We love Ms. Kim!

Our children love Ms. Kim, who works in our Early Learning Center (ELC). She was nominated for classified employee of the year. She needed a student testimony so what other way than a short video...

IB Art Exhibit

TCIS is holding its first ever IB Art Exhibit at the city hall facility in Daejeon, South Korea. One would think that this isn't a huge deal, however to the 12 students that have been working the past two years to complete this, this is a huge deal. So, Congratulations!

Anyways, this evening they had a very formal ribbon cutting ceremony and introduction. The Mayor of Daejeon was supposed to grace us with his presence. Well, apparently word got out because we our bus showed up at City Hall there were three buses of riot police out there and a bunch of protestors. The riot police were there to keep the peace. It was not a huge deal as they were outside and we were inside, but it was enough to get your attention and make you question what was going on. Apparently word got out the the mayor was coming and the protestors came to express their displeasure in the new transportation plan.

However, while this ruckus was being made some of the protestors went around back and made it to the mayors office and so they had to blockade him in his office and he wasn't able to attend the grand opening on-time. This resulted in all the riot police (my best guess 100 of them) coming into the building and surrounding us--a large group of foreigners. (Which they recommed that any time there is protesting to try and blend in and not congregate together with large groups of foreigners. There really was not threat of danger and I didnt really even get that nervous, which is a lot for me to say. However, it was enough to make your heart rate speed up a little bit and to cause you to look around. Kacy was intrigued by all the police~well, they got everything sorted out. The mayor listened to the protestors for a little while and later was able to make it to the art gallery. The riot police left and everyone enjoyed the evening.

There are really some amazing artists at our school. If you haven't gotten a chance to go out there, it is worth the time.

(Okay, so the picture above is just randomly taken off the internet, and not quite what was there, but it adds to the aura of the post.)

Belated Easter Greetings

Even though it is a week past Easter we wanted to post some information regarding our Easter holiday! We had a great day. We started the day with a wonderful church service and communion which then led us to dinner with the Hawkins. We had a few Easter egg hunts, one with just the cousins, one with the church kids, and one with Zoe Evans and Owen Steuernagel. Our kids had a blast and without Sunday afternoon naps they were in bed early! Here are some pictures. PS. Grandma Penland found the Easter dresses!

Seth Hawkins, Kacy Price, Hayley Hawkins, and Sara Price in their Easter best!

Kacy and Sara Price--Easter 2007

Kacy on the hunt...

Sara and Mama

Kacy and Daddy

Daddy and his girls--Kacy and Sara

Our Saturday in Pictures

After getting up, we headed downtown to take our first ride on the Daejon metro (subway).

Kacy was filled with awe...she loves trains!
Sara was more into people watching...
And then on to...

...what Kacy calls the special doughnuts...

...for a healthy breakfast!

And on the walk back home (yes, from KK to O Jung Dong), we saw some beautiful wild flowers.
After a quick lunch, it was time for Easter prep! Kacy is quite excited about Easter...we aren't really sure if she understands what she is excited about, but she is excited!
For obvious reasons, Sara was disqualified for participation in these festivities. But she watched noisily from a short distance. (Note the toes...)


But she did get an airplane ride from Mommy!

...which seemed very thrilling!

A Big Girl Bike

We were out shopping, actually buying some white eggs to dye for Easter, when we ran across some bikes. (As a side note, white eggs can be quite a commodity in Korea as most are brown, which don't lend themselves to very good dyeing.) In the past, you had small bikes or bikes that are for more elementary school age kids. Kacy's size is a bit in between. However, we found bikes of all sizes at this store. So that was a welcome surprise the weather is getting nicer.

Below are some pics of Kacy's first day out. She was so excited to ride it this morning and couldn't get out of our apartment fast enough.

Rolling Over

Sara started rolling over for the first time around 3 weeks ago. And that was great fun for her. She has now become a practiced expert and it is becoming somewhat problematic. She loves rolling over so much that she does it anytime we lay her down. And she can get her arms free now. She will roll over to get toys or just move around. The problem comes in that she gets stuck. She can't roll back over and gets tired on her belly. Up to this point, laying her down has been going well. She lays down and looks around, sometimes talking for a couple minutes, and then goes to sleep. Recently, she gets into bed and rolls over...getting stuck in the process and then doesn't want to go to sleep because she is on her tummy. So we go in and roll her over. And she promptly rolls back on her stomach again. Until she is sufficiently tired, she seems to enjoy this game in some twisted way.

Now she is starting to just give up and go to sleep on her tummy...sometimes.

Spring is here!

Here are some beautiful pictures of spring arriving in Daejeon. Some of the trees are just starting to show their flowers. More will be coming over the next couple weeks and the masses will go to the mountains to check out nature blooming. These first 2 pictures are of 2 trees at TCIS from last week. They are perhaps some earlier bloomers.


We also took a hike at Gyeryongsan (nearby mountain). The flowers weren't blooming here yet, but are anticipated next week and the buds were on the trees. This is a peaceful stream with a pagoda overlooking it.