THE PAGNOZZI FAMILY: June 2015

We had such a great trip to Vegas last year that we decided to go back. This time our great friends the Greens joined us and Ricky's friends the Arnolds also made it. We decided to stay at the Linq. After many hours of researching I thought it was the best choice. It was newly renovated and the location was perfect. It was center to ALL the stuff we wanted to do and great entertainment. It was also very affordable. Everyone arrived at different times. We got there Thursday 9pm ish. Before we could head to the Airport we dropped the kids off with Lynn and Gary. Thanks to her or this would not be possible. She loved having them and they had such a great time. She definitely kept them busy. We flew out of Austin since the Airport was about 20 min away from Lynn.
We got there around 9pm and jumped right into the action. Ricky gambled at his favorite dumpy casino and we watched the Piano bar at Harrahs. We didn't get to bed till about 4am.
Friday we walked the strip a little, had lunch and did a pub crawl with turnt up tours. It was a fun night of bar hopping. I have to say the music was very hard to dance too. It was not stuff I heard before and very techno. The bars get super crowded. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. It's definitely and experience.
Saturday Ricky and I saw Rock of Ages. It is my favorite show I have seen in Vegas. The music and story line was great. The energy was high. We had some people behind us that would not stop talking. Ricky told an attendant and we were moved to 3rd row!!! After the show we met up with the Greens and rode the high roller. it's a big, slow moving ferris wheel. We bought the all you can drink package. The bar tender was great, even though there were about 18 of us in the cart, everyone got plenty of drinks.The view from the top was incredible. You saw Vegas all lit up. It was about a 30 min ride. A great way to start the night!! After we gambled, piano bar and went to my favorite outside bar and just danced. So much fun!!!! Sunday we explored the outside pool. It had a very fun atmosphere with a DJ. After we ate at Paris buffet. It was so good!! At night we saw Myster a Cirque show. The talent is incredible. The rest of the night was pretty relaxed since we were headed home on Monday.

Getting ready to board our plane for Vegas!!

Carol and Alan - We had such a great time with them.

Not really sure what's going on here....lol

Frozen hot choclolate....YUM!!

With Rock of Ages character. Awesome show!!

Tower for the Ninja Warrior. It's so tall!!

Frozen - Hot Coco - yum!!

The end of swim is always bittersweet. We are so glad to be able to sleep in (practices were from 7-8:45 Tue-Fri). It's also nice to get our Saturdays back. Having to be at the meet at 6:45 till 2 was very draining.
We will miss our swim family though. We had such a great time every Sat. Visiting, volunteering and making new friends.
Everyone was so great. Especially the swimmers. They were there to compete, but at the same time cheered each other on and wished each other good luck. The sportsman ship was amazing.

Ricky:
He had his best season. He was actually there to compete this year. I think part of it had to do with if he did not try his best he would have to pay back 1/2 the fees. In the past 4 years he has grown so much. In most races he was in the fastest heat. Which was always nerve wracking bc you knew he was with the best of them. In butterfly and freestyle he was usually seeded high. For awhile he was 2nd on our team, The Northpointe Shockwaves for butterfly. Which is incredible, bc it is such a hard and tiring stroke. In most meets he gave it his all. Of course we were ecstatic if he won, but we just wanted him to beat his own time. He always swam butterfly and free. Usually breast sometimes back. They were his weaker ones. He was always in the medley and freestyle relay. Sometimes A sometimes B team. All the main boys were very fast, so being on A or B usually didn't matter. The seeded time difference was just buy a few seconds. Always a close race. He did get an individual medley one meet. He was extremely nervous. It's where you swim all 4 strokes in a particular order. He did really good!!! He had one of the top 3 times.
Our last meet was Divisionals. He did not want to be there and it definitely showed in his swimming. Due to rain delays we were there from 6:30-5. It was a very long day. I can't blame him. From his group of boys he was one of the very few that got both relays. If he wasn't going to swim his best in individual events, he had a ton of pressure to swim his best for the relays. He was so nervous, but he did great. We are looking forward to 2016 when he will be swimming 50yards vs 25 meters.
Times: Back 25.04; breast 23.70; butterfly 19.63 (4th on team), free 16.28 (tied for 3rd).

Hana:
I really have no words for Hana's season. She did amazing! There are so many girls in the 7/8 age group that I went in with the mind set if she is somewhere in the middle she is doing great. Some of these girls were year round swimmers and there's just no competing with that. I love her attitude. I don't think she even cared what was going on. All she knew is once that buzzer went off she needed to dive in and swim to the other side. Most of the time she would get out and leave with out getting her time. She had no desire. Sometimes she had a lil bribe from dad. I loved how towards the end when swimmers would tend to slow down Hana just turned up the gear and went a lil faster. Especially on her strongest stroke, the butterfly. She was put in both free and medley relay. Which is a great accomplishment in her age group bc of the amount of girls. At divisionals they only swam their A team and Hana made it for both relays. We were so excited for her. They came in 1st on free and 2nd on Medley (Hana had butterfly). Hana had definitely taught me a valuable lesson. No matter what the competition, experience of others, or how many people you are up against, just run your own race. That is exactly what she did and she excelled. So proud of her!!
Times: Butterfly 24.73 (1st on team). This was not an easy accomplishment. She had to beat a girl that was very good and a year round swimmer.
Back 28.89 Free 20.76 (4th on team). Breast - she never swam breast, but 1 time which she disqualified in.

The hardest thing about swim is that if you don't get the right start, right dive or your sun drenched or ate to much, all these things can effect your time.

NORTHPOINTE SHOCKWAVES ARE UNDEFEATED IN THEIR DIVISION!!!!