Bits from last week, miso chicken, lunch date with the hubster and a few other good bits mixed in there for good measure. Plus, we just won the Super Bowl just now, you guys! The Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50!

Good morning! 10:07am here and Super Bowl 50 is happening live for us right now! It's Monday morning for us in Japan. But, I know it's always Super Bowl Sunday for those of you in the US. Hope you all, are enjoying the game. I know, I am. I have a quick little post to get up right now and I am doing it on commercials only so how long will this short post take me? We'll see. All of these pics happened last week. Noboru and I did go on our once a week, lunch date while the boys were both at school. We went to Saizeriya. Saizeriya is just a super cheap Italian chain here in Japan. I had the rigatoni and a side of petite foccacia.

570 calories. I am just always extremely conscious of my calories of my breakfasts daily and my lunches. I love those Knorr pasta soups in the cup also, that are like 180 or so calories too. But on this day we went out. And dinner, I don't really count my calories, but it's usually something really sensible. And on weekends we usually will have something fun like maybe... I'll make some cheeseburgers or taco night for the fam. Something fun. Anyways...moving along...

I made miso chicken for dinner last week. I also made an extra chicken breast and sliced it in half width wise...so the boys could take that for lunch the next day. In fact, every chicken breast was sliced in half width wise. Why? So that it could soak up all the flavor all the way. Also not sure if you could tell in this picture, but I also made slices on each piece, not all the way through cuts... but enough so sauce could marinate all the way. Just wanted it to be very flavorful. And by the way...I have *the* best recipe for miso chicken or pork. Tastes better then the ones you can buy at the store that are already pre-sauced/already marinated. Like bomb dot com recipe. 

Put plastic wrap on this that morning and put in the fridge. This soaked in flavor all day long. And the ones the kids had the next day, were even more so. They soaked for almost 24 hours, so really flavorful miso chicken. 

A super simple meal, but we had some... made from scratch miso chicken, rice and veggies we also had a simple salad on the side. Noah was so happy, all through dinner he said..."I made this miso, you guys" Awww...Bran was so kind and said.."it is very good Noah!" He was thrilled. : ) 

This was even more marinated, the next day. On a bed of rice, they took miso chicken some veggies and both had some sliced apple. And yes, Noah mentioned...that he told his teacher..."this was from the miso our class made." Aww, he was just very proud you guys. So yes, even the American mama of the class is finding ways and delicious uses for the miso we got too and now the teacher knows, we are using ours! How much miso is left you guys? A ton. We will be eating miso chicken at the end of this week, as well. Hahaha. : ) I imagine we will be eating it once a week until we use it up. : ) It's very delicious though, so we really don't mind a bit. : ) 

Bran needed 2 extra school dress shirts. The price is perfect. Very affordable. Bought at Sanki. He has 4 new ones total now, in his new size. Again...we're just getting ready and making sure the kids will be okay and won't be running out of anything when Noboru leaves for training. Don't laugh but....preparation is key! It really is. : ) 

The tins are very thin. Like paper thin, way thinner then one you'd buy in America... so we bought 3 of them. Because I will be roasting that turkey after Noboru leaves, and the disposable roasters come in handy. Also bought some Valentine-y napkins for Bran and Noah's lunches Monday-Friday. And also some liners for their lunches as well. 

Last Friday, I made tostadas. We ate meat every day last week. And frankly I was a bit meat-ed out. So I thought last Friday would be a perfect time to make some tostadas. The lettuce was like 98 yen, the cheese is what was leftover. The salsa is from Besia for like 117 yen and the beans cost what...$1 in Guam but beans are also available at Amazon.jp too. So, a pretty cheap dinner and we all loved it, here. The corn tortillas came from Kaldi.

Friday was awesome because we had just gotten Branden's Eiken pre1 results. It was the weekend. We could just relax and unwind and recharge. Dinner was made super early. I boiled the beans Friday morning. Mashed the beans right before I went to get the boys after school. And also fried up the corn tortillas in the day time too, in the morning while the beans were boiling. So dinner was done and in the bag so to speak, by the time the boys came home. We ate. We talked. And just enjoyed. Also a good Big Bang Theory was coming on that night too. Comes on Thursdays in the mainland US. But for me, it comes on Friday evening. I had already read the little blurb online what was going to happen. And I didn't mind the spoiler at all, in fact I saw it more as a positive and it got me excited to watch it myself. So we got dinner dishes and the kitchen cleaned up super quickly and we went and watched the Big Bang Theory on the couch in the living room. Pics and spoilers down below. So, if you haven't seen it. Perhaps stop reading this post right here. But as.... it is my blog and I am sure most of you in the US have already seen it...even before I did. I'm not going to stop talking about it. Just because somebody is more behind, than I am. Besides all this information is already/readily available online and it's not like... I am saying something that isn't already available on the internet already. So...I'm just saying. It's something I greatly enjoyed and therefore I am going to talk about it. 

Sheldon has been speaking highly about his meemaw (grandmother) for years, since the show/series first began. However we have never seen her before. Well last Friday for me, last Thursday for you in the US. Meemaw was going to make her first appearance. This is Sheldon and Leonard waiting at the airport for meemaw! 

Yay, finally we get to see Shelly's meemaw! 

Notice Sheldon gave meemaw his favorite spot on the couch! Given he won't let *anyone* sit there. This was adorable to see! 

Last season Sheldon and his longtime girlfriend Amy broke up (she broke up with him) when Sheldon was about to propose. This season has been eye opening for instance Sheldon finally lost his virginity to her. Anyway...back to last weeks episode...Meemaw hated Amy. And she had certainly no qualms in hiding it. Everyone left the apartment but Amy and Meemaw. They all hid at Penny's. Anyway...Meemaw said... she doesn't like Amy because....when she broke up with Sheldon she broke his heart... so badly and anyone who would hurt him like that. She is not going to support that. Before they went to hide at Penny's, she also told Sheldon, she will never get my wedding ring! They finally had a break through, when Meemaw said her late husband Pop-pop was very similar to Sheldon in that, he was stubborn and set in his ways too. So they sort of bonded and she forgave Amy. Sheldon came in the apartment. So did Penny and Leonard. And everything was all better. But was this a fantastic episode? Yes! Was it so cool to finally see Shelly's meemaw? Yes! : ) This Thursday...well Friday for me. The previews say...The Big Bang Theory will tell the *biggest* secret ever! I keep seeing the commercials for it.... and I can't wait! : ) 

Saturday morning, I made use of the leftover refried beans from scratch. And I rolled and froze 7 bean and cheese burritos. Considering you can buy 6 frozen bean and cheese burritos at Costco in Japan for what...2700 yen? $26 US, super expensive. And I just used whatever was left of our leftover 99cent pack of beans. And I got 7 burritos out of them. I wrapped them up... each in some plastic wrap individually and then put them all in a big freezer bag. That way...if anyone gets hungry after school and dinners not yet ready...although I am usually right on time, if not early dinner wise. Or for a Saturday afternoon lunch or snack. These will be in the freezer, anyone can just take one out and nuke it. They are so good and so cheesy and delicious and homemade. A perfect little snack. And btw, we are loving these new tortillas that Costco sells. So fluffy and good. Soft and the flavor is on point. 

Branden took and passed the Eiken pre1 last Friday. And I had it up and posted the very next day. And while that is good that I do that. And believe me..yes I should. Considering my son has never gone to an American or English speaking school and has always went to Japanese school and so for him to have done that...amazing! So yes, should be totally proud. However...I am also angry with myself because... Noah doesn't get highlighted nearly as much as he should on my blog! I feel a lot of times, I will spotlight Branden's achievements and often...won't Noah's as much. And for that...I am so super sorry Noah! And I will try to do better! Case in point? Noah had that amazing swim meet over a year ago. He was actually asked by the swimming school he swims for... to compete against other swimming schools. This was a Chiba wide swimming event. And Noah swam amazing in it! I did blog and post pics from that day. However the following week when Noah's medals came in for winning the events he swam in. I failed at putting his medals on here or sharing his great...fantastic success. And again for that...I was wrong! And seeing that Eiken pre1 thing on my blog...I kept thinking about Noah's medals that never went up. And I said...no...I can NOT do that! So delayed in posting these pics? Yes. But the important thing is...I put them up! The paper is Noah's award but it has the name of the swim school and his last name etc...so I just flipped that paper over. And Noah won 2 Mizuno (Japanese sports brand) pens with 4 or 5 different colors. These are quite cool and the fact he earned those pens. Just really cool. Two Mizuno file folders, kids in Japan use these quite a bit. The bear thing is a drink holder, almost looks like 1 lone sock, right? But, it goes around a 500ml drink. And the stitch thing is a cup holder. And then Noah's 2 medals. A silver and a bronze. 

Yes, you are a good swimmer Noah! And we are proud of you my gorgeous *gorgeous* boy! Gee, you have so many medals kid! Medals from swimming...medals from running. : ) I am saving these all for you...for when you grow up! : ) 

And finally this morning...for me it started at 8:30am, Guam time 9:30am. Lady Gaga sang the American National Anthem just beautifully! And with a huge American flag behind her. Loved it!

A sincere thank you for your service...

Yay Broncos! Hope you win! But will be proud either way!

As of right now...I have taken ages to write this post..again because I am watching the Superbowl and only typing this on the commercials. The Super Bowl is now almost over. We are in the last quarter...the 4th quarter and we have 6 minutes left. We are winning as of now. But not by much. It was Broncos 16...Panthers 10. This is too close to tell. I may post this after the game. Now...  3 minutes left. Same score, the Panthers just took a time out. And this game is so close. I'm about to have myself a heart attack! Crap! Go Broncos! Now only 2 minutes left. And we are still ahead. I am so full of excitement and anticipation! OMG...we won you guys 24-10 was the score! Amazing and am so proud. The Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50, just now! : ) 

Noah representing his elementary school, in the district wide swimming competition...

Tuesday, August 4th. This picture was taken around 7am. The kids had to start warming up in the pool by 7:30am.  These are some of the kids representing our elementary school. The girls were all  so cute and were also super fast from our school this year! We had 1 fourth grade girl, but the rest were all 5th and 6th grade girls from our school. Our school girl swimmers, this year, were all amazing! And see the cutie yawning in this pic? I totally understood. I was yawning on the inside. : ) We all were very sleepy that morning. Despite going to bed early and stuff. : )  Only two 4th grade boys representing our school, Noah and his very good friend, pictured near Noah, in this pic. : ) One of the rules was, every competing kid when not in swimwear, must be wearing their school gym uniform, with name of school and child's name, etc on their gym clothes. Just easier for all the coaches and people to know, who's who, and who should be near the pool.../poolside or not. : )

Each school was given their own warm-up lane. And they each warmed up, back and forth again and again. The lady in turquoise, with clipboard is from our school. Our school's... kids practiced in lane 5. Noah warming up in this pic.

Not the best picture. But, you can see, Noah's dive, midair, on the left hand side of this pic. Noah really has a beautiful and silent dive. Beautiful leg extension and stuff. 

And on this side of the pool, we had another coach on this side, the guy in the Chiba-kun shirt is also from our school. So we had our lady coach on the right side of the pool, lane 5 and the guy in the black Chiba-kun shirt on the left hand side of the pool. And if you look on the right, a kid from another school is also yawning. Hahaha. What was the atmosphere? It was extremely hot, even by 7am. It was extremely humid. All of us parents were extremely tired. But, we were all happy to be there. It's noisy. It's noisy, because many schools are all practicing at once and many coaches have whistles and are toot tooting, their whistles. So whistles are going off and on. And some schools have nice coaches and say nice and positive things like..."you did okay, but try this a bit better next time" And then you can hear some different schools and they shout and scream and pace back and forth alongside the swimming pool. Pacing like an angry lion almost. Shouting and getting all upset. We actually had 1 coach during the actual competition (not from our school, our schools coaches are all nice and mild) but that 1 coach got so riled up...that a kid from his school, took off swimming earlier then the rest and so he didn't want him to get exhausted and basically....swimming for nothing, he dove right into the pool with clothes on and everything. The entire district of people... all went dead silent after he dove into the pool. Just imagine 15-20 different schools or so and everyone all talking and shouting and blowing whistles at once. And you sort of get the idea, of the atmosphere that day. On the other hand... us parents felt excitement in the air. And at the same time, I ran into so many of my mama friends from yochien. When Noah went to yochien, his entire yochien class all went to the same swim club as Noah. And they all pretty much go to a different elementary school from Noah now. So it was really wonderful seeing all of Noah's former classmates from kindy/yochien. And it was also so nice for me to see some of my amazing mom friends, from Noah's yochien days. All those ladies are amazing and I like them so very much. So, yeah, it was so nice to run into about 30 plus of my friends that day. Just really nice. : ) So yes, lots of talking...lots of chatter. Lots of catching up with old wonderful friends, I may not have seen in a long time. Just so so much going on, at the same time. Hahaha. Let's put it that way. : )  I heard one lady, happily squeal...to another yochien mama, she had not realized I was near them but she excitedly screamed, "hey Noah's here!" And again...it was just honestly SO nice... to be near so many good people, who have known Noah since he first turned 3 years old. So a lot of positive good people, we got to see again. Just many happy people to see Noah and happy people to see me again too. So that was truly awesome. I was also, just as excited seeing them and their kiddos too. : )

Noah practicing. Each school had a good chance to warm up. 

Their coach was speaking to them, so Noah was listening.

More practicing.

Times almost up, with the practicing. Go, Noah go! We love you kiddo!

Coaches final words and whatnot. It was just about time. Time to start and get this thing, kicked into gear.

Each school, has a select place for the kids to sit, who are competing and all us parents also have a selected spot, where we can sit. There is our school name, above on a tiny plastic with our schools name on it. So, we know where to sit. These backs of kids, are our kids. : ) We were right near our kiddos. Also...seriously look at all those many many kids... around the pool. Just so many kids, so many different schools competing. 

See, the men in white shirts and black pants, far upper left, in this picture? Those are the school principals. Little known fact, our principal at our elementary school has a heart condition and us parents worried about him. Because often during the day, the announcer would announce the temperature under the shade/under this roof of the pool and it was 103 F degrees under this canopy! @_@ Imagine the parents under no canopy! They were even hotter! Granted our school was lucky because having had experience of coming here... when Bran competed, Noboru brought our canopy and we let the entire rest of our elementary school parents sit under the nice shade, but still...it was still melting hot. The other schools for the most part, had no canopy's and no shade. I think one other school brought a shade, but no other schools did. It was in all honesty... like sitting on the sun for the day, or spending a day in a steam room. If this event, would be indoors, it would be awesome. Hahaha. : )

Noah's first event. He was the 2nd person to be competing from our school, that morning. Good luck, my nervous little shy one. : ) 

Noah, a 4th grader, was picked to swim against all 6th graders. See, the size difference? Look at the 2 white caps on the right of Noah. But, you know what...it is, what it is. It was, what it was. No sense in worrying about something, you have absolutely no control over.

When you're swimming against someone who's a good 1-2 feet taller, all you can hope is...just do your best. And no matter what, we're proud of you. 

Noah's beautiful long dive and that 6th grader to the right had one very..interesting bent knee dive. Hmm. But the bright side is, if that kid would have dove normally, given the height difference, he would have had the advantage, because he would have started way ahead, since Noah's younger and therefore smaller. So the interesting bent knee dive, actually worked in our favor. 

I'm happy that even though Noah is a 4th grader and swam against all 6th graders he was 2nd place in this picture. Noah's just that fast! Even with his smaller 4th grade body/frame he gave them a run for their money! He swam his little heart out! Did, he win? No, he didn't! But the good thing is, there was just a second or two separating him and the rest! So, for that, we couldn't be prouder. 

This picture was taken about 2 hours after Noah's first event, up above. This was Noah's last event. The relay. The relay was right before... we all would be breaking for lunch. : )  Having gone to a few of these district wide swimming competitions before, I see how they have the 2 fastest swimmers go swim first and second. And then hope for the best. Noah getting ready, because the first person from our school was in the pool! That first kid in the relay, before Noah from our school.... was swimming faster that greased lightning that first swimmer from our school! Noah had to be ready. He had to watch and gauge the first swimmer. 

Still watching. It's up to the swimmer, to determine when he should stand on the #3 spot and prepare to dive. Noah in full concentration mode. Meanwhile the crowd is screaming and cheering. And all the kids poolside are cheering for their own schools. It's so loud, it's madness! : ) And because it is a relay... it isn't over quickly and you have lots of noise...chatter, cheering. And people timing each swimming with not 1 digital timer... but 2 each. 

Noah, smiling, because he knew..."we got this!" "It's in the bag" Our 1st swimmer was so freaking fast, he had a good 10 second lead, over all the other schools, competing in the pool. You can see it on Noah's face! He can see, "we got this!" But again he has... to time his dive carefully. If he dives too early, he disqualifies the entire rally for our school. But, he's done this before and by that smile on his face, he's in the zone. Noah has this!

And boom! Timed perfectly! As, he, the first swimmer hit the pool with his hand meaning, he's finished, Noah dove right in, it was so effortless, these first 2. Noah took off like a rocket...you guys! Our school was screaming....Noah...Noah! Noboru is screaming, "go Noah!!!"...the other parents are screaming..."Gambarre Noah!!!!" I'm screaming in English, "you've got this baby, you've got this Noah!!!!"...and funny thing..I know my fellow yochien mom's who don't even go to the same elementary as us, were cheering for their Noah/our Noah too! : )  Meanwhile....as he's finishing up his part in this relay...Noah too, left our next swimmer with a 10 second advantage/lead over the other schools, in the pool! Then it went to the final 2 swimmers of our school and that's when it all fell apart. The 10 second lead disappeared. And then the other schools, had a 10 second lead over our school. And then the other schools.... had such a lead, you knew it was over...and done... before our last swimmer hit the pool. But you know what...the feeling is such...that you know, in your heart and mind... your kid swam his best and he swam *fantastically*, at that. Sure, our school lost and lost by huge amounts. But...all you could do is...be a team and cheer for the last 2 swimmers. The best you can! Again..it was, what it was and frankly, they're just kids. They're not Olympic swimmers. Their mothers were right near, with us under the canopy with us and they knew how their kids were swimming, it was clear/obvious...so... best we could do...and the right thing to do... is support the mom's and the kids. And cheer our hearts out! It made those mom's really happy! And that was the right thing to do. It was 11:50am. And we were about to break for lunch. And technically we could go home because Noah's done swimming for the day. However...we are a team! As, they say...and yes, as corny as it sounds... there is no I, in team. Hahaha. So, we stayed to cheer on the team. No matter what, win or lose! One family however... from our school left. And you know what...you can't really blame them, at all. Because it was a bazillion degrees outside. It was very uncomfortable being outside. So, I think they were smart to leave. But...you know...we couldn't just abandon ship and leave our team. : )

We brought the big cooler and that's only because we needed it for the frozen water in the 2 liter bottles, to keep the rest of the stuff cool. Also, important to note, this cooler stuff is packed like...a hot mess! It just comes to show you... how extremely exhausted, I was with waking up at 5am, that morning, and in fact I am pretty proud of myself... for even managing to pack every body's stuff and not forgetting to charge my camera battery the night before and whatnot. Because for a summer break...that was much too early to wake up. My brain wasn't fully awake yet. : ) I packed Noah, Branden and Noboru 2 chicken cutlet sandwiches each. I also packed everyone three, 500ml drinks. Having done this before, I knew two wasn't enough. I also packed Noah 3 Soyjoy's (like an energy health bar), I also packed everyone in our family, some fresh cut pineapple. And as for me, what did I eat? I packed myself a salad into that Perry the platypus plastic container, I had a nice green salad with grated colby/jack cheese, croutons and thousand island dressing. So, I had a salad and some pineapple. Everyone else ate 2 sammy's and some fruit. I also packed some Doritos for the kids and Noboru to eat with their sandwiches. After lunch, we all seemed to feel better. And Noah, knew he was done for the day, so he just sat poolside and cheered on the swimmers who were competing in the afternoon. Branden was playing Minecraft with his former yochien schoolmate, who lives in the small city nearest us and who is also, an 8th grader too. So, they both hung out and played Minecraft is the hot weather, but at least they had fun. : )  My fellow elementary mama friends were sucking on salted candy to help combat heat stroke. They gave me one after lunch and goodness, it tasted bad, but, I didn't want to spit it out, because that would be rude, so, I sucked on what seemed like a salt cube. @_@ Hahaha. : ) Around 2pm, because of the heat, I had a headache and I wondered if I was having heat stroke. Good thing, I always carry that mini travel sized Advil with me, in my purse because I popped 2 Advil, usually I just take 1, but, I had an absolute killer headache. I was melting outside, you guys. But again...you just do the best you can. And keep cheering on our swim team. They're are all just... as hot as me, and I know that. We're all roasting! Hahaha. But at least we're all roasting together! Around 3:30pm though, I sat in my folding chair and I thought to myself quietly..."please self, remember how hot you are and let's not do this again next year!!!" I kept quietly thinking that, in my head. Branden came by to inform us..."it's so hot", that he just couldn't stand it. I agreed, but, I told him...it was this hot, when you swam too years ago, the only difference is...you could cool off in the water, we could not. Now you know how it feels to be a spectator. : ) Noboru actually told me, "let's not come to this next year." I agreed! Anyway, that was the day. When it ended, we all were very happy! The rest of our team, were so happy we stayed to cheer them on! Noah came running to us and said..."this was the best day ever...can I come here next summer too?" Not really quite sure what to say... "Ohhh ummm, well...let's think about it, next year kiddo." : )  So anyway...that's the long and short of Noah's swimming meet/swimming competition at the elementary school, district wide. Noah had an amazing time, he swam well. We got the chance to talk and reconnect with many of our friends from Noah's kindy days. The only bad part...was the weather. The weather was.. truly the only downside or negative of our day. : )  Well done Noah and his classmates. Well done... all kids who swam and competed that day. And well done parents, who survived the heat and cheered for your own school in the district and kids. : )  And well, done our principal...we were quite worried about you that day! : ) In a nut shell, Noah did well. It was a lovely day, despite the fact the weather was brutal. But truly...a nice day for us all! : )

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. 

A couple other swimming schools right here. 

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 came in 2nd place in this race. Not bad at all. : ) 

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.  

Good luck baby. 

Noah came in 2nd place in this too, this was a 50 meter race, so back and forth. 

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. 

A confident hand on the hip, as he should. : ) Noah's been swimming since age 3 at this very school, he has some great skills. Awww. : ) 

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 chatting with a team mate. 

These are like high schoolers or something. These kids had us all... in awe!

Noah finished his lunch. That's Noah's swim bag with the Spongebob charm on it to the left and the blue backpack is also his too. He was drinking a frozen Calpis pouch drink. 

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. : ) 

Hi gorgeous, I see you talking to one of your friends. So glad to see some goggles on your head though. Huge relief. Hahaha. Especially since, like I said, Noah suffers from allergy eyes. Branden has regular allergies/like normal allergies, every spring. But Noah has just allergy eyes. : ) 

The other swimming schools were given just 1 bench each, but they would share it. Like when your kid was swimming, you would sit, and then after your kid swam, next person's parent would sit down, they took turns. Shared the seating. Our swim school parents however didn't want to share the seating or take turns at all. They glued their butts basically to the seats for the whole 8 hours or however long we were there. Which is why I was here...and stood behind another school. Just easier and fewer parents. 

Another of Noah's races, with goggles. 

Noah and his graceful dive, wonderful leg extension. That other kids was more of a canon ball or flop, sorry. : ) 

And Noah's in the lead. 

Still in the lead...

Noah and the kid in the turquoise cap are getting closer. Pick up the pace kiddo. 

Noah you are in front by a hair...but he didn't smack the end of the pool fast enough the other kid smacked the pool before Noah. Bummer...but it's alright. He learned from it...next time he'll stretch his arm super long and smack that end of the pool. Branden teased him about that and he's a swimmer too, so he knows.

At this point, I can tell the kids are getting tired. Noah has been going like a race horse all day long. I can see my baby's face and instantly know...he's tired. He's 8 years old, I think he did wonderfully and boy did he learn a lot. 

They had yet another relay race and this time they had to wear a jogging/track suit. Thank goodness Noah wasn't in this race. : )

Wet clothes are heavy as all heck, as you know and it was hard for the kids to take them off and put them on the next person. Fun to watch though. 

And this was "supposed" to be Noah's last race for the day. The 2:50pm race. 

The backstroke.

Noah came in 3rd place for this race. 

Noah siting down next to his former yochien friends. 

What is this. Well, a group of girls Branden and Noah swim with on Thursdays swam this event and they told Branden, their parents couldn't come to this event... so if we could take pics of them and then email them the pics, it would be totally appreciated. So, all day long whenever I had my camera out, I had a group of 4 girls and one 6th grade boy making funny poses and stuff at me, pretty much all day long. So, they could make pics out of them. Meaning Branden could email the pics to them and their parents could print out their pics. So all day long besides taking pics of Noah, I would be taking pics of these silly girls and 1 silly boy! Here are a few of the *many* of them that I took. I bet the other schools wondered...how many kids does this western lady have now? 4 daughters and how many sons? Hahaha. : ) Here they were posing for me. 

They are like older sisters to Noah. And why didn't Branden swim this...because he's busy with studying for his final. So he had no time to train for this.  But yep this pic is funny. Noah has his older "sisters" he rides the swim bus with every Thursday and he has his former yochien friends on the other side of him. Surrounded by friends. Real good friends. 

R doing the eye pose...on another picture I took, they were doing a walking type silly pose and it reminded me of the cover of Abbey Road. Crazy kids! Hahaha. : )  Yep every time I stood up with my camera I had 4 girls posing, people seated would turn around...who is taking their picture...they'd wonder. Me...just me. : ) 

The closest bestest swimming friends, you ever did see. Noah was saying goodbye meanwhile to his yochien friends. : )  I think I will make a copy of this pic and frame it and put it on Branden's desk in his room. : ) The girl second from the left is from our town, she will be in JHS next year and she has a little brother in Noah's class/grade they are real good friends too. : )

After the swimming competition, we were all pretty exhausted and a tad hungry, so we went to the Ohsho. Noah had ramen and fried rice. Swimming makes you hungry and given Noah swam in a ton of races he was starving! He was so hungry.

Noboru waiting for his meal, he had ramen and 2 orders of gyoza. Branden and I enjoyed our meal too, man it was nice to relax after a long day like that.

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. : )