Finally something to celebrate!

A very nervous Chris before the meet starts

The boys show off the trophy to their fans!

Some of my favorite boys... especially the grown up one in the front!

These photos are from this weekend's High School State Swim Meet.  Chris' boys team overcame some crazy obstacles to end up with the third place trophy!  Third place in the entire state of Illinois!!!  This is a really great accomplishment as we are a serious swimming state with lots of fast swimmers.  Our program is smaller than many of the powerhouses in the state.  The "experts" in the swimming blogosphere have underestimated his team all year so that makes this feat even more exciting.  Last year they finished 14th- which was the highest ever in school history.  Now they can say they have a 3rd place trophy that will live in the high school for many years to come with each of the kids names on it. 

There were some really bad calls by the officials as well as a disqualification in the prelims of our 200 free relay.  It was such a roller coaster of emotions with very lows but ended on a very high note!  The school did a parade for the boys today and Chris was able to experience the festivities with the boys too.  I'm so incredibly proud of Chris and all he accomplished with these kids.  While it's the end of the high school season, we have big meets coming up for the club in the coming weeks.  Chris does get 2 hours back each day now that HS season is over though, so looking forward to having a few more minutes each day with him. 

It was so nice to have something else to focus on and celebrate after everything we've been through.  The meet itself is crazy.  In the midst of a blizzard, we had to drive towards the city to wait in line to get our wristbands.  We then waited in the gym for more than 6 hours to be admitted into the pool.  The meet lasted another 3 hours.  And that was just prelims on Friday.  Saturday was almost as long.  So, it's no surprise that I am still exhausted.  Still having some sleep issues... but working on it.  Thank you to everyone's comments on the last post.  Will share more later on all of that... want this post to be a positive one.  :)

Have a great rest of your night!