I want to thank you guys so much for humoring this proud mama as I post a few pictures of Rina at Zones. LOL! Oh, and of course, if you want to just jump ahead, I have my blog candy posted at the bottom.

Yesterday was the first day at Zones in Indianapolis. First, we checked-in, then it was off to a team meeting, team pictures and then a practice session.

When the kids from Team Wisconsin were all ready for their professional team picture, I ran up and snapped one too. LOL! Rina, (who is by far one of the smallest ones here,) is in the front row. She is sitting down, fourth from the left.



After their practice session, we got the four kids together who came from our local swim team to get a team shot to send back home on our Zones Blog.



Top row is Max- 14, Paige- 12
Bottom row is Greta- 10 and Rina- 10.
They are wearing their Team Wisconsin Jackets. (Rina sure is proud of that jacket. She made me write her name in sharpie on the tag inside.)

Last night we went to a great little Italian restaurant around the corner from the hotel for a little carbo loading. They had great manicotti, garlic bread and salad. Then, everyone went to bed except for me. I had to blog, of course. LOL!

This morning, we had a great breakfast and then it was off to day one of the meet.

After warm-ups, I snapped a picture of Rina and Greta down on deck munching on a quick granola bar before their session started.



Finally! It was time for Rina's event- 100 meter freestyle. Rina always prepares herself mentally while she's waiting at the block. Her coach, Angie, who we just adore, told Rina that "practice is 90% physical and 10% mental. Championship Swim meets are 90% mental and 10% physical."

Then, it was finally time!



And they're off!



And the big finish!



And that was it for the day. Rina took 1/2 second off her seed time. Her seed time was 1:14.01 and she swam a 1:13.32. She was seeded at around 70th place and took 56th place. She was happy with her swim. And we were so happy she was pleased.

Now for some blog candy!

For being so patient with me, putting up with all my proud Mommy moments and days of no blog posts knowing I've been traveling all around at swim meets, let's have a BIG blog candy giveaway! How about a whole box of Copic Markers!! Just leave a comment here and I will randomly choose a winner on Monday who will win a whole Box of Copic Ciao markers. (If you already have all the Copic markers, you can trade them in for a set of 4 nestabilities. (Or even if you'd just rather have the nestabilities, that's okay too!)

So, I may not get a chance to post again before Monday. If I do, it will be my beautiful gift from Tim Holtz. (Ooh, it's so pretty!) But if not, I will post that next week. Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Hugs,
Gina K.