Seoul

A few days into Christmas vacation we travelled up to Seoul with Landon and Brenna and Landon's parents (Faith and Les Loeber), we also met with with the Hill Family and Jennifer's parents. We had not been to Seoul for a while and our kids had never really done some of the "touristy" things in Seoul. So, it was fun to travel up there with them. The first event that was on tap was Nanta. Nanta is kind of like a Korean Stomp. The actors use kitchen supplies to create "music" and a storyline. It is loud, but lots of fun. Darren and the girls participated in this while Ethan and I hung out at the "hotel."

Follow Nanta, we found a Pizza and Pasta restraunt and enjoyed some dinner. I do say enjoy...traveling with Ethan can be a balance. My memory from this night was that he got too hungry and he screamed A LOT...during dinner. He did finally calm down and we were able to enjoy the rest of dinner and the rest of the evening.

After dinner we walked up to Namsan Tower. It includes some walking, a cable car, and then a little more walking. It was cold, but it was really pretty.

Namsan Tower all lite up!

Darren and I at the top of the tower.

Kacy and Alissa

After a fun-filled evening we crashed and got up the next morning for some more adventures. After some Starbucks and some shopping in Itaewon we headed back to Daejeon. It was a good time and definitely a memory!

December Activities

Once again certain things seem to happen every December. Here are some images from our December activities this year.

Christmas Bazaar:

Elementary School Christmas Concert:

Family Pictures:

CIC Children's Music:

Cheer Camp

The High School Cheerleading team held a cheer camp for elementary students as a fundraiser. The coach had come to me and told me that she knew Sara would really enjoy this and could participate even though she was not officially in the elementary school. They had two practice days during the week and then on Saturday they got to cheer during half time of the game. The girls LOVED it and we have heard cheers ever since. Darren says he is going to have to run a basketball camp now to counteract the cheer camp.

Go Dragons!

Kacy's 8th Birthday!

For Kacy's birthday this year she had a few friends come over and spend the night. It was planned out well, we stayed for the basketball games at school; came home to pizza, cake and ice cream; have a little play time; then we were watching a Tinkerbell Movie...since the theme was princesses and fairies. The next morning the girls were going to another birthday party for two other girls in their class.

Everything was going pretty well until Ethan fell after dinner, during play time, and knocked out his front tooth. This resulted in a trip to the ER for Darren and my Dad, while Lisa, Mom, and I held down the fort with the girls.

Following the party I made a movie and sent it to the girls and their parents to show them what we did at the party. Enjoy!

Decorating for Christmas

Darren and I have been married for 12 1/2 years now, we have 3 kids, and by default are starting to create some family traditions. One of the traditions that we have in place is that we decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend. Since we live in Korea and you can't get a "real" tree it doesn't matter how long we have the tree up.

Here are some pictures for our decorating for Christmas 2011. While the girls have become old pro's at decorating, this was a very new experience for Ethan. His first amazement I think came when we turned the lights on.

We quickly found that we were going to have to set some paramaters for Ethan. Ornaments stay on the tree! He really like taking ornaments off and spreading them around the house.

As we pull out the Christmas decorations we also get their Christmas books and puzzles out. They always enjoy these every year and it seems like they are brand new.

Thanksgiving

I don't remember the last time that we celebrated Thanksgiving in the American sense of the word. I mean we always usually had some sort of meal in which we ate together and were intentional about giving thanks, although it is a general practice that I would hope we are always doing (giving thanks).

This year however has been different. There have been many challenges and uncertainties that we have faced. However through it all we have known that God was in control and have worked to focus on Him and walk by faith knowing that he would direct our paths.

So, it was nice to have two unexpected days off to relax and give thanks. Mom and Dad were in town and Mom always knows how to set things up to be magnificent. So, we had a great dinner with family and friends.

"Singing in the Rain"

Sunday afternoons around our house are notoriously slow. It is the impeding Sunday night/Monday morning feeling that is coming towards you. I want Sunday afternoon to last forever. Our typical routine has us out to lunch until Mid-Afternoon and then some sort of activity in the late afternoon...followed by a light dinner, cereal, fruit, something small. The girls have started to notice this and are wondering if we will ever have a "real" dinner on Sunday night! :) I doubt it.




Anyways, this particular Sunday afternoon we had been inside a lot throughout the weekend due to rain. So, when we saw a glimpse of reprieve we darted outdoors. The girls were not that thrilled about going for a walk, but Sara quickly found the puddles and "1, 2, 3 go," quickly ensued. After Sara had done it a few times, Kacy significantly more timidly decided to join in. By the time we returned home, the girls were soaked and jumped right into the bath to clean off.

The next weekend we were out for a hike. We went up towards chicken foot for those that are familiar with the area. We really were just on a leisure stroll as we had the stroller. Here are some pics from this little expedition.