December 2023....

Since Thanksgiving we have had some highs and lows with swim. Yellow Bell 4, which is Rubix's swim group gets mentored by the Senior 4 kids. The Yellow Bell 4 are the top 10 and under group of kids and the Senior 4 are the national team that travel all over the country for swim races. Rubix, Anay and Druv were assigned Tanay Gupta when preparing a poster and goody bag for his Junior Nationals Meet. We had 10 swimmers qualify for Junior Nationals. 

The boys had fun making the poster, even though, they were not as skilled in art as the girls were.

The boys delivered the posters early the next week before the team took off for Junior Nationals. 

Here they are with Tanay. Yes, all three boys are standing on a block that is 2-3 feet off the ground and Anay and Rubix are still not taller than Tanay. He is well over 6 feet tall. 

December 1st Junior Olympic/ Age Group Champs started. Phoenix came out with a bang and dropped 3 more seconds in her 500 free finishing 4th place at a 5:56. She then swam roughly the same time in her 200 IM, dropping .2 seconds for another 4th place. On Saturday, Phoenix had a huge day with 2 relays and 3 individual events in prelims and finals! For the 200 mixed medley relay she was the backstroke starter and they finished 3rd. The 10 and under girls 200 medley relay finished 1st again for another gold medal. This is their 3rd time getting gold, with summer J.O. and summer Far Westerns being the first two. This team was composed of Amy swimming free, Savanah swimming breast and Annabelle swimming fly. Phoenix, of course, swam back stroke. Although the relays went well, she struggled with times that were just shy of her best times, which caused her a couple of 4th places, when her only goal was to get one podium or top 3 finish in an individual event. She swam 50 back, 100 IM and 200 free on Saturday in the prelims and finals. She ended up 4th place for the 50 back and 5th place for the 200 free and 100 IM. 

Sunday was an easier day with just the 100 back and 100 breast, prelims and finals and the 10 and under 200 Free relay. She was 3rd place for back and 4th place for breast, going into finals, but just could not reach her best times and ended up 4th in the 100 back and 5th in the 100 breast. She was really upset, but this was a huge growth experience learning to swim in the finals for all of the events she entered. The surprise news is that her B relay for the 200 free got 3rd place and their A team took the win. Phoenix swam with Savanah, Hope and Sophia and the A team consisted of Annabelle, Melissa, Joanna and Amy. Santa Clara Swim Club girls won the meet!

Another picture of the happy SCSC 10 and under swimmers. 

The relay swimmers with Coach Victory. 

We are so very proud of Phoenix and all of her hard work. She is still working on being proud of herself too. This month has been all about rain and rainbows! We have had so many beautiful rainbows during and after the rain showers/ storms. I am so pleased to be reminded of God's covenant and love for us. 

The following weekend was the Age Group Champ minus meet for those swimmers who did not qualify for AGCs. Unfortunately, Rubix and Axel got locked out of Saturday and Sunday, but fortunately, were both able to swim the 500 on Friday night. Rubix did amazing finishing in 7 minutes and 10 seconds for his first attempt. Axel did great as well and got back down to his A time. He is now just 10 seconds away for Senior 2 meet qualifying times and 12 seconds from 14 year old J.O.'s. Because we were home and not at the swim meet on Saturday and Sunday we had more time to do normal things. I got to clean the house and the kids had a chance to make it messy! J/K

Phoenix begged to make pancakes so she could make these cute snowmen. 

"Absolutely delicious", so they both said. 

We threw one together for Axel, so he didn't feel left out. Axel was busy studying all weekend for his finals so he was pleasantly surprised to enjoy a pancake snowman too!

The kids got to open Gma Susan's gift for their college fund. Thank you Gma for your super generous gift! 

The kids were able to use some of Gma's generous gift with Keith's company matching the amout to allow them to get to the 1000-dollar contribution for the swim-a-thon. This made them high donation winner for the week and earned them an aditioinal prize of a Santa Clara gear bag. The kids were beyond excited because they get to attend a clinic with Abbey Weitzeil, a multiple Olympic medal holder and the American 50 free style record holder.  

Keith and I had a chance to go Christmas shopping together. I think this is the second time in our marriage that this has happened. It was so much fun! We didn't really purchase much, but since we hardly get out we had several laughs. One was this manikin boy who was "de-pants". We also laughed at men's underwear that has a cellphone pocket. I thought it was inappropriate to post that picture as well, but it showed men outside wearing these underwear without any pants over it. Our question is, do people actually put their cellphone in their underwear pocket and then reach into their pants in public to take it out?!!! Anyways, I digress......

The weekend of no swim meet also allowed for game night! Phoenix and I played Blokus and the boys played Santorini. 

On December 1st Mark, the elf on the self came back. Rubix was so excited he took a picture, the one below, to school to share for show in tell. The interesting thing about this is that over the next two weeks, Rubix has asked several questions about Santa, the elf and magic that has lead him to discover that these things are not real. I am wondering if there were conversations at school that lead to this conclusion for him. I am a bit sad that our youngest has made this realization a year (Phoenix) or two (Axel) before his siblings did, but I am glad that he knows what Christmas is really about. Some parents may disagree with me, but I chose to not lie about Santa and the commercialization of Christmas since the beginning. If the kids asked about Santa or the Easter Bunny and doubted their existence, I told them that America/society has made up things for each holiday to make it fun for kids and it is up to them to figure out what is real/ the true meaning of the holiday and what is made up. If I do not want to condone lying, I should not lie....

Last week, Rubix had his big Holiday Show! It was a combined 2nd and 3rd grade effort. I dressed him in the same outfit Axel wore to the holiday show in 3rd grade when he first joined Harker. Unfortunately, I can't find the picture of him before the holiday show, but I do have him before Church wearing the same sweater on Christmas Eve that year. 

The 2nd grade class. Rubix is in the back row, 5th from he left hand side. 

Here he is 6th from the left hand side, in the back row. 

Last weekend we also had the swim-a-thon carnival and event. Sorry for the bad picture, but Rubix is folding origami and I caught Daddy in the background. He is wearing Rubix's nice new SCSC sweatshirt because they didn't order kid sizes. I was a little shocked that they have 500 swimmers that are mostly kids and did not order any kid sizes for the prize shirts or sweatshirts, so Rubix kindly said he would let Daddy get a bigger size since the Adult small was way too big for him. 

Rubix was super impressive during the 200-lap effort. He was focused and went out and did the 200 laps on his own. He did 30, 100's, 2 500's and one 1000! Here is a picture of him with fins and paddles on. He was so cute!

Phoenix at swim-a-thon!

Phoenix and her swim BFF, Audrey!

Photo booth time!

Sarah, Hana, Cielo, Phoenix and Audrey (Gold 4 teammates)!

Last weekend we also had a chance to go to Eileen's Christmas party. They moved back from Europe last year at this time and this was the first time we were able to see them. It was a short visit, but Eileen's dad wanted to recreate a photo of Phoenix, Axel and Alex that they took 7 years ago. Rubix joined in because he felt left out and Lily, who just turned 8 was playing with her friends, hence not in the picture. 

We did get a chance to hang out with Tyler, Jade and Zoe as we went to see the lights on the famous light street in Eileen's neighborhood. 

Axel and Dad being silly...

The boys at Santa's mailbox!

This week has been about Christmas parties. Rubix, Phoenix and Axel's teams all had different gatherings. It made for quite a hectic week, especially since it rained off and on all week. 

I ended up somehow volunteering and cooking/assembling more than 100 hotdogs, at Axel's team party. Here is the small crew of volunteers who prepped for the party. 

We have loved being apart of the SCSC community. The parents and coaches are extremely supportive. One example is getting rides home from practice or swim meets when needed. Olena, who is in-between me and Santa will be bringing Axel home tonight after swim practice since Keith and I will be taking Rubix and Phoenix to the Warriors game! Axel's friend's dad, Albert, gave us his 4 tickets as a Christmas gift since they are out of town starting today. Axel is so sweet, wanting Rubix and Phoenix to go and experience the VIP NBA basketball game, since he already has. Axel is also trying to prepare for his big move up to Senior 3, which is the high school competitive group. He will have 2 double days a week and swims that are up to 2 hours long. He is just finishing up with his morning practice now and will have his second practice this afternoon after 4 pm. 

We are excited to spend time together as a family. Keith has the next 2 weeks off with the kids and I mostly have next week off (besides working Tuesday). I hope to post after New Years. 

Wishing all of our family and friends a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!