The Arrival & Rehearsal

Oh, the fun kicked right off upon the arrival of Pawpaw, Grammie Lene & Uncle Ben. As I was scurrying around the house trying to get everything ready for their impending arrival (which was 2 hours later than it was supposed to be!), a funny thing happened. For some reason, I decided to bake banana bread. Hmmm...why? Brad left to take his mom to the airport at 11am...he got back home at 10:30pm--fun times. After his departure, I must have decided I didn't have enough to do with cleaning my entire house & getting all the beds ready for the next group of company (while my girls went berserk most of the day!!). Well, I made the bread & it was cooling in the kitchen. I was back in the guest bath cleaning & the thought hit me...where was the dog??? I go running to the kitchen & he must've heard me; he was coming out at that exact moment. I had left the stool Abby uses in the kitchen as a doggy staircase to banana bread heaven. He LOVES his baked goods. Here is what I found...one nice bite out of it! The funniest part is that the airport group got back & in their famished state, cut into the bread before I had the chance to warn them. Brad was lucky enough to get the Indy piece! :)

Bekah & Uncle Ben

They got here just in time for Abby's very first dance recital! It was very cute...these are from the dress rehearsal.

Abby & her good buddy Ella
Pretty Ballerinas
Oh yes, she is my daughter...

Pawpaw & the Beks--thrilled to be at Abby's rehearsal! :)

Bloggy love,

Seoul Grand Park & Flower Market--AGAIN!

Still catching up...whew! I am trying to keep my head above water! Computer time is hard to come by right now, but it's for a good cause. We have been going on lots of adventures & trying to get in some sights before my family goes back to the states. Below, are my last pictures of Mom J's visit. We went to the Flower Market...LOVE IT & so did she! It's just such a happy place--oh, and the smell.

Abby & her good buddy Alyssa holding hands at the zoo!

Here the cuties are posing...

Abby isn't too fond of heights & this ski lift was not something she wanted to do again. So, I enlisted my friend Kristie...she can work wonders. Here is Abby ENJOYING the ride to the top on the ski lift. Maybe she does pick up on Mommy's nervousness??? And here I thought I was faking it so well... :)

We witnessed the craziest thing...
Look very closely...
There is the beautiful guy down there playing with a stick!
These guys just couldn't get over it--they were so upset. It was crazy to watch the dynamics of what was going on. The zoo keepers had a chicken dangling from a rope trying to get the tiger to climb back up the side...didn't look like that was going to work. It started to freak us out a bit, so we took off; wish we could've seen how it all ended!

Here's my girl who doesn't want her picture taken very often...she got up there to pose all by herself!Go figure...Abby was done posing!

Our good buddies, Kristie, Alyssa, Abby, Bekah & Mommy

The last full day of Mom J's trip was spent in our little local town right off of base...we had some purse shopping to do! From what I hear, she was quite the haggler. :) I kept the girls out of the stores while she shopped, so I didn't witness it myself. I would've loved to have seen it!

I am going to try & get more caught up over the next few days! I know some of you from back home are waiting for pictures of the Waggoner visit...I'll do it ASAP! :) I am behind on EVERYTHING, if it makes you feel any better. AND, I am also up coughing most nights (oh & feeding Bekah), so it's all quite crazy here!

One of my arrangements...it was so happy & smelled SO GOOD! :)

Bloggy love,

They Made It...

Hellooooo--
Sorry for the delay...the switch was a success. Brad dropped his mom off at the airport and a mere 12 hours later, he arrived home with Pawpaw, Grandma Lene & Uncle Ben. We have been busy with stuff close to base, but this week, we'll head out on some adventures. Abby's 1st dance recital was this weekend, so we had the dress rehearsal & actual recital--pictures will definitely follow...and probably a little video action too! :) Anyhow, without further ado, here are some pics...

Here we are...they are enjoying their 1st Korean meal & the whole experience of being here!

In my opinion, this place has the BEST sides we've had so far... :)

Success!

I'll work on getting all the exciting updates done! Bekah is making it hard on me...she got up 4 times last night. I think she's doing it just to see who is here & what they are doing--ARGH!

Bloggy love,

It REALLY Happened...

Our house back at Scott AFB sold yesterday (4 Dec in the states!)...it really happened! After we had to do some last-minute requests--the big one, breaking up the two-slab concrete sidewalk leading to the dog run & spreading gravel in it's place (thanks to our super neighbor, Cliff!)--the paperwork was signed, and hopefully, the money shows in our account now! :) We are so thankful that it is finally over. I wish I could tell you the relief I felt after I received THE phone call. Again, thanks for your prayers & support! Yippee!

Good-bye first house that Abby remembers...

Bloggy love,

Seoul City Tour

We went on our first ITT trip last Sunday. It was great to not have to deal with the driving and we got to see quite a few areas in a small period of time. The girls were wonderful & we had a fun day. The weather has been cooperating nicely for all our Korean adventures! The first stop, Seoul Tower.

Walking up the steep hill to get to the tower

The "tree nest" as Abby would say. This is her favorite picture of the day!

One of the many views from the top
Hilarious. Abby sat down at the top...she was not fond of it. She told me that she did not like to be up high; she wanted to be on the ground like the animals. I promise, this is not from my influence. :)The sinks in the ladies' bathroom...Brad made fun of me for taking the pictures in there

Then, I was looking at the pics we had snapped...he took his BEFORE he mocked me. So, here is the men's restroom. Their view IS pretty good! Brad said that these ladies just came in and started cleaning while he was going to the bathroom. Weird.

Here we are by the teddy bear tree...the Teddy Bear Museum had it's Grand Opening, the next day. Nice.

Namdaemun

I have to figure out exactly what this area is called. Our tour guide, Spiderman, said it was the Broadway of Seoul. Hmmm...not sure about that one.
This was a fun part of the trip. We took a (brisk, cold) walk down by the water. Our tour guide helped us get the stroller up & down the stairs on both ends. Abby LOVED him--she said he was cute (and I know that part of his allure was his microphone!). It was progress though...she has told me on more than one occasion that she "doesn't love Korean guys." I'm not sure what that means or why she says it! :)

Insadong...very cool place. We will definitely be going back here for the food & shopping. Artsy little neighborhood of Seoul. Brad tried to make a 'deal.' Gibby wanted some fans & the sign said they were 2500 won a piece. He told her they would get 5 or 6 of them for no more than 10,000 won. So, he went in to close the deal. The guy looked at him like he was crazy. They were only 1200 won a piece because the price on the box was for the bigger fans. HA! We are really good at the deal...we offer them more than they are asking!

At the Blue House...this is where the Korean president lives

So, besides playing a rated R movie on the bus (I've been corrected...it's a PG-13, I'm just an old fogey), Bucket List, (which we don't normally watch with our chatty 3-year-old!!!) and the airman who was a little intoxicated from his soju intake, it was an excellent day. We had lots of fun & got to see plenty of Seoul. Must go to bed now. Until next time...

Bloggy love,

Hwaseong Fortress

Whew...I am really trying to keep up! It's not going so well. You can gauge my success by the size of the doggy hairballs flying around my house--it's not pretty. HA! Anyhow, 3 of our wild group (Daddy, Abby & Gibby) headed out to this local fortress. I will ask Daddy to get on here & add some fun antidotes, so we'll see (please don't hold your breath!). We need to locate a few more places to take our guests; Gibby wanted to see some temples or a shrine or SOMETHING of interest. Um, we haven't explored much, so this is what I came up with that we thought we could drive to. Bekah was in no mood to do 2 days in a row of adventuring, so Mommy & the Beks stayed home. Laundry=fun. :)

Bloggy love,