A Family that Plays Together...

will reap the rewards of love, strength, and perseverance...that is worth more than all the gold in the world. 

In the spirit of fitness and trying (desperately at times) to stay active and make sure I'm teaching my kids the importance of loving your body enough to nourish it properly and keep the "wheels" oiled and maintained, I thought I would add a page to my blog that captioned just that!

We are a fit family! Are we the fastest, fittest, and best? Not even close. But that's not what's important. What's important is that we are actively participating in extracurriculars. We are talking about how important that is. We are also talking about how it's okay to hit bumps in the road...that happens. But after you fall, you pick yourself up by your boot straps, you dust off that dirt and hurt and you just keep swimming...

Camp Courtney Triathlon

It's not our favorite thing to get up in the wee hours of the morning but if it's to show off our awesomeness, then we are game! The beautiful sunrise was a bonus!

My littlest competed in her first triathlon of 2015 and second overall this morning with a couple friends and they all did fantastic!

She placed 5th female and fifteenth overall! Great job!

Getting ready for the swim part.

Sometimes different is good and sometimes it's...

"Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times." - Asian Proverb

I couldn't agree more.

And today I feel like I accomplished just that. Two things I've been putting off but have heard about at least a thousand times have been shooting the cosmo fields up in Kin Town...and Zumba. I know what you're thinking, Zumba and cosmos? Well, if those aren't two of the most uninteresting things on the planet and they surely couldn't be any more different from each other if they tried. The truth is, I've photographed cosmos before and I've worked out to music before...BUT I haven't shot Kin's cosmos and I certainly haven't Zumba'd. Is that a word? I may have just made it up!

So, in reviewing my day today, I've decided I kinda sorta like Zumba...but ask me again in a month after I've mastered the moves, my opinion could change. And although I'm bummed I waited too long for cosmos, I still got a couple decent shots. Here are a couple shots from up in beautiful Kin Town, Okinawa.

Hope you like.

Wanted to add a couple iPhone pictures as well.

I want to take you back...

but just to last year and only because it's still fresh in my mind. So, I'm writing it down.

Last year, in general, seemed to be a tough year...and not just for me. Looking back, it's true...2014 was tough and I don't want to sugar coat anything here so if that's what you need you'll have to look elsewhere.

Last year I realized relationships change, people change, and life never stops, even if you want it to. But I really wanted it to. I just wanted it to stop for just a week or a month even, maybe longer...but then I'd be greedy, always wanting more. And that's just it. That's military life for you, when your husband is gone more than he's home, you are always wishing you had a little more time. And seriously, sometimes the only reasons were so that we could talk about the shitty stuff...you know, like how to properly reprimand our 14 year old for his sudden lack of respect for his mother, or discussing whether we should continue to allow our beautiful and quickly maturing ten year old daughter to wear short shorts to school, or even touching base on the dreaded "we should have a budget and stick to it" talk...that's my least favorite. Those issues can't be resolved on a unified front if your other half is gone and so I'm left on my own struggling to find the answers and hoping they are the right ones. And often times they aren't.

So, last year I was trying a lot on my own. And I got myself involved in trying to help with stuff that wasn't even mine. All that dirty relationship stuff that wasn't even mine! What the hell was I thinking? I mean, I have my own stuff so why would I take on more? And it nearly killed me. It really did. And that's why this year will be different. This years focus won't be about other people. It's going to be about me. Sound selfish? Yeah, maybe a little but everyone needs to be a little selfish. A high school friend of mine said so and since he said so...I'm taking it!

I encourage all of you to be a little selfish this year. Listen to your body and your mind. If it's telling you to take a break, then take a break. If your body wants to be healthier then eat a little better and walk a little more. Explore the wonders this world has to offer. Explore outside and explore within. I'm excited to find myself again. We were once best friends then I took advantage of me and allowed others to do the same.

This is my year and I'm taking it!