Ryan and Will

Goofin' around. It's hard to get a 'regular' picture of RyRy these days!
Here's a begrudging smile. ("Pleeeeeaaase just smile, Ryan") This little man is fully immersed in the scaring and joking phase of childhood. He loves to hide and yell "Boo".....only he doesn't get how to be sneaky yet and I keep trying to explain that it doesn't scare me when he's 'hiding' in front of the refrigerator! He is so ready for Halloween that he can hardly stand it. He wants to be an airplane. I found a costume online that looks like an F-16, only it says "Eagle" on the side. That will never do in an F-16 family (for those of you who don't know, there is another Air Force plane, the F15, who's nickname is the Eagle. There's a bit of competition - or so the Eagle community thinks - between the two :-) We may still get the Eagle costume and take it down to the patch-y shop and have them fix it up!

Poor baby.....it's better everyday, but it's already been a week and a half.

"Puh-Puy" (puppy) is the love of Will's life. He hugs and kisses and carries this dog all day. When he wants to play with something else he'll put him back in his bed and say "ni ni puh-puy". It's so cute, until he wants the dog out of the crib and he screams at me until I go get it. I haven't let it leave the house yet (except to go to the ER). Puppy is starting to turn brown and a little stinky. I'm afraid to wash him because Will would be devastated if anything happened to him. I may wait until I can get back to the states to buy a backup.

puppy love

our love

Mt. Fugi

I thought these were pretty cool pics of Mt. Fugi. I have no idea how there were obtained or how they ended up on my camera. By the way, Heath went to Japan last weekend to be in an airshow.

Our Weekend

Another week in lovely Korea down! We spent Saturday running errands downtown - mailing all the birthday packages we were so behind on, paying bills (all transactions are in cash paid to our realtor. Fishy? Korean Won is about 950 to 1 USD, which means we have to go to the ATM to take out huge stacks of bills. It seems like Monopoly money!), and we finally took Ryan to look at Heath's plane. He was so excited! Sunday morning brought a big scare. Will fell off of the couch face first into the coffee table. His eye swelled to golfball size. We had to rush him to the ER. Thankfully, there was no cut so no need for stitches and no damage to the eye. The swelling has gone down enough now to see that he hit above his eyebrow. He has a pretty good shiner! I'm sure this isn't the last of Will's ER visits! He is fearless! He was fine by the afternoon so we headed up to Seoul to check out a Korean department store we've been hearing about. Try to imagine 9 floors of wall to wall people in booths rather than stores and prices are negotiable, which is good because everything in Seoul is really expensive.

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Yuck

I thought by now I would be feeling better. Lately it seems I am more sick with this pregnancy than ever. I had to bow out of a lunch yesterday because of it! Now you know that's gotta be bad.

Korean Independence and a shift in reality

Today is Korean Independence Day. I wished my Landlord a 'Happy 15th of August', relating today to our 4th of July. He looked at me and said, 'Today is not a happy day'. I thought he meant it more a somber day of rememberance. What he meant, however, was that many Koreans still feel that they did not win their own independence. In his words, today is the day that America won freedom for South Korea. 'America is the greatest nation in the world', he said. As I scrambled to strap the kids in the car and hurry off to swimming lessons I pondered his explanation. I thought about my reality - temporarily living here, feeling sorry for myself because of the heat, strange food, language barrier, not having any of my 'stuff', grumpy because our water was shut off for the 2nd time this week due to road construction. Then I thought about their reality - living in a very real fear of North Korea, grateful for America's support and defense but perhaps hopeful for a truly independent state, wondering the fate of their families if and when our troops really do leave. I felt ashamed for taking my husband's service for granted, for complaining that he had to night fly 3 times last week and I had to feed and bathe the kids by myself. What he does here is important; it matters, and it keeps people safe. Others appreciate him. Knowing myself, I'm sure I'll continue to complain about being here BUT I am glad for this expereince and proud of the job Heath does.

FES in Korea

**UPDATE**

It has been brought to my attention that some of you don't know who FES is? Could that be? FES stands for Foreign Exchange Student from That 70's Show. I don't even know the character's real name. Wilmer Valderrama (the actor's real name) also does the voice of Handy Manny on Playhouse Disney. He is also the host of the 'Yo Momma' series on MTV. I am starting to feel like the only TV junkie around.

I am so sorry to have failed all of you.......

FES aka Handy Manny aka Wilmer Valderrama was here on Friday doing a USO tour with the cast of Yo Momma. Not only did I not go to the show, but (it gets worse), I saw him in the BX (which is the military's version of a department store). He was right behind us in the checkout line (they were laughing over the tabloid headlines. FES was relating to his friends that some actor - I couldn't see who - only has 4% body fat) with a bunch of guys wearing USO Tour t-shirts. It couldn't have been any more obvious. There were no fans harrassing him.......just me too nervous to turn around and say anything. I HAD MY CAMERA IN MY PURSE. I wasn't quite ready to give up so I hulked across the hall to the flower shop and stalked him from behind the fish tank. Heath was no help and convinced me that I would look totally retarded sneaking a photo from 30 feet away instead of just asking for it. I am ashamed to admit that I just walked away. What gives? Why did I feel so star struck and silly around FES????????? So, this photo is merely for visual recognition - I swiped it off the internet.