Summer Swim League

We are in our 3rd year of summer swim league. It is such a great activity for the kids - socially and athletically. Both kids are at the top of their age group and are doing quite well this summer. Clare's favorite events are the IM, butterfly, and breast stroke. Daniel loves to swim freestyle, breast stroke, and back stroke. It is a lot of fun with lots of great kids on their team.


Daniel wears his swim cap a little differently than other kids! He says this keeps his goggles in place. Anything to prevent goggle malfunctions!

They don't usually swim against each other - except maybe the mixed medley relay. This is warm-ups before the meet.

Happy kids before the meet -- they were happy after, too -- they won all of their events! Way to go!

Fun With Cassidy

We finally have met our new little relative, Cassidy. My brother, Steve and his wife, Kree had Cassidy August 25, 2006, in La Paz, Bolivia. They are here for summer vacation. Cassidy is absolutely adorable. Clare and Daniel had loads of fun with her during our visit with them in Charlottesville.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

July Heat

It's been a hot and dry July! These are a few of the cayenne peppers I've gotten from my garden this year. It hasn't produced much else with the dry weather and heat! (I guess lack of sunshine in that section of the yard might have something to do with it, too.)

Tom and I headed down to Litchfield, South Carolina at the beginning of July while the kids attended camp in western North Carolina. We had a great time. On the 4th, we rented bikes and rode to Huntington State Park. It was a gorgeous day. The bird above kept close to us on a very long pier in in the park. I liked it's long neck. We looked for alligators, but never were lucky enough to see any.

Tom always loves it when I take pictures of him! He's so cute! :)


We found a pretty secluded spot on the beach to rest and eat a snack. There were more people towards the public entrance to the beach. This was a quite a walk from the entrance. I was amazed that there were very few shells on the beach. I was only able to bring back a couple of small ones for the kids.

On the night of the 4th, we saw several fireworks displays put on by the resort where we were staying. It was really cool watching them up and down the beach from our balcony. We heard the fireworks for well over an hour. After a while we got tired of them and went to bed!

This is the pool that was right outside our balcony. I think the kids would have liked it! They had a terrific time at camp, though. They couldn't stop singing the songs and telling stories. There were two showers taken between the two of them all week. That's camp!

Clare was very excited when the 7th Harry Potter finally was released. She has been reading as much as possible -- when she doesn't have swimming, etc.

It's a great book!!

Daniel in the summertime. He's been busy reading Eragon in his spare time. He'd rather play outside with his sister and the neighbors, though. He needs to finish the 6th Harry Potter before he can read the 7th.

He sometimes likes to play with Mia when she's calm!