Never Say Never...

We never thought we would join a country club. There are many in our area to choose from and many of our friends and our kids' friends belong but when our kids were young, our local pool was the place to be. As our kids got older they didn't want to go to that pool because all of their friends were at the clubs. Then we built Michigan and that was our club minus tennis, golf, paddle, pickleball and all else. We began to realize that our lives were here during the week because our kids were still involved in lots of activities so we couldn't just go to Michigan for weeks on end. It's really become weekends only save a week in August that turns into our vacation for the summer. 

So this year, with the local pool not even operating a swim team (which I really wanted Hailey to do to grow her confidence in the deeper water) and the kids doing lots of country club sports - Hailey in tennis, Austen and Peyton golfing, Hailey and Peyton swimming - we decided to do it.

It was a process for sure with having to get two sponsors and four referrals plus going for a membership interview and then an orientation but we're in as of last Wednesday (Tom and Austen played some golf that evening). The girls swam in their first swim meet Thursday night with both of them doing fantastic. Hailey placed first in the 8 and unders for freestyle and got second place in the backstroke and Peyton got first in all four of her events including a relay (and swimming up a few age levels too). Hailey gained some confidence in the pool and surprised herself with her top finishes. Peyton's confidence grew as well since she's on a very competitive travel swim team and one of the younger swimmers so it's not often she sees a top finish. Austen hit the driving range with friends while the girls were swimming. We then went to dinner at their restaurant and called it a day. 

On Friday, Austen was back at the driving range and then we enjoyed dinner on the patio since Tom and the girls were in Michigan. We returned on Sunday for some pool time, driving range and dinner before Tom and Austen headed back to get in 9 holes before dark. 

Tom's biggest concern in joining was that we wouldn't use it or that it would detract from Michigan. But our lives are here at least during the week, so we use it when we are and so far I think we've taken advantage of it! 

  (Peyton in the white swim cap)

(Hailey in the middle lane)