Journeys›Photograph

All City Swim Meet Then Birthday Dinner

·Walnut Creek, California·#summer#bay area#kids#birthday-party#swim-meet
Four children in swimsuits pose with various expressions in a backyard with a lounge chair and fence.

All City meet day. The girls were in their SSC suits and caps before the sun was fully up over the pool deck, faces painted, ready to go. The host pool keeps a stuffed polar bear by the entrance — full size, mouth open, an orange squid stuck in its teeth — and there was no walking past it without a photo stop, one girl practically hanging off its neck.

The meet itself was the usual long haul: scoreboard, lane lines, kids queued up behind the blocks while coaches kept them pointed the right direction. Peace signs between events. By the end everyone was wrinkled and sunburnt in the usual places.

Then straight into a birthday dinner out on a restaurant patio, a table full of pink gift bags and stuffed animals. Cards got read aloud before anything got opened. A pack of girls in swim-meet hair, still going strong.

A child in a swimsuit and goggles poses in front of a taxidermy polar bear holding a red toy octopus.Two smiling children in yellow swim caps and swimsuits stand by a swimming pool with tents and trees in the background.A child in a swimsuit, swim cap, and goggles hugs a taxidermied polar bear with an open mouth.A man and two children stand by a swimming pool on a sunny day, with an American flag and other people in the background.An adult woman and four children open gifts around a table on an outdoor patio.An adult stands behind children at an outdoor table, one child holding an open card, with gifts on the table.

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