March 13, 2010 Swim Conference.

Hi everyone. On Saturday the 13th, Nicolas had his swim conference. It was a crazy but

exciting day. I guess it was a little nerve racking as well. We swam against 6 other

teams from all over the city. All the teams had to stay in the gym until it was their

time to swim. It was kinda of cool because each team had their corner where

they got ready or just hung out. We were able to meet and socialize with the parents

from our team. If the kids were not swimming, they were eating, playing with

their DS or other games. Some kids took naps while they waited. We had to be there

at 9:00 and practice time was 9:30. The conference started at 10:30. There were 86

events and 178 races. In the beginning it was somewhat confusing reading the 6 page

event sheet, but we got the hang of it. Some of the events were cancelled at the last minute because of "no shows". So Nicolas swam 3 times instead of 4. He was disappointed with that,

but after awhile he was fine.

The young guy walking with Nicolas in the above picture is one of his coaches. Now the way

this was scored is a little confusing. It took us a bit before we got it. The judges take the

kid's best overall time and compares it to the time he swims there. Also, if a kid comes in

1st place in a race doesn't mean he will get a ribbon. The judges reward only their overall scores. Only 1-3 received medals and 4-6 received ribbons.

So our team came in 2nd place this year!!! Riverside took 1st place.

So here are his times.....

He swam the 25 yards Backstroke. His best time for that was 26.70. At conference he swam 28.75

and took 3rd place. Overall, he took 9th place.

He swam the 25 yards Freestyle. His best time for that was 2.98. At conference he swam 23.56

and took 4th place. Overall he took 10 place.

Finally, he swam his 100 yards IM. His best for that was 2.40. At conference he swam amazing

2.21 and took 5th place!!! He took an amazing 19 seconds off his best overall time!!!!

We and his coaches were over the moon to say the least. At first, Nico was upset that he

came in 5th place, note knowing his time yet. But once he found out his time, he was

speechless!!! He did receive a 5th place ribbon for his IM! So, now we are done with swim.

We go back after Easter.

Last Saturday, Vince and I got to have a " date " night. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. But we figured it out and decided to go to dinner and then we caught a movie.

We saw Bounty Hunter. Great movie!! We certainly recommend it. I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend. All the running around is done and now it's time to do some spring cleaning.

I've been neglecting my house a little lately because we've been so busy.

So, we wish all of you a wonderful spring and lots of love!!!

Happy Easter!!