Charity's Crazy Beautiful Life

Proud Mary -- I mean, Proud Momma

I feel like this week has kept me rollin', rollin', rollin' on a river...or maybe it was goin', goin', goin' to the pool. Which has made me one proud momma! Here's why:

I signed my younger two up for summer swim team about a month back. They haven't swam in almost two years. So on the four mornings a week that they swim for two hours, they have been a bit hesitant. Not quite "in the game". And when last Tuesday rolled around, the day they had their first summer swim meet, they were a bit nervous. Which was completely unwarranted because...

they killed it! Colby came in first place in two events, and second in his third. 

(I thought this picture was pretty funny...Colby's head.) He even set a team record in one if his events. GO COLBY, YOU ROCK!!! (I have to laugh, because that is always what he asks me to write on his back...giggle, giggle.)

And my girl...

she was afraid that she would no longer have what it takes to swim with the kids her age that have been swimming for years. Well, I know I'm a little bit biased, but I think she still has it, and she can bring it too! She was the only girl in her age group that volunteered to swim the butterfly, so here she is, swimming with the boys! (She's on the right in the white swim cap.)

Needless to say, my awesome daughter also kicked bootay in the swim meet. She made first and second in two of her events. And then two days later, Allyssa, (who also still likes to get "sharpied up")...

found out that she did so well on her times that she got to move up two lanes.  I don't know much about swimming, but I've heard that that's kind of a big deal. It means that she's doing really well, (which doesn't surprise me). She'll be swimming with some of the older kids... kids who have been swimming a long time. And now, she's completely "into" swim team again. She's talking about it again with excited anticipation, which shows me that I was doing the right thing when I coaxed her into swimming this summer. And Colby has said a few times lately that "swim team is fun...and it's good 'cause it'll help me get in shape for football". Heh, heh, priorities. So, this is all affirmation for me...that I'm doing the right thing to wake my kids up early four days a week during their summer vacation, to go to the pool.

Summers spent swimming -- it's a good thing!

Have a splashingly fun Saturday!
~Proud Momma

So, for Father's Day (which was as beautiful as the day before), we spent the day indoors. Church (INSIDE). Out to lunch (INSIDE) (Well, technically, we were outside on a balcony overlooking the ocean. But it was covered, shady and breezy. So I consider that "INSIDE", at least for the purpose of this blog post. Thanks for playing along.) Movie (INSIDE). Then...we came home and the boys started playing the Wii, INSIDE. Why INSIDE all day (well, ok, mostly INSIDE, if you're going to be a stickler about that whole lunch on the balcony thing) on such a beautiful day like this?

 Why INSIDE instead of playing in the waves?

Why INSIDE instead of hunting for creatures?

Why INSIDE instead of finding enormous hermit crabs? 

(And by enormous, I mean, pretty darn big!)

Why INSIDE instead of strolls on the beach...

and cheesy teenage "looks"...

(followed by hilarious teen-aged laughter).

Why INSIDE when you can spend the day sporting horrendous beach hair that is covered by a "hideous" beach hat. (And... could you please stop calling my beach hat hideous, I happen to like it, thank you very much!)

Well - I'll tell you why. Because... a certain someone (ahem, I won't name any names - wink, wink) forgot to put sunscreen on his back, along with the back of a certain little someone who happens to be his Mini-Me. So, these two people (who will remain nameless)...they didn't come home with any of those crabs, nope, they came home looking like lobsters! (Heh heh, I crack myself up!)

So, we needed to spend the day inside -- pampering and applying aloe to two sunburned backs. But all in all, whether we were inside our out, the day was pretty great. Because we got to spend it appreciating a pretty awesome daddy!

We hope you had a great Father's Day too!
Love,
~The Zaleski's

 

The rainy season is OVER, so come visit!

Today was beautiful...the weather was great, the skies were clear, the water was gorgeous!! A switch to what we've been dealing with lately - which has been lots and lots of rain! So, when we woke up and saw blue skies this morning, we decided to head to the beach. This is one of my favorite pictures from today with Craig, Allyssa, and Daz out wave jumping while Colby is collecting hermit crabs in his bag. And can you believe that this is a straight out of the camera shot? No editing. This is precisely how beautiful the beach was today! 

Yes, you got me! I've decided to campaign on this blog. To post beautiful island pictures to entice you to come visit us. Can you tell I miss you!?!?!!! (Just don't come during the "rainy season", you'd be mad at me!!) Lucky for you and me both, I think the rainy season is behind us for another year!

Hope to see you soon!!
Love,
~Charity
 

Flea Market, Frugality... and blame it on Facebook!

It's been a while. A long while. But if it's ok with you, I'm just going to pretend that it hasn't been a while. Ok? Thanks for understanding! Love ya!

So... I left off talking about the flea market that I went to with my daughter Allyssa and my friend Sarah, so we could sell some of our junk.

 

As we were waiting in line in our van to get our flea market spot, we saw the Japanese locals waiting off base to come in and rummage through our junk. They were friendly. And flashed me a peace sign after I took a picture of them...how cute is that?!? (That's what they do here in Japan for pictures, show a peace sign!)

We got our space and tossed our junk out of the van, as it seemed like everyone else was doing. (I've never done a flea market before. Did I mention that? And never, never in a foreign land.)

And then, they came...

(Yes, that's me in the yellow hat and yellow shirt baking away in the sun. Allyssa was very adamant that she would be the one taking the pictures that day. Gotta love my kids!)

so they came...and they browsed...

  and the Japanese - they were fun to "people watch". They would swarm...

and REALLY contemplate their purchases. Which made me think...because, you see, most everything I was selling was 100 Yen (about one dollar). But they would take several minutes holding something up, and looking at it and inspecting it.

It made me realize that in that respect, I need to take a lesson from the Japanese. Maybe I wouldn't wind up with so much junk to sell in the first place.

So, that day at the flea market...I realized that I respected the frugality of the people of this new country I'm living in. And after spending a morning tending to my junk and getting a horrible sunburn (and yes, I did apply sunscreen), I grew to appreciate and respect all the funky hats and visors...

and the umbrellas they use and the layers of clothes they wear. Even went it's hot, hot, hot out. They know what they're doing. 

And, if you really must know where I've been and why I haven't been blogging lately...well, instead of listing my "top ten" reasons, I'll just say, "blame it on facebook"!