Swim Chick - Homeschool Blogger

Fri, 22 May 2009 15:39:00 -0500

      So, this weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. Usually, we go to Kentucky on Memorial Day weekend and go camping with my cousins. We aren't going to be able to do that this year, sadly, but we are going to do some fun stuff.

         Monday ( Memorial Day) is my little sister's birthday. She'll be 4. We're going to my godmother's house that day and we're going to swim in her pool and spend like half the day there. Then we'll come home and celebrate my sister's birthday! My birthday, my brother's, and mine are pretty close together. My sister's is May 25, mine June 5, and my brother's July 1. So, May, June, July. I love having my birthday when it's warm! That way you can go swimming and be outside.

       I am so excited about summer! We're going to do a lot of fun things this summer. I'm really looking forward to when we go camping with my church in July. We're camping at this place that has a nice pool and a place where you can go indoors when it's raining and play board games, pool, ping-pong, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm going to bring one of my friends with me and we'll have so much fun! The cool thing is, is that we're renting this really small church camp for our church camp out. So, that means it'll just be the people from my church there. It'll be a lot of fun! The thing is, the camping trip is from a Thursday- Saturday. Well, that Saturday is my swim championship! I don't know what we'll do about that. I know I'll for sure be so exhausted at champs, but oh well. At least I'll have that pool at the camp site to be able to practice in the day before champs!

       I'm also hoping to go to Cedar Point this year which is a huge amusement park near where I live. I've never been before and everyone says it is SO much fun. Hopefully I'll be able to go!

       I'll write again soon! Bye

Hello!

Sun, 17 May 2009 16:50:00 -0500

        Hello! I am obviously not keeping up with this whole blog thing and I'm very sorry. All I can say is I'm trying!

        So. I went to Kentucky last weekend to visit my cousins! It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I can't wait till I go again next year or whenever I'm going again! The funnest part of the trip, I have to say, was when we went to Six Flags, which is, of course, an amusement park. I LOVE roller coasters, so my cousin and I went on a ton of them including this one called the Chang (the biggest one in the park) which was AMAZING!!! My trip was a lot of fun.

         Yesterday there was a teen night at my church which is where the teenagers get together at my church and play all these fun games and just hang out. We invite other churches in the area to come, too. And you can also invite your friends. I invited 2 of my friends and they loved it. It is so much fun. The teenagers at my church are so fun to hang out with. We played mafia around the campfire and that had to be the best part. I can't really explain how to play it because it would take a long time, but just know that it's really fun! It's like a murder mystery game.

        Summer swim team has started! I'm sorry, but these first few practices have been so incredibly boring. I loved my coach last year, but I don't really like him that much this year. Hes just so boring! The sets he gives us are really boring and so easy. Like, our warm up is only a 200 and on the USA team I'm on, our warm up is a 500! On this team all we do is seriously 150's and 200's. I know! BORING!!! I have a lot of friends on this team, though, so it's fun to hang out with them.

            Nothing else is really going on. My birthday is getting closer and closer!!! I already got my one present that I'm getting from my parents. Jonas Brothers tickets!!! I still get presents from my relatives and friends, so it's okay. If I only got Jonas Brothers tickets, it still would be worth it! I absolutely love them.

          Write again soon! Bye

Sorry!

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 15:35:00 -0500

       Okay. So, I obviously haven't written in my blog for a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, long time. I'm so sorry!! I just completely forget to write and then when I do think about writing, I don't feel like it or can't at the moment. So, I'm going to try to write more, I promise!
       So, swim season is finally over. My new 50 breaststroke time is 38 which is sooooo good for me!!! Hopefully sometime in the summer I'll get 36. That's the time I'm shooting for. My coach told me that that's the time I should have and he knows I can get it, so I'll try! The 200 freestyle used to be my event, but not anymore. All season, I've been terrible in it. I like the 100 and the 50 freestyle,though! My new time for the 100 freestyle is 1:06.01 and I'm hoping to get like 1:04 or something like that sometime during the summer. Yeah, I have a lot of goal times! Hopefully I'll get them!
      I'm going to the Jonas Brothers concert again this year!!!! It's not until August 27!!!!! We had to buy our tickets in March because otherwise they'd have sold out!! I am SO excited about the concert. It was amazing last year and I'm sure it will be this year.
     It's finally spring! Only a few days ago it was like 60 degrees, but today it's snowing. Weird.
     My birthday is so close! Well, actually it's not till June 5. Still!! I'll be 13. I'm so excited!!!!
     Well, I don't have much more to write about. I promise I'll write as much as I can and I won't go months without writing anymore. Bye!

Swim Meets

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:35:00 -0600

So, I had a very busy weekend with my two meets. My first one was on Saturday morning. So, I got there at 9:00, I think, and the meet didn't end until after 2:00! Yeah, it was a very long meet. It was very sad because I gained two seconds in my 200. My relays were awesome,though! We won our heats in the 200 freestyle relay and the medely relay. We got exactly two minutes in our free relay so that was so cool. In my 50 breaststroke, I got 40.22 which my previous time was 40.86. So, I dropped some time! Not a lot, but still.

Then, I had my meet on Sunday. In my 100 freestyle I got 1:06.87 which is good. My last time was 1:06 something, so I'm glad I didn't gain any time! In my 50 breaststroke I got 40.01!!! I'm so happy! I almost got 39!! Almost!!! I also won my whole event which I am very happy about. In my 200 I gained two more seconds which was not good, but I had a reason. I was sick! I was starting to get a cold Saturday night and all day Sunday, my throat was sore and my voice sounded so weird. Today I feel horrible so I'm hoping that I'll feel better by tomorrow.

So, my 200's were dissapointing, but I'm very happy with everything else.

Our Christmas play at church is this Sunday! Wish me luck! It will hopefully turn out very well.

I'll write again soon! Bye

Everything That's Been Going On

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 20:25:00 -0600

Okay, I know I apologize like every entry for not writing for weeks. Well, I'm going to do it again! I'm so sorry! I haven't written in like forever. At Thanksgiving, my aunt reminded me and so now I feel bad for not writing. So, I have a ton of things to talk about.

So, swimming. Swimming has been great! Practice has been hard and tiring as always, but I still love it. So, at 6:00, every day of the week, we have dryland from 6:00- 6:30. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we do stretch cords and pull-ups. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we do medicine balls and stretch cords except we do diffrent kind of stretches with the strecth cords. I despise pull-ups!!! Arnie, my coach, lets us have a partner that holds your legs up off the ground and helps lift you up, but it is still hard! Then we have to do butt lifts which is just really hanging on to the pull-up bar and curling your self up into a ball 5 times for 4 sets. I don't like it. Well, I like butt lifts, but not pull-ups. They're too hard!!! Then the swimming part of practice starts and we swim for an hour and a half. We have a rotation that we do- we switch from distance, to sprint, and then distance again each day. I love distance days. Everyone thinks I'm weird. I just love distance! I think its easier then sprinting. So, I'm usually dying after practice because we usually swim......uhhhhhh, I can't think of how many yards. I'll ask Arnie what our average amount of yards that we swim are.

Next Saturday, I have a meet that just I am going to. It's a 7th-8th grade meet and I'm swimming 50 breaststroke and, of course, 200 freestyle. Here are my best times:

50 Breaststroke- 40.86 ( I want under 40 seconds. Come on! I'm 12 years old! I can do it! I know 10 year olds faster then that)

200 Freestyle- 2:24.36

Yeah! That's my new 200 free time. At my next meet I want 2:22. That's what I'm shooting for. Zones in USA is apparently 2:08 (UGH!!!!) so I have to work super hard now to get zones.

I also have a meet on Sunday that both me and my brother are going to. I'm swimming 50 breast, 200 free, and 100 free at that meet. My 100 free time is 1:06, something. Ummmmm, I think I'll shoot for a 1:05. Sound good?

School is going well too. We're learning French this year in 7th grade which I'm so excited about. Bonjour. Je'mapelle Camille. Commen' tapelle tu? I think I spelled the last part wrong. Oh,well. I just said Hello. My name is Camille (not my real name just this French name I picked). WHat is your name? That's one of the first things I learned. I also know numbers up to twenty, how to say father, mother, sister, brother, I'm working on learning a new song in French, and a ton of other things. I love French! The last two years we were learning LAtin which I didn't like at all (shhhhh! Don't tell me mom that!), but I like French so much more. This is my last year being homeschooled. My mom and brother act like I'm deserting them (haha!), but I'm not. I'm so excited about going to public school! I know a lot of people at the school I'm going to which is a plus, also. So, I'll already have friends!

I'm going to be in a Christmas play at my church. Against my own will. It's okay,though. My brother and I are the main characters so I'm kinda nervous. But like barely. It's just a really short play for my church. It'll last like 10 minutes, maybe. Maybe 15. I don't know. Anyway, it's on December 21, so wish me luck!

So, we went to Kentucky for Thanksgiving again this year. I was happy to see my cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. The food was delicous! My favorite was the pumpkin cake and also the peanut butter fudge that my aunt made. So good!

Okay, this is a very long entry. I promise that from now on I will write at least once a week! I promise! Write again next week! Bye

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:39:00 -0500

Wow! I haven't written a new entry in a while. I have a lot to talk about!

Okay,swimming. Again,I love my new team! I've made a few new friends on this team and I love the practices. I know I've said before in one of my entries that these practices aren't as hard as the practices on my old team. Not true! They've gotten much harder! Like last week we did 3 900's in one practice! Thats a lot! And there was no rest during the 900's only rest in bewteen each 900. I liked them a lot,though. My coaches were suprised that I liked them so much since most of the swimmers didn't like them at all! I like them much better then sprinting. Arnie (my main coach) told us yesterday that he was never going to make us do the 900's again. He said he'd make us do something much worse! Even a thousand! I can't wait until we do that. I love distance swimming!

So,we haven't had any meets yet. Our first meet is like at the beginning of November or something. Its a meet with all freestyle events. I'm going to,of course,swim the 200 freestyle because I love it so much! My brother is, I think, going to swim the 100 free and the 50 free. The cool thing about USA is that you can pick your own events that you want to swim.

We got a PS2! We've been talking about it for awhile now and I was suprised when one a couple weeks ago my parents just came home with it! We got two games,one came with it. The one that came with it is Lego Batman. The other game is Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3!!!! I've been wanting that so bad! Naruto is my favorite show (you can tell by just looking at my blog) and I'm so happy that I got it. Thankyou Mom and Dad!

School has been going pretty well. Boring,yes, but I'm doing well so far. So is my brother.

Next week (I'm pretty sure its next Sunday) we're going on a hayride with people from church. I had a lot of fun when we went last year, so I'm sure I will this year also. Its so fun because we split up on two seperate wagons and when the wagons drive up next to each other,they stop and you throw hay at the people on the other wagon. You get covered in hay,but its still fun! Another thing I'm doing is going to this teen night thing for church (7th graders are included) and that should be fun. I get to meet people my age. It lasts from like 6:00 to like 11:00 at night. Wow. I wonder what we'll do the whole time! I know you like eat dinner there and then they have games and stuff. Sounds fun to me!

I think I wrote about this in my last entry,but we moved. I love my new house! I hope we stay here for a long time. I have to share a room with my sister,still, but thats okay. At least I don't have to share a room with my brother!

Well,I'll write again soon! Bye!

USA

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:33:00 -0500

We're swimming USA!!! Yay! I'm so happy. I love the team and so does my brother. My mom and I agreed that if he likes it,then that means something,because my brother doesn't really like swimming that much. Well,not near as much as I do,I mean. The cool thing is, is that the coaches really want us all to make friends with each other. They always tell us to just introduce yourself and just say hi. The team does some fun things like they go on a hayride,they have a Christmas party,and even lasertag! I love lasertag! I've only ever been on ce before with my cousins and I had a ton of fun that time so I'm sure I'll have fun this time too.

Practice was pretty hard last night. We always do a warm-up of 6 100's kick (no rest,really,. Like 10 seconds.) and I'm not that great at kicking. So that wears me out a little. Then we did some drills and then we had to do 3 200's 5 second break! I love 200 freestyle! So I got to lead my lane in that because thats like my best event and I love it so much. We then had like 2 minutes rest (my coach LOVES to talk) and then we did 2 300's. After that,we did more drills and then we did a couple of relay starts. After that,we had dryland where you do like,sit-ups, push ups,pullups ( we have bars in the pool area that you can do these on), and some other stretches and stuff. That takes like half an hour. The cool thing is, is that I got to skip that because I went to my friends house for dinner. My brother stayed, though, and he said he liked it. I was way too tired! The practices aren't as hard as my old winter team,but they're pretty close. The coaches are telling us that through out the season, the practices will be getting harder and harder.

So,after practice I went to my friends house. This is my friend who is on the same swim team as me so her dad just picked us up and took us to her house. We had Dominoes Pizza there and it was really good. For over and hour, we made videos. The story was really weird and I'm not going to explain it here, because its very odd. My friend and I were the cameraman and my friends two sisters and two of their friends were the ones acting. It was halarious! We watched it on their TV and it was really funny. The rest of the time we were ther, my friend and I just hung around and talked and read magazines and stuff. I was sad when I had to go home!

Well,I'll write again soon! Bye

I Can't Wait!!

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:24:00 -0500

Swimming starts again on Monday! I'm very excited. We're not sure right now which team we'll swim for. The team we were planning on swimming for,we figured out, practices a half an hour away from where we live. I don't think I want to drive 30 minutes to practice every day and 30 minutes back. Our other option is a team that practices at the rec center whic is where I swam during summer swim team. I know a lot of people there from summer team. The only thing is,is that they're a USA team. So,they swim harder events,the practices are harder,and some of the meets are on Sundays. Except a lot of the meets are on both a Saturday and a Sunday. So,certain events would be on Saturday and others would be on Sunday. So,I would just swim the ones on Saturday. I really want to swim for the USA team mainly because I really want to make it to zones this year and so it would be better to be worked harder,and I have friends on the team.

So,on Monday we're trying out the team that's 30 minutes away. Next Monday,we'll try out the USA team. If we don't think the one team is worth driving half an hour away to and we like the USA team better,then we'll swim USA. I really hope that ends up happening!

Well,thats pretty much the only exciting thing happening to me. Oh,yeah! We're moving! The new house is only like 10 minutes away and I love it! We got our new rooms painted. Me and my sister have to share one and its purple. The cool thing is,is that where we're moving, we go to church there,a lot of my friends live there,and thats where I'll be going to school next year. Yes,I'm going to public school next year and I'm very excited! The cool thing is,I know a lot of people who go to that school and its apparently a very good school. I'll be in 8th grade next year. Thats the only year of middle school I'll have going to public school and then I'm going to high school! Ahhh! I don't want to think about high school.

I guess I'll write again next week. I'll tell how the first practice is. Bye!

Jonas Brothers Concert

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:07:00 -0500

I went to the Jonas Brothers concert last night! It was AMAZING!!!! It was an outdoor concert and we were sitting out on a huge lawn. My friend and her friend were at the concert and my dad and I sat with them. My friend,her friend,and I were screaming,singing along to all the songs,and having so much fun! I thought we weren't going to be able to see that well,but we actually could very well. The stage was so cool and the Jonas Brothers were just absolutely amazing. Joe and Nick were doing flips on stage and stuff.My dad even admitted it was cool! There was an unbelievab;e amount of people there and we didn't get back until 1:00 in the morning! It was worth it,trust me. I am so glad I got those tickets for my birthday!

A cool thing was that on your way walking from where you park and to where the stage is and everything, you walk by the Jonas Brothers tour bus. I got to sign my name on the tour bus!!!! That was so cool! It was funny because these girls were looking at the door on the bus and they were touching the handel and were like,"They touched this door!!!" It was funny.

Sadly I don't have any good pictures to put on here because they won't let you bring cameras in. I h ad my camera on my cell phone,but it didn't take very good pictures because I don't have zoom on my phone.That's okay.

So,yeah. That was pretty much the best night of my life! Well,I'll write again soon! Bye

I Have A Lot to Talk About!

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:28:00 -0500

Hey! I'm so sorry I haven't written in so long! I just looked on here and it says I haven't written in a whole month! Well,I guess I'll have a lot to talk about then. I've just been very busy with school stating and everything. I'll try to write more often,though.

So,Championships. It was pretty good,I guess. I wasn't too happy with my times, but I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends. I even got to race one of my friends and she beat me! But it wasn't even by a full second. She beat me in the 50 backstroke and she ended up getting second and I got third. In my 50 breaststroke,I got 41. which is okay,but I was aiming for 40. I did get 40,though! It was my split in the medley,though,that I got 40 seconds. I messed up on my turn in the individual breaststroke and that pretty much gained the whole extra second. I ended up getting fifth over all which is okay,but still. I know I could've done better. My relays did VERY good,though,and we got one second place medal and I think one third place! I was very happy about that.

Then,on August 2 was the swim banquet. There were two awards for each age group. One was the MVS award which was most valuable swimmer in the age group and the other was the Coach's award which was like the coaches favorite swimmer or whatever. I got the coaches award!!!! I am very happy about that. The banquet was so fun because I got to hang out with my friends which was cool and we played some cool games. We played a game of sharks and minnows which lasted a whole hour! Yeah,it was long,but it was a lot of fun.

So,yeah. Now swimming has been over for a while and I miss it so much! It starts again on September 15. Too long! I can wait,though. I'm going to try really hard this year to make it to zones. I have a much better chance this year because I'm the oldest in my age group and my times have gotten closer to the zone times. My 200 free time is still 15 seconds away,but I might be able to do it! You never know. I might even try to get zones in 50 back. I'm only 3 seconds away. My friend on the summer team is going to be on my fall team and shes the one who beat me in the 50 back at champs. I'll have some competition then! Maybe that will make me work harder and go faster!

Guess where I'm going tomorrow? The Jonas Brothers concert!!!!! I'm SO excited! My poor dad has to take me though. Oh,well. He'll have to get over it! The cool thing is,is that one of my friends is going to the concert too. I'll call her on her cell phone and we're going to try to find each other at the concert and we can maybe sit with her and her family. That would be so cool! I can't wait!

Well,I'll write again soon! Bye