House Progress, April 2014

Finally taking some pics of the house as it goes up.  Been bad about that this time.  Here you go!

 Lower level bar 

 Lower level bar, pool table lights, entrance to guest room

 Master closet light

 Interior doors

 Foyer

 French doors to office

 Front

 Front (hasn't been painted!)

 Front doors

 Great room

 Great room

 Guest room

 This heart (with wings??) was perfectly preserved in the dust.  A sign?  

 Back stairs to lower level

 Master bedroom

 Master vanities

 Max's room

 Max's vanities

 Beginning of office built ins

 Card table area

 Pool table lights

 Porch

 Powder room light

 Stone

From bar into theater room

Ohio Junior Olympic State Swimming Championships- March 7-9, 2014

When I say that Max has had a great year swimming it's really an understatement.  He just keeps getting better and better and I know it's from all the hard work he puts into practice.  On more than one occasion a parent has come up to Chris or me and said "Max is always working hard!".  He just loves the sport!

This year Max made 5 individual state cuts for the Junior Olympic Championship Meet that was held at Ohio State in early March.  Pretty big stuff and he was excited to go!  Besides the 5 events he also got to swim two relays with his teammates.   It was a long weekend (yes, he even had to miss school!) filled with not only swimming but also hanging with friends, staying up late, playing in the hotel pool (cause you know, we don't get enough swimming around here), taking breaks during the afternoon at the movies and fun restaurants, buying neon sweatshirts to commemorate the event, and so much more!

Since I print this blog every year I want to type out Max's events and time for record keeping purposes. These are the individual events he swam, his best time going into the meet, and the time he swam at the championships:

100 yd Backstroke:  Best time- 1:20.08    State Meet time- 1:17.21
50 yd Butterfly:  Best time- 36.53     State Meet time- 36.56
200 yd IM:  Best time- 2:55.27     State Meet time- 2:51.51
100 yd Butterfly:  Best time- 1:20.90 (after dropping 7 seconds just two weeks ago!)  State Meet time- 1:20.48
50 yd Backstroke:  Best time- 37.89 (back in December!  He hasn't been able to break 38.00 since then)  State Meet time- 37.34

So he had personal bests in 4 of the 5 with the 5th really being about the exact same.  It was a great meet to watch and Max loved every second.  Three times over the weekend he said to me "I cannot believe I'm really here" as if he just kept realizing the gravity of it all.  It was adorable.  He made a ton of memories and we were so proud of him and all he has accomplished.

After his last event of the weekend he changed into his clothes, grabbed his gear, and came up to find us in the stands with tears in his eyes.  We were confused because it was such an amazing weekend for him and we knew how much fun he had.  His reason for crying?  "I don't want this to be over!"  (He's a sap!  :)  Just goes to show how much heart he has in this sport and not just because he loves to race but also because of the respect he learns for himself, his peers and his coaches and for the awesome friendships he has formed over the last two years with this team.  It's a great place for Max to be!

To celebrate the end of the short course season the team hosted a banquet on March 17th.  Max was awarded the "Most Improved" for the second year in a row.  He coached gushed about how this was his first year in a faster training group and how Max proved himself to be one of the standouts in the fastest lane by working hard and improving all four strokes so well.  And it's true!  Hard work pays off.  No question!  According to USA Swimming, Max is the 13th highest rated 9 year old (overall!) in the state of Ohio!  How cool is that??

Here are a ton of pics I took at Ohio State… Enjoy!

 Heading into McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion at Ohio State.  

The first point where Max said "I can't believe I'm really here!"

 First event complete.  Best time in the 100 Back.

 Friends and Teammates.  Max, Ryan, and Keaton

 After the 200 IM.  Dropped nearly 4 seconds!  

That kind in lane 5 looked like he could have been 13!!!  

 Relay Team!  Ryan: breast, Keaton: free, Max: fly, Jacob: back

 The boys on deck and pumped for the 200 Medley Relay (see that kid in the yellow cap?  That's the kid Max had to race all weekend… supposedly he is 9 or 10?  What??)

 Ryan coming in from his 50 breast, Max waiting to dive in for the 50 fly...

 Coming in on the fly...

 Keaton waiting for Max to hit the wall so he can do the 50 free.

 Racing in the 50 Back (Max is closest to the bottom of the pic with the "Olympic Gold Glitter" goggles, of course.  Ryan Lochte style.)

He touched third…

State Regional Championships- 2014

Wow.  What a weekend.  Max has had a super swim season for short course and it's not over yet.  He started the season as an 8 year old and at his last meet at that age won the boys high point award.  Then he aged up to the 9-10 bracket and at the first meet in December swam the 50 backstroke so fast that he qualified for the Junior Olympic State Meet (JO).  Seemed like a great start, right?

The next meet at Miami University he got another JO in the 100 back!  He began to question if he were actually going to be a backstroker (everyone always tells him his is a butterflier).   Don't worry though, after a week long break at Christmas he was back at it with meets nearly every weekend in January.  He got his JO cut in the 50 butterfly next and inched closer to the cut in a few other events…

At the Cincinnati Marlins meet he earned the JO cut for the 200 IM and just barely (.3 seconds!!) missed the cut for the 200 freestyle.

All of this for a kid who just aged up; we were thinking it really couldn't get any better!
I mean all these JO successes are just the icing on the cake for all his hard work, dedication, wonderful friendships, discipline, exercise and happiness!  We love that he loves to swim.

So all the while we are gearing up for the JO Meet at Ohio State in March we had to make a "non formal" end to the short course meet season with a full three days at the State Regional Meet.  And I do mean three.  full.  days.  Like 11 hours a day at the pool.  For real.

Max had fun.  He played with friends.  He danced.  He made videos on his iPod.  He ate crappy food.  He swam.  He succeeded!  He earned a medal in every single event he swam; that's 7 in total.  This includes TWO first place medals in the 200 free and the 100 butterfly.  It was a great three days.  But the greatest moment of all came during the very last event of the very last day… the 100 fly.

Max had already swam the 100 IM twice that day as well as the 100 free and one 100 fly.  It was the last ditch effort for him, the 100 fly.  We weren't even sure his legs would hold.  We were about to fall asleep in the stands!  He headed into finals seeded first from prelims earlier that day.

He seemed nervous, and I've never seen that in him before.  He stood up on the blocks as they announced his name and shook out his arms.  I saw him take two huge breaths before "taking his mark".  Really, he is usually so relaxed.  The horn blew and the boys raced…

At the 50 yard mark Max was in second place behind his competitor, Jack Agnew.  (they have become friends since they compete so well in many area meets)  At the 75 yard mark Max all of the sudden took off!  We weren't sure if he was really going THAT fast or if the other kids had just slowed so much!  It's an exhausting race, I'm told.  Four laps of straight butterfly!?  After that though, it was over… Max absolutely flew.  It was an awesome race.  He touched the wall and the timer stopped.  1:20.90 was his time.  A 5 second drop from prelims and a 7 second drop from last time he swam!  I cheered!  The whole crowd cheered.  In fact they seemed to be cheering "too much"!  I turned to my friends and little confused and they said "HE DID IT!" and I said "YES!  First place!!!!"  They all yelled "NO!  He got the JO!"  I was baffled!  That wasn't even on our radar since going into the day he would have needed to cut 7 seconds.  I checked the time again and referenced the JO cut sheet.  In fact he beat that cut time by 3 whole seconds!!!!!  I turned and looked at him still in the water catching his breath and screamed "YOU DID IT!!!!" and he gave a thumbs up and a huge smile!!!!  It was literally amazing.

He walked over to his coach who got down on a knee and gave him a big high five.  Max said he told him "Big Max showed up!"  :)

Then I cried.  Chris cried.  Friends and teammates congratulated him.   It was quite a moment.  We are so proud.  He is truly the hardest worker and loves everything about the sport.  What a moment for him!  If only we had it on video.  Thankfully I did have my camera and took many pics of the race.  Here are just a few…

Tied for second during the first 50 yards.

Pulling ahead during the 75.

Last lap of the 100 yards and making a big move.

Way ahead now near the end.

 

Checking his time with a surprised look on his face.  He won by 3 seconds!

Encouragement and kudos from Coach John.

Look out, Ryan Lochte!  ;)  Max Christensen is on your tail...

Celebrations at the End of 2013… and Cheers to 2014!

We always have a very busy and eventful end to our calendar years…  I never have enough time to blog each event so a "wrap-up post" will have to do.  I'm not really sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore but it's where I document life so here I go...

In late November Max had one last swim meet as an 8 year old.  It was held at the Dayton Raiders Aquatic Center.  His "rival" from Buckeye Swim Club, Chase, was there as was his other "rival", Jack from Kettering.  It was such a fun meet for Max.  He kicked booty and was later recognized for his hard work by winning the 8 and Under Boys High Point Award for collecting the most points (as scored by placing in events) of all the 8U boys.  It was a terrific end to his "8 year old career".

November 30, Max turned 9.  (9!?!?!?!)  He was most excited about one thing regarding turning 9; he no longer had to report to the "clerk of course" at swim meets.  This is where 8 and under swimmers have to go to line up about 30-45 minutes prior to their next event.  It's always in a far-off room, away from everyone else, and they just sit there waiting to be lined up to swim.  It helps to keep track of kids who may not know what they are doing and it drove Max nuts!  So "woo hoo" for no more clerk of course!

We had a small party to celebrate Max turning 9.  Six friends came over on Dec. 1 for a "snowman breakfast" complete with pancakes, eggs, bacon, donuts and chocolate milk.  Afterward we all went to see "Frozen" at the movie theater, wearing our pajamas.  Max loved every minute.

On December 5th, Chris and I celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary.  We exchanged silly cards and gifts and went out to dinner that night… after Max's swim practice of course.  :)  Not a lot of fan fare with this anniversary but that's what happens when you're busy enjoying "life".  Happy 15 to us!!

In mid-December there were two swim meets before the holiday break, and Max was now swimming in the 9-10 age group.  At first meet, our home Winter Invite, Max swam fast enough to earn a Junior Olympic (fondly referred to as "JO") time in the 50 yard backstroke.  (you should have seen the dance he did when he found out).  Then at the big Miami University meet he earned another JO time in the 100 yard backstroke.  He is .96 seconds away from a JO in the 50 butterfly and 1.1 second away from the JO cut in the 50 freestyle.  He has a few more meets to make those cut times; he works so so so hard we can only hope it all pays off for him!  So in March we will be spending three nights at Ohio State for the JO meet.  Max is thrilled.  We will spend every weekend in January either at a swim meet or a basketball game, because that season is starting for Max as well!  Phew.

For part of Christmas break this year we traveled to Houston to see family.  We also had a dark cloud hanging over us the entire time.  Pretty much anything that could go wrong did, other than our plane crashing, thank God!  We headed to CVG the minute Max got out of school.  Traffic was so bad the we arrived 45 min before our plane took off, which is the cut off time for getting your bags on your flight.  From there it got worse.  Here is a run down of the chaos:
-I lost my drivers license and didn't know until trying to check in at CVG
-Had to get special permission (and extra pat downs) from TSA to be able to fly
-Once we landed at IAH we found out Max's luggage never even left CVG.  We were told it would be there the next day by noon.  They lied.  It finally showed up at 7pm Sunday night; we left Monday morning.
-Max had to wear mesh shorts and a dri-fit shirt and his slides everywhere, including to church.
-The chain in the toilet of the room where we were staying broke.  The floor flooded with water and carpet and padding had to be replaced.
-Chris shattered his iPhone completely and had to buy a new one.
-A lady behind me in line at the United ticket counter had a seizure and I had to call 911 on our return trip.
-More pat downs and security for me at IAH on our way home.

I think that is it?  I'm sure I'm missing something??  It was the weirdest travel experience ever but we still had a good time while we were there and Max loved playing with his cousins.

Once we were back home we had a family celebration on Christmas Eve, Santa came and surprised Max with fun gifts on Christmas Day, and we had two full weeks more of vacation thanks to the polar vortex (come on, is that a real thing or made up by the Weather Channel?) and temps below 0 for the two days school was supposed to start again.  We spent our time playing new board games, having friends over, staying up late, and building the Millennium Falcon from Legos.  Max said "I'm too old!" when I asked him if he wanted to go see Santa this year (cry!) but he did write him the sweetest letter before his visit on Christmas Eve… I wish I had known that last year was his last to sit on the old guy's lap!

 

 (Sweety, that he mentions in the letter, is his elf.  He fell on Christmas Eve while the boys were messing around.  Max was super worried that he wouldn't be back next year because he got knocked down.)

Our new house is coming along, despite the horrible winter (that started here in October!) so we are looking forward to that… and to all the other surprises and fun 2014 holds for us!  Cheers to a new year!