Good eats. TV Talk, that new Scream TV series on MTV, is so good! Salon visit complete. And an update on our summer vacation plans...

How's everybody doing? I know you guys in the US are already on summer vacation (since June, right?). As for us here in Japan, school is still going, but luckily winding down. For our town, the elementary and JHS, last day of school is this Friday and it's a half day letting out at 11am for both Bran and Noah's schools. So that's the good and positive thing, summer break is so close ya'll... we can almost touch it! We can already feel, just how near it is! : )  How have things been here for us? Pretty good. This is a random pic from a dinner we had this week. You know already, what this is, most likely. : ) I made this a few weeks back too. This is 2 lean blocks of pork, rubbed down with some BBQ rub. Slow baked in the oven one day. While everyone was at school (the kids) or work (Noboru)

It was so tender. I just pulled it apart with 2 forks. And covered in tin foil. Until everyone got home. This time, I did not add any BBQ sauce to it. I think for Noboru, being Japanese the sauce is a bit too overly zesty, which is fine (it doesn't bother him with ribs but this shredded with sauce can be a bit too zesty and intense... though he didn't mention anything and wouldn't...he's just too sweet, I could sorta tell the last time, that it was a tad/pinch zesty for my 3 guys though). And so the BBQ rub was more than enough seasoning and actually I too... prefer it this way and this is perfect for our family. Will be making it this way, from now on. : )

Making this 2 times ago, I was worried, should I go and get mini baguettes of bread to make this? But you know what...it's cheaper using hot dog buns and they're so soft and it's actually super delicious this way. Coleslaw bought at KFC, again just makes dinner easier. And some Bush's Baked Beans on the side. Branden had 3 of these sandwiches, Noboru had 4 of them, he loved these! Noah had 1 bbq sammy and extra beans on the side. His tummy tank is just tinier than everyone elses. : )  What else is there.... to talk about real quick. 

I have been cleaning house like a crazy woman. Because, I really hate coming back from vacation to a dirty or dusty house. I know it sounds weird. But I say this every year and those of you that are long time readers know that. I totally prefer clean the house spic and span before we leave and that way when we get back to Japan, we feel happy...to come home to a nice clean house. May sound weird but eh.... it just makes me feel way better. I'd say about right now. The house is just about ready! Oh and that blind duster is a good one and I bought it at the Daiso/100 yen shop. : )

TV talk...I keep wanting to mention this, but I keep forgetting to mention it, each time. I have been loving the new Scream TV show/series on MTV. You know...how when movies become.... spin offs or TV shows, they almost always suck. Well...this one does NOT. This show is on *fleek*. It's actually really good! It just recently started, it's a brand new show and I have been watching it weekly ever since it started. I really like it a lot.

Last Saturday, July 11th at 10am was my hair appointment, I got my hair cut, colored and I got that super hair straightening thing called...the Japanese thermal hair straightener. Took forever at the salon, but in the end it was worth it. Flat irons are used twice during the process and it's super pin straight now. My hair is shiny and all one length at my shoulders. The hair is on point...the hair is indeed on point, ya'll! Just saying. ; ) And I'm just happy... to get it all over and done with... and now I don't have to think about my hair...worry about it... for summer now. And the hair straightening makes it superly easy to take care of. The simple cut alone, also make it even easier to take care of. So one more thing scratched off the list, of things to get done before summer vacation. : )

At the end of each semester each child in elementary school brings back. All their stuff. Paints, crayons, earthquake safety thing/seat cushion. Just everything. Noah has been lugging stuff home all this week. He's already brought home his paints, his shuji/calligraphy stuff. Each day he brings more. He's almost brought everything, I think his last day, he'll bring the seat cushion and inside shoes. : )

I am so sad, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are indeed getting divorced. Like the cutest couple, ever, am I right. He couldn't have married a sweeter girl. When I heard it at first, I was like...that has.... got to be a lie! It can't be true. They're too cute together...plus they've been together for what...10 years. It's got to be gossip news. An untruth. And then sadly...they said it too. Sigh. Just super sad. : (

An update on our travel plans. #1, there are like 1 or 2 typhoons approaching Japan (I thought there was just 1, Noboru says there's actually 2 different ones coming). OMG, why now right, well the logical answer would be...typhoon season is still trying to cling and hold on! And it's getting hard to know...will they affect our flight. And if so... will it affect our flight in a good way? Meaning all other stand-by passengers got stranded elsewhere and therefore could not make it to the flight, therefore leaving all the seats for us? Or affect us in a bad way...meaning the flights canceled. Or in another bad way...meaning everyone stand-by just moved to our flight? That sort of thing. So...yes...the 1-2 typhoons coming to Japan somewhere between Friday and next week are starting to worry us. Granted since we are on this side of Japan....usually they pummel/hit other parts of Japan first (sorry), so we are just hoping they loose their steam before they get to the Narita area. So the weather...we have been keeping a close eye on the weather. I just wish this typhoon would change directions and save us all in Japan the headache. Hahaha. Many of us are indeed trying to get back to our home countries and this can totally wreck the plans here. Bad typhoon...bad bad! : ) So the typhoon is a worry.  Straight up...it is.

Also...the flight itself.  We sort of know by now, which flight is the one, for us to try and catch. The flight we think we have the best chance to get on. As for Friday...straight up, there's no chance for us to catch a flight this Friday, too full. So Friday...forget Friday, Friday for us is out. Also, the flight we are trying to catch, there are 15 available seats in first class. We are like # 6,7,8 and 9 on the stand-by list. Being 6-9 is a bit scary, we've never been that bad of a number on the stand by list. However, there are a lot of older Americans who have been with Delta since Noboru and I were in kindergarten or elementary school, apparently...trying to get on that flight. And so while yes.... they're as old as the Crypt Keeper, they do have the seniority, which is totally fair...but also for us frustrating. So, while these people were hired and already working in the 80's. I was...off riding my Big Wheel in the 80's and collecting Strawberry Shortcake dolls and Noboru was off fishing or collecting Ultraman dolls. @_@  So...what will we do. We will attempt to get to California for 2 days. And we actually might get on those flights. The following day has like 22 seats available in first class. So we do actually have a shot here! Again though..is the typhoon going to make flights delayed and add more stand-bys on our flight?  So we have agreed that the best thing for us to do is...we will spend 2 days trying to fly to California. And again...we might actually get on the flight the first day. Who knows. However though it is always smart to have a plan B. Or back up plan. Our back up plan is this...if we cannot get on the California flight for 2 days. We will then say forget California. It's not California's fault. Hey...no worries, but we also don't want to waste valuable vacation days... sitting at an airport either. So, again we will spend 2 days trying/attempting to get to LA and if that does not happen...we will say no worries. We tried. Best to forget it. And move on. And plan B is...we will go to Honolulu. The Honolulu flight for us is wide *wide* open. And most Americans (stand-by) fly to Hawaii from the mainland US. So not much older folks with higher seniority... to worry about from Japan to Honolulu. And we'd be like #1-4 on the stand by list. So...it wouldn't even be a worry or second thought like..."gee, I hope we get there." We know, Honolulu is a definite. Granted our first choice and hope is for California. But you know...if it wasn't meant to be...at least we have plan B. We have our hotel booked in California already and car...gee, since way over a month ago. And this morning we checked for the availability of our hotel we like in Hawaii and it's available. Again we like to plan ahead and prepare for the worst. So...I think by Saturday or Sunday morning we'll pretty much either be in California or know..if we will have to switch plans and destination. The good news is and I do always believe there is a positive, shorts and tee-shirts and swimsuits can go to either destination. Meaning it's not like we're going to Antarctica and the Caribbean and would have to pack for 2 totally different types of weather....and therefore pack different clothes. I hope we can get to California you guys. And I can't tell really right now...which way things are going to end up. My feelings on stand-by? I still absolutely love it! The fact, we can fly for free. Plus we don't have to sit in coach/economy so the seats are very comfortable.  And not have to spend $800 US each... for each of our family of 4 or even $1000 US each... for our family of 4, for airplane tickets. I love that! That just saves us money. Money we can use towards, our hotel, or going to the movies while there, eating out... or on things we plan to purchase at Target or Sephora and whatnot. Knowing we can save such huge amounts of money, by not having to pay for our airfare really helps. I absolutely do not mind flying stand-by at all. We love you Delta, you take good care of your employees, best company to work for. So, nope we do not mind flying stand-by...not at all. I do want us to go to California. But hey...if we can't...saving our family US $3500-$4000 for the flight and going to Honolulu and sitting in paradise for a week...isn't exactly bad either. Which way will the coin land? I honestly don't know. It's Wednesday here in Japan already. And again...we're just trying to keep a close eye on the flight and a close eye on the typhoon. We'd love it if the typhoon would just skip Japan all together. That way we'd have 1 less thing to think about. : )  Anyway that's the update on the flight situation. We're going somewhere, but as to where? We're still unsure, which of the 2 places it will be. 
Dinner tonight, homemade tostadas (beans are done boiling on the stove already, I will mash and fry them after lunch). Alrighty, it's lunch time and that grilled cheese and some sliced dill pickles are calling my name. : ) The house is clean for today and a load of fresh clean towels is flapping in the breeze, heavily clipped on the laundry poles on the back patio, I'll bring them in, after my lunch. I'll catch up with you all again, I'm sure... before we leave. : ) Bye for now. : )  Both the boys get off school at 3:45pm today. : ) The boys and I, will also be going to Guam this summer as well. But after we get back from our main summer vacation. : )

Interview...

Tomorrow is trash day. And we had 1 extra trash bag, but Noboru said to me this morning, "I'm going to run to the grocery store, it just opened and I'm gonna grab an extra pack of trash bags, you need anything?" I said, Thanks but I'm good : ) and he left. He came back from the store, with some one's phone number written on a piece of paper and told me "someone needs your help" ...My help? @_@ "Okay, what is it", I asked. So he said let's go to the kitchen, so I can tell you the story. Holy goodness, I thought. So I grab a hot coffee and sit down.

Noboru says, you know when I was fuku kaicho that one year? I said, yes I remember. He said, well, this lady was also a member that year also. He then started to get into the story of today, he said,  he was at the store, with trash bags in hand about to go to the check out line/register. When she appeared with her 3rd year, 9th grade son. She said, "hello I'm sorry to ask this but, your wife is American, right?" Noboru told her in Japanese, "yes, she is" She said, "first, I should probably introduce you to my son" The son greets Noboru and Noboru greets the son. Why wasn't he in school today? I don't know why, anyways back to the story. Anyway, she told Noboru, he goes to a private JHS somewhere. And their school assignment in English class, is to track down a native English speaking foreigner and interview them. She also said, the problem is...at least 95% of the class don't know where they can find a foreigner #1 and #2 would they be willing to be interviewed because not every foreigner would be willing. So many of his classmates have an idea. They will go to Asakusa this weekend and hopefully track down some English speaking foreigners. And hopefully interview them. His mom...the woman in the store doesn't think this idea of a group of the class going to Asakusa will work. For whatever reason she doesn't like the idea. So she's been wracking her brain ever since, apparently. And so she's been asking around town. Do you know any native English speaking foreigners? And finally someone in the housing community told her...you know that guy....(they meant Noboru) who was fuku kaicho 2 years ago...his wife is American. So..as luck would have it. She saw Noboru at the store, while she was with her son. Seriously, you guys what are the odds. And so she asked. She also was quite embarrassed about asking. She told Noboru...I am so sorry to be bothering your wife about this. But...she's our only hope. Something along those lines. @_@ Anyways...so Noboru told her...well... we are about to leave Japan for a bit. But, I can ask her. So, she wrote down her phone number. So Noboru told me..."what do you think?" I told Noboru..." OMG, of course I'll help him!"..."how could I not"

So, long story short. Noboru phoned her. She's now thrilled beyond belief, she found someone willing to help and so close by, and according to her, the son is relieved, which makes me happy. And so a 9th grade boy, is coming to my house tomorrow at 2pm, to interview me for a few minutes. She also wanted to tell Noboru, that he has his questions already written down. Bless, his little heart. : ) Branden and Noah do not know about this yet. I'll tell them this afternoon. Heck, I just found out today, myself. : ) My boys, get off tomorrow at 11am. They'll just chill out, in the living room while he and I get this interview wrapped up, right quick. : ) It shouldn't take very long and I know they won't mind, it's for a school project. It's legit, hahaha. And the good thing is, he lives in our same housing community, so he will only have a short 2 minute bike ride to my house, from his house. Anyway, no big deal, just wanted to say...interview tomorrow at 2pm. : )



And yes, I bet a few of you are wondering the same thing I thought too....I did think...wait a minute...he's only 1 year older than B? That must mean they went to the same elementary school. The one Noah is going to now. They had to have seen me all these years. At undokai. On observation day. No? Am, I right? I worked at my housing community selling lemonade and hot dogs 1 year. And sold stuff for the yakuin last year, the kids club, at the same summer festival. Yes, I can over think things to death. But whatever the case may be...it doesn't matter. Yes she could have genuinely not known, about me all these years, which I sorta highly doubt. I'm an obvious foreigner. I stick out like a sore thumb unfortunately. Or...you know...she could have just been really shy or nervous about asking. And...probably mulled it over and debated it. And then...now the assignment is almost due. And so...now she has to abandon all shy feelings and just got for it. And her asking in that way...The old..."I did not know..I just found out"...made her feel safer...or better. Does that makes sense. And of course, also maybe she genuinely did not know. But whatever...either way...if it's for a kiddo and he needs help or assistance. I'm down for helping.  Anyway...must stop over thinking things. Will try. Hahaha. : ) Anyway, he's coming over tomorrow. : )

Honolulu, Hawaii here we come...

Yep, it has been decided and yes the odds were not in our favor for California. We watched all Friday... our flight online. Stand by list and such. Saturday was our day of hope. The flight was for evening. And by 9am yesterday breakfast time, we could see, we didn't have a chance in heck to catch last evenings flight. We decided it would be best, not to even "try" to get to Haneda airport yesterday, because why? Because it costs us 5,000 yen to get there on the highway and also include parking. And if we couldn't catch the flight, it would be a wasted $50 US basically. And I do mean we checked hourly, the status. We could get on, but just 3 of our family of 4. Which is nuts. Leaving one of us behind, clearly we'd not leave a child but it means either Noboru or I would go with the kids and the other adult, would have to fight to get on another flight someplace somewhere. It was yesterday that we booked a place in Hawaii after debating over the pros and cons of California or Hawaii. We debated it all day yesterday. Our last chance to get to California was for Sunday/today...the evening flight. It looked great all this week. But by yesterday, Sundays flight to California looked iffy. As in..cutting it close. As in, if 1 or 2 other non revs with a higher priority came to our  LAX flight with a higher seniority we'd be wiped out. The other thing...Hawaii, is a sure thing... this Honolulu flight. Totally open and available sort of calling for us. Come here...come back to Oahu. So we were left anxious yesterday...do we pick the iffy California flight. Do you go with an unsure thing or a sure thing. Granted, California, is where we REALLY want to go. Or do we say to heck with it...and take a sure thing. Therefore no more stress. No more...what ifs. Again time not being on our side either. As in, you have 24 hours... before check in, to cancel the California hotel or you'll be charged. Yes charged. And you need 24 hours advance notice to book a place in Hawaii. So...again time not really being on our side. We needed to decide and we needed to decide yes or no, by Saturday. Gosh were Noboru and I stressed to the max yesterday.

We finally thought about it logically. If we put all our eggs in the California basket. We might not end up taking a vacation at all. And that would totally and completely suck. So...yeah...not a gamble we really wanted to take. Granted would it have been lovely if the flight was wide open to California, yes, you betcha. But it just wasn't. However there is a bright side. The bright side is. We now sorta realize... us trying to get to the mainland US from Japan, in summer time as a non rev... just is NEVER gonna happen and we need to understand that and accept that. Phew. Very freeing understanding that. So, if we do want to go to the US mainland from Japan and fly non rev. It best we fly in Fall, or Winter or Spring. We can get there then...and for free. But just not a chance in heck, for us in summer. Lesson learned. And thankfully we didn't have to learn it the *hard way* meaning at the expense of us not getting to go anywhere this year, because we wanted California or nothing. Another bright side is...we admit defeat and we know when we're facing a losing battle here and we move on to plan B quickly, meaning no time to dwell. We were smart to say...you know in all probability California's just not gonna pan out. Let's go for plan B. So, in that respect, we did everything humanly possible... and we did it the right way. Anyway, so we rented ourselves a privately owned condo this time around on Oahu, this time. We're frankly tired of paying the $25 resort fees for staying at a hotel in Waikiki (yes all hotels in Waikiki charge you that for staying there) and paying $25- $35 US for parking per each day (last time one of our hotels charged $25 and the other hotel charged us $35 per day to park at their hotel). Add that on top of your hotel rate and it gets pretty expensive. So...we're staying in a nice little suburb. We have a rental car. And so we're pretty excited. No more stress of...will we get on the flight or won't we. It's done. The good thing is, we're packed and ready. We just have to throw the boogie boards in the 2 big empty suitcases and grab some extra sunscreen and we're all set. Will we like this whole renting a private condo thing? We may, we may not. I'll let ya'll know when we get back. But the place we picked looks gorgeous though! There's a beach 3 minutes from our condo. Plus we'll be hitting lots of different beaches. And shopping, Sephora, Target, Walmart, Nature Republic, Ala Moana Shopping center, here we come. And plus we also just want to relax and bring a packed lunch to the beach and do nothing all day...many of our days... we will spend them like that. Also movies, we have a ton of movies we want to see too. Terminator, Inside Out, Pixels, etc.

Not the vacation we had originally wanted. But, it's the vacation we're fortunate enough... to be able to take.  And we know that.. so for that we have huge appreciation. So we're happy. Happy we are going somewhere for summer break. Plus you all know we're beach people anyway. : ) 

June's Dairy Queen Blizzard flavor... was the Jurassic World blizzard (2 types of cookie dough)...and the commercials we've been seeing all July, on our cable say...July is brownie batter blizzard flavor. So, wonder if anyone of us will try the July flavor. I know for me, I would like a Peanut Buster parfait. This thing pictured here. Yumm. Anyway, catch up with you all, when we get back. : )

Noah’s first ever swimming competition!

Sunday, June 15th was Noah's first ever swimming competition. Here is a picture of Noah from that very day! : )

Kids had a choice to order a lunch for 800 yen, which was a pretty great price or you could bring your own lunch. Noah's not really much of a seafood eater, and not knowing what was in the lunch, I decided it would be best to pack him a lunch. So that's what I did. It was just a very simple lunch. A ham and provolone cheese sandwich inside those Costco dinner rolls. I did skillet fry the ham for a minute or two and melted the cheese a tad. The rolls were Miracle Whipped, lol. : )  Also for a class or school field trip, I don't mind putting 3 fries and some veggie in there, but for a swimming competition lunch, I didn't want any fries, because anything with grease would slow Noah down. Just a light sandwich and some mini grapes, simple and healthy. They only got 30 minutes for lunch anyways and I figured this was enough, plus time to take a bathroom break if need be and also have some time to chat with friends. : ) 

I did however pack Noah an extra sandwich, just in case. : ) And yes he ate it! : ) This is exactly what Noboru, Branden and myself also ate too. Same type sandwiches exactly and with grapes also. 

The note a month beforehand did mention to bring snack bars that give protein or energy, they also specifically said hard candy and chocolate was also allowed, because it gives swimmers energy before they swim their race. Which is why I packed these. 

The big day! There was a fairly long line to get in. The swimmers zipped in/were allowed in, it was us parents and extended family members that had to wait outside the building. There were also *many * big limousine buses from the other swimming schools. 

Yep only about 6 benches total, as I expected. : ) And yes seating was an absolute nightmare. The sign that I whited out...said the name of our specific swimming school. So these were "our" swim school benches. However, the seats were spoken for already and regardless if these people in this picture had a child swimming that particular race or not, they never shared the seats/benches with any of us. So first come first serve apparently, these folks never left the benches, not for the whole day and if they did they put a napkin or hankie down to "save" their spot. @.@ 

People brought folding chairs, leisure sheets. This is our particular swimming school where my kids swim at, however this was our first time ever swimming a competition *here* before. Yep seating sucked big time. : ( The kids in bright pink were from our swimming school. 

For the longest time we had an actual grandma type...actually sitting in front of us with a folding chair.  Visibility... totally zero! 

People were very territorial about their spot. See the blanket. 1 family even sat on their car sunshade. We could have done that too, but Noboru said..."what for, this spot sucks, why do we save and protect a spot that sucks!" I chuckled because, he was absolutely right and...had to laugh because it's sometimes just better than getting mad. And we sat on the floor sans anything. 

Many of Noah's former yochien classmates came and their mom's had no place to sit either. I am sure they were just as surprised as we were. All the kids on the far left were from our swim school. 

And another view/pic of the other swim schools, total swim schools were 4 swim schools total, but 1 was our swim school, so swimming against just 3 other swim schools. : )
My sweetheart Noah, I see you kiddo. And the 3 kids on the right of Noah, in this picture, 2 kids in neon and the kid in turquoise cap, are Noah's 3 friends from yochien. : ) 
Not sure if you can read their shirts but they say...Funabashi. Team Funabashi in the house!!! ; )
These kids all in pale pink are team Inzai!!! Team Chiba New Town!!! By the way, all the kids in team Inzai thought Noah was super gorgeous and he said and Branden said, every time someone from team Inzai saw Noah., they were all talking about how cute he is, blah blah blah yada yada. They learned his name and called him over all day long. @.@ Hahaha. How funny. Good kids, team Inzai!!! 

What I did and what the other 3 yochien mom's from Noah's former yochien class did was, we walked near another school's window, where there were far less people and we had a much better spot. So all these pics were taken from a different spot. Not our schools area, sorry just not enough room. 
Also here is another thing that made me upset. We were given a swim schedule a week beforehand. We highlighted Noah's races and times of race. Noah was to compete in 3 races. First one at 10:10am. Second one at 12:50pm and last one for Noah at 2:50pm. Okay, we highlighted it. Now it was 9am-ish and there we were sitting on the floor...at again, quite possibly the worst seats of the entire swim school, Father's Day morning. : ) Again it's 9am-ish, we have plenty of time before Noah's first race.. over an hour. Next thing I know...one of Noah's former classmates/my yochien mom friend comes running over saying....Noah's about to swim!!! OMG! @.@ Really? Thanks and so I ran....Thank the lord... for my friend for informing me. And sorry this pic is blurry, but the bright side is...at least I got a pic. If it wasn't for my friend, I wouldn't have gotten a pic at all. : ( Noah in the white swim cap. 

Look how far ahead Noah was from the other swim school swimmer. 

Noah walking back to his spot. This was a relay race. 2 of our yochien mom friends kids were picked to swim it too. And believe me, they were just as shocked their kid was poolside as we were about Noah. One of our mom friends was complaining to us, saying essentially..."they should have informed us" I said, "I know right, crazy" : ) 

And this was the 10:10am race. This will give you a laugh. Look at this picture again...where are Noah's goggles. @.@ Yes we packed him 2 in case of emergency and yes you can indeed see, in the blurry pic above, he was indeed wearing the pale blue pair at first. Noah was swimming this race without goggles. Our yochien friends said..."where's Noah's goggles, didn't he just have them?" Noboru and Branden also said, where's Noah's goggles? Again, we can't go ask them, we are only allowed upstairs, they are inside the swimming area. I also wondered where his goggles were, but, it's not like I could just zip downstairs and ask him. 

4 swimmers, and 1 without goggles. Hahaha. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Just enjoy it and ask him, if you ever get the chance.  

Noah was scheduled to swim in 3 races, however he ended up competing in about 7 total races. @.@ Same with a couple of my yochien mom friends kids'. I know right, how unexpected. This was a relay. Oh this is so funny...right about here, yet another friend of ours, walked up and said..."if Noah forgot his goggles, we have an extra pair, he can borrow" How incredibly kind really. But....no he didn't forget his goggles and where are they? That's what I want to know too. Hahaha. That was the most wondered question of the entire day. And where is his spare pair? Again, the pool area is off limits to parents. However Noboru did walk downstairs and spoke to a coach from a totally different swimming school, he told him our son seems to have no goggles, he heard, from this coach they were lost at the bottom of the pool and would search for them during lunch. @.@ This is where you need those Bewitched powers that Samantha had, where you could just freeze the entire swimming school of people and go downstairs and find the goggles, place them in Noah's hand and them unfreeze the entire room. But alas...life just doesn't work that way.

The seating sucked, it just... honestly did. However, there's no point of letting it ruin our whole entire day and bring down our whole family vibe. And besides shouldn't we be focusing on Noah's wonderful swimming and his first time swimming at a competition ever. I think so. So...at a certain point, we just didn't care about the seating or lack of seats or fairness from our fellow swim school folks who hogged the seats all day long. It is, what it is and you can't change that. And yes...I did worry about Noah's eyes without goggles... because he does suffer from eye allergies, especially in this season Spring/Summer, he actually gets eye drops from Branden's eye doctor every Spring. So, yeah I worried if he would be itching his eyes or if it bothered him more so... than say a person without eye allegries. But again...wasn't gonna dwell on the goggles...goggles...goggles 24/7. I just wanted to enjoy Noah swim. 5 swimmers about to compete down below. This was a relay. Noah waiting for his teammate to swim back so he could jump into the pool and get his swim on. 

This is the prettiest dive, I have ever managed to take a pic of and it come out crystal clear. Noah's dive is so beautiful here...look at that coach from our swim school in hot pink..even he had to look. Man...Noah looked like a flying squirrel or something. : ) Very cool...totally airborne. I will make a copy of this pic and put it somewhere for Noah, photo frame, charm for his backpack, something. One of the best pictures of Noah's diving. Wow, so proud of you Noah! Yes, even without your goggles, you so totally rocked it baby! A dive like that from an 8 year old, holy goodness!

Noah came up to say hi during the lunch break. The coaches were sweeping the pool for Noah's goggles (yep that's not embarrassing at all, hahaha) meanwhile and they did not find them. Branden went down there and he found Noah's goggles. Branden said...he said..."hi everyone, please check your bags and stuff because my brothers goggles are missing and with all these people down here...more than likely they were probably tossed in another bag by mistake so please if you could...please check." Branden is very polite never accusatory and yep he found them.  And so kids all checked and sure enough...Branden did track down Noah's goggles. : ) But Noah swam with the black pair for the rest of the day though, which are in this pic in his hand. : ) Branden made sure Noah was taken care of and would pop down there from time to time. Peace of mind for me, he's a kid too, so he can slip by without coach detection. Hahaha. : ) 

Oh and you remember how on the last picture of Noah swimming I said his "last race" at 2:50. I put it into quotations. Well, the reason is because we assumed it was Noah's last race of the day, since that was what the schedule said. Also factor in, the swim school only has squatty potty type toilets. And there are only 2 toilets for girls/ladies. With so many people ( felt like a billion) it was hard as heck to try and use the restroom in there. I did go and pee once around 10:45am but I can't use squatty potty's so well and so I avoided going to pee again. Branden wanted to pee also but the boy's toilet was full most of the day @.@ So, after the last race, Branden and I walked to my regular grocery store which is only about 2 minutes away on foot. They have regular toilets there and so we both went to the restroom, and then we walked back. When we came back my yochien mom friends said, you missed Noah swim. He was in the last relay of the day. I said it wasn't on the schedule, they said, they were surprised too. So..anyway that's what happened. I felt really badly for missing that.

The pros of Noah swimming that day. I'm so glad he swam, because he has never swam in a competition before and he now has the experience under his belt. And next year... if he swims for our local elementary school, he will already have the experience from that. Also the elementary school races, they only let you swim in no more than 3 races because they worry about the kids getting exhausted. Plus seating is no problem...and we can also talk to our kids throughout the day and also we can have lunch with our kids. So if Noah decides he wants to represent our local elementary school next year when he is in the 4th grade, it won't nearly be this bad or exhausting for the kids. Another pro of Noah swimming this... was he got to spend a whole day with his former yochien friends. They had just the best day hanging with each other again. Another pro or plus of Noah swimming the competition was he enjoyed the team spirit and how cool that feels being on a team and such. Also it gave him confidence that yes...Noah you are a good swimmer and you do have skills. So for Noah it was a wonderful day.

The cons from that day. The seating. The lack of seating or taking turns or fairness was just crazy. And for that reason, we would probably... not want either of our kids to swim for our swim school like this again. You know how hot and humid it's been lately, and being upstairs with all those people breathing and sweating. It was just not the most pleasurable day we've ever spent, let's put it that way. Also, the schedule wasn't 100% correct or detailed...my kid was swimming in other races not even listed. How can we be at the window ready to take a picture when my child's name isn't even listed to swim until 10:10am. I mean...hello, get it together people please! Unless you wanted to stand at the window the entire day and not go pee at all, then you could ensure you never missed a race. The schedule wasn't 100%, I felt badly for missing Noah's last race which wasn't listed, but you know...it wasn't listed and my bladder was bursting, and I had to pee. If it was listed sure I would have held it and took pics, but you know...I'm not a mind reader or future teller either. I can't know if he's gonna swim unless they tell us and it frankly wasn't listed. And no, for what it's worth we didn't tell Noah at all during the day about seating or any issues we had, because he is a worry wart and he would have worried all day about us. So we didn't mention a thing, we did mention it at dinner after it was over, but it was just lightly mentioned. 

The bright and most positive silver lining from that day was our swim school actually won this thing! No medals or anything were given to individuals coming in 1st or 2nd place, this was just simply swim school versus swim school type thing and just happy and thrilled our swim school came out ahead. Although the kids and folks from the other swim schools were lovely and it was nice meeting or being near others who have also been swimming since age 3 more than likely too. So spending a whole day with like minded people was nice. Because in all, these are all swimming kids and we think swimming kids are like *the* coolest! : ) And most of all, so proud of you Noah. You did it kiddo. : )

Summer is just about here!

Yay summer is just about here! I love this time of year. Water play is my favorite, and we've been enjoying it daily. We've had a great time with water balloons this week, and I wanted to share one of the ways we've played.

Prep was simple: Fill up a dozen balloons and put them in the kiddie pool. Let their imagination take over from there!

They tried as hard as they could to drop them hard enough to break inside the pool. Instead they succeeded in making giant splashes!

We love combining water balloons and water play, especially at bath time. Most recently we made Glowing Water Balloons. What are your favorite ways to play with water balloons?