Where in the world???

I know, I know, where the hell have I been? Good question. You want the long version or the short version? Short version, I've been all over. Work, Swimming, a little vacation and more work. I spent 10 days in CA and AZ filming some new videos. I also go to attend a NASCAR race which was quite the experience. I also got to spend some time in CA over Thanksgiving with the little guys. I will have some pics of them soon. Then there was swimming. To say we had an amazing finish is an understatement. We swam our tails off at the state meet after qualifying someone in every event. After Friday night we had swimmers in 8 of 12 events. The coolest part was that our lowest seed going into the night was 4th. And we came out of the night not lower than 4th in any of those events. For the first time ever I had two state champions. Our 200 and 400 free relays won and our 400 free relay swam the second fastest time in state history. To say we were proud would be an understatement. We ended 4th as a team which is one spot lower than I wanted, but it was a 3 way battle for 2nd - 4th. We swam very well.
Work has been work. I took a new job within Polaris but have not started yet as I am wrapping up the last projects from my old role.
What's next?? After a couple more weeks of work, I will be off for my European vacation!! Katie, her sister and I will be off for a couple weeks of tooling around Europe. We will land in Frankfurt on Christmas morning and then start a 10 day trip to Barcelona, Rome and London. I am so excited for the trip!
I will do some more detailed blogs about the last few months, but wanted to give everyone a quick update of my life. Although I think I talk to almost everyone that reads this, but updating every once in a while is fun.
And of course, look for the new installment of the holiday blog coming soon......

True Team State

Last night was the True Team State Meet. Stillwater had won all 6 meets since its inception in 2004. They did not win a seventh. We were down by 32 going into the last relay and had trailed the entire meet. The closest we got was 12 points at one point. Right before the last heat we got the diving scores and with those added in we had taken a 9 point lead. We knew our relays were better than theirs and when all was said and done, 2,339 to 2,310. Our girls swam so fast, and raced so well. We were so proud, and a little shocked that we actually did it.

Not only did we dethrone Stillwater , but we scored the most points ever by a winning team in the 7 year history of the meet.

Wow is all I can say.

Did I tell you about the elephants?

I can't believe I never did a post about the elephants! After we went to check out the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, we got one of the best parts of our trip. On the taxi ride there, we passed a herd of elephants hanging out on the side of the road. Our taxi driver said that if they were there on the way back, we could stop. Well we drove past the spot and did not see them, but luckily out my side of the car I spotted them back in some trees just off the road.

We were amazed at the size of these animals as they started to cross the road right in front of us.

The one bull elephants towered over the others and scared us so we were sure to keep our distance. These animals may be big, but they can move very quickly.

This is how close we got. It was close enough for me. African elephants are different from Asian elephants I that they have large tusks. We heard some stories of these animals attacking tourists who get to close, but also attacking other elephants who challenge their leadership in a herd. We were just fine this far away.

This was the bull elephant camped in the woods. What a cool thing to see, these amazing animals in their natural environment.