Berlin Bear-a-Cudas

Josie was officially accepted onto the swim team at school called the Berlin Bear-a-Cudas.  She left for school in the morning not knowing if she made the team so I was excited to tell her after school. 
Because the swim team practices 4 days a week we knew that if she were to make the team this would be her one and only after school commitment.  Both kids were interested in another club called Odyssey of the Mind.

If she didn't get a place on the swim team she thought she would try this club out and their trial meeting was on Wednesday after school.  It was a 2 hour meeting so Benjamin and I hoofed it back to school and met up with Josie in the appropriate class room right at 3.

Her first question was "did I make the swim team?"  I told her yes and she was thrilled.  But now came a tough decision.  Does she do a little bit of everything here (definitely her M.O. in life) or fully commit to one thing.  She decided to sit through the meeting so she could make a well informed decision. 
The first hour was just for kids so I walked into town and ran a few errands.  I headed back for the last hour.  Both kids seemed to be enjoying it and the bonus was that their new friends and neighbors, Aurora and Nils, were also at the trial meeting. 
After the meeting, however, Josie said she would rather commit to the swim team and Benjamin decided he didn't like it enough to be a part of the club.
Josie's decision to be on the swim team meant that that same night we had a mandatory swim team meeting back at the school at 6PM. Odyssey of the Mind finished at 5:15.  This did not give us very much time.  We raced back home, I made Benjamin some dinner.  Marty was still doing his radio show and we were off again. 
When we walked into the school cafeteria for the pizza party/meeting it felt like a big party.  The swim team is for ages 1st grade through high school and there are over 100 swimmers on the team.  There was music blaring and the cafeteria was nearly filled.  There was a handbook and some rules and they went over the structure of the program. 

One of her main coaches is the guy with the man bun
in the yellow long sleeve.
By the way, the number of man buns you
see here is kind of insane.  And all age boys and
men have them. 

They then broke out into their teams.  Josie is on Team 2.  The coaches talked with them a bit.  They picked a female and male team captains and then it was time for pizza.  And for the parents to sign up for volunteer positions.  By the time I noticed the sign up sheet most of the "newbie" positions had already been taken. 
But guess what position was not taken?  Announcer!  The description said that the person who signs up for this position has to be comfortable speaking into a microphone and speaking clearly.  Josie and I knew Marty would be perfect for this.  So, for the first time in all of my volunteering for school things I actually signed Marty up knowing he would be cool with it. 
I told Josie before going in that she doesn't have to commit to the team until after the meeting and after she really learns about what she is committing to.  As we walked home she said she was 100% sure this is what she wants to do.  I'm quite thrilled because not only do I love swimming myself but between the try outs at the pool and this swim team pizza party I met a few very cool moms that I think I could be friends with.  Yay!  Win/win.