Strawberries and Swimmies

Some days I feel like I can do it all.  Most days, not so much.  

Strawberries came early this year, right about when Annalee was born.  Last year Connor and I picked with some friends that have a patch right by their house.  I sent her a little message saying that I wanted to pick (6 weeks ago) but there was no way that I was physically able to do it!  So, she brought a bucket to me then (THANK YOU!) and we planned a date to pick berries last week.

Well...by last week the owners said that the picking was a little scarce, and since we had 7 kids/babies with us and just 3 adults, we decided to buy them "already picked" (that morning!).  They still let us go in so that the kids could pick a few and have fun!

Uh...yeah.  This is Connor "eating" a strawberry.  By eating I mean that he licked it and said "mmm!" but then just pretended to nibble on it instead of actually taking a bite!  He is so funny about textures...because he will definitely eat strawberries in puree or smoothie form!  Sigh...

All of the babies with their berries!

Koral and Tina came to visit and have lunch the next day.  Annalee snoozed with both of her visitors while Connor napped - we got some serious chatting time in! :)

Our biggest outing so far...the Charlotte Ultraswim Grand Prix!  

My cousin Ashley (the swimmer in the middle lane, below), is training for the summer olympics.  She recently had some incredible wins in open water swims in Florida, and will go to Portugal next month to swim for a spot in the 2012 Olympic 10k.  She has also been doing some (distance) pool swimming, and Laura and I were excited to catch her in a meet nearby!

See that looooong arm in the top of the picture below?  Yeah, that's her!  You can read a lot of articles right now about her long, consistent stroke and how well she is able to navigate the open water courses.

The announcer let us know at the end of this heat, Ashley's time put her in 8th in the world ranking for the 1500m free.  Um hello...awesome!  This is not an event in the Olympics for women, sadly...maybe someday!

Connor was very focused and quiet at first.  Then he started lifting his arms and we weren't sure what he was doing...til we realized he was mimicking Ashley's coach (at the other side of the pool!).  Shortly afterwards, he started getting his cheer on and was probably the loudest person in the stands...

Poor attempts at a spectator self portrait.  Love that Annalee's first swim meet was at 6 weeks!

Good luck in Portugal Ash!  We'll be cheering (loudly) from here!