Swimming and Earth Day

The kids competed today at the ULTRA. Warm up competition for Singapore most likely. It was a hot, hot HOOOOOOOOOT day! Incredibly hot, it was unbelievable!!! Sheesh! We were up early since Japa and I went with the kids because Romy was bringing Kocet and Sibred to the airport.

So at 720 am, we were settling ourselves on the concrete bleachers in front of the pool. Good thing there was SOME shade, so there was a little bit of respite despite the heat. And in true Filipino style, instead of the 830 am start time, it was at 9 or 930. Grrrr!

Here are the kids' events and their times:

Raegan
200m freestyle - 2:50 (2nd in her heat)
100m breaststroke - 1:39 (4th in her heat)
200m IM - 3:11 (1st in her heat) [splits: 0:43-0:50-0:55-0:43]
50m free - 0:35.18 (2nd in her heat)

Rogan
50m backstroke - 0:49.48
100m breaststroke - 1:55.81
200m IM - 3:46 (5th in his heat) [splits: 0:53-1:03-1:03-0:47]
50m free - 0:38.41

Raine
50m backstroke - 0:47
100m breaststroke - 1:55.40
200m IM - 3:56
50m free - 0:41 (4th in her heat)

Reese
200m freestyle - 2:59 (4th in her heat)
50m backstroke - 0:43.48
200m IM - 3:25 (1st in her heat)

Rielle
200m freestyle - 3:44
50m free - 5th in heat
100m breaststroke -

All of them were in the 12 and under category. Yes, you just KNOW my eyes are rolling, hehehehe. We didn't stay to even take pics of the final times and places, it was THAT hot! We just wanted out of there! Hopefully, the coaches will have everything!

{EARTH DAY}
We celebrated Earth Day with the rest of the world for the very first time. The original plan was a SIMPLE dinner in the middle of the garden, surrounded by candles. The meal was equally simple: fried chicken, hotdogs and burgers.

But our dear mother decided she was going to have a thanksgiving mass said for dad.......and lola invited the rest of the clan. So our simple dinner turned out into a party, pretty much, lol. With a buffet spread of so many foods, I don't know where to start the list!

Oh, and yes, the lights went off at exactly 830 pm. Mom had torches set up around the garden, so we had some light. We also had a couple of fans turned on; it was too hot without any air circulating at all. We tried in the beginning, but it was really stifling. The whole house was lightless, with the sole exception of Dad's room, for obvious reasons.

A few minutes after 930 pm, the lights went back on. Lola kept a very careful eye on her watch; she wanted the hour to be just an hour, hehehe. But it was a good feeling to have that we were one with hundreds of thousands in the world dedicated to take this little step in the fight against global warning. It was also heartwarming to have just family around, chit-chatting about our lives, about our families.

It would be interesting to know what the total wattage or whatever the Earth Hour people use to measure how successful this hour of no-light is, and what the effect is for the planet.

Here's to Mother Earth!