'Tis the season to be busy.

Swim season is here. Yes. Swim season. In the middle of winter. The school team has begun having meets. Swim meets are fun, but they aren't like football games or soccer games. Those events don't last six hours. A typical swim meet lasts all freaking day long.

Zaven and Caly went to the first meet of the season today. They left directly from school without coming home. They got home just after Caly's bedtime. Most meets aren't on school nights, but there will a few more that are. And there's a meet almost every weekend for the next two months. There's even one during the Christmas break. Many of them are away meets, which means that you have to add a few extra hours for transportation.

However, there are a few upsides to swim season. First off, Zaven and Caly get a ton of exercise. Not as much at the meets as they do at the practices, though. Most of the time spent at the meets is just waiting for their races. They're actually in the water for only two or three races each, so maybe 15 minutes plus the warm up time. But the daily practices get them a lot of exercise. The other good thing is the showers. We only have one bathroom in our house, so having the two older kids get their showers in the locker room every afternoon is pretty handy.

But all in all, it's just a busy, busy time. And they're in other activities, too. There's their teen mentoring program (they're the ones being mentored), chorus, cello, art club, Upward Bound, STLP (which stands for something unknown but involves Caly making videos every week after school), and of course the city swim team which is different from the school swim team. And for the city team, Zaven volunteers and helps train the beginning swimmers, so that means he stays for two daily sessions, not just one. Plus there's homework, chores, school dances, hanging out with friends, visiting family, and the time teens require to just veg out.

Fortunately for us, most of their other activities are just once-a-week sorts of events. The only thing that really takes up time is swimming. And despite how much time it takes up, I can't help but think that it's really, really good for them. It may kill me... but hopefully it will help them live healthier lives.