Easter and more

After Far Westerns, Phoenix and Rubix had a week long break from their normal daily swim practices. This made the week incredibly easier. Phoenix had a mini track meet that was just for Harker students. The first mini meet was on Tuesday April 15th. They had all of the kids run the 100 meter and 400 meter races. I was able to get a couple of photos of the girls waiting. 

The second meet was on Monday the 21st where the kids ran the 50 and 200 meter races. The League meet is coming up this Friday and Saturday the 2nd and 3rd of May. She will be running the 800 on Friday, along with the 4 x 100 meter relay and doing the long jump and softball throw. On Saturday she will be running the 200 and 400 meter races. 

Axel had a track meet at Bellarmine Prep High School on Wed. the 16th and the entire Szolusha family was able to go and support Axel because there was no swim practice. Here Phoenix is entertaining Axel as he is resting with his feel in the air. He ran the mile and the 800 for the first time. We were all happy he was able to get two races in one day. His running is going well and he is feeling stronger and better. He is up to a whopping 15 miles this week! I am being facetious here, but he is really happy to be training with his teammates 3 times per week. The really cool thing is he has a great new coach, Coach Jorge who has come on board from Menlo School. He took them to states multiple years and he plans on taking the boys and girls cross country team to state this Fall. He is implementing awesome form and speed/foot work that I think is really going to help get the boys ready for the fall. Track has been great for the "distance kids". The cross country kids who are running track have had an incredible track season so far. League champs is coming up the week after next. 

The other news for Axel is that he no longer has braces!!! There was a little bit of a mishap for his initial appointment because he didn't realize that he had his speech for Japanese Honors Society during his first appointment time. We were lucky to be able to postpone it until the next week and Axel was able to give his speech to run for Secretary and good news is he won! He is very excited to be one of 4 officers for JHS. 

The kids have been slammed with homework and tests since coming back from Spring Break considering that school will be out in 4 weeks from now! While Rubix was studying for a verb's test, I caught this cute picture of Rubix with the ear buds he received from Christmas. He said the ear buds fit better upside down. I love him problem solving and making them work. 

Easter just came upon us and we were lucky enough to be able to spend the entire day together as a family.  I made pancakes and bacon with fruit for breakfast and after breakfast and opening their baskets full of sun screen and electrolyte drink mix we had our annual Easter egg hunt in the park. 

Happy Easter!

Pancake-os! As we call them in our house.

Egg hunt time!

I  love how they are still okay with all of the same pictures that I make them take each year.

They found the 75% of the eggs in 10 minutes and then it took an additional 20 minutes to find the last 9 eggs. 

Here is an example of one of the difficult eggs to find. Keith did a great job of blending the colored eggs into the surroundings. 

After our egg hunt we went on a family hike. Here we are at the top of St. Joseph's / Manzanita trail in Los Gatos. 

We managed to get home in time to welcome the Jolley's for "Linner" (Dinner for Lunch) since my kids get confused when I call the meal dinner when it is "lunch time". 

Braylin has grown and Phoenix and her are practically the same height. 

We enjoyed slowed cooked chicken, ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, butter rolls, and salad. I also made sure to buy ice cream and cones to celebrate Aya's 8th birthday. 

They had to leave pretty early because they had to get home after spending 4 days in Santa Cruz celebrating Aya's bday. It was a wonderful visit despite being short. 

So I finally made Phoenix finish her drawing of her teacher. She stopped working on it and I just hate when she doesn't finish projects she starts, especially when she tells someone she is going to do something. 

I think it looks pretty darn close! But I am totally biased being her mother and loving her art work. 

Phoenix has been loving all of the blooming flowers. She has been taking photos around the neighborhood and during our hike. I am assuming she is going to recreate these photos into drawings. Our Irises are in full bloom and the kids and I really enjoy how beautiful they make our yard look. 

Today Rubix had 10 and Under Champs. Here he is jumping before his first event, the 200 free. He wasn't his best today, but he swam well enough to take the high point award again for the 9 year olds. He tied with Stephen again, but this year we don't have a photo because the meet organizer decided not to have an awards ceremony and hand out the trophies to the kids. Instead the coaches collected the trophies, medals and ribbons. Rubix won the 200 free, 200 IM, 100 fly and 100 back. His team won the 200 free and medley relays. It was a long day for both of us. Keith was there in the beginning but then left to coach the soccer game Rubix was missing. Phoenix managed to get a ride to swim practice and Keith then picked her up. Axel has been trying to prep for his AP exams coming up in just over a week. 

Next up will be Phoenix's track league champs, Axel's track league champs, a fun "block party" swim meet where Rubix will get a chance to swim the 200 back and 1650 because they are "open" events without an age limit. Phoenix will go for a personal best in the 500 free after her track meet on Saturday. I will hopefully get to see one or both of Rubix's last soccer games. We also hope that Axel will have his license the next time I post. Rubix and Phoenix also have the All Star Swim meet in mid May. I am looking forward to no longer mentoring and going back to working just 4 days a week, as I try to finish up my 1 hour lectures for the MSI course I normally teach in the summer. I hope to post before school ends, but it just might be that busy where it will be May 29th before we know it. Until then... Happy Spring!

 

Far Westerns, Track and more

On Wednesday, April 2nd Phoenix and Axel had an orthodontist appointment. Phoenix had her expander removed and they both had 3D molds (now done digitally) taken of their teeth for retainers. Phoenix picked up her retainer this past week and Axel will pick up his tomorrow when he gets his braces removed! He had to cancel his appointment for this past week because he forgot about his speech that he had to give during lunch, which was the exact time of his appointment. He ran for secretary for the National Japanese Honor Society. Good news is that the reschedule was worth it because his speech went well, and he was voted in as secretary! 

After Phoenix's appointment we headed to Maisey's birthday party. Yes, it was in the middle of the week at 1:20 pm! She was lucky that her birthday fell during Spring Break and that most of her friends were available to join her. Phoenix drew these pansies for her since she said she loves them. 

The funniest thing about Maisey's birthday party is that it was at LaserMaxx, the exact place that Rubix has been invited to a half a dozen times for his friend's birthday parties. 

The girls had a great time together. 

And Rubix had fun for about half an hour we we went to pick her up. I love when they are so sweet to each other!

Thursday morning, April 3rd, the entire family was up bright an early and the 5 of us headed to Pleasanton for Day 1 of Far Westerns. Axel worked for 4 hours as a marshal and earned himself $60 while Keith officiated and Phoenix and Rubix raced. They both swam the 200 free. Phoenix had a personal best time, but it wasn't fast enough to make finals. Rubix did not swim his best time, but he did manage to make consolation finals. Phoenix also swam a personal best in the 50 back dropping into the low 30's which got her into the finals. She did a 30.01 during finals, almost reaching her goal of sub 30 seconds. 

Phoenix's 50 back

Rubix swam the 100 fly and was ranked 4th going into finals with a 109.05!

Rubix 100 fly

 It was incredible!  He was excited to get his black Far Western cap, which is given to the swimmers who make the "A" finals.

Keith drove Axel home on Thursday night so that he could get a good night's sleep and ready for his first track meet back since he had the "shin pain". On Friday both kids swam the 200IM. Phoenix had a huge drop of over 5 seconds getting a 2:19.88 placing 10th and getting into the consolation final.

Phoenix 200 IM

 Rubix had a 2.6 second drop but missed the A final by .1 seconds. 

Rubix 200 IM

He was happy making the consolation final though. Phoenix swam the 200 back dropping over a second allowing her to make consolation finals. It is incredible that she finished 10th again with how deep the field was. Souther California and Arizona have some crazy fast 11/12 year old girls. Rubix swam the 50 back finishing 6th place, even with a small add. He finally dropped below 33 seconds during finals, which was a goal for him. 

Rubix 50 Back, Final

I drove home after finals on Friday so that I could take Axel to his track meet on Saturday morning. 

The orthopedist told Axel to pick an event and stick with it, so he chose the 1600 meter or 1 mile race. Coach Kevin also signed him up for the 800 meter just in case he felt great.  Only a couple of kids from Harker were there bright and early. Here are a few pictures of Axel warming up. 

He was seeded in the 1st heat because he did not have a time. It was somewhat of a good thing because he was able to go at his own pace. He went out hard and ran a 5:01 lapping a few kids from the field. 

Axel's 1 mile

He was by himself after the first 100 meters. He slowed down more than he wanted to starting from the second half of the second lap through the third lap, but he had a great last lap and was close to his goal of sub 5 minutes. I think it was pretty remarkable considering he has only done one small intensity workout of 2 x 800 the week before and had only had 6 runs and a total of 15 miles in his legs from the 2 weeks before. The doctor asked him to only run 3 times per week through May, although he could build a mile per week from the 2 miles per run and he could do 1 day of intensity per week. 

While Axel was running, Rubix and Phoenix both swam the 100 back. Phoenix had another good drop finishing 11th (1:04.2) and getting herself into the consolation final. I was able to make it to Pleasanton in time to see Rubix swim the 100 back and finish with a three-way tie. He tied a boy in his heat with a 1:11.09 and a boy in the heat before him also finished with a 1:11:09. This was after Rubix swam an incredible 500 free making the A final with a 5:58! This was an incredible time for him. Phoenix swam the 1000 dropping 16 seconds, but just finishing outside of the top 8. The two girls in front of her finished just a second faster. I was really proud of her effort. I know that she wanted the AAAA time of 11:16.99 and a medal, but the 11:20 was oh so close, considering how tough the previous 9 months have been for her. Rubix managed to drop another second for his 500 free during finals, although he added in the 100 back. Phoenix did not go sub 1:04 like she wanted, but did manage to drop another .04 from prelims. After all of this racing Rubix had the 200 Medley relay. It was the teams goal to break the Santa Clara record. The boys needed to dop 2 seconds. Unfortunately, they missed the team record by .38 seconds, but did manage to win the Gold medal and take first!

Boys 10 and Under 200 Medley Relay

Albert, Jeffrey, Annay, Rubix

Sunday was our last day of racing and we were excited the Phoenix and Rubix were able to focus on just one event each. Rubix had the 100 IM and Phoenix had the 400 IM. 

Phoenix 400IM

They both had to swim their best to make finals. They both hit it out of the park. Phoenix dropped 9.5 seconds finishing 5th overall and making the A final! Rubix dropped a second finishing 4th going into finals! 

Rubix 100 IM

Phoenix swam about the same time during finals, which she was a bit upset about missing the AAA time and dropping to 7th place. Rubix swam a little faster dropping another tenth of a second, but finished 5th overall. Both kids had the 200 Free relay after their events. 

Rubix's team swam outside themselves dropping 3 seconds and taking 2nd! Albert, Rubix and Jeffrey went 28 seconds (Rubix 28.7) and Anay went 29 seconds, all swimming personal bests (except Albert). Phoenix had fun in her relay and ended up swimming her best time 27.27, helping their team drop half a second and finish 10th gaining Santa Clara points and helping SCSC take the win over Nova Aquatics who had been leading the entire 4 days until the end. 

Albert, Rubix, Jeffrey, Anay

Here is Coach Victory with the A and B relay teams on Sunday afternoon. 

Anay, Rubix, Jeffery, Albert, Coach V, Aury, Adam, Yuri and Ethan

Daddy officiated every final and managed to capture a picture with Phoenix on Sunday. We are grateful for all of his hours volunteering! Far Westerns was extremely successful. Phoenix and Rubix both have 9 AAA times which means they applied for Western Zones. It will be amazing if they are both picked to swim this event since it is close to home in Sacramento this year. Fingers crossed both kids get in!

Rubix with his 7 medals, 5 from A finals and 2 from the relays. 

The kids returned to school a bit tired from their "Spring Break" and Far Westerns. 

Rubix's class went to the Academy of Sciences on Friday. It looks like he had a lot of fun. I remember chaperoning this field trip for Axel. I really enjoyed it myself!

They watched an IMAX movie about planets and...

apparently, Rubix loves the soy butter and jelly sandwiches. I forgot to tell him that I ordered the turkey and cheese sandwich :)

Icing on the cake for this field trip is that they took a lux bus and he was able to play chess and Tic Tac K.O. 

On Wednesday this week Axel was able to participate in his first WBAL league meet. He ran the mile again. His coach decided to not put him in the fastest heat again (because more of the heat went sub 5 minutes) so that he could pace himself again. He managed to do another great job of running by himself, this time reaching his goal of sub 5 with a 4:59. He thinks he is ready to run in the fastest heat for his next track meet this coming Wednesday. He has played it conservatively and not run another other events, because he really doesn't want to get injured. His coach has been signing him up for the 800 and a team relay each meet, but apparently, kids scratch all of the time and it is not a big deal. I was able to make it to Kings Academy in time to watch him race. 

Axel's 1 mile

He was out alone for the first lap, but a couple of kids caught him when he slowed down the second half of the second lap. He took off again for the last lap finishing 4 seconds ahead of the guy behind him. He had such a nice kick at the end, he realized he really needs to figure out how to not slow down so much. He is excited to give it a go again and see what he can do!

Axel had his last driver's lesson today and the instructor said that he is ready for his test. Good thing, because he is taking it on May 1st! Besides, gearing up for this, he is also gearing up for his AP exams which are the first week in May and then finals which is the last week in May. Before you know it, school will be over! I am hoping to try to slow time down and enjoy each moment I have with these precious kids! Most likely, the next time I post, we will have another driver in the house!