At long last - it is JUNE!

Historically my favorite month has always been March.  Followed closely by October.  March, because of my birthday (obviously 😜) but also because March is when winter truly lets go and spring is knocking on the door.  October because you can still wear shorts with long sleeves or a sweatshirt - heaven.  However, since getting married and beginning the never-ending move-cycle that I seem to be caught in, June means I get to go to Swansboro.  Of course there are Junes that I have missed going home, but not many.  This year I have been looking forward to our annual trek with even more anticipation since we haven't been able to leave Japan for a year.  But before I get ahead of myself, let me catch you up on the latest in Nippon.

Jim's family has a few active fantasy sports leagues they've been running for years.  I do not actively participate in any of them (with the exception of the March Madness Brackets but that technically isn't a league).  At any rate, the Fighting Toads (as our team is called) have come close to victory a few times - always the bridesmaid - but the Champions trophy has ultimately gone elsewhere until TODAY! Well, actually the Toads won way back in December but the trophy finally made its way to Japan!  It was a great evening of celebration to be sure!  Hopefully the Toads can become the BSL's first back-to-back winner of the trophy, since mailing this thing back to the States will be tricky.  I think I will invest in a special box so that it can be safely transported to the next winners.

All hail the conquering heroes

School's out for the summer!!  It wasn't pretty at the end, but at least they didn't have to take their AP exams in the middle of the night like last year.  So - that's a win!  All in all the kids have been blessed to be "in school" all year long.  

The big news of the month is that it's finally time to head back to the states for a month!  I am super excited - even though it means we will be away from Jim for a few weeks - I can't wait to get on that plane!  Jim was very sorry to see us go and we will really miss him ... See you in two weeks!

We opted to take the early shuttle to the airport since we weren't sure how long it would take to get checked in and through security to the gate.  We probably would have been fine to take the later shuttle, but you never know how long it will take to drive to the airport.  I can't imagine how the airport looks when we aren't in a global pandemic but it's basically deserted - lucky us!

The plane was even emptier than last year!  As soon as we pushed back from the gate, we all spread out to claim our own row.  We have been spoiled in this way for sure.  I can't imagine having to fly internationally on a crowded plane.  Well actually we did that on the Patriot Express when we flew over two summers ago but my mind has all but erased that experience 😳.

When we landed in LA it was a totally different story.  That airport was BUSY!  Not many people wearing masks either!  We hustled through immigration and customs in order to attempt to fly standby on an earlier flight.  Standby getting to the states was a piece of cake, however this flight did not look good.  We decided to camp out at the gate to get a feel for our chances.  Sitting adjacent to us at the gate was an 8th grade field trip of about 200 students heading back east for a week in DC.  The gate attendant I spoke to first said there were 7 seats available but we weren't first on the standby list.   She didn't sound very hopeful that we'd make this flight.  Our bags were already on the plane by this point so we had a couple of options - wait around to see if we got lucky, bail and head over to the Southwest terminal and get a same day flight or attempt to get fly standby on the red eye after a 13 hour layover.  Since we had nothing but time on our hands, we chose to wait it out.  After everyone was on board I lined the kids up and walked back over to the gate.  A different employee said that there was three people ahead of us on the list but they hadn't checked in.  The orginal attendant took pity on us and gave us those seats so we were able to finally board.  Of course we were not sitting together but we didn't care!  I texted Jim to let him know we made the flight and he found us a hotel near our destination at Dulles.  

A short 5 hour plane ride later, we hit the ground and immediately crashed at the airport hotel.  

The next morning we picked up the rental car and met Aunt Kaki and Madeline for breakfast!  Madeline is growing like a weed and she was very good during our short visit.  The kids took turns with her so Kaki could enjoy her breakfast and conversation without too much of a hassle.

The next stop on our tour was Deltaville.  Lindley and Coby graciously invited us to spend the night with them on the river.  It was another quick visit, but we were happy to be there.  Jim's parents also made the trip so we got a bit more family time with them as well.  It was so special to see everyone after a year (can't believe it's been a year!!). Hoping we'll see them again later this summer.  

We took our time the next morning getting out the door with almost all of our belongings - I am looking at you Ben.  After a year of driving super slow and on the wrong/left side of the road I wasn't super excited to get on the interstate, so I wasn't at all sad when google maps took us to Swansboro via back roads.  

A sight for sore eyes!

Ben immediately signed up to get his NC Boating license and after a short 4 hour course, he was ready to put his new skills to the test.  His first experience piloting a boat is a world of difference away from mine.  WT made me row (yes you read that correctly - ROW) my wooden skiff across the river under a certain time limit before he would buy a motor for it.  Took me all summer to achieve it.  Then he purchased a 6hp Mercury.  Gregg went faster than me in her Sunfish most of the time!  Well at least on windy days. 

The kids are eager to make some money this summer.  So I barely have to even wake them up in the mornings to get them to go down and work the docks.  I don't know if they will do as well as last summer, but anything is better than nothing.   

Mom and Dad have always fed the raccoons, possums & foxes that live in the woods behind their house.  So another great summer tradition is watching the critters come up each night and dine on whatever leftovers we have from the night before.  It is not uncommon for the animals to creep up on the front porch to subtly remind us it is time for dinner when we are running late.  This year is no exception.  

The first Saturday I woke the girls up early and we headed down to Wilmington for them to participate in the UNCW Women's ID soccer camp. I had not been on the campus in a few years and it was surreal to drive around and see all the changes.  It has really GROWN!  The girls had a great time participating in the camp, but their main complaint was the heat.  It was sooo hot!  My main goal was to see how the girls compared to other players with a much more consistent soccer background.  Of course there were better players on the field but all in all they really held their own.  Hopefully they will take away some valuable lessons and a newfound love of the game.  Afterwards we headed over to the mall to purchase a few sports items that are easier to get in the states then in Japan as well as to hit up the Chick-fil-a for lunch!

Another summer tradition is heading downtown to check out the live music on Sunday evenings.  Last year, the town canceled Swan Fest so we were really looking forward to checking out as many as the artists as we could.  Luckily our timing was perfect to check out our dear friend Chris Bellamy!  The weather didn't cooperate so instead of being outside at the pavilion, he set up downstairs at a local business and did what he does best!  It was great seeing him!!

Ben wasn't getting out of having a sports camp experience of his own.  I was disappointed that Swansboro High School had not been able to have Sports camps again this summer, but luckily Croatan High School had a few that were still happening.  Ben had recently begun to play basketball with his friends back in Yokota, so it seemed like a good idea to sign him up for a mini camp while in Swansboro.  He did well, despite what he would say if you asked him.  One of the funniest moments came at the end of the camp when I introduced myself to Coach "Country Strong" Sutton who competed last summer on the Titan Games.  Normally I wouldn't ever do such a thing, but I just couldn't help myself.  Right after we arrived to Yokota last summer, Jim's first aide was also a contestant on the Titan Games - Noah Palicia.  I thought it would be fun to send Noah a picture of Ben and Coach Sutton and thankfully he agreed.  I took the pictures and before I could send it to Noah, Coach Sutton had already done it!  It truly is a small world!

I need to head over to the Junkyard to see about replacing a broken door latch on Jim's car.  Given Ben's increasing interest in all things automotive, I thought he might get a real kick out of it.  We hadn't been there a few minutes before he was off exploring and came back all excited about the "project" car ideas he had found.  I told him he would need to come back with his daddy and possibly Popa to really look around.

Ben also got to head down to Hampstead one afternoon with some friends and check out the skate barn.  He hasn't spent as much time on his board as he has wanted to this summer, so it was nice that he was able to catch a ride down there. He said he had a great time and the videos below second that!

Since I am not with Jim for the majority of the month, I can only share the small tidbits he shared with us via text and the few conversations we had.  The 14+ hour time difference makes it hard to have real chats because it seems that someone is always either getting into bed or out of it 😳.  But here are a few that are worth mentioning.

Before we left, I planted a small garden and set up a watering system that involves a timer, a kiddie pool and moving all of our outside plants to the garden.  I figured several probably wouldn't survive but was hopeful that at least some would.  Apparently the cucumber plant really liked the set up!  Jim finally remembered to check on it and found the MOA (mother of all) cukes!! Of course it is too big to be tasty, but it made for some funny pictures nonetheless!

The pets wasted no time in retraining their human (Jim - the weak link) for the maximum food consumption possible in a 24 hour period.  Essentially, every time Jim goes in the kitchen he is now required to give the animals a treat.  Oh well, I will have 11 months to get them back down to an airline acceptable weight I guess.

 

Every.single.time

It isn't all treats with Jim, he did take Wesley over to Mount Takao in nearby Hachioji which a popular hiking spot with eight trails and several shrines, temples, ropeways, chair lifts, a monkey park, and food stalls along the way.  It stands 599 meters (1,965 feet) tall and takes on average about 90 minutes to summit if you are not stopping every five seconds to catch your breath.  

Finally, another bad habit Jim has instilled is Wesley sleeping on the bed.  I wonder just how hard it will be to break him of this when I get back.  Yoshi seems to be ok with this new sleeping arrangement, but I am not!  Maybe if Wesley smelled better, or was easier to bathe so he would smell better but as it stands now - it's a NO!