HCCC Swim and Dive Team - Summer 2016

Evan had a very successful swim and dive season! He started the summer thinking that he would choose just one sport this summer, as the practices and the meets are long. We encouraged him to try them both again and then make a decision. He had fun with swim and dive and decided to do both. We were happy with his decision, as he has talent in both sports. Plus, competing in both sports would help his team earn points at each meet.

He practiced really hard and even took some extra lessons in dive. He was able to win ribbons for dive in two meets and won ribbons for swim in all meets! By the time city meet rolled around, Evan was quite motivated to win some medals. His hard work paid off and he won 8th place in dive. He also won 2nd place with his team in the 100 meter medley event. The most exciting things for him was working with his team to win first place become city champions for the 100 meter freestyle relay!

We are really proud of Evan. So far, swim and dive are the only sports that he has really stuck with for any amount of time. He has been on the swim team for 4 years and on the dive team for 2 years. He has worked really hard  and really does put forth his best effort at the practices and meets. In fact, he won a special award for diving! It was the 110% award, for working so hard this season. I think that award is the best one!

Evan - Age 8 - HCCC Swim and Dive Team

I am ready to race!

Everyone liked supporting Evan this year. Daddy and Granddaddy even came out on Father's Day to cheer for Evan!

Go Evan!

His shirt says it all!

Bonnie Mom came to several dive meets to cheer for Evan. He was really happy!

Go HCCC!

I LOVED watching my boy swim and dive!

Evan and Jackson are good buddies. Jackson did his first dive meet and placed 6th. Way to go, Jackson!

Evan loved getting pumped for the swim meets!

Abby was a wonderful dive coach! We hope she will return next year!

City Meet was lots of fun. The theme was "Ghostbusters" and everyone had a blast with that!

Grant, Camden, Evan and Grey were a super team!

City Meet Selfie

The boys were so excited to get their medals. It is too bad that Grey was unable to attend the medal ceremony.

Fourth of July Celebration

Our neighborhood has an amazing fireworks show on the Fourth of July. They also have a parade, bounce houses, face painting, etc. Plus, our pool has an amazing party that afternoon, so we always look forward to a fantastic Fourth of July celebration. In fact, we like it so much, that we even planned our Disney World trip so that we would be back in time for the party.

Mother Nature played a pretty mean trick this year though and storms were predicted all weekend. Everything was cancelled and we were bummed. We decided to have fun anyway and everyone still came over to the house. We had fun playing with the kids, chatting, eating and drinking. Amazingly, there was a break in the rain and we even got to make our own little parade an do a few of our own fireworks!

Later in the month, we had a belated Fourth of July celebration in the neighborhood. It was smaller than usual, but it was lots of fun. Plus, Jamie and Zack were in town and they got to enjoy the festivities!

Fourth of July - "Official Picture"

 We had fun on our parade!

We loved having Jamie and Zack visit us!

We FINALLY had fireworks!

Fourth of July Cousins (We took this picture sometime in June, but it sure is cute!)

Disney World - Summer 2016

My parents treated us all to a vacation at Disney World this summer. My sister and her family got to go too, which meant that all of the cousins were together for several days of fun! This was especailly exciting for this trip, as Heather's family no longer lives here and we don't get to see them very often. We spent a great deal of time at Magic Kingdom, but we were also fortunate to get to go to Cocoa Beach, the huge hotel pool and to Disney Springs, where we ate dinner with dinosaurs at T-Rex Restaurant.

Preston was big enough for this trip to Disney World, so he was o.k. with getting short naps at the park or in the car and with staying up late. Plus, he could wait in line patiently this time! He loved all the rides and shows. Of course, Evan has been big enough to always have fun on our trips to Disney. He only got sad when there were times that he could not be with his cousins. It was honestly heart-breaking and caused some tears. Thankfully, most of our trip was WONDERFUL! I had fun watching my boys with their grandparents and cousins and of course they had fun because the trip was totally kid focused!

I hope to go back on another trip one fall, where the weather is cooler and it is less crowded. Plus, I would like for Carl to be able to join us. Disney keeps adding more and more Star Wars items to the parks and I know my Star Wars loving boys would have a blast!

The boys were so excited to go to Disney World!

The Swann Family, Koontz Family and Nickel Family

Cousins

 Ready for Magic Kingdom!

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin was a blast!

It was nice to spend time with my sister on vacation.

The boys were excited to ride the Tomorrowland Speedway race cars!

Preston got such a kick out of being able to drive the race cars!

I tried to take a picture of Grammy and Granddaddy, but Preston hopped in! I love this picture!

Grammy and Granddady

Carousel Fun!

Magic Kingdom can really make a little guy tired!

Everyone had fun on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Treat Time

Splash Mountain was lots of fun!

Everyone was excited to head to Cocoa Beach.

Cool Dude

Preston LOVED the big waves!

Caleb and Evan had fun riding the waves!

Playing in the sand was lots of fun too!

I loved the pretty flowers growing in the dunes.

Preston feel asleep soon after leaving the beach. He never stopped playing!

Dinner at T-Rex Restaurant was lots of fun.

Evan and Preston liked seeing the cool Lego sculptures and shopping for new Lego sets.

The lizard hunter strikes again!

Magic Kingdom bound for another day of fun!

The tram ride was fun too!

Preston liked wearing Jackson's hat and Jackson thought it was too funny!

Heading to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was SO exciting!

Waiting in line is not so bad, when you can have fun with your cousins.

Selfie time!

The ride was a blast!

Evan was SO excited to ride Space Mountain!

The train ride around the park was relaxing. We even saw a real armadillo!

Grammy and Granddady

Jackson enjoyed cruising through the jungle!

We enjoyed several parades, including this awesome one through Frontierland.

Preston was SO tired, that he fell asleep while waiting in line for the ride!

We rode the PeopleMover a lot. It is simple, but lots of fun!

Getting to meet Buzz Lightyear was SO cool!

Spinning in the teacups!

We went on a magic carpet ride!

The great lizard hunter strikes again!

The big hotel at the pool was so much fun! It even had water slides and an awesome play area for the kids!