VSL Champs- July 27th- JMU

Champs was actually on July 27th so this is a little bit out of order, but hey...I'm luck to have time to blog about it! (The kids are currently at the beach with my parents- THANK YOU MOM and DAD!!!)  Alexis and Ethan have worked all summer for this moment.  Although we didn't do champs last year, they wanted to do it this season, so we did!  They are champs!  We arrived at the pool at 7am....and left around 11:30am.  Here are a few pics.....

Here are the highlights from the season.....Alexis and Ethan both got lots of 2-8th place ribbons for their events.  Alexis won her heat at Champs for Freestyle and so she immediately got a ribbon for winning her heat!!!!! YAY! Ethan's Freestyle time improved from 25.86 to 20.99; his backstroke time from 26.25 to 25.45!  Alexis's Freestyle time improved from 37.69 to 24.07!!!!; her backstoke time from 48.25 to 30.99!!!  The kids did AMAZING!!!! They really are great swimmers and what a sense of accomplishment for them to do something great!!! Congrats you two!  You did AWESOME!

July 31st....

Because the baby is breech and I am now 38 weeks to the day, Chris and I, along with the NP/MD's decided to try one more thing~ manually turn the baby with ultrasound.  I would be completely relaxed having to go under anesthesia with a slightly higher than 50% of turning him! This is me before leaving for the hospital....38 weeks to the day! I am the heaviest I've ever been...but only by several pounds.  I do feel pretty good though....and the baby is growing and moving ALL the time! I couldn't sleep very well last evening~ afraid I would oversleep and nervous I think and I did feel the baby moving like a tornado!!!  I pleeded with Heavenly Father that we need several small miracles to come quickly in the next week!  Little did I know we'd receive one today.

 After Chris dropped me off  just after 6am, he headed for his interview in TN/ I was put in a really huge, nice room.  I couldn't eat/drink after 9pm the night before so it took 2 tries to start my IV...ouch!  (18 gauge needles in the hand really hurt).  But I was brave and tried not to think about it!  A little after 7am, the MD (who is our bishop at church and I completely love and respect him- he's a WONDERFUL MD) came in to say that he need to do an emergency C-section now and then he'd come back and do the procedure.  I told him not to worry, to do whatever he had to do and I'd be here. LOL! He quickly checked by ultrasound to make sure baby was still in breech position and low and behold, he was head down! I couldn't believe it! He told the RN to cancel the procedure and that I would go home and he'd see me in the office next week....that easy! THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER!!!  Miracle granted.  I was beyond thrilled and within 10 minutes walking down the hallway to leave!!!  Hopefully he stays down and this little one is cooperative!!!!

VA Safari Park...July 26th.....

So we decided that we'd head down to Lexington to go to the Safari Park.  Hunter was not even 1 year old last time we were there.  Everyone had a blast!  We packed a lunch and ate there before seeing all the animals!  What a great day.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast!  Christina, Chris and I enjoyed ourselves as well!  Here are a few pics of our day!  

 These cute pot-belly pigs were not very old.....they were adorable!  Christina picked one up and it 'squeeked'!!!

 37 1/2 weeks here.....still feeling good for the most part! HA!

 Everyone in the bird house!

 This avery of birds was just amazing! They would sit right on your stick and eat the food!  This was one of my favorite spots of the day!

Little Dave and Bre.... 

 This was a baby kangaroo upclose we all got to pet!  So soft and gentle....very strong legs....

Love Hunter's smile here!  

 Here is a warthog.....

 Everyone is ready to go on the wagon ride to feed all the animals....Hunter, Alexis, Little Dave, Ethan, Haley and Bre....each with a bucket of food.....

 Ostrich.....peck and chomp.....peck and chomp.......

 Camels.....very hungry and strong.....watch out....they will take your entire bucket and eat everything!

 Love this one of Little Dave with the Llama behind him! So cute!!!!

 This was an elk.....coming right in beside Haley!!!!

 We fed the bison right out of our hands....their tongues are wet and leathery....Alexis told me!

 Turtles can live over 100 years old...I wonder how old this one is!?!

July 25th....

Christina came down for several days to spend some time together.  I was glad to see them.  Since the baby is breech, I told her I needed to do several things to get this baby to turn.  First, I layed tilted with my head down, feet up.  I was in this position several times for 10-15 minutes at a time.  Although I felt lots of 'blood rushing to my head' and 'heartburn'....not so much baby moving.....

 Next, according to the NP's...I needed to burn these Moxibustion sticks....I swear they stink like weed burning.  It was aweful!  It's a good thing we were outside doing this.  I needed to get my pinkie toe as close to the burning sticks as I could stand.  I did burn my toes a little and lots of movement and I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what the heck we were doing....and they could smell something interesting coming from our house!!!!! LOL!   All of these techniques are to get the baby to move into a head down position. 

 Later on that evening, the Shark Banquet was at the local High School.  It was lots of great food and great company with Luke and his mom, Stephanie!!!  These two are great buddies!

 Alexis received her Shark sweatshirt and a 2013 star for completing her 2nd year as a Shark.  Her award said, "Shark on the Loose".  She is really getting fast and practicing hard for Champs in 2 days!  Go Alexis....we are so proud of you!

 Here is Ethan with his award which read, "Can I get some of that Energy"award.  He also received a shark sweatshirt and 2013 star for completing his 2nd year!  Way to go Ethan....Keep swimming fast and practicing for Champs coming up!

 I love my neices' smile in this picture!  She sure is growing up and she's so beautiful!  Bre- Thanks for coming and visiting us and sharing your smile!  It's contagious!!!!  Alexis- your smile is so adorable here too! I love you sweetheart!!!!

 Here is a picture Hunter took of my sister after eatting our delicious meal!  I was so happy to not have to cook! LOL! Thank you Christina for coming and celebrating this occasion with us!

 Alexis with one of her coaches for this season~ Ms. Harris.....

 Here is another coach- Coach Matt.....everyone calls him Coach Curly.... b/c of his locks of curly hair!

 Hunter was ready for bedtime at this point! I love you buddy!  Smile!!!!

Last Swim Meet....#5

Broadway VS ERRA....we only got to do 31 events and then a thunderstorm came and they called the meet!  The kids were able to do their backstroke and Ethan and Alexis each in a relay!  This was the last swim meet before Champs at Godwin Hall at James Madison University!  They had fun!!! Here are a few pics....Chris was a timer for the first half....I watched the kids....Hunter was a good sport while he watched.......eatting some popcorn!