End of the School Year

It's hard to believe, but it is the end of the school year for Erik. We went to our third school swim carnival and are looking forward to another Carols Night in sun dresses or shorts since although it doesn't start until 6:30 at night, it's still 85-90 F, just the right temperature to put you in the Christmas spirit.

Actually, this year for the holidays, we are escaping to Tasmania with some friends from Seattle, in hopes of cooler days, so we can do some bush walking, kayaking and maybe even mountain biking. It's not that we can't do those activities here in Brisbane, but a 6:00 am start is pretty important and not exactly what we want during the holidays.

One of the things we can do here during the day is swim, and Erik has been doing quite a bit of that. He's pretty much to the end of swimming lesssons and close to starting swim squad. He joined the school swim club this term and has been swimming in races on Friday nights. The kids are grouped by previous times rather than age or gender, so the races are close and focus on individual improvement rather than finish place. They don't even tell the kids how they placed, no ribbons or prizes, they just post the times on a big magnetic board at the end of the lane. It's really a great system, especially for Erik, who's not that strong of a swimmer. However, he enjoys hanging out with his "mates" eating hotdogs, running around the school pool at night, and seeing his race times improve. Best of all was last night's "break up" (aka: end of the season) party where all the swim club kids had a free swim, relays, a junk food potluck, and a cannon ball contest. Despite his slight frame, Erik made quite a splash, much to the amusement of his friends.

In addition to swimming, we've also been doing some family mountain biking. Erik got a gear bike for his birthday and can ride some of the easier trails, which is fine with me. On the rare occassions that Erik is at a friend's or a birthday party and Mark and I are able to go mountain biking by ourselves, I always end up muddy with bruises and scratches all over my legs, not a good look when wearing a skirt at work! But it's fun and a nice change from the road bike. I'm hoping Erik and I will improve at the same pace, and we'll soon be stump jumping and cruising through the rock gardens with Mark.