Bits from the week!

Yup, so all this week and I do mean all 6 days! Monday through Saturday, we went to swim school! And twice this week I went for both boys! Yikes! What a dedicated mama! LOL!
Being the mom of a child in sports is definitely time consuming at times. But, I know the benefits they get and the fun they have, so I figure an hour a day a day or sometimes 2 is not so bad in all actuality! : ) These were either taken on Monday or Tuesday of the week. Noah and the coach! By now, going on such an everyday type basis as Noah has been going, he is very fond of the coach. He really likes her a whole lot. And he listens to hear perfectly!

Kick kick kick!!! : )

This coach is a real kind soul. A very sweet personality and just an all around lovely human being. And so good with the wee little kids! Here she was picking Noah up high in the air! : )

Noah and his classmates!

This is where each kid is supposed to do a "canon ball" type jump and submerge and be able to hold their breath. Just beginners stuff, but he did it perfectly! Holds his breath and everything.

Just popped out of the water right here! : )

He got a job well done, from the coach and got a high five! : )

Our family has also been watching the Beijing Olympics nearly every single day! : ) We have been watching and paying very close attention to the swimming in particular! Because well, since we are the proud parents of 2 little fish to begin with! : ) Meaning such good swimmers anyway! And also since swimming and swimming school is such a main thing for our household anyway. So yeah...it is something we do pay *very* close attention to. But yeah, after B hits to level 1 in swim club, he will be competing in Japan in meets. And we will be wondering if he does cut the time. And if he does have that speed. If he does have it. Who knows! But as I tell my kids, "honey you can do anything" and "you can accomplish anything as long as you work hard at it and want it badly enough", and I truly believe that. : ) Anyways, the Americans have done so well in the Olympics this year! We are so proud! And especially have been watching Michael Phelps! He's won 8 gold medals so far. And frankly speaking he blows me away!!! I will also try not to mention the thing where that French guy, talked all those tremendous amounts of bullshit about us Americans, and how he was gonna beat the Americans in swimming, *especially* Phelps. And all that pure and utter trash he spewed. And Phelps ended up winning!!! I can only tell you the screams of pride and "oh yeahs"! That went on in our house that day! We were pulling for him! As were many of you, I am sure! : ) What Michael Phelps has done, in a nutshell is inspire, young American swimmers like both my sons! Because it gives them something to strive for. Someone to look up to, as a fellow American, in a sport that they both share and love! And for that, I take my hat off to him! Right on!!!

Did anyone hear on the news? We heard it on CNN, that the little girl in the red dress at the opening ceremony lip synced??? What the heck? Apparently the real little girl was thought of as not being quote unquote "cute enough?" Did anyone hear that? Also on CNN, they said the fireworks half of them were not real and computer graphics? Anyone else hear anything like that, as well? I was surprised by all this stuff! Wowsa! : )

Anyway, the Americans have the lead for now in the medals count! We have the most medals so far, I think. The USA, has 65 medals in total. The gymnastics for the girls has been a good show as well. The first round the Americans did not win. Was hoping Shawn Johnson woulda won the gold!!! : ( And China is well known to have good gymnasts as well. I wish the Americans would bring back coach Bela Karolyi! He was tough, but he was a good coach! I know his wife is coaching now. Hmm. Anyway. Also seems Jamaica has been kicking butt in the track and sprint area. Anyway still enjoying the Olympics a bunch, is all I wanted to say! : )

Chalk up yet another day of swim school here in this pic! And Branden killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Meaning he gets to get his Kumon out of the way while baby brother swims and then he waits a bit and then he gets in the water! : )

Tons of English Kumon!

See how thick his all these papers are? It's like an inch thick! Poor B! Yup, he may have all his summer ichinensei homework out of the way, however he still gets an inch thick of assignments to do every single week! And he does it without fail and without complaint. So he's a super good kid in my eyes....because between you and I, I'd be complaining my butt off, if it was me! Ha ha ha. : ) Somewhere between 60-70 sheets a week.

English assignments he gets at Kumon are fill in the blank. he has to read a paragraph on the other page and then turn the page and fill in the blanks. And at Kumon they also mark off, if your penmanship sucks. And they even mark off, if you forget to write your name. Each packet is about 5 pages long. And he gets 5 packets of those. Not counting the Japanese he gets either.

As you can see from this pic, half his assignments are in hiragana and the other are in katakana. And for being 6 years old, I think he's doing great! Kumon has helped my son a lot. And when Noah hits age 5, he will be joining Kumon as well with his older brother. : )

We have been renting a bunch of DVD's lately as well. We rented that one with Nicolas Cage, National Treasure 2, not sure if I mentioned that. Just a whole bunch. We've been renting 3 movies at a time and about 6 dvd's a week total! So, we have seen nearly all the new releases in Japan now. : )

Also this week, I made tacos! I made lean ground beef ones for the hubby. And all white meat chicken ones for me. And the kids have both/ some of each, the beef and the chicken. Ha ha ha. And I fried up my own corn tortillas.

I had 3! These were mine. They had sour cream, guacamole, and salsa, chicken and everything else! Man were they good! Hubby had 4 tacos, B had 2 and Noah had 1 and a half, lol!

Quick to fold them over and we dug right in! Perfect with a nice coke with ice! : )

Wednesday, Branden's swim pics! : ) Yup, they start off with the big kicks along the side! Just the same as Noah's little kids class does!

Aha, there's my Mr. Green goggles down there! I see ya baby! : )

It's very regimened. Almost military style. They go back and forth. Looking for speed and technique. And coach stands in the water making corrections if you need them. It's honestly really wicked and cool to watch! : )

And now for the racing/competing part! They do not race by age, they race by level. Many of these kids are 7, 8 and can even be 9 year olds. And yes some 6 year olds like B. There are quite a few 3rd grader's in here. Anyway, B had to swim against this girl. The coach paired off the kids. They were neck and neck for the longest time! As you can see in this picture!

Branden has that little bit of fire or drive or I don't know what, inside him and I don't know what he did, but he edged in front of her! She tried so hard and kicked so big, but that only made him try harder as well. It was exciting watching from upstairs.

And bingo bango, Branden won, he touched the wall first as you can see from this picture, coach tooted her whistle loudly and shouted B's name. And the racing continued.

Next they all had to do the backstroke. He does have a fierce backstroke! He really does! : )

Noah watched on from upstairs.

The racing stopped and then it was up to the working on the breast stroked techniques. Meanwhile while he was waiting he was chit chatting with a few of his buds/pals/friends! : )

The leg technique is hard to master, because you gotta have like a frog leg type position, lol! The coach, didn't care for B's leg technique at all, so she walked him back and forth down the lane, holding his legs and bending them in the position they had to go in. Again, I didn't care or mind a bit. They are learning, so I say good for them! Please teach them! : )

Yup bend those legs Branden!!!

Yup she's helping you master the leg part of the breast stroke alrighty! Bend those legs kid! : )

All the way down and all the way back this way! But, thankfully, I think you finally got the hang of it!

Yup there's the coach molding your leg in the right position! Good coach! And your new moves are now starting to look really spot on B! : )

Yup, bending the legs right.

And a bit blurry but see? he's got it! A perfect frogs leg! (our funny name for it) LOL! but he's got it down! So right on! : )

Thursday, I didn't take pics at the swim school! But there were only 3 kids for Noah's section! 2 little girls and 1 little boy which was Noah! : ) These were from Friday! Not many kids, but all boys today! : )

Kick kids kick! : )

Yay Noah! : )

Friday after swim class, we had all the papers transfered over! Remember he was on that 1 month compressed try out? Well, now after all the filling of forms and such, Noah is now a member of the same private swim club Branden goes to! Today he got his swimming bag! And he also got his ugly swimming trunks. I really hate/loathe the boys uniform they all have to wear....those bikinis/banana hamocks all the little boys have to wear, but, so be it, I guess! : ) But yup, a full member from now on! : ) : ) Oh yeah and Branden got new swimming bikinis from the swim school today too. 2700 yen each pair, so 2 pair of those for our family today. Riduclous for the price of the swim trunks. But ah well. At least they are in a good sport and being active good kids. Better then being in a gang or a being a common hooligan, I guess. So no complaints from us! Ha ha ha. : )

On the way home from Friday's swim class. We stopped off at the bakery. Bought some melon pans, a honey and toasted almond bread. And some bread for Saturday's breakfast. : ) Just a few things. : )

Friday night, I made something quick and easy. I made chili. Texas style chili. Chili concarne basically! : )

I wish, I woulda had some sweet hot buttery cornbread to go with this. But heck. I didn't and such is life, sometimes you just gotta make do! : ) So we had it with tortillas. It was fine! And quick hot meal. Especially after all that swim school stuff, I just wanted to relax! : ) A nice bowl of chili, with some toppings of chopped onion, cheddar cheese, and sour cream! So good for a rainy Friday night! : )

After our chili concarne dinner. Noboru showered with the boys. I showered alone. And we all went downstairs to relax some more. Seems our whole summer has been one big giant relax mode session really! I watched TV and relaxed. And the kids played with some stickers. However they didn't stick them ont he books they stuck them on each other! Yup, apprantly that is what delights my 6 and 3 year old these days! Sticker face!!!

After a bit they both went to bed. And the hubs and I got to unwind without kids! Sit and talk and laugh! I hope this doesn't sound too stupid, but honestly, my husband is really my best friend! He's so funny and always listens and makes me laugh absolutely every single day! We are the same age. We met when we were both 21 years old in uni! He knows nearly everything there is to know about me and me, him! And now we are both 36. 15 years we've been together...and you know what, I'd marry him all over again, in a heart beat. And not so sound too, "mini me and Dr. Evil" about things... but yeah....he completes me, lol! He's the absolute love of my life and apparantly the feelings mutual, lol! Ha ha! Anyway, enough lovey dovey talk! But it's just been a real quiet week at our house. Staying close to home this week. Well except swim school. But other then that, just staying near home, playing in the backyard or renting movies. Just enjoying the week basically! : ) Oh yeah and I jokingly told my husband the other day...."I go to swimming school so much, I feel like I am starting to feel like the movie "Groundhogs Day" You know, menaing....am I reliving the same damn day or what here??? LOL! And he gets me. He gets my sense of humor. : ) Anyway, hope everyone reading this, is well and enjoying themselves wherever you all may be! : )

Also wanted to add! Was completely disappointed this morning to hear that the US woman pole vaulter trash talked the Russian lady. In the same vein of what the French guy did with regards to the US swimming team. I don't care for trash talk. It's not what the Olympics is about. This, at the very least is the one time every 4 years all our countries can get together and have a good game and be friends! This whole trash talk thing just isn't pretty and it's horrible absolutely horrible sportmanship! Besides being tacky! I being a very proud American, meanwhile didn't root for that American pole vaulter. Sorry. Just really dislike the trash talk and it turned me off! : )

Our weekend!!! : )

These are the only 2 pics from the movie theater that I took on Saturday evening!!! I know they suck and are sorta blurred, but that's okay. It was so dark in there, I wished to use the flash, but on the other hand I didn't want anyone to know I was taking a pic at the movies either, so that's why no flash. And the pics blurred, sorry guys! : ) Anyways, as we were waiting in the short line to buy our movie tickets. I saw this ad for the movie we had already seen called Wall E. Remember we saw this in Guam back in July? Anyway was a bit shocked to see it isn't going to be released in Japan until December. The blurry pic, indeed says, December 6th. Wow, that really is a delay in getting the movie to Japan, I thought. Anyway.... : )

We went to go see Kung Fu Panda, however the movie was listed as being dubbed in Japanese at the movie theater. So, since we wanted to watch it in English, and we were already at the movies, we went to see, "The Happening" instead. It was an interesting movie. Not scary but a suspense. Why everyone is dropping dead basically. Not a horror flick at all, or we wouldn't have taken the kids. It was a good movie though. Glad we made lemonade from the lemons, meaning glad we ended up seeing something good, although not what we originally thought. But the night was good and fun! : ) I snuck some snacks into the movies. And we also bought a tub of caramel popcorn and a tub of regular butter and salt popcorn and some large drinks and we were set! It was a good way to spend Saturday evening! : )

Sunday morning, while the kids still slept, I woke up with the hubby! He mowed the backyard and front yard! Meanwhile I went and did last minute stuff getting ready for my bil and family to get here in the afternoon! If you know me, then you know our home is pretty much always clean anyway! But just to make sure! I did wash the toilet/restroom downstairs, floor and the toilet mat, I washed and hung the mat outside to dry as you can see them hang from this picture! I then went into the kitchen, everything was clean there too. But I mopped the kitchen floor once again just to make sure! After Mr. Clean did his job! I let the floors dry, And I gathered the kitchen mat and the 3 kitchen towels that usually hang from my oven and washed those in the washer real quick and also let them hang out to dry! So there you see, the toilet mat, the kitchen mat and the 3 apple towels I got from Costco over 2 years ago, ha ha ha. All nicely drying outside! They dried right quick and then I laid them back down to their rightful spots! : )

My table runner, I washed on the gentle cycle and let hang dry outside as well! In about 25 minutes it was dry, and I laid it back on the table and was finished getting ready for the BBQ! By now the boys woke up, they had an easy breakfast of cold cereal and toast. Noboru and I ate that too. And then, the boys got dressed quick. And I got dressed and did my hair, put my make up on and just sorta hung out until they got here! : )

My lovely sister in law (my sil), and Noah and my niece Mia! I brought out the 2 baby push cars for her and not knowing if Noah would want one either, so good thing I also had the anpanman one as well.

Mia liked the Anpanman one! Noah was actually nicely pushing his cousin Mia in it. Then I whip out my camera and he stopped pushing her.

: ( Ha ha ha, figures that happens doesn't it?! Ha ha ha. : )

Noah wanted to use the blue one and he asked auntie Satoe to give him a hand and she nicely obliged! Ha ha ha, she is such a good auntie! : )

Good thing, men are always the watchful cooks and watchers and keepers of the BBQ! LOL! After I made the salad, I got to really sit back and enjoy myself on Sunday!

Jun was supposed to pick up 5 slabs of ribs! He said when he got there they only had 4 slabs left! He quickly grabbed the last remaining 4 slabs and after he grabbed them ,the Costco Makuhari was rib less, lol! Ah well, they should get them in by now, I think! : ) Turns out the 4 slabs were more then enough! He also brought a package of cut up ones, but we didn't even eat those since we already had too much food! He got to take them home! : ) Also, the BBQ costs, we just split everything. So his family paid half and Noboru paid the other half. That way the expense was shared! We had big baked potatoes. Fresh corn on the cob! It always tastes best when the husks are kept on and we lay them in the grill, they sorta get a nice roasting that way! Yummm! : )

A fresh cripsy salad, some nice dinner rolls! Man we were all set! : )

Here's the hubster eating ribs! He loves ribs, I think he was in rib heaven! Ha ha ha! : )

My bil Jun, my sil Satoe, my nice Mia! And a very unattractive pic of my hubby scarfing down some ribs! Poor hubby, sorry to capture such a look or expression! Whoops! : )

A great big cheesecake for dessert! It was just a really really wonderful Sunday BBQ! : )

Lots of leftovers cooling! As soon as the meat cooled they went into the fridge right away! I wrapped the corn in plastic wrap and popped it into the fridge as well. The next day for lunch we had leftovers! It was a pretty good lunch, ha ha ha! : ) We kept the rest of the cheesecake, however we really wanted to give/split half to Jun but since they are heading to Satoe's family house for Obon and it's a big drive and they obviously couldn't take the cheesecake on that long drive, so that's why we ended up with the entire rest of the cheesecake. Anyway, we have enjoyed a slice of cheesecake everyday until it was finished off as well. : )

Sunday night, quick pic, right before we hit the bath and shower! : ) My clean apple towels nicely hung on the big oven door. A bit not aligned but it didn't matter. : ) They were freshly clean, so I'm okay about it, lol. : ) The clean kitchen mat that sits on the floor in front of my Kholer sink. The food cooling off. And yup, I finally got my teeny tiny convection oven/microwave/toaster from my shed. Have had this since we moved to Japan years ago. But remember when it went into the shop 2 years ago? It came back, but I was always too lazy to put it back into the kitchen. I did it this morning before they came. So glad I did that. : ) Dishes were nice and clean in the dishwasher already. And with the kitchen all properly clean for the night. We all turned off the kitchen light and took our showers and relaxed for the rest of the night! It was a nice Sunday! Shoot it was a nice whole weekend actually! Lots to relax about, lots to enjoy! I love hanging with my bil and my sil and my niece. Not too shabby of a weekend, I'd say! : ) Hope everyone is still off enjoying their weekends too wherever you all may be! : )