...the back float is happening whether you really want to or not. 

Because I'm a meanie. 

Anyway, she held her back float for ten seconds today. 

But we had to get home to move a bunk bed frame, two mattresses, two desks, two monitors, an office chair, some weighted blankets, and a bunch of stuff...into a friend's truck so they can redo their boys' rooms. Win-win. 

We're getting rather tired of moving furniture over here but...we're nearing the finish line.

The afternoon was sunny-ish, with a chance of thunderstorm. The cloud cover was very welcome when it rolled in and covered the sun. And it didn't ever thunder, so that was lovely. 

Here's Phoebe standing in the splash zone:

Future Barracuda!

Phoebe had her first day of "futures" on Tuesday this week (and then thought we moved to Doha on Wednesday—what a waste that would have been)! 

She was very excited, but she's also been rather nervous about the pool. It's still not bathtub-warm (her favourite pool temperature) and she also forgot how to swim between the end of pool season in September and the beginning of pool season this year. And, of course, I wasn't able to take her much the first half of the month since I was out of town. So she didn't feel very well prepared.

Here she is ready to meet her coach: 

From my observations (far away from the action, as requested by those in charge), she was a bit of a stinker and didn't want to try very many things. But her coach told her she did great. So that's what Phoebe's been clinging to. But she didn't do great. She was an absolute stinker.

In all fairness...I was a stinker of a kid (so I know one when I see one). 

Life moves pretty fast: Swim meet countdown

The summer swim season has officially begun!

We had our mock meet last night, which means we only have five weeks of swimming left the season (minus the county competition). Swim meets have always marked the passing of summer, but this year their passing (which hasn't even truly begun because we, uh, haven't had an official swim meet yet) feels a bit more ominous because it's also more or less counting down the time we have left here in Georgia. 

We. Have. So. Much. To. Do. 

But last night we just sat for a few hours and watched the kids swim.

Our competition pool (which isn't our pool but is a pool within our cooperative swim team...we take turns practicing at our pool ad at this pool) got a new deck addition this summer, which is nice because the past couple of years they haven't allowed us to put children on that side of the pool so we had to clump all the kids on the other side of the deck and put the other team out on the parking lot...and neither place was particularly suited for this purpose.

We're glad we don't have to do that anymore. The new deck is much nicer. And "I'm kind of liking the jail situation we have going on," Miss Julie, our team manager, joked. 

We call the area the kids hang out the "bull pen" anyway, and it honestly is rather helpful having it be an actual pen rather than having the kids sprawl out all over whatever nook or cranny of the deck they can find!

Pool-ar Plunge 2026

We did it! We made it to May! 

Phoebe has been asking "When's it gonna be May?" since the pool closed at the end of September.

The kids have been taking about the upcoming summer swim season nonstop all winter.

But we did it! We're finally here!

So here's our First Day of the Pool Season picture for 2026:

Swimming Awards Banquet

This afternoon we got to go to Benjamin's swimming awards banquet. He's had a really great season and has improved so much, so it really was no surprise when he was called up as the most improved swimmer on the silver team.

"And while he's up here, Ben's also our practice champ. Ben is always there, ready to work hard—even asking for more work!" Coach Harrison told everyone. 

He's on task, he's cheerful, he never complains, he helps others stay on task...he's just great!

Saying Goodby to Grandpa and Darla

Grandpa spent his first day of retirement taking the kids bowling. It was the first time for several of the children because we haven't gone bowling here. I honestly couldn't remember why we hadn't just taken the kids bowling...until Reid told us how much it cost. Let's just say "Private Equity Bowlero Ruining Bowling" isn't a sensational title. I was fully expecting the fees to be around $5 per person per game...maybe even $10 (it's been a while since we've been bowling). I was not expecting round $30 per person—talk about exorbitant! 

But the kids had fun. 

And we remembered why we have never gone bowling here. 

Miriam finished with her finals on Wednesday, so she was available to go bowling with everyone. I asked her to be my photographer (Andrew and I stayed home to work). 

Here's Benjamin:

Gymnastics

Zoë's second week on the homeschool team was eventful! 

I missed the whole thing because I didn't watch her and instead went off to a quiet corner in the hallway to work. The parents of the younger class tend to sit on the sidelines and watch but the parents of the team...tend to not to. So I figured I'd follow suit.

Besides, I know from my own days of gymnastics and coaching that sometimes it's distracting for the parents to be present during sessions. The kids want the parents to look at them or the parents want the kids to look at them. We had a rule that parents were not to remain in the gym during lessons, though there was an exhibition evening when our parents could attend. 

Sometimes...sometimes...I miss living in a small town! 

My siblings and I did gymnastics through the Alberta Schools Gymnastics Association (ASGA), a non-profit organization founded by our dear coach and friend, Darlene. She wanted to bring gymnastics to more...rural...areas. So she contracted with various schools to use their facilities, all of which were equipped with a Canadian Fold-Away Climber, a set of ladders that could be pushed flat against the wall or pulled out to make an indoor jungle gym of sorts. 

This picture is from Canada.gov's instagram:

Wow. Such enthuse. Very yay.

Zoë is in Washington, DC, at the moment, so she missed her gymnastics class on Wednesday—the first day of a new session. 

This afternoon we got a text message from the mom of Zoë's friend M:

"I think you guys are in DC, in which case, hope you are enjoying your time. Today at gymnastics coach Emma said she wants to invite M. and Zoe to the homeschool team class [at a time] on [a day]. Would this be something Zoe would be interested in? M. is a yes but she still wants to do gymnastics with Zoe."

Now, we're not in DC. Only Benjamin and Zoë are (with Grandpa and Darla), see?

YMCA Championship Meet

First thing in the morning, I registered the kids for swim team. I had to be fast so I could be sure to secure a spot for Phoebe on the "futures" team, since space is limited in the "futures" program. Benjamin is applying to be a "futures" coach again. So we're gearing up for another busy summer full of swimming. 

We left for church an hour early so we could go to choir practice before church. We are just barely starting our Easter music...like today. It's rather late to be starting Easter music, but choir has been...to put it delicately...going through some hurdles...recently. So we're starting Easter music now. It'll be fine.

Grandpa joined us for our meetings this morning and then took Benjamin home from church ahead of us so that Benjamin could get changed and pack up some dinner for himself. They were just leaving for the pool when the rest of us arrived home from church. We met them at the Georgia Tech pool at 3:00 for Benjamin's championship meet.

Here's Benjamin diving into the water for his 50 yard freestyle (lane 9, closest to the audience there):

Benjamin's swim meet

Today I got to take Benjamin to his swim meet (because it was at our own YMCA and I...can drive there). I parked myself in a seat in the viewing deck (which was the hallway), pulled out my laptop and worked on a presentation and did some research in between his events. These meets are way more chill than the summer events, which always feel like pure chaos to me.

Probably helps that I've only ever signed up for ribbon duty. 

Benjamin's coach was quite ambitious this meet—he signed Benjamin up for a 50 free, a 200 IM, and a 100 fly in addition to two relays! Benjamin took it all in stride, though! He dropped time on his free and IM events. This was his first time racing a 100 fly.

Here he is doing the fly portion of his IM:

Swimming and Organ Awards

Saturday, as mentioned earlier (I think), was a busy day, but the kids have come off conquerers!

Here's Benjamin with his ribbons from his swim meet:

Both his relay teams won first place (he swam a 50m leg of breaststroke in the medley relay and a 50m leg of freestyle in the freestyle relay, as one does). He got second place in the 200m IM (individual medly—so 50m each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle). He got third in 100m backstroke, and fourth in 50m freestyle. So not a bad day for him!

A busy week

Zoë had her first day of gymnastics this week. She was worried she was a little too old for starting, but I told her that I was her same age when I started gymnastics and that helped her feel a little bit better. She had a blast!

Successes

Zoë's been practicing French braiding my hair while I've been reading our nightly novel to her and Alexander. After showing her how to do it once she tried it and did it...a little loose and sloppy...but obviously a French braid. Then she undid it and tried again and again and again. And she's getting quite good at it.

This morning she did Phoebe's hair in a French braid: