Foresthill Swim Meet!!

Natalie & Julia had a swim meet today. They both did awesome!

Little 5 yr old Julia swam in 4 events today!

Julia swam in the Girls 6 & Under 25 yard Freestyle and placed 7th with a time of 1:00!

She also swam in the Girls 6 & Under 25 yard Backstroke for the first time & placed 5th with a time of 2:07.

I have to say Julia's best stroke is the Butterfly. She swam in the Girls 6 & Under 25 yard Butterfly and placed 5th with a new personal best time of 1:02 shaving 5 seconds off her time!

Julia also swam the Girls 6 & Under 25 yard Breaststroke placing 6th with a time of 1:05 (also a new personal best) shaving 6 seconds off her time! We are so proud of her. She tries so hard to do her best!

Julia gets ready to swim. Coach Kendra gives last minute advice!

Julia swims the Butterfly!

Julia swims Breaststroke.

Natalie waiting to swim in her Relay Race with her beautiful smile. :)

7 year old Natalie did a great job today! She swam Breaststroke in the 7-8 yr old 100 Yd Medley Relay. Her team placed 3rd with a total time of 2:16.

Natalie also swam the Girls 7-8 25 Yd Freestyle placing 7th with new personal best time of 36.54 (shaving 3 secs off her old time)!

Natalie's best event is the Breaststroke! She swam the Girls 7-8 25 Yd Breaststoke placing 4th with a new personal best time of 39.84 (shaving 1 sec off her old time)!

When Natalie is swimming she smiles the whole time and likes to look around to see how she is doing compared to everyone else! It is soooo great!

Natalie stretches before a race! Look @ that smile....

Natalie swims the Breaststroke :)

Julia dries off in between events. :)

Julia and her friend Joe.

What a fun day. Our cousins the Trimbles' were there racing and Grandma & Grandpa Light were there to cheer us all on. Good times....

Aunt Tonya with cousin Tanner.

Tanner poses for a pic!

Grandpa Keith & Grandma Janeal Light

Carolyn & Ben also swam in the parents race against the kids. It was a 200 Yd Freestyle. Ben wore his new Speedo just for the occasion! :) We had 2 parent relay teams and 2 kid relay teams. Our team came in 3rd out of the 4 teams!

Carolyn's ready to swim in the parent relay race.

Ben's waiting for Carolyn to finish so he can GO!!

Carolyn & Ben :)

Interesting She-Shells @ Monterey Bay

Ben was able to dive in the kelp forest. Here's a pic at the aquarium of a kelp forest. It feels like sea-weed and lots of fish live around the forest. Ben said that this is what it looked like as he was diving in the kelp forest.

I took the girls whale watching at Monterey Bay while Ben was diving. In the above pic, Julia and Natalie are excited to see some whales! It was a great day. We saw several humpback whales, dolphins, sea otters, and jellyfish. At the beach, the girls got to hold some starfish and hunt for sea shells. Some how my car now smells like fish?? Not quite sure what happened there.

Ben is getting ready to enter the cold water. Monterey Bay was a warm 59 degrees last Saturday. Ben is now officially certified as an SSI open water diver. Ben saw lots of cool fish life. The kelp forest plays host to sea otters, starfish, crabs, and lots of other cool fish yet to be identified.... :)

Natalie was chosen to be in a little Sea Otter game show at Monterey Bay Aquarium. She won a CFL light-bulb! Wow..... She was thrilled. Then she asked, "Why do they give away light bulbs as prizes? How does a light bulb save a sea otter???"

She did learn that all storm drains lead to the ocean.... Washing your car in your driveway apparently can kill sea otters. . . . The swim team just had a car wash fundraiser. Natalie asked me why the stingray swim team would have a car wash that killed sea otters? ? ? I don't have an answer for that one.

Natalie & Julia playing at the beach...