Cannon Beach Getaway - Part 1

 I headed down to Cannon Beach on Thursday in the middle of a giant storm with 40 mph winds and a torrential downpour. It was wild! I could look out my balcony and see the sand being blown so hard across the beach. Today was a different story - clear skies, calm water, mild temperature. Cannon Beach is so fun to explore. I walked about 10 miles - most of it heading north up the beach through Ecola State Park (of Goonies & Kindergarten Cop fame) and also down to Crescent Beach. I learned that Oregon State Parks maintains the OCT (Oregon Coast Trail), which is new to me and seems pretty cool. Much of the muddy trail was through coastal forests and I was happy to have waterproof shoes.

Thanksgiving!

The best part of my Thanksgiving holiday was the pre-Thanksgiving dinner with my mom and the kids on Wednesday since they are with their dad the rest of the vacation. Edison did a great job making the turkey, but we must remember to start thawing it sooner - apparently 5 days in the fridge still isn't enough time. Doh! Sitting down together and sharing a relaxing meal just felt so good and apparently does not happen often enough with everyone's busy schedules these days.

November Stuff: School Stuff and Swim Stuff

AGI meet at Mercer Island - Reed is loving being at the meets with his buddies. Charlotte was recognized at the Shorecrest End of Season Swim Banquet with the Tyler Hayden High Point Award and her coach said some really encouraging things about her positive attitude and progression. It was fun to hear the coaches give accolades to every swimmer on the team which was super uplifting. We've started GFL and as the freshmen class advisor, I get to supervise practices - there are a LOT of interested freshmen! We had a WESCO Sports Leadership conference at King's and both Edison and David were in attendance  for Shorecrest. The highlight was hearing former Seahawk Brian Wallace talk about sports leadership. And Amy and I went out on the town! Fun times!

Charlotte's State Swim Meet - Sophomore Year

Charlotte and the Shorecrest swimmers capped off their season with a fantastic state meet. They qualified all three relays for state in addition to individual swims for Charlotte, Anna, Ella, and Avery and divers Maggie & Sophie. Charlotte trained all season for this meet and, despite not feeling 100% and even getting a rip in her tech suit, had a very strong prelims meet, getting PRs in her 200 Free (1:59.36), 100 Free (55.03). Charlotte qualified for finals in her individual swims and so did both of her relay teams!

For finals, Charlotte swam a strong 200 Free at 1:59.62, her second best time ever, and finished in 11th place. It was fun to see her teammates cheering for her from the side of the pool and to get pictures from Coach Rita who was poolside. She absolutely crushed it in the 100 Free, going a blazing fast 54.65 - a new PR - and earning 10th place. Her 200 Free relay team (Anna, Lauren, and Ella) swam strong and finished in 12th. The 400 Free relay looked strong even though their swim was at 10:30 at night. Ella wasn't feeling well, so Gigi came in and swam leg two (Anna, Gigi, Lauren) and they finished 15th. All in all, it was a great meet and Shorecrest earned a 13th place finish at State!

My favorite part of the meet was seeing Charlotte connect with teammates and coaches from Aqua Club and Excel and seeing how those strong friendships make big events like this way more fun and supportive. We also got to cheer for all the swimmers we know through USA and GSSSL swimming and there were so many great swims at this meet! Thank you to our awesome coaches for making it a fabulous season!