Swimming Gala

What a fun weekend. The boys have been preparing for weeks now for their annual swimming gala (they pronounce it "galler" like pupils from a truly British run school). I bought some swim suits for the boys that are more suitable for racing than their humungous flame-decorated bermudas. We made them wait until race day to put them on. They looked like superheroes.

Hunter had been drilling the boys for two weeks on their starts, getting off the wall as quickly as possible once the whistle blows. There's still some room for improvement, but they worked hard, did their best, and had fun. I think the kids could really get into competition swimming as a sport. Especially Paulo. Andre needs some more instruction, but I was impressed with his ability to compete against children a year older than him.

Anyway, the highlights were that Paulo got second in freestyle and Andre got third in kickboard. They also had an adult race for the parents. I laughed out loud when I read that on the invitation. The boys begged Hunter to race though, and he was the only parent to race. He raced the swim coach and other male swim instructors…and won!! It was a close race and he didn't breathe the whole length of the pool when he realized he had some real competition.

One other funny note--they had a parents' race for the women as well. The MC was trying to call me out from the crowd but I had the baby, and I didn't bring swim clothes, so I said no. But you know what? Slowly but surely, four moms gathered next to the pool to participate, and they were fully clothed! I said, "Are you serious? They're going to race in their clothes?" And they did! They jumped into the water fully clothed. It was hilarious! Good thing I didn't come in my swim suit--I would have felt really dumb.

Anyway, it was a very fun and yet another very new experience to chalk up to our time in Kenya.