Going to See Sister Jackie

All I have to say to my two little girls is,

"Let's go see Sister Jackie".

They both perk up, get their shoes on without a fuss

and we're off. 

This day my Mom, Mother-in-law and I wanted to go to Seoul

to do some shopping and so Sister Jackie babysat for me. 

I always know they are in good hands with her.   

Getting out of our trusty Odyssey.

I love that you can see the very steep, very narrow street

 we loved coming down until it was too icy.

There were times (and I'm totally serious)

that I had to push my side view mirrors in

to fit through certain streets in Korea. 

This streeet is actually really wide compared to some.

 Sitting on Sister Jackie's doorstep to her apartment.

Emmaline brought her little baby doll

EVERY TIME

 Sadly I do not know this sweet lady's name. 

We affectionately called her "Mama".

She was Sister Jackie's landlady

and angel in disguise.

Every time we came,

there she was to scoop up my little girls

 with loving arms and kisses. 

We did not speak eachother's language,

but we both had so much love for one another. 

It was special.

Sister Jackie's first language is French. 

She learned how to speak English in Korea.

My kids seemed to understand and love her

no matter what language she used.

Baby ears and jet noise

No matter how hard I try to shove those foam ear plugs into those precious ears, they just don't ever seam to stay in.  Today we were out on the flight line for a FINI flight.

(watching someone land in their A-10 for the last time in the 25th Fighter Sqaudron)

 

Even her big sister was trying to help

protect her from the jet noise,

(Love the image in the background)

 

Until her Daddy found us and came

to the rescue of those precious ears.

 

Little Miss Fuzzy Head

Nine Years Later

Father and Son

2002

Side by Side

2011

Where have you gone?

Yes, it has been pretty gloomy since Preston and Emily left. 

Even the weather is letting us know how it feels.

It's been quiet...I miss hearing the door open

and you walking in with arms to greet me with a

"Hi Pretty Girl".



One Year Ago

I knew I was getting to be with my brother Preston again. 

I've known him since I was 14 years old.

And now here he was, a dentist for the United States Air Force

and his wife Emily whom I'd only known for a few days was coming as well,

 but I had no idea how much more I was about to gain.

 She was my sister,

 and my friend.

They were an Uncle and Aunt that did

more for my children than they will ever know.

You are both loved and so, so missed!

Last Few Days

My heart is about to break.  Preston and Emily are leaving in just a few days to Hawaii for Preston's next assignment.  I know, I know....I feel really bad for them too.  Hawaii.....that is just awful. 

But I will miss them....no....WE will miss them TERRIBLY.  I feel so blessed to have been together for this past year.  Prayers were answered in so many ways by them coming here.

They have been staying with us for a few days in our apartment until they leave.  Molly and Emmaline gave up their room VERY willingly and it feels like I haven't even skipped a beat by them being here. 

Preston holding "Chubby J" as he lovingly called her. 

Here is one of the many countless times Emily held and rocked

this sweet girl that she lovingly called, "Pretty Girl"

 Here we all are after our last time going to church together.

Fondue Date Night

We went out one last time with Emily and Preston and had a great time.  The girls went to Sister Jackie's and we let Isaac be our third wheel on this outing. 

It started out with the boys playing indoor screen golf that was a phenomenon to me.  It looks boring just hitting the golf ball into a screen, but both Aaron and Preston said it was really fun. 

We then had dinner at one of our favorite places called "The Grapevine"

Amazing Italian food.....(and lemonade Preston) with a great quaint atmostphere.  There are usually only two employees there at a time.  One to take your order and serve you and the other to prepare.  You are able to look right into the kitchen and watch them make the food. One time when Aaron and I went to this place the two employees busily made meatballs at one of the tables next to us in the dining area. It was great! They carried on their Korean conversation while making meatballs and we carried on our English one while eating the delicious entrees they had both just prepared for us. 

After we ate, we then went to Baskin Robins

for what we all..... well maybe just Emily and Me

had been looking forward to for months.

THIS.....Chocolate Fondue.  

They don't have this in the U.S.A 

 I wished someone had filmed us eating this, because when they brought it out, it was as if we all were immediately sucked into a competition of who ever could eat the fastest received the greatest prize ever.  It still seems like a blurr of how it all went down, but I do know that it was gone in a flash and it was OH SO Good. 

I know......Preston looks all sad that it really is gone and poor Isaac I think was amazed to see how grown adults behaved that he didn't dare to ask for too much.

 Poor Emily trying to scrape out as much chocolate

as she can after it was all over.

Yummy!! 

We really should have slowed down and

gotten a picture

of what it looked like instead of the empty trays.

So Many Things to Celebrate

On this 4th of July!

Namely:

"I can reach my toes ALL the way to my MOUTH!"

"I have the greatest Uncle who will wear silly hats with me!"

 "What can I say? I just am a content baby. 

No matter what.......and that is

something Mom celebrates everyday"

Yes, we are in a foreign country,

but we are free,

among free people,

and that is something we all can celebrate!

(We actually watched this from our apartment window on the 11th floor.

It was a FANTASTIC view.)

 And to top it all off, we are together,

we are safe,

and we are happy!

The Beach at Donghae

This was one of those family trips we will always remember and cherish. 

Aaron works long hours and so we all were looking forward

to some time off with Daddy in Korea and it was wonderful. 

Our good friends who happen to have the last name of Knudsen

planned and set this up for anyone who wanted to join them. 

Our friends here have become like family to us

and so our kids felt like this was one big trip with the cousins. 

They played and swam and played and swam while we watched,

relaxed and watched and relaxed some more. 

LOVED IT!!!

This is what we saw looking out of our cabin.

 That night we visited a nearby light house and

could see the lights from the ships out on the ocean.

 The next day we went to some caves.

 Haley and Molly were inseparable.

 Even at the beach.

Emmaline drinking one of her favorite Korean smoothies. 

We stayed

and lingered,

 took photos of our dear friends,

(Jacob Adams, Jiyhun Knudsen and Emmaline)

 until finally the sun went down

 on those adorable, chubby, edible, painted toes.

 The next morning we were back out at the beach on our last day.

Here is Isaac and Emmaline who came back for some lunch at the cabin. 

This is a traditional Korean table. 

The legs even fold in so it can be stowed when not in use.

 Molly wanted one final goodbye of this beautiful place and

who could blame her. 

It looks like a picture from a dream.

 This is the road that accessed the beach.

(You can see the ocean in the distance)

I truly thought we were not going to fit under this train track bridge.

It took us about three hours to drive home and I enjoyed every minute while looking at the scenery before us.  It was a beautiful drive through the mountains of Korea.  It felt very nostalgic and almost sad in a way knowing this was our last summer here. 

I wanted to soak it in as much as possible,

this Land of the Morning Calm.

The More The Merrier

 There were just the two of them sitting so peacefully.....

and then three......

and now four.... 

 

we just can't get enough of Grammy Jo around here.

She has now gone back home and we miss her terribly.

We were so blessed to have her with us.

We loved, loved, loved being with her. 



Such a familiar scene

I was so bummed to see this picture turn out blurry,

but I still wanted to capture this image. 

Every time Preston and Emily would leave our apartment

the kids would run out to press the elevator button,

wait until they got inside and then continue to wave

until the elevator doors closed.

I loved watching it take place.

There is such a thing

as a car elevator....

and Jihyun let us experience it for the first time

as we were parking

at Dongdaemun in Seoul.

We made it to the top

of the parking lot in one piece.

Whew!

It was quite a thing!