Adam on the blocks:
Chillaxin dude:
Adam Breaststroke:
Gman Fly:
Counting laps for Gman during the 500 Free:
The spoils of victory:
As always, more later!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
We're finally done!
This was the last weekend for swim meets for this season! We had the Gulf Champs for 12 and Under with B and under times. For those of you new to swimming language, let me explain. USA Swimming (the governing body for swimming in the US) sets "motivational" times for age groups (10&Under, 11-12, etc.) by stroke (free, back, fly, breast, IM) and distance (50, 100, 200, etc.). The times go from B through AAAA, with B being the "slowest" of the competitive times. It's a big deal when a kid gets his first B time! So, how did we do? AWESOME, BABY! Both boys got personal bests in all their events. Adam got 3 ribbons: 4th for 50 Fly, 7th for 50 Back and 2nd for the 200 Free Relay. Geary earned 2 ribbons: 7th for the 500 Free and 3rd for the 200 Free Relay. Adam also earned his first BB time in the 50 Fly. Geary continued climbing up the ladder in the 11-12 bracket by getting another B time in the 500 Free. His coach told him that he swam a perfect race. His last 100 was the same time as his first 100. Geary is definitely going to be a long-distance swimmer. And both boys are awesome at the Butterfly! So how about a few pictures?
Adam on the blocks:
Chillaxin dude:
Adam Breaststroke:
Gman Fly:
Counting laps for Gman during the 500 Free:
The spoils of victory:
As always, more later!
Adam on the blocks:
Chillaxin dude:
Adam Breaststroke:
Gman Fly:
Counting laps for Gman during the 500 Free:
The spoils of victory:
As always, more later!
Friday, July 23, 2010
A Little Bit of Scrapbooking
I haven't been scrapping as much as I used to. I'm not sure what it is...a combination of wasting time on Facebook (c'mon, you know you all do the same thing *WINK*) and a burning desire to upgrade my work wardrobe.Anyway, I did find some time to scrap this week, so in honor of Froggy Friday over at The Lily Pad here is my latest effort:
My Mother-in-Law Agnes captured the boys jumping into tubes at the lake near Georgetown, Texas. And the title? Well, I was listening to Chickenfoot's song "Oh Yeah!" and it just fit. Most everything is from the new collab Whirlwind by Gina Miller and Amy Wolff and it's 20% off through Sunday.
I will leave you with a few other layouts from the last few weeks (all credits can be found at My LilyPad Gallery )
My Mother-in-Law Agnes captured the boys jumping into tubes at the lake near Georgetown, Texas. And the title? Well, I was listening to Chickenfoot's song "Oh Yeah!" and it just fit. Most everything is from the new collab Whirlwind by Gina Miller and Amy Wolff and it's 20% off through Sunday.
I will leave you with a few other layouts from the last few weeks (all credits can be found at My LilyPad Gallery )
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Weekend Recap
We had an active weekend, despite all the rain. Friday night we went out to dinner at Carrabbas. I really love their food! I had Whole Wheat Linguini and Clams in Garlic Olive Oil, Danny had Mr. & Mrs. C's special which is Chicken Involtini and Chicken Santa Rosa with sauteed spinach, Adam had spaghetti and meatball (it's one honkin' meatball!) and Geary had grilled chicken. Yeah...weird, I know! The kid does not like red sauce on his pasta, so he gets grilled chicken. Adam entertained us by practicing some magic at the dinner table. He's been playing this new computer game - Wizarding 101 - so he's got magic on the brain.
I didn't say he was very good!
I worked Saturday and Sunday mornings at the Gulf Champs Meet hosted by Fleet at the Fleet Pool. All Fleet families are asked to volunteer 24 hours per year, or they are charged $150. There are lots of things that go on to make a Meet run successfully - Concessions, Hospitality (feeding the visiting coaches and volunteers), running the Colorado computerized timing system, Clerk of Course, Safety Marshalls, Announcing, Parking.
I'm now part of the "committee" that is overseeing concessions at Fleet hosted meets. Fleet sells drinks (water, gatorade, sodas), muffins, fruit (bananas, apples) and some candy. All the heavy-duty "hot" food we contract out to a local sub-shop, Lenny's. So all that I'm responsible for is making sure we have enough drinks on ice, enough food (but not too much!) and keep an eye on the cash box. I'm working with one of the Board of Director members trying to come up with a committee of 3 or 4 other ladies so we can rotate through the weekend...that way none of us has to work the whole weekend. This is my second meet and it's getting easier for me. I'm starting to get a feel for the ebb-and-flow of concession sales.
Danny has become the "Official Voice of Fleet"! He does the announcing at almost every meet. The Team Director told me over the weekend that she hated to ask him to do it this past weekend because he does announce at every meet. But, he loves it!
Dan also picked up some fish to restart one of our fish tanks. He got 2 clown loaches, 4 bala sharks, a lemon angel fish, 2 red-tail sharks and a spotted plecko. Skylar thinks that she should be able to play with them!
After I left the meet on Saturday, we went to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice. We all LOVED it! Nicholas Cage is a whacko (highly technical term!), but he's brilliant! I love how they worked in the Mickey scene from Fantasia and some other cultural references (I don't want to spoil it for you!). If you're looking for a shut-your-brain-off-for-a-couple-hours type of movie, this is it.
That's all for now...see you soon!
I didn't say he was very good!
I worked Saturday and Sunday mornings at the Gulf Champs Meet hosted by Fleet at the Fleet Pool. All Fleet families are asked to volunteer 24 hours per year, or they are charged $150. There are lots of things that go on to make a Meet run successfully - Concessions, Hospitality (feeding the visiting coaches and volunteers), running the Colorado computerized timing system, Clerk of Course, Safety Marshalls, Announcing, Parking.
I'm now part of the "committee" that is overseeing concessions at Fleet hosted meets. Fleet sells drinks (water, gatorade, sodas), muffins, fruit (bananas, apples) and some candy. All the heavy-duty "hot" food we contract out to a local sub-shop, Lenny's. So all that I'm responsible for is making sure we have enough drinks on ice, enough food (but not too much!) and keep an eye on the cash box. I'm working with one of the Board of Director members trying to come up with a committee of 3 or 4 other ladies so we can rotate through the weekend...that way none of us has to work the whole weekend. This is my second meet and it's getting easier for me. I'm starting to get a feel for the ebb-and-flow of concession sales.
Danny has become the "Official Voice of Fleet"! He does the announcing at almost every meet. The Team Director told me over the weekend that she hated to ask him to do it this past weekend because he does announce at every meet. But, he loves it!
Dan also picked up some fish to restart one of our fish tanks. He got 2 clown loaches, 4 bala sharks, a lemon angel fish, 2 red-tail sharks and a spotted plecko. Skylar thinks that she should be able to play with them!
After I left the meet on Saturday, we went to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice. We all LOVED it! Nicholas Cage is a whacko (highly technical term!), but he's brilliant! I love how they worked in the Mickey scene from Fantasia and some other cultural references (I don't want to spoil it for you!). If you're looking for a shut-your-brain-off-for-a-couple-hours type of movie, this is it.
That's all for now...see you soon!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Mid Year Recap, Part Deux
Mel goes on a Business Trip:
I went on the dog-and-pony show for Accelerated Month-End close, in preparation for our upcoming merger. I was demoing management reporting and how it would make their lives easier...blah, blah, blah! What that meant was that I got to travel overseas again...this time to the Eastern Hemisphere. I spent 4 days in Frankfurt and 4 days in Dubai. Frankfurt was wunderbar! The food was fantastic; the beer was fantastic (and I don't drink beer anymore!); the weather was fantastic! And best of all, World Cup was going on. Just about every restaurant that had outdoor seating had a big screen TV playing WC football! We even called our meeting early on Friday so we could go sit in a pub and watch Germany (LOSE! Eh!)
Old Town Frankfurt. We ate lunch under the yellow awnings.Schnitzel and Spaetzel and Beer...oh my!
Never drink anything bigger than your head!
What do you know...a litre of beer is NOT bigger than my head!
Then it was off to the Middle East. Dubai is a very Western city. And I mean WESTERN! If there hadn't been signs in Arabic, I'm not sure I would have known I was in the Middle East. To me, Dubai is a cross between New York City and Las Vegas. And yes...it is a DRY heat!
View from my hotel room.
Burg Khalifa. The World's tallest building
My favorite sign!
I did get to go to the Top of the Burg Khalifa. The view might have been spectacular, if the smog hadn't been so disgusting. I'm sorry, but Houston's smog problem is nothing compared to Dubai. We also went through the Dubai Aquarium (in the same mall that you enter the Burg Khalifa from). The only thing I missed out on was the indoor ski slope. That was in a different mall.
The Boys' Summer Adventure:
While I was off galavanting halfway across the world, Danny took the boys to stay with his Mom in Austin. Grandma had their days filled with lots of activities. A great summer vacation away from the parents!
water sports, of course!
indoor gaming. My boys are turning into Pool Sharks. I'm going to have to learn to play just to keep up with them!
Inner Space Caverns, south of Austin.
Danny does...Arizona!
After dropping the boys off in Austin, Danny headed to Arizona to meet up with fellow cartridge collectors Pete and Bill. This was for research for his book he's writing...and possibly some bits for his Masters Thesis. Of course, being Danny, he hasn't shared any photos with me, so I have nothing to share with you. Suffice it to say, he came back a happy boy with lots of information!
Hope you enjoyed this mid-year recap. More to come...
I went on the dog-and-pony show for Accelerated Month-End close, in preparation for our upcoming merger. I was demoing management reporting and how it would make their lives easier...blah, blah, blah! What that meant was that I got to travel overseas again...this time to the Eastern Hemisphere. I spent 4 days in Frankfurt and 4 days in Dubai. Frankfurt was wunderbar! The food was fantastic; the beer was fantastic (and I don't drink beer anymore!); the weather was fantastic! And best of all, World Cup was going on. Just about every restaurant that had outdoor seating had a big screen TV playing WC football! We even called our meeting early on Friday so we could go sit in a pub and watch Germany (LOSE! Eh!)
Old Town Frankfurt. We ate lunch under the yellow awnings.Schnitzel and Spaetzel and Beer...oh my!
Never drink anything bigger than your head!
What do you know...a litre of beer is NOT bigger than my head!
Then it was off to the Middle East. Dubai is a very Western city. And I mean WESTERN! If there hadn't been signs in Arabic, I'm not sure I would have known I was in the Middle East. To me, Dubai is a cross between New York City and Las Vegas. And yes...it is a DRY heat!
View from my hotel room.
Burg Khalifa. The World's tallest building
My favorite sign!
I did get to go to the Top of the Burg Khalifa. The view might have been spectacular, if the smog hadn't been so disgusting. I'm sorry, but Houston's smog problem is nothing compared to Dubai. We also went through the Dubai Aquarium (in the same mall that you enter the Burg Khalifa from). The only thing I missed out on was the indoor ski slope. That was in a different mall.
The Boys' Summer Adventure:
While I was off galavanting halfway across the world, Danny took the boys to stay with his Mom in Austin. Grandma had their days filled with lots of activities. A great summer vacation away from the parents!
water sports, of course!
indoor gaming. My boys are turning into Pool Sharks. I'm going to have to learn to play just to keep up with them!
Inner Space Caverns, south of Austin.
Danny does...Arizona!
After dropping the boys off in Austin, Danny headed to Arizona to meet up with fellow cartridge collectors Pete and Bill. This was for research for his book he's writing...and possibly some bits for his Masters Thesis. Of course, being Danny, he hasn't shared any photos with me, so I have nothing to share with you. Suffice it to say, he came back a happy boy with lots of information!
Hope you enjoyed this mid-year recap. More to come...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Mid-Year Recap
So I won't bore you with all those "best intentions" crap. Just suffice it to say that I haven't been moved to write until now. Who knows how long this latest interest will last, but hopefully it will be more than just a couple days :)
So what's been going on at Casa LeClair? Swimming, swimming, Mel goes on a girl's trip, swimming, Mel goes on a business trip while Danny goes on a research trip while the boys visit Grandma Agnes, and, of course, MORE SWIMMING!
So, let's start with...SWIMMING! (LOL!)
The boys swim year-round for the USA Swimming club Fleet. They love it! Geary is in the Silver group and practices 5 nights a week for 1 1/2 hours each night. Adam is in the Bronze II group and practices 4 nights a week for 1 hour each night. Of course, they do not practice at the same pool, so Danny and I do the divide and conquer routine, rarely seeing each other until about 8pm (2000 for those military folks). So, I like to say that I have no life, I have swimmers! We are at the end of long course season (swimming in 50 meter pools) and everyone is happy about that. I think my favorite, but most conflicted, moment was back in April at the Texas A&M Open meet. They competed in the same heat in the 50 Meter Breaststroke. Fortunately there were not swimming side-by-side! Danny just stood up and yelled "Go LeClairs!" Geary won the heat and Adam came in a respectable 5th place.
Now that Geary is 11, we don't have to worry about them competing against each other...at least not for 2 more years when they'll be in the same age group again.
After the meet...
Lane 4 and Lane 7...
Mel goes on a girl's weekend trip
In April I drove to New Orleans to meet up with Jaynice and Janet for a girl's weekend away. The last time I was in New Orleans was in 1998 with my niece Jennifer. We had a spectacular time! We ate at some fabulous restaurants: NOLA - Emeril Lagasse's restaurant, GW Fins - a seafood restaurant with a menu changes daily, and Joey K's - featured on Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives. And on Friday, the beginning of the New Orleans French Quarter Festival - which had tons of food from local restaurants and lots of free, live music! And each night we went down to Bourbon street and drank Hurricanes and listened to more live music!
Mmmm...Hurricanes!
Mmmm...Beignets!
Mmmm....LOL!
The girls sitting on the steps of our "hotel" room. Photo taken by our wonderful security guard Max.
Tomorrow I'll conclude this mid-year recap.
Later...
So what's been going on at Casa LeClair? Swimming, swimming, Mel goes on a girl's trip, swimming, Mel goes on a business trip while Danny goes on a research trip while the boys visit Grandma Agnes, and, of course, MORE SWIMMING!
So, let's start with...SWIMMING! (LOL!)
The boys swim year-round for the USA Swimming club Fleet. They love it! Geary is in the Silver group and practices 5 nights a week for 1 1/2 hours each night. Adam is in the Bronze II group and practices 4 nights a week for 1 hour each night. Of course, they do not practice at the same pool, so Danny and I do the divide and conquer routine, rarely seeing each other until about 8pm (2000 for those military folks). So, I like to say that I have no life, I have swimmers! We are at the end of long course season (swimming in 50 meter pools) and everyone is happy about that. I think my favorite, but most conflicted, moment was back in April at the Texas A&M Open meet. They competed in the same heat in the 50 Meter Breaststroke. Fortunately there were not swimming side-by-side! Danny just stood up and yelled "Go LeClairs!" Geary won the heat and Adam came in a respectable 5th place.
Now that Geary is 11, we don't have to worry about them competing against each other...at least not for 2 more years when they'll be in the same age group again.
After the meet...
Lane 4 and Lane 7...
Mel goes on a girl's weekend trip
In April I drove to New Orleans to meet up with Jaynice and Janet for a girl's weekend away. The last time I was in New Orleans was in 1998 with my niece Jennifer. We had a spectacular time! We ate at some fabulous restaurants: NOLA - Emeril Lagasse's restaurant, GW Fins - a seafood restaurant with a menu changes daily, and Joey K's - featured on Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives. And on Friday, the beginning of the New Orleans French Quarter Festival - which had tons of food from local restaurants and lots of free, live music! And each night we went down to Bourbon street and drank Hurricanes and listened to more live music!
Mmmm...Hurricanes!
Mmmm...Beignets!
Mmmm....LOL!
The girls sitting on the steps of our "hotel" room. Photo taken by our wonderful security guard Max.
Tomorrow I'll conclude this mid-year recap.
Later...
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