Only about six months late…

Wiley sang The Star Spangled Banner for his whole school last Veteran's Day (November). Turns out we had uploaded the recording (plus the Principal's intro on the school-wide announcements via Zoom) to YouTube but never posted it here. (I just found it when I uploaded Graydon's swim video.)

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/mclz4p1PHhY

They do actually also swim at those meets…

… not just look cute and eat burgers. Here's a little taste:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Lf0D_sRjIY&feature=share

Little Orca

The swim cap even has a dorsal fin and a teeny tiny tail!

Boys’ Night Out

The Tanner boys are headed to the Austin FC game tonight in their best green attire. The girls will have a girls' night in.

Minimal Damage

With some creative rope work, we managed to avoid dropping anything on the house or the air conditioners. The fence boards were not quite as lucky…

What else is new?!

Neal is up a tree with a chain saw! This time, we're taking down Ligustrums killed by the cold snap last winter.

Marathon swimming

Today's swim meet ran from 6:45am to 3pm. Ooof. We are all flattened. Kids had fun and won ribbons.

More smiles and more green!

Lots of green!

Graydon and Mami went to the Austin FC home opener this past weekend. There was lots of Mami's favorite colour (green!) to go around!

Well-deserved burger

Portia swam a fantastic 25m backstroke race today. She beat her prior time by over 10 seconds and was even faster than her 25m freestyle! She was also included on a relay team for the first time. Three races is a lot for a little girl. She is now enjoying a well-deserved burger.

Stadium Opener at Austin’s new Q2 MLS Stadium!

Got here in time for the warm-up!

Ribbons!!

We've figured out where they hide the ribbons this week. Lots of ribbons - for placing in individual events, relay events, and personal bests. We have here very proud "Wild Orcas!"

Early morning painting

Got up to find Portia painting away at another masterpiece this morning!

All ready for tomorrow!

We're figuring out this "first summer without au pair help" thing. It hasn't been easy but between morning swim and some afternoon play dates, the kids' days haven't been too monotonous. Graydon is stepping up big-time, taking himself to early swim practice, and then "taking delivery" of his siblings at the pool, making sure each attends the correct practice while keeping an eye on the other, and then leading the bike parade home when they're all done. Once at home, Wiley and Portia are also being very good about their "lists" - everything must be completed before screen time. It's a good motivator!!

Swim season!

You know the season has started when the sharpies come out!

Aloha to Kindergarten!

The kids had their last day of school today. Portia's class had a Hawaiian themed party to say "Aloha!" to kindergarten. And they all gave each other big hugs (for the first time this year)!

Watch for deer and…

I saw this sign in our neighborhood for the first time today and just had to stop to take a picture.