Mostly Swimming.

Whelp, our big excitement lately was a evening out to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream as put on by the high school, it was adapted to be a musical and set in the 20's and quite fantastic. And we went on an unauthorized tour of the remodel of the high school . That was entertaining.

Warm ups and last minute instruction.

Events, Heats and Swimmers list

The water slide.

A day later, Ed had his first swim meet as the assistant swim coach. The Madras Aquatic Center hosted it,  and there were a total of four teams competing. It was the first swim meet I'd ever gone to, and Ed's first where he wasn't the one swimming. I don't know if I'd call it fun, but I did enjoy it and look forward to future meets. I'm sure it'd be different if I had a kid who was swimming, or more involved with the team in someway, however, I pretty much just sat there munching on the snacks provided to the Coaches. I was happy to cheer on the CAC team, but since I don't know any of the kids it was rather uneventful for me. Perhaps next time I'll volunteer as a timer (they needed 3 per lane!), or help out with recording the swimmers times or something. Be a little more involved myself.
I've never spent any time in Madras, (for those who don't know, it's about an hour away from where we live) besides driving though on our way over the mountains. I was fairly impressed with the Aquatic Center though. It has two indoor pools, the full sized pool that was in use for the laps, and a kiddie pool. They also have an impressive water slide into the kiddie pool, it's at least two stories high and wraps around a few times. I want to go swimming in Madras just to go down the slide. (Little known fact: swim meets.. include a lot of splashing...very wet tables.)

We then decided to drive from Madras to Bend to attend a surprise party for my brother. He was expecting a gathering of friends for the Duck game, but he wasn't expecting all the decorations and cupcakes and group of people yelling "Happy Birthday" at him when he opened the door. That was also a fun night out of the house. Lots of good food, disappointing Ducks game (the first they've lost this season I believe) and the to counter the pain of the the Ducks loss, they decided to watch one of the (UFC?) fights that was on. I couldn't tell you much about it as I spent the whole time entertaining a 2 year old who was enjoying beating me up. Got kicked in the face, choked out and bit.. but the little guy was exhausted by the time we left so it was time well spent.

Scenes from Dan's Party.

And that's all the news from me. I'm still not having any luck getting employed, but Ed is having fun and being successful at the pool. After the swim meet, the Coach he works with went to look up Ed's swimming times on the Oregon Swim site, and his best time that was listed (but not his over all best time) was 58.35 for the 100 Fly which was his stroke when he swam. The Coach was quite impressed with it (2012 Olympic qualifying times are 55, 57 seconds.) and actually had Ed teach a Fly lesson all day yesterday. He is so cute when he tells me about the kids he's teaching and his lessons "click" and suddenly kids who couldn't do a legal stroke, have pretty decent stokes that they won't get disqualified for.

Times from just one meet.

No big plans for Thanksgiving for us. Family is all over the place this year so I think it will be just Ed & I and his parents. We have Kirk in charge of the turkey and stuffing I believe. KD will be making a side dish and a dessert, and I'll be making side dish and a dessert. Ed wants the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie cookies I made last New Years. And I'm thinking about this Escarole Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Red Wine Vinaigrette, but 1.) I don't know if I like escarole as I've never even heard of it, let alone had it, and 2.) I should check with the others eating it before I decide to make it. KD asked if I knew how to make Green Bean Casserole so I think she may want that. I've still got a day to decide anyway.