That describes our day in a nut shell. A very busy nutshell!!
We arose at the crack of dawn, piled in the mini-van and hit I-95 north. Destination; Germantown, MD for the "fast" meet. Only the top three times of each age per event were invited to swim this meet. Nikolas made the cut for his 100yard back! What an honor! The "fast" suit was purchased, an extra cap purchased, preparations made. Warm ups were abominable... Utterly horrible. Michael and I sat there fuming, shaking our heads. This was not boding well.

9 and 10 year old warm up in the "other" pool. They began here and then moved to the main pool.

Coach Brent preparing the gang for what's to come!
It is the first time we haven't sat with him at a meet. He sat on the opposite side of the pool deck with the team. He was content sitting with fellow swimmers and friends playing cards, reading his book. He had his lunch and ate it. We just observed from across the way.

Small pre-meet discussion with Dad in the stairwell. Dad trying to psych N up!
He and the 2 other NOVA 9 year old boys checked in with Coach David and went to their respective spots behind the blocks to wait. They arrived a tad early but that's the norm for Nikolas.

At the block, pre-event. Posing for Mum, of course!
And then, he was off!! He had a fantastic start. A great first 50 yards, in fact. And then, I don't quite know what happened. He forgot to finish the race... He had a time improvement! I'll be positive about that and proud of that accomplishment for him. But it could have been so much more had he put a little more race into the last 50... He narrowly missed the 'A' time he was after but he did improve his time.

Next stop, American Girl Place. Newly opened in Tyson's Corner, we promised Mia that good behaviour during the meet would result in reward. She was tickled pink with her reward! Better yet, Mum brought her Mia dolly for her to escort around the store!! A few dollars later...

The Lego store!! Nikolas endured American Girl, he was allowed a stop at a store that interested him! A few more dollars later...
Mum got to stop at the scrapbook store on the way home!! Yet more dollars later. Surprisingly, less than either of the previous two stops!
And lucky Dad got to drive us to all these going's ons!! Lucky fellow, isn't he? Thanks Michael for chauffeuring us!