Legos

I finally came across a huge bin of Legos on a Buy, Sell, Trade site and was the first one to comment.  I got all of this for $60!

We've sorted through the bin over the last few days and pulled out all the Lego guys since Rylan is obsessed with them (and random non-Lego pieces).  Based on the number of guys, I would say there are at least 30 sets of Legos in the bin.  Carter and Rylan are loving having all these Legos to free build with.

The only problem is Grayson and keeping him away from them.  He's also becoming a Lego lover!

Pool Membership

We decided this year to join the Williamson County Rec Center instead of the Y to have access to a pool for the summer.   The Y costs $50 to join and about $100 per month.  And there are lots of safety restrictions that would be difficult for us with Rylan not able to pass the swim test yet and having Grayson.   The Rec Center only costs $225 for the entire year (we now have several gyms to use and an indoor pool for the winter).  The Rec Center has a lot less rules and they just opened a brand new one in Nolensville about 10 minutes from our house.  I love a new, clean pool!!!  The Nolensville pool is great too because one entire side is zero-entry so I can sit there with Grayson where he can splash and I can watch the other boys.  Also, since Carter is doing swim team at the Franklin Rec Center, we can now stay after practice and swim.

We joined the Rec Center about a week ago.  It was Sunday so Brian was able to go with us.  This was Grayson's first time in the pool and he did great.  He only wanted to sit in his float for a little bit but really liked if you're holding him or sitting with him in the shallow water.

I have since been back on my own twice and once with Suzy to her neighborhood pool.  Having 3 at the pool isn't as scary as I had thought it might be.  Carter has become a very confident swimmer and Rylan has improved a ton.

We went to the pool this afternoon for about 1 1/2 hours and this is what the pool did to baby Grayson's feet!!!

Sounds Game

Carter truly has the best baseball coach ever!  Jeff organized an outing to a Nashville Sounds game at the end of the season.  But instead of just going to the game, Jeff got Carter's team to be really involved in the game with the "Field of Dreams" program.  The boys got to go out on the field before the game started, get introduced, and stand with a Sounds player on the field during the National Anthem.

The Sounds moved to a brand new stadium this season and it is really nice!  This was our first time going to a game this season.  Brian's parents were visiting that weekend too so they got to join us.

Since I took the team photos this season, Jeff asked me to join the team on the field and get pictures of the kids.

Carter with the coach's sons, Christopher and Jack Henry ...

Davis and Drew ...

Gavin ...

The boys lined up in front of the home / 3rd base dugout ...

Before the Sounds came out onto the field, each boy on our team got introduced and their picture was up on the big screen ...

Carter's introduction ...

When the Sounds moved to the new stadium, they got a new logo and a new mascot.  Meet Booster the Rooster (who just stole Jack Henry's hat) ...

The boys got to hang out on the field a little longer as they waited for the Sounds players.  The boys on Carter's team have become great friends and really are a great group of kids ...

Our boys got to join Sounds players in the infield for the National Anthem.

Carter and Christopher were with the catcher.

The boys then joined their parents in the stands.  We sat together on the first base side near the bullpen.  The seats were good and perfect for kids that aren't paying attention the entire time for foul balls!

Our team got to do a few more things during the game.  Jack Henry got to announce the Sounds players one inning ...

Then our four coaches got to compete in a wheelbarrow contest.

Jeff struggled a little with Big Gavin :)

Drew and Little Gavin got to do a bobble head contest where they each had a pedometer on their heads and had to shake their heads to see who had the most "steps".

Drew won and Gavin looked a little sick :)

We had such a fun time!  It was really hot but we managed.  Grayson also did great for his first baseball game!!!  Even if he was a little sweaty!!!

Mind Your Own Bees-ness

The boys have been going to their gardening class the last couple of weeks.  Yesterday's class was called "Mind Your Own Bees-ness" and involved a visit from a local bee farmer.

Ms. Paula even brought along some of her bees.

Carter was the lucky kid to get picked to try on Ms. Paula's beekeeper suit.

 
It was a little big :)

As a treat, Ms. Paula gave all the kids 2 samples of flavored honey.

Rylan was not a fan but Carter was!

Swim Meet vs. Franklin YMCA

Carter had a swim meet against the Franklin YMCA yesterday afternoon.  This Y location was my favorite to go to last year because it was less crowded and the lifeguards weren't as strict about keeping kids within an arms length.

The Franklin Y have a very good and large team.  A lot of the kids seem to swim year round based on their amazing times.

Carter swam the same three races as last week.

First was freestyle.  Carter swam almost 3 seconds faster than last week with a time of 43.56 seconds.  However, the field was much larger and his teammates improved their times even more so Carter finished 10th.

Carter swam backstroke about half a second slower than last week with a time of 40.62 seconds.  And his place this time was 8th.

Carter was a little disappointed that he didn't place higher but brushed it off pretty quick.  He didn't swim as well as he has in practice but I know he's just trying too hard instead of focusing on his technique.

Carter also was in the freestyle relay.  His team improved their time by 25 seconds but still finished about a minute behind the other relay team with a time of 2:54.84.  Carter swam the anchor leg again and swam amazingly fast.  I guess when there's no pressure (the other team had finished before he even started his leg), he remembers his technique!

For some reason the kids on Carter's relay team were handed a heat winner ribbon even though they shouldn't have received it.  Carter still wanted to include it in his book of ribbons!

Carter will miss next week's meet because of the one camp he's doing.  We're still going to try to make it to the pool a lot to practice on our own!  Carter is doing great and we're super proud of him!

Ribbons

Carter gets ribbons after his swim meets for the places he got in each race.  The kids also get heat ribbons if they win their heat.

I asked Suzy what he kids do with all their ribbons and she said they put them in a photo album.  So Carter and I decided to do the same thing but with a scrapbook.

Carter picked out a gold scrapbook at Hobby Lobby on Friday and this morning we stapled his ribbons from his first meet to a piece of scrapbooking paper.  We took the labels off the back with all the information about the race and his time and put them under each ribbon.

Carter is so proud of his book.  He can't wait to fill it with more ribbons soon!

Running Partners

Yesterday I ran on the Brentwood Greenway with all 3 boys.  I'm loving that Carter can ride a bike now (except for the fact that that's all he wants to do now all day long).  Carter rode his back for 3 miles and the other two passed out in the BOB.  I had to call out to Carter to wait for me several times because his slow speed still wasn't quite slow enough :)  There is a loop around a big field at the end of the greenway so I let Carter ride around that a couple of times after my run so he could go as fast as he wanted.

Cutie Pie

Biking

Carter had been hesitant about riding his bike without training wheels.  He's preferred to just ride his scooter or the big wheel.  I took the training wheels off a couple of months ago and he tried riding a little that day but didn't really like it.  I hadn't pushed him to try again until today.  I've signed him up for 2 triathlons at the end of summer so he needs to be able to ride his bike.

When I told him today we were going to try it, Carter said he'd do it for "50 seconds".  Well, that turned into all afternoon!  He does not want to get off the darn thing!

Since taking this video, Carter got way more confident.  He's going as fast as he can and turning in tight circles.

Now we just need to get him a new bike!  The 16" looks way too small!

Swim Meet vs. Brentwood YMCA

Carter is swimming with the F.A.S.T. Frogs this season.

F.A.S.T. stands for Franklin Area Swim Team and we practice at the Williamson County Rec Center in Franklin.  We chose F.A.S.T. because it's the team Suzy's kids swim with and I figured we could help each other out with practices and meets since we both have 2 non-swimmers to also wrangle.  You are also required to volunteer at 3 of the 5 meets which can be hard with all the other kids.

Carter has had 2 weeks of practice so far (but a few days have been cancelled because of the cold and rainy weather we've been having).  He also had swim lessons last week.  He's come a long way in those 2 weeks and improved so much.

This morning was cold and misty. It was only 60F at meet time!  Today's meet was at the Brentwood Y which uses their outdoor pool.  Luckily the water was heated because I can't imagine how much bluer Carter's lips would have been if it weren't!

Carter got his team suit today too - love the jammers!!!

Carter swam the 25-yard freestyle, 25-yard backstroke, and 100-yard freestyle relay for the 6 and under boys.

Carter's time in the freestyle was 46.38 seconds.  He placed 5th (but had the best time for his team).  I think he was super excited and trying too hard to swim fast because his form is usually a lot better.  But I'm so proud of him and think he did great!

Carter is in lane 5 in the video below (the swimmer closest to me while filming).

Carter's time in the backstroke was 40.07 seconds.  He placed 2nd (and had the best time for his team again).  He was less than 2 seconds behind the winner.  I was super impressed!!!

Carter was in lane 5 again (this time there is also a swimmer in lane 6).

In the the relay, Carter's team won (but only because the other team got DQ'd when two swimmers jumped in the pool at the same time - they were much faster).  Carter was the 4th swimmer in his relay and swam super fast (I didn't time or video that race).

Carter should get ribbons for all his finishes tomorrow.  He's so excited!  He loves his award collection :)

After the meet we went to McDonald's for ice cream.  Carter did a great job swimming and Rylan did awesome just hanging out and staying out of trouble!  (Grayson slept in the Ergo most of the meet which was perfect too!)