Doggie Power!

Abbie has adamently refused to wear her floaty suit in the pool, even though we were convinced that she'd actually be able to swim with the suit. Finally, tonight we said, "enough is enough." We physically forced the suit on her body and tossed her into the pool. She cried the entire time, "I don't wanna! I don't wanna!" She even cried while swimming across the pool from John to myself. After a few minutes of the torture, I let her get out of the pool and take the suit off. She sat for about two minutes, composed herself, and then demanded that we put the suit back on and announced, "I swim!" She had a blast swimming all over the pool tonight by herself with her floaty suit. She was delighted to surprise C.J. with her new talents when he got home from a friend's house. He was so surprised to find her off by herself in the water!

Abbie has a tendency to swallow pool water, so we taught her to keep her mouth closed, and it takes a great deal of concentration for her to accomplish the feat. It is so hard for her not to talk! So, she hums instead. Sometimes she has to swim to the side just so that she can get a burst of words out. That's our little chatterbox!

New Pool Tour: Station 2

Continuing the tour of our friends' new pools, we visited the Amos' house today. The boys loved climbing and jumping from their rock wall, and Abbie adored hanging out with Annie (who, incidently, she still refers to as Ginny). Ever since Abbie met Ginny at Christmas time, she has referred to almost every female friend of the family as Ginny. Liam's girlfriend is Ginny, and Annie is mostly consistently Ginny. Even Annie's sisters know who Abbie really means when she asks "Ginny home?"

Abbie Gets Brave

There's been a complaint about a lack of Abbie's involvement on the blog. So, here's a post dedicated to Abbie.

In the last week, Abbie has gotten brave. She never used to venture past the first step of the pool. She loved the water, but had absolutely no desire to be in over her knees. Abbie has since discovered the lure of the pool and will travel to deeper water with her father's aid. Dad is, hands down, the best swimming mate she knows.

Abbie practices her kicking with Dad. She is very proud of her newfound ability to kick and will practice in the wading pool during swim team practice and at the pool steps. The bigger the splash, the better the kick.








Abbie's latest activity is diving. She proudly holds her hands up above her head and then.... jumps... into Dad's outstretched arms. John reports a 50-50 success rate with Abbie keeping her mouth closed during her "dives."

Abbie loves the pool and water so much that this morning she retrieved her swimsuit from the hook in the laundry room and carried it around with her until we finally got around to going into the pool. As a loyal fashion-diva, she even knows exactly which swimsuit she wants to wear each day. Luckily, we got a couple of very good hand-me-down suits, so the princess can make choices.

Floating in the Heckman Lagoon

Last night, we had our inaugral swim in the Heckman pool. They have a cool fountain where you can sit behind it.

They have accumulated quite the collection of flotation devices, and the boys loved lounging around in them.



Abbie was worn out from the swim meet and spent most of the afternoon napping in Ethan's bed. She then moved on to the patio where she finished off the bowl of chips. She didn't want to go past the first step of the pool.

1st Swim Meet

C.J. and Brendan swam in their first meet of the season yesterday.

Brendan swam butterfly in the medley relay, individual freestyle, individual backstroke, and the freestyle relay. His relay team beat the competition both times, and he got a second place in the individual freestyle. He definitely shows more endurance this year -- there were no lane line breaks!



C.J. surprised us with a decision to join the team this year. Ironically, he was selected to swim the butterfly lap for medley relay and to swim the individual butterfly. Butterfly was one of the factors that caused him to quit the team last year; he was frustrated when the coaches told him to swim the stroke in practice when he didn't know how to do it. He's got the kick figured out this year and can turbo through the water with only the kicking motion. How do we know this? Well, at practice, he was instructed to just do the kicking and not the arm motion. The idea stuck in his mind, and he completed the first relay with only the kick. For the individual race, we showed him the arm motions. When he masters the timing of both motions, he'll be impressive! His other events were the individual freestyle and the freestyle medley.

The non-swimmers decided that a 4 hour swim meet in 100 degree weather with no shade and only concrete surrounding the pool was just a bit hot. We leaped into our own pool as soon as we returned home. Last year, a friend described swim meets to me as a day at the beach without the sand or the ability to go into the water. I think she summed it up well.

Enjoying Tahoe

I forgot my cable for uploading pictures, so no photos until we return home.

We arrived in Tahoe late Tuesday night. Yesterday, we headed out to Caples Lake over by Kirkwood to do some fishing. We were almost there when we came across (7th car later?) a major accident. It was car vs. 9 passenger van and not pretty at all. The car required the Jaws of Life. We waited thinking that the road might clear, but 9 ambulances later, and at least one fatality, and they decided to close the road for investigation purposes for 2 hours. A very friendly policewoman directed us to Echo Lake at the summit, so we headed there. It was gorgeous! The lake was 8,000 above sea level and at the start of a major hiking trail. We walked a bit of the ways up the hiking path and were able to get a great view of the Tahoe Valley and Lake Tahoe along with many other little lakes. The boys spent the afternoon fishing. They didn't catch anything, but everyone had a fun time.


Abbie enjoyed taking a walk with Rose, playing in the dirt, and eating strawberries.




Today, John and the boys took Aidan on a guided fishing tour of Lake Tahoe for his birthday. Success! C.J. and Brendan each caught one fish with John and Aidan getting two fish each. We are having trout for dinner tonight! The great thing about the guided tour is that they use sonar to find the fish (almost guaranteeing a catch) and they clean the fish. The boys had LOTS of fun and were so excited to break the spell of not catching any fish.



Abbie and I went for a few bike rides around Lake Tahoe while the boys were gone. We then decided to take a "rest" hoping that one of us would fall asleep. An hour later, it was apparent that the wrong one of us would fall asleep if we continued the quest. Abbie watched a bit of t.v. and I booked the flights for Craig's wedding. Yippee!!

Run Dad, Run

We celebrated Father's Day this morning at the Spirit Run. Unfortunately, the perfect family photo was a bit ruined by glare. Photshop anyone?

C.J. and Gramps ran together, completing the 3.1 miles in just over 32 minutes. Gramps doesn't think he'll be able to keep up with C.J. much longer. Brendan and John ran together and finished in 39 minutes.

Nana, Marci, and Abbie walked. Well, Abbie technically rode.

Pre-race stretching. 2 out of 3 going the same direction isn't bad...







Early in the race before racing partners were chosen.

Goodbye Baseball

C.J. and Brendan had their final baseball games of the season today. We forgot our camera, but we have a few photos from the archives. They both played for the A's. C.J. played AA, and Brendan played T-ball.

C.J. was a bit hit or miss at batting.

He bats left handed, but he throws right handed.

C.J.'s baseball strength is fielding. He made some great catches this year! In one game, he even had a double play.

He finished up the season this year playing left field and third base, but the coach played him quite a bit at first base throughout the season. C.J. even pitched two games (they started kid pitch at the end of the season), and he played catcher (a feared position last year) during two of the final games.














Brendan sure concentrates when he plays! In case you're wondering, the tongue technique is clearly inherited from his father. Brendan learned the alligator catch, and he always slid into home plate. His coach said that he was a very consistent and enthusiastic player. He was the first player on his team to get the "game ball."

In between Brendan's game this morning and C.J.'s game this afternoon, we hosted Brendan's team for an end of season swim party. The boys had a lot of fun in the pool. It was perfect pool weather - hot and sunny; not your typical Cassidy Pool Party (where's it's always cold, no matter the previous week's weather). The big hit of the party was, of course, the trophies. Coach gave every boy a bag of Big League Chew, which they all enjoyed. Coaches' advice for future years: whether you have an average player, or a superstar, always remember that the game is about having fun for your child.

Both boys would like to thank their dedicated fans: Mom, Dad, Abbie, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Liam, Ruth, Nana, and Gramps. Thanks for cheering for us this year!!