Life has been a complete whirlwind the past 10+ days. I have another picture dump of the Szolusha happenings, so I apologize for the length of this blog. Before I begin I do want to share this cute photo of Rubix eating the lunch that Axel prepared for him. Since Axel came back from Japan, he has been teaching Rubix how to cook and helping him prepare meals. The boys are loving their Japanese style meals.
On Wednesday, July 29th, Axel and I were up and on a plane by 6am! I can't believe we were able to get up at 4:30am, out the door, drove to long term parking, too the shuttle and made it through security and boarded the plane all in 1.5 hours. We are so incredibly lucky to live 15 minutes away from SJC airport (when there is zero traffic out).
We had to fly first to Phoenix and then to Newark airport. We ended up taking Uber to make our lives easier and finally checked in and sat down to dinner at 7:30pm! We had planned to take the train, but decided Axel could figure it out himself on Sunday, which he successfully did.
Axel took a funny picture of me being dramatic and funny at how exhausted we were. Axel took a full rest day, but I ended up running after dinner, knowing I wasn't going to get much exercise in the following days because of travel back to California and the Far Westerns swim meet Phoenix and Rubix were participating in the following day.
On Thursday morning Axel and I went for a tour of Princeton. Here is where they take the Freshman class picture. They fit 1000 students on the stairs and along the shrubs.
You can see how beautiful the campus is.
We learned quite a bit about the history of Princeton and their application process. We were able to grab a nice Mexican lunch and stop by the Princeton art museum for a quick tour before heading to check in for the cross country camp that Axel would be attending all weekend.
Here are just a few of the art pieces... Claude Monet and more!
The 60 boys stayed in this very old dormitory, which does not have any AC. It is a beautiful old building with lots of character. Axel was in a corner room that had 4 beds.
He was able to meet up with a Harker Alum multiple times for meals during his cross country camp.
Axel played capture the flag on the football field and did two swims and multiple weight training sessions, on top of his daily runs.
They did one track workout too.
While Axel started his camp, I caught a flight back to California and arrived in Concord, just after midnight. I was glad to be there to support Phoenix and Rubix for the next three days of Far Westerns. This also allowed Keith to officiate prelims and for me to officiate finals each day.
It had a really large central shared space with two bedrooms that each contained two twin beds and two desks.
We were a little concerned about the temperature, but Axel lucked out and his roommate brought a portable air conditioning/fan.
Axel loved Princeton and was really impressed with the campus and different programs.
The facilities were awesome, according to Axel, as you can see from his pictures.
Phoenix had a bit of a tough meet mentally, more than physically. Highlights are that she made the 200 free final and dropped in prelims. She made the 400 final, also with a second drop in prelims. She managed to make finals in the 200 back, even with a 3.5 second add. She finished 6th in the 800 free, despite a 13 second add. It just goes to show you how incredibly fast she was last summer.
The really cool thing is that she was on 4 out of 5 relays, two which were the A relay. What this means is that Phoenix walked away with two 3rd place medals for the 4 x 200 and the 4 x 100 meter relays!
Here are 3 of the 4 swimmers for the 4 x 100 meter free style relay. Anna was apparently behind the blocks doing her own warm up.
Coach Victory with the relay teams. The boys took 2nd in both of the relays as Pleasanton Sea Hawks now have a stacked team as more than a half a dozen boys have joined PLS over the past 6 + months.
Rubix took 1st and Aury took 2nd place in the 400 free. Coach Victory has never had his boys team go 1, 2 in the 400 free in a championship swim meet before.
Here are a few of the many pieces that she has done over the past two weeks.
On Tuesday, August 4th, Keith and Rubix headed to Boise, Idaho for Western Zones!
They were originally going to take Uber, but I was able to drive them to San Jose Airport instead!
That same day, Phoenix and Axel had their yearly physicals. I was unaware, that this would be Axel's last visit with our beloved pediatrician, Dr. Vickie Chou. Axel was one of the first babies that she had on her panel when she joined Kaiser in 2009 and hence is one of the first to be graduating from her panel. She has been such a great doctor and we absolutely appreciate her excellent care. It was a little shocking that Axel was handed the information to pick out his new primary care physician in adult medicine.
The 4 girls to the right were the A relay for the 4 x 100 free. I don't have a picture of the 4 x 200 relay, but Cielo, the girl in the black suit on the left was the 4th girl rather than Roslyn, who is in the blue suit in the middle of the group. I was incredibly proud of Phoenix for her reflection and ability to be a good teammate. She had some negative self talk that she had to work through, and she did it with grace. I am hoping that she can learn from this and grow. It has been a tough season with mono and then being down on herself.
Rubix, on the other hand, had the swim meet of his life. He was able to come away with two gold medals. One in the 400 free and one in the 200 IM. He raced really hard to go a 2:41.16 in the 200 IM to out touch Marco Sun. He tried very hard in the 400 free to drop from prelims to finals to go for the Santa Clara record, but just couldn't muster a faster time than his already fast time of 4:55.69. Although this was a PR by a fraction of a second, it wasn't the 4:50 that he had hoped.
What was pretty incredible though was his 50 fly, where he blazed across the pool in 32.00 seconds, taking 2nd place and beating Luka Mijatovic's record (yes, he is the 16 year old who is now the American record holder in the 800 meter free)
Here he is absolutely ecstatic showing he is number one at SCSC and showing his Gold medal in the 400 free!
Go Rubix!
Rubix was very close in the 100 fly, swimming a 1:12.59. He needed to go faster than 1:11.76 to break Luka's record.
Keith ran into one of the Harker dad's who is the dad of Aiden, who runs with Axel, but who is also dad of Vivian, who is in Rubix's class, who apparently made it to Far Westerns for her first time. Art and Keith decided to run together between prelims and finals on Sunday in 90+ degree weather. They had a great time.
Coach Victory with the relay teams. The boys took 2nd in both of the relays as Pleasanton Sea Hawks now have a stacked team as more than a half a dozen boys have joined PLS over the past 6 + months.
Coach Victory with the two boys relays for the medley relay on Sunday.
Rubix excited about being a "flyer" again and Tatsu crushing it to go 1:16 in the 100 fly getting his first AAAA time. Go Tatsu!
Rubix with Ethan Qu.
Rubix, Robert Legg, Ryan Latronica and Pace Bui! These 4 boys grabbing a picture and discussing their upcoming adventures at Western Zones in the coming week. Rubix and Robert went away with 9 medals each and Robert took high point winner again, getting all 1st places. Rubix taking 2nd, as usual :)
Rubix with Marco Sun, another boy who would be attending Western Zones with him.
On the last day of Far Westerns Phoenix was only racing in finals. She was able to spend the morning doing what she loves and that was drawing!
She has been doing a lot of drawing and painting since her math class ended. Her art work continues to amaze me. She has such a gift. She often uses reference pictures, but will put her Phoenix flare into it to make it her own.
On Tuesday, August 4th, Keith and Rubix headed to Boise, Idaho for Western Zones!
Axel's stats are as follows: He is 5 feet 8.75 inches and weighs 123 lbs and 14.4 oz. These stats put him at the 44 %ile for height and 23rd %ile for weight.
Braylin, Aya and Phoenix...
Dragonfly wings that Aya found and put together while swimming.
Phoenix borrowing a little Axolotl squishmallow from Aya to sleep with. So cute!
It's bed time!
Axel stayed the night at Gma's so he could have his own bed and because the two of them love chatting! On Friday morning we hung out while we waited for Axel and Gma to arrive. Phoenix gave us a little tour of her scrape book. This is a rare occasion that she shares her artwork with others. Here are a couple of pieces she let me take pictures of.
Once Axel arrived we went for a walk along the American river.
Braylin had leadership at school so she was not with us.
After lunch we headed home. Phoenix and Axel both slept most of the way. It took just about 3 hours with traffic, but we were able to get home in time for Axel's cross country practice and multiple meetings that he has every Friday night.
Phoenix took a couple of Auntie's paper plates as she was inspired. Here is what I found about an hour after we got home. She was frustrated and wanted to throw it out. I absolutely love the depth, shading and lines of his nose, lips and chin!
Here are most of the members of the SCSC team (non of the 13/14 boys are girls are in this picture) who made Western Zones. The team was comprised mostly of PLS and SCSC kids.
Rubix and Tatsu having a snack while waiting for the plane.
Aury, Rubix and Pace getting on the plane!
After they landed they went directly to the pool for warm ups. They had an 8 lane 50 meter pool along with a 6 lane 25 yard pool. it was an incredible facility!
Here is what it looks like from the outside.
Tatsu and Rubix after day 1!
Waiting for the relays to start!
Clive, Clayton, Keith, Dawei and Mark from Pac Swim! These dads officiated all 8 sessions for their kiddos!
Keith after finals on Friday with a smoggy sunset!
And Coach Jake with Keith and Rubix. We see Coach Jake often when we go to the club and he has become a good acquaintance of the family. He is the coach who goes to the swim meets for Los Gatos Swim Club.
Coach Zach who has been really nice to Keith and Rubix who joined SCSC about a year ago.
Phoenix's stats are 5 feet 5.25 inches and 112 lbs and 8.2 oz. she is in the 84 %ile for height and 62nd %ile for weight.
On Thursday the three of us drove to Sacramento to spend time with Gma Susan and the Jolley's!
Phoenix and I :)
Back to Rubix and Daddy. After I dropped them off they met up with the rest of the Western Zone team. Here is the entire boys 10 and under Pac Swim Team with Coach Zach.
Robert, Rubix and Ethan.
A picture of the team right before the team cheer. You can see Rubix in his red breast stroke suit in the center of the photo. One of the mom's posted a video of the cheer.
The kids were inside on Thursday, but Friday afternoon the AQI went down low enough for the kids to go outside into their team tent.
Many of the kids kept on N95 masks. The AQI went as low as 120, but was mostly in the 200's. Many of the kids were having trouble with breathing and one father took his son to the ER during prelims and finals.
Here is 6 of the 8 boys who were apart of relays. Pace, Tatsu, Rubix, Robert, Thomas and Aury.
Rubix, Ethan, Robert and ? at the hotel.
Another team photo during warm ups.
On Saturday, the last day of competition the officials all wore Hawaii shirts. This is a fun tradition that they do every year. Keith successfully completed his N3 evaluation and is highly recommended to become a CJ or corner judge and plans on finishing the training for that this fall.
Although Rubix had a really tough meet in his individual events and struggled with sleep, leg cramps and breath control, he still managed to make all finals, and walk away with 6 individual and 4 relay metals. He was in the mixed relays and the all boys free style and medley relays.
The last photos that Keith sent me on Saturday evening was of him and Rubix and ....
Coach Zach (SCSC) and Jake (from Los Gatos) along with Ryan, Ethan and Rubix (I am not sure who is in the back row).
They are in the air on their way home now. I will be dropping Phoenix off at a birthday party and then getting them from the airport.
Up next is Chicago for me and the kids getting ready for school!
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