Action Packed June!!!

Your 2012 Leslie Beach Club Penguins

June is the heart of the Dekalb County Swim season. All three kids were on the team this year with Abby making her debut on the Jr. Penguins.

The 4 year old girls receiving their last instructions before the big 25 yard free race at the mini-meet.

Abby is doing her "matrix" like dive off the starting block. She loves the water and swam the whole 25 yards by herself. All in all a successful first meet and season. Next year when she is on the big kids swim team, we will really put the pressure on her to perform at a top level!

What is my next event? Bring it on!

 
   

Catie had a fantastic year swimming in the girls 7 & 8 year old division and was a top performer. Most importantly, she continued to show a love for the water and was a good teammate by always cheering on her buddies.

 

Catie Coops in action.

A big smile after another successful race.

Jackson liked the social aspect of swimming and the unlimited use of his DS3 during the downtime the best. However, his freestyle and particularly his breaststroke are very good whether he cares or not!

Abby was so excited to get her very first trophy!!!

The season always ends with the big awards banquet on the pool deck the week of the the last meet. Nothing like a trophy and lots of treats!

Surprise! Jax was first in line to wait for his trophy!

The Schwartz kids and their 2012 swimming hardware!

Hmmm, the girls were hanging out by the dessert table while the rest of the team was receiving their awards... so much for sportsmanship. 

Loving the slide!

Catie and Jackson also had tennis camp after swimming every morning and had fun running all over the court. Sorry, no action shots.

Cooling off after is the best part!

 

Not to be out done by the kids, Ann and Steve competed in a few events this month too. Our biggest event was the Macon Rock and Rollman Half Ironman that we completed with several of our friends.

Ann completed the Aqua Bike (1.2 mile swim/56 bike) due to a hip injury that has kept her from running for the past 9 months. Our friend Bill, completed his first long course duathlon (3mile run/56 bike/13.1 run) and took second in Masters.  Steve, Donovan and Glen did the half Ironman. The event was a ton of fun because they were able to see each other many times during the race. 

Donovan, Glen and Steve had blast battling each other for over 5 hours out on the course.  It was an exciting ending with Donovan and Steve actually crossing the finish line in a dead heat, putting them in a tie for 4th in the 40 plus age group. 

Somerset Trip

We made our annual trip to visit the Somersets in Tallahassee over Memorial Day and as usual, a great time was had by all. The kids want us to buy a house in their neighborhood so we can walk to their house.

 

One of our activities for the weekend was a trip to Wakulla Springs State Park. It is of one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world!  It hosts tons of cool wildlife including alligators, turtles, deer, and birds.  We took a boat tour through the spring and  experienced all the nature we could handle.

 

The gators were out in full force during our cruise.

 This is what Abster had to say to the gators!

Jackson was into the reptiles and enjoyed spotting all the hidden animals.

 Swimming is a popular activity that we took part in. Well kind of... the water was cold and only Catie and Naomi actual swam. They did have a super high dive platform that required incredible courage and guts to jump off. Of course, only Steve and Ann displayed those qualities and made the jump...

The "cousins" are all ready for some blueberry picking. 

Against all our wishes, Wendy made a bold move and planned blueberry picking anyway. She made a great call, because we all had a great time and picked enough blueberries to stock every Publix in Tallahassee!

Abby all ready to find some berries. 

What is that in Ann's hand, what an iPhone? What a surprise....

Jackson had to make it a contest to see who could pick the most berries. Of course it was boys against girls!

 Naomi and Catie were bound and determined to win the contest!

Mom and Dad got into the action too.

Pick a berry, eat a berry.....

Jackson and Andrew were in a serious battle to pick the most berries!

Two of us are missing...

 After picking her weight in blueberries, Abster sat down like a mule and would not move. Dad had to crack the whip and carry her part way out.

After all that time picking and posturing over who could pick the most berries, we forgot all about the contest when we checked out! I think we were all too shocked at our combined loot!

Wendy and Josh signed us up for a cooking class that included a bunch of Wendy's "muscle head" friends form her gym. Despite being forced to hang out with a bunch of fitness models, they were actually all very nice and a lot of fun. 

Your eyes are not deceiving you. Yes, that is Ann in a kitchen cooking! She was a master with the knife and peeled the mango like an expert. All the meals that the group made were of the healthy variety, so obviously they were all new to us!

Summer Time Fun

The kids received a butterfly kit toward the end of the school year and had fun watching and learning about metamorphosis! We had fun watching 5 caterpillars mature and change into chrysalises until they finally emerged as butterflies!

Catie attempting to get one final photo on her iTouch before letting the last b-fly go into the wild.

What a looker!

We started the first week of Summer with a play date and brought out the old favorite jumpy house. As usual, it got used for 15 minutes and the kids moved onto something else. Sometimes the idea is more fun than the experience.

Safety first at the Schwartz house. Notice all the kids running with suckers in their mouths! Notice how Catie has the grace of a gazelle as she leaps over the sprinkler.

.....While Abby moves more like a bulldozer as she "jumps" over the sprinkler.

The close of the 2011-2012 school year

 Our annual first/last day of school comparison picture. Catie even randomly wore the same shirt.

 

 Catie was hamming it up before the awards ceremony with her buddy Ben.

First grade with Ms. Schiltz was a big success for Catie. She really enjoyed school and was always a willing student. We are proud of her for achieving the AAA honors award for straight A's and the Spanish award!

Admiring her achievements

 Not to be out done, Jackson received the Principal's honor roll award for all A's, band award and perfect attendance! He worked extremely hard on his studies this year and after a tough transition to a new school he kicked butt!

"I did it dad!"

 

 Jackson is not looking too happy to be wearing this donkey hat as part of a German class song performed at the Awards ceremony...

Since Abby has not hit grade school yet, she kind of gets the shaft this time of year, so Grandma surprised her with one of Mom's dresses from when she was a kid. Abby thought it was so cool to wear her mom's old dress!