First Swim Meet

Saturday was our first swim meet with our new year-around swim team, Lighthouse Aquatics. Zachary has really enjoyed swimming, except the water getting cold. I will say there are many days he goofs off and acts like he is Nemo, with one arm swimming or a submarine by bobbing up and down (Attack on Pearl Harbor book) as he does backstroke, but all of that resulted in the unexpected Saturday.

He dropped 10 seconds off his backstroke and nearly swam it in under a minute. Just missed it by 2 seconds. And then is freestyle, he swam in 54 seconds. He tried all summer to be faster and could not get it in under a minute. I was so excited for him that I got tears in my eyes. I'm not sure how he felt. He wanted to know what place he was in and did he get Reserve time, which doesn't actually apply to year-around swim. Maybe that will encourage him to continue practicing. Nonetheless, we are super proud of him! Even John was surprised and proud!

Video of his freestyle race. Notice the not too bad dive. He is in the orange cap.

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Kirby picnic

In October, John's company, Kirby, had a family picnic. I made Zachary ride the pony. I think this will be his last year. He was huge compared to the other children. The boys (Zack's friend Joseph came with us) enjoyed a little line tossing. Always a favorite at the Kirby picnic. As well as the face painting and unlimited desserts. We were fat and happy when we left.

The best part was that Lauren was in town and came with us. Also, we got to tour a tugboat that John was intimately involved in the design. So proud of him. Isn't it pretty!?!

??? and Luigi

Can you guess who Zachary decided to dress as this year? Mario from Mario Brothers. He's already declared he needs to dress as Luigi next year. The best thing about this costume is that is cost me $1. I had the hat and gloves, bought the red shirt for winter clothes anyway, and made the "M" and mustache. There was even an outline online to use for the official M and mustache...super easy. And Zachary was happy, so I saved $29 and the hassle of going to Party City.

So here was the best part about Halloween. Zachary has never really been a big candy eater, which I guess I should count my blessings. Anyway, over the weekend, he declared he liked Snickers, Hershey's, Reese's cups, and M&M's. So I made a point to get him a few in case he didn't' get any candy he liked at the church. Low and behold, when we got to the church, he declared he liked Kit Kat and Twix too, as well as a few others. He was so excited this year to get candy. He won cookies at the church, and then we got popcorn and lemonade. After we left the church, I said he could eat whatever. We already had dinner, and here is a child that never partakes much in candy, so why not. He ate 4 little pieces plus the cookies, then we went to swim team. They had cupcakes, so he had one of those too. At home, I surprised him with his four favorite candies. He said, "can I have them now!?!" He was thrilled with my idea of getting to take candy in his lunchbox.

Zachary reminds me of how the little things can bring such excitement.

Happy Fall Y'all! 23 days till T-day!

Autism Walk 2011

The weather was beautiful, the walkers excited, and lunch after was fantastic...and all in the name of autism research. I'm not sure if it was me, but the crowd overall seemed a bit smaller. Nonetheless, Zachary's Angels made a good showing. We raised near $10,000 thanks to many regular supporters. Here is the team for 2011...

The Salazar bunch, with baby Stevie

The Schulze Family

The Melching Family

Of course my parents made it, as well as our long-time friend and therapist Alexis T. We finished up our hard morning workout walk with lunch at Lupe Tortillas. We all enjoyed the food and cool weather.

Way to go Zachary's Angels. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past several years!