You found it Facebookers

you found the right place, now all you have to do is leave a comment. What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were heading off to school? What's the one piece of advice you wish someone had given you? Can't wait to hear these! thanks for your participation. D

dear john,

shoot. bad day from the get go for jake. he got up early to run before school, and had to do it in a downpour. then his car wouldn't start. then he got.....'the letter'. a literal 'dear john'. wasn't expecting to hear from Emerson until early april, but got the very polite rejection today. they said it was a very competitive field, yadda yadda yadda. he actually took it pretty well and i think he's very nearly convinced himself that iowa is his choice. since he hasn't really applied anywhere else (besides northwestern which is a pretty major longshot) it looks like this is it. let's hope the visit goes well on tuesday and he's completely convinced.

spring break

it's been a great run, but i think this may have been our last spring break in anna maria for a while. the people who own the house we rent have decided they're going to do monthly rentals vs. weekly, which means no more house. i think the boys have kind of outgrown the spot anyway.....they seemed a little bored - even with stephen dorff along (new meat!). while i love spending day after day reading on the beach, i don't think it's necessarily their cup of tea. they did go jetskiing one afternoon, and had a good time although there were a few complaints of soreness the next day:) perfect weather for almost all ten days, just one day of rain- St. Patrick's Day. Brady's birthday was fun, and the parade was perfect - short! an elephant, a pirate ship, shriners, a couple of high school bands, done. all in all, pretty mellow...pretty lowkey.....maybe it's good though since there's so much stuff in store in the next couple of months.

senior state

o.m.g. that's all i have to say about senior state. jake had the best meet of his life. plain and simple. looked unbelievably strong, so fun to watch, so fun to hang out with. he was super relaxed and looked like he was having a blast. the team all seemed to 'hang' well together...no drama...just fun. well, a tiny bit of drama - surrounding the lzr! the mighty mend glue i got- thinking it was the answer to all our problems - wasn't. not even close. the real answer, black fingernail polish and duct tape (thanks ankeny high coach) - worked like a dream and got the suit through three nights of competition. the weekend is going to be a really special memory for me, and i hope for him too. he broke 3 lincoln records, but won't get credit for it since it happened after h.s. season. he'll always know, even if nobody else does:) a small part of me kind of wishes he'd continue swimming, that some school would come out of the wings at the last second and offer him some fabulous scholarship...well...it COULD happen:)
the rest of me, that isn't that small part of me, is ready for him to take on new challenges and to pursue his other dreams. i think he'll swim this summer, but i doubt that he's going to be as focused and in shape as he was for this meet ...here's the times he threw down!
IM - 2:03 (lincoln record)
500 free - 4:50 (lincoln record)
100 free- :48
200 free- 1:47
100 fly - :55 (lincoln record)
CIA won every age-group (except 15&over women) and won the whole meet by like a thousand points. way to go, again, CIA! and congratulations on a fabulous record-breaking (x3!) performance jake.