Swim meets are exhausting for parents

Well, here we are back into swim season.  Oh wait, it's year round with a random 3 week break so I guess we never really left it to get back into it. Anyway, that 3 week break actually made a huge difference for Luke.  He was able to make it out of the "Lane 1 " practice group which is normally composed of the newbies, the clowns, and the space cadets of the team.  He made it all the way to "Lane 3" which are the kids who pretend to know what they are doing, generally have at least one minute attention spans, and have some degree of future potential beyond drowning.  He seems to be enjoying more of practice than just setting up the lane lines and hanging out in the locker room like he did last season.  He's even been acknowledging his coaches' attempts to correct his form - woohoo!  

The first swim meet of this season was this past weekend.  Luke swam 5 events and managed to only forget his goggles for one of them.  Who does that? It's akin to trying to win the Kentucky Derby without a saddle on your horse.  I mean, I'm sure he was focusing his attention on what to get next from concession stand than when his next event was, but hey, who needs to see where that concrete wall is?

For their part, Adrienne and Coco solely kept the concession stand in business.  They must have made 17 trips each - back and forth and up and down the bleachers of death.  Adrienne was cheering Luke on at one point, too bad he wasn't in the actual heat she was cheering for.  The girls and I had to make a hasty exit to schlep off to our next activity but it was good timing because Coco's meltdowns were just starting.  She was mad that I wouldn't let her use the award podium (that was inside the section of the pool closed off to spectators) for a climbing structure.     

It's hard to see but Luke is the swimmer in the lane where the official is standing: