Everyday Life...

The base is in the middle of a two week exercise right now and Marc has the night shift of 7pm to 11ish am ....LONG days. He then sleeps all day and we wake him for dinner. So in order to be out of the house and not bother his sleeping these are some of the things we do.....

Fill up a blow up pool and let her get naked and just splash...(We are at the Bremer's here!) If it isn't raining it is HOT and HUMID outside. So we are getting creative now a days....

Run around in the post office...it's air conditioned and they can't bother anyone. This is her friend Olivia!

This is our bible study group. Moms take turns watching the kids and this was my day...

Cuddle up with her duck blanket that her Grandad gave her. EVERY night, "wrap up duck peas?"

Do a "shelf check" at the BX. I was looking at the clothes and turn around and she had climbed up there! She is a great climber...just wish I could get her to know where it is APPROPRIATE to climb!

Play "Tiger Sword Fight" with Joshua!

Run around our living room with "bouncy balloons" her Grannie sent her. This is only when daddy isn't home yet! :) I'm telling you...the wild and crazy times we have!

Black Eyed Peas Concert

Marc and I got a sitter and went to Seoul with an ITT tour (yep, pretty nerdy...but efficient!) to the Black Eyed Pea concert. We had a blast. I knew about 5 of their songs and Marc knew MAYBE 3...but we still had fun!

This is a Korean beer..."Hite"...now you have to say it with the accent to get the full effect! :) It taste like Coors Light to me. But I'm not a beer drinker...

Freaky Pepsi guy giving out free Pepsi's...kinda funny. One of the Black Eyed Pea dudes was talking to the audience and he would say..."where are we?" and we would answer "Seoul" and he would repeat it in a funny voice so now when I see the people who were on our bus (ITT tour) just around base here and there...we just smile and do the "Seoul" voice. FUN!

First BIG SCREEN Movie!

We decided Ana was ready to go to the movies! We skipped her nap and went to the matinee. And she LOVED it! We went to see Ratatouille. TOO cute for those of you who haven't seen it yet. She was nervous at first when it went dark, said she said she was scared...loud noises were freaking her out at first THEN she was hooked. Every time we pass the base theater now she says, "T.V. Movie Peas?"

We didn't take the picture before the movie and when we left they had already changed it out with the next movie showing for that night. (I promise her first movie wasn't PG-13). So in our best pointy talky Korean..."could we see the poster please...just for a picture?" Then these two guys helped us out and held it up for me...I know what your thinking...BUT HEY...it's a "FIRST"...we gotta get it on the camera! :)

This is after the theater cleared out. The chairs swallowed her so she sat on my lap most of the movie. She ate the entire bag of pop corn! I wasn't watching her eat, I was watching the movie!

THEN they GAVE us the poster to keep. We hung it up in her room and when I asked her what she thought of her first movie...it got "two thumbs up"...quite the movie critic already!

Yummy Mini Mart!

This would be your typical mini mart here in Korea. Lots of snacky things like we have only it's not so much the chips etc. we are use too. If you look closer....

IT'S FISH THINGS! Nope, I haven't tried any of it...just in case you were wondering.

YUM! :)

Busan or Bust!

Marc and Pipes had to do a briefing in Busan this past Friday. Busan is as far south you can go in Korea, about 4 to 5 hours south. Right on the beach! SO Ana and I decided to tag along. :) The McKee's also went. We followed each other down to Busan and stayed at the same hotel Thursday thru Saturday.


The Novotel Hotel was right on the beach and it was a very nice hotel. We were familiar with the Novotel because that is the chain of hotels we stayed at while in Moscow!

Friday morning Me, Kathee, and the kids all went down to the beach while the guys had their briefing.

Ms. Olivia and Banana playing in the sand!

The Koreans have a thing for American children. LOVE to touch them and take pictures of them. It was kind of freaky at first when we first moved here, but now it happens so much that it's no big deal. Sometimes we will be somewhere and the Korean's will just swarm in on Ana and we have to "save her" from the crowd that starts to form. The guys got home around lunch time and we went to the Busan Aquarium!

Ana's got a new thing for octopus's now!

There was a Mermaid show that we caught the end of...very fun!

Olivia and Ana with this monster crab!

There was this car that was a fish tank! It was so cool!

Doesn't even look real huh?

So after the aquarium we did dinner and put the kids to bed and the McKee's and us sat in the middle of the halls in our hotel so we could play games. We sat so we could watch the doors of our rooms...I know the Korean's had thought we lost our mind...but it was too early for bed for us and we wanted to play! :)

Saturday morning we got up and went down to the beach again! Here's a fun family picture! Can you find Ana? :) The waves were crazy but SO fun to play in!

This was our "base" we all meet at. Kept me in the shade which always makes me happy.

This was in the hotel...when Ana saw it she said, "Look Mommy, violins!" Now where did she learn that? She's so smart!

VBS-Mission Baptist Church

We have become a part of a great church here and right now is Vacation Bible School. Marc, Ana, and I are all helping and participating in VBS. Marc and Ana are working the table that enrolls the first timers to get them going into the program. Ana greets all the new people as they come in the door. Her favorite phrase right now is "What's your name?" or "Where are you going?" Way to break the ice!

Silver and Gold

Do you remember that old Girl Scout song...Make new friends, but keep the old...one is silver and the other's gold? That is our life in the Air Force!!! The McKee's just moved in two floors below us about a month ago. Pipes works with Marc. Kathee and I have lots in common, from chai teas to being on the go! They have a 3 yr old little girl (who Ana has become quite fond of) and a sweet little 15 month old boy (who is quite fond of Ana...always giving her big hugs). It's nice that our husbands work together because we can help each other coming and going to the base and we are all on the same schedules! :) The Hummel's we knew in Alaska and have two children that are Ana's age as well. They also live in our apt. complex and we see them pretty much daily. The guys aren't in the same squadrons here but we haven't missed a beat with them since being apart the last 3 years! We are so blessed to have such a good group of friends so we can all take care of each other being so far away from our families!

Natzi's? NOPE.....

Most of you know me well enough to know that the swastika FREAKS me out! Growing up in Germany and learning horrible truths about Natzi's and that time of life did a number on me. So when we moved here I was VERY upset to see it ALL over the place. I started to look into it and figured out that it is one of the BUDDHIST symbols. I got online and researched it and sure enough....it is used in China, Japan, and KOREA to denote plurality, abundance, prosperity, and long life. It comes from the Sanskrit word "svasti" which means good fortune, luck and well being. I have to say I have a new found peace for what use to be such a horrible symbol for me!

EXERCISE....EXERCISE....EXERCISE

Those of you who have been stationed here in the past, I'm sure can hear that loud speaker that the base has that sounds off those annoying words....exercise....exercise....exercise! We live off base and could hear it ALL hours of the day! Such a fun time for all of us involved. :) Marc was on the "night schedule" and would go in around 6:30pm til 11ish am. He'd come home to sleep for the day and I'd wake him at 6:00pm for dinner and he'd head out the door again at 6:30pm to do it all over again. Ugh. He was exhausted.