On Friday before fathers day we had a luncheon at the kids school. They had made cards for me and some other presents and we got to all have lunch together. The kids have now become water rats. They are really enjoying swimming in the pool and it is now hard to get them out. Alex wears his mask and is swimming well on his own. Ellie just puts on her float belt or water wings and floats around the pool on her own not worried if she ends up on the other end of the pool from me. She spends her whole time smiling saying "look at me, look at me" which is her new favorite phrase. She also loves to walk around telling everyone who will listen "I'm a princess!"
On Saturday, June 20 I participate in the Flowers One Mile Sea Swim. It is a huge annual event here that had almost 750 swimmers. There was a large number of swimmers from all over the world including a large contingent of kids from Australia and lots of current and past Olympians. Check out the web site for details on all the Olympians as well as the results. It was cool to swim against the likes of Ian Crocker, Neil Walker, Anthony Nesty, Kirsty Kowal and others. Ryan Lockte was here on the beach chatting with swimmers and posing for pictures but did not swim as he is prepping for World Championships in a couple months. The water is warm and crystal clear and there is lots of prize money as well as loads of raffle give-aways at the end for all finishers. I hadn't swum a stroke in over two months and had a slight course misunderstanding. I thought the buoys marked the course and I had to stay seaward of them. After about a half mile it finally occurred to me that everyone else was swimming just off the beach and I was actually off the course. I had to head back in to shore. I still managed a 71st finish so there is lots of room for improvement next year. The race was won by Shaune Fraser, a local swimmer who now swims for University of Florida. He recently won the NCAA 200 free and fly with a NCAA record for the fly. His brother was close behind who is also at Florida. Anyone who is a swimmer or wants an excuse to head down here should come swim next year. After the swim we had fun playing on the beach hoping to win a raffle prize. After living on the beach for seven weeks and showing no interest in swimming at the beach Alex has suddenly taking to the waves. One of his best friends from school Zeke was there as his mom had done the swim. They kept the entire beach entertained running naked up and down the beach and through the waves. The sight of me chasing them down the beach shouting at them to stop brought a lot of chuckles from beach-goers.
The rain has become more regular but we have only had one day when it rained all day. It rains a lot during the night and is nice during the day. The rain at night brings out the frogs and the chorus is deafening. The rain has also brought out the land crabs. We had a large one trying to get in our back door the other night. We figured he lost his way after a big night out. A friend of Emma's works on the Humane Society Animal hot line so we called her and she explained it is time for the land crabs to come out. We did not find out whether we should help them find their way into our kitchen!
We just learned that Latha arrives on Saturday evening, so July 4 will be a true Independence day for us! Our offer on a home has also been accepted. We still need to have a survey done and get the financing, but it is looking good. We will be planning to move in during October when our lease here runs out. The house is across the street from the ocean, a short stroll to town and has a huge yard and pool. It is just one block from Eden Point, which is the best snorkel ling spot on the island. We will keep you updated on the progress of the sale and then we look forward to seeing everyone.
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