Rigdon Review: Our Adventures Abroad

 The following does not follow the usual theme of "WOW! New life in Japan!" that is usually woven through the blog and was the purpose for STARTING the blog in the first place.  But...it's my blog! So I'll do what I want! (I'm a middle child, can you tell?) We are in full Christmas Season swing, amiright? The shopping, the decorations, the baking, the wrapping, the music on the radio, it's everywhere, and I, like many others, LOOOVVVEEE it.  But wheeeewwwww buddy, if there is one song that has polarized the entire nation (or so it seems), I'd have to say it's "Mary Did You Know." For reference, the following is one of a gazillion versions of the song on YouTube: Now, What I am typically seeing as far as people speaking out on this song, are the folks who HATE THIS SONG with every fiber of their being.  So I kind of assumed everyone hated it.  But then, ya know, I looked, and this particular YouTube video has been viewed more than 2.7 MILLION ...

 I know, I'm no different from anyone else when I say, "HOLY &^%$ IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER!?!" But good heavens this year has absolutely flown by.   We've finally hit somewhat of a stride here (which I'm sure will have a wrench thrown in it sometime soon because that's how it works, right?).  3/4 kids are in school full time, Japanese is being learned at rapid rates by everyone under the age of 10 (don't even get me started). We've been SO busy the past couple months but nothing really seemed "BLOG-WORTHY". But then I realized, sometimes the small things are totally worth sharing! Andrew had to go to Utah for a couple of days for some appointments he really couldn't get out of.  Before he left we decided to take the kids to karaoke, and they had a little too much fun. As you can see, we OBVIOUSLY have the next round of  "So you think you can dance" contestants.  Keane and Holland both participated in a speech contest where ...

 Today in the middle of the morning hustle I missed a call from Cache's school.....twice.  When I finally saw I had missed a call, I didn't know who it was from (I have now saved the number in my phone!).  So I already had a pounding heart calling a Japanese number turning my brain into hyper focus mode so I could understand the conversation.  When I realized it was Cache's school, immediately I remembered he was supposed to bring extra clothes for him to paint in today, and I had forgotten to send them with him.  Not a big deal as an isolated event, but unfortunately this is not the first (or 2nd, or 5th or 8th) time I have forgotten something Cache has needed at school.  What makes it even worse is that his teacher, sweet, lovely Ayaka Sensei, even wrote out, complete with pictures, what I needed to bring. IN ENGLISH!  See the following as proof of my incompetence:  :  See, it's definitely me....not them.  Oh, and to top it off, last F...

Please do not misunderstand me: we love the life we have created here in Japan.  We, as a family, do not regret being here in the least bit (but don't ask the kids about that on a bad day, because they will for sure tell you otherwise).  Life in a completely foreign land, speaking a foreign language (and in the middle of a pandemic!?!?!) is not, however, without extremely trying times. We write about the amazing experiences we have because they are just that, amazing.  Share-worthy. You know what else is share-worthy? The fact that in the midst of all the magic and wonder, are plenty of melt-downs, heart ache, homesickness, frustration and anxiety. Keane: Cute as they come, he is.  This kid is quick.  Incredibly bright, school has always come very easily for him.  Nothing was ever difficult.  He was ahead in math and reading and never struggled in school.  He was used to not really having to try. Fast forward--He is thrown into Japanese school and...

 We've been trying to go camping every weekend for the past many weeks, but when the time came close, the forecast showed rain.  Camping in the rain with 4 kids seems like something I'm happy to avoid.  Finally, this past weekend, the forecast was clear!  Saturday showed a cloudy morning, but other than that, clear and sunny, so we prepped! Guys, the prepping and the cleaning up part of camping is dreadful.  I cannot stand it.  But I love camping so much, and we had really heard great things about the campsite called  Jakuchikyogoryuno (Seven) Falls.   A couple of really wonderful benefits of having access to the Marine base here is that they have a service where you go in and they call and set up the reservations for you, free of charge.  It's great because....it's usually pretty rough when I call to make a reservation or try to set something up in Japanese.  Additionally there is a place called Outdoor Recreation which has ALL sor...