COEX Mall

Today we went to the COEX mall and aquarium. The mall is huge and I hope to make it back sometime to just walk around and see all the stores. It would take a whole day to do and our main goal today was the aquarium. It was a nice aquarium that was decorated a little for Christmas and had a nice variety of fish. Some of my favorite things were the different fish tanks I have posted pictures below. They had fish tanks in a toilet, sink, watercooler, dryer and fridge. The boys also got made over alot and one Korean family even asked if the boys would pose with thier baby for a picture. So below is the picture that we took of them......Josh and I think we could make a living just letting people take the boys picture!!!!!!

Lotte World

Lotte World is HUGE and even before you get into the amusement park, there is 4 levels of shopping to keep you busy. I think Lotte World would have been alot better had the weather been a little warmer. It was very easy to get to but very expensive and most of the rides inside were too big for the boys. The rides that were inside had at least a 2 hour wait and with a 4 and 2 year old, you can guess that it was not worth the wait. They had alot more rides and things to do outside but it was only in the mid-teens with the windchill and way to cold to ride anything. Josh and I plan to go back in the spring or summer to check out the outdoor rides but it was nice to get off base and see more of Korea. It also gave us more practice in the subway station. I have only used the subway lines twice but I feel very comfortable with them. Everything is labeled in English and they have a great system going. It was a nice day and I think the boys had fun. We were a little disappointed in the lack of ride for the price of admission however, it was neat to see everything and to know it was all underground was even more amazing!!!!

Christmas

Below are a few pictures from Christmas day. The boys had a nice Christmas and got LOTS of new toys, puzzles, games and coloring books!!!!!

Seoul Tower

O' where do I even start with this blog???!!!!???? I have been wanting to go to Seoul Tower since I have been here and finally we decided to go since Jim & Phyllis are in town. It was awesome!!!!! We called a taxi and got a ride up as far as we could and then we walked the rest of the way. It was not near as bad of a walk as I expected. The kids were able to walk it even though it was very steep. While we were walking up to the tower, a Korean santa (pictured below) came over and picked Austin up and was going crazy over him. As you can tell from the picture, Austin was NOT happy at all. At the top, there were a few things to look at and walk around outside although it was so chilly we did not spend alot of time out there. Once inside, we took the elevator ride to the top of the tower and enjoyed the amazing view of Seoul. Seoul is such a HUGE city and it is neat to get a view of it. Luckily, it was a fairly clear day and we could see pretty most everything. The boys loved it up there and enjoyed it much more than I expected. We then took a bus down the mountain and into Itaewon and from there we grabbed a cab and came back home. Aiden did not want to go to Seoul Tower at first as he wanted to stay home and play with mawma. He kept saying "I do not want to go to Eiffle Tower".....hehehe wrong country :) Anyways, once we got in the cab he thought it was pretty cool as that was his first time in a cab. Then we had to go through a LONG tunnel and he loved that as well. Then on the way back we rode the bus and once again, Aiden has never been on a bus before. Not only did he have a GREAT time, he is now as we speak back in his room pretending to be a cab driver with Austin and mawma and he is taking them to Seoul Tower :) Enjoy the pictures below and this will be somewhere we visit again. Very easy to get to and not expensive!!!!!!

Christmas fun at Preschool

Below are some pictures from Aiden's preschool. They had several activities for Christmas and it was fun to watch Aiden and his classmates. The first thing they did was sing Christmas songs at the hotel on base and then the following week they had a nice party at school. The class did a little play and Aiden was one of the wise men. He did really well and Austin once again enjoyed his time hanging out at big brother's preschool and hanging with the "big kids"!!!!!

Thanksgiving Party at Aiden's School

We had a great time at Aiden's preschool for his Thanksgiving party. The class sang 4 songs for us and Aiden did very well. He sang and did all the dance motions for the songs. Normally, he does not like doing this kind of stuff and just stands there but he really did good this time. The one funny thing he did was sometimes he would be singing and dancing and he would notice his hat and stop to flip it or something....typical Aiden :) Austin enjoyed spending time at preschool and got to sit with Aiden to eat. I LOVED watching the boys say their blessing before their meal. Austin said the prayer right along with the class as it is the same one we say at home!!!! Enjoy the pictures below and look for a Christmas update around Dec. 10th as Aiden and his class are going to the DHL to sign Christmas songs......I hope to video tape this one!!!!

Trick or Treat

The boys had a great time tonight getting candy. We stayed out for about an hour and a half. It was crazy busy but nice. The entire base as well as some Koreans seem to migrate to the Embassy housing area. It does not bother me but it was really busy and alot of houses ran out of candy. Everyone thought Austin was a cow instead of a dalmation but Aiden was quick to correct them. Towards the end, we were walking by some Koreans and they said "aw look at the cow", Aiden huffed at them heavily and said "he is NOT a cow he is a DALMATION"!!!! Then Aiden proceded to looks at me and ask " mommy why does everyone keep calling Austin a cow when he is clearly a dalmation"??? I about fell over laughing so hard :) There was even a Korean who wanted a picture of the boys.......I think the boys are getting used to it by now though as Austin looked at him with his rotten grin and proudly said "CHEESE"!!!!!!

Halloween Cake :)

Tonight the kids and I baked Halloween Cakes instead of carving pumpkins. They enjoyed doing this SO much more and could help out a little more. Then, best of all they got to eat their creation!!!!!! They both did SO good and we all had a great time. I have alot of pictures but tried to limit the ones I put up....it was just a fun night and lots of cute pictures. Tomorrow we have a halloween party with the playgroup here on base and then Saturday is Trick or Treat with a maze and party here at our housing compound. More pictures to come from the upcoming events......

"Community Helpers Parade"

Aiden's preschool had a "Community Helpers Parade". It was basically just dressing the kids up as different roles and they walked around the school. It was cute and the kids enjoyed it. Notice in some of the pictures, Austin was checking them all out. Then in one picture he could not sit up on the ledge with the kids so he sat in front of them on the curb.....he ALWAYS has to get in on the action :)

Not feeling so good

Poor little Austin was not feeling too good after he woke up from his nap. For the past week or so he has had a runny nose but otherwise been fine. Well, today after he woke up from his nap I could tell he was feeling awful even before I picked him up from his bed. When I did get him, he was very hot to touch. I took his temp. right away and it was 104.6......needless to say I had flashbacks of my emergency run on Thanksgiving last year. The one big difference was that other than being fussy and wanting me to hold him, he was not as listless, ect...... So I did break down and give him sone Motrin and within an hour his temp was down to 101.2 He still wanted to be held but you could tell he was feeling a little better. After his nice bath tonight he seems to be back to normal. Still not feeling the best but hopefully after a good nights rest he will be Austin again :) Poor kid!!!! Below is a picture of the boys in Aiden's bed watching cartoons. Aiden told me not to worry that he would take care of him. I love this picture but if you look closely (you can click on the picture to make it big), you can see how sick little Austin looks in it :(

Fire Safety at Aiden's Preschool

Today the fire station visited Aiden's preschool and let them try out some of the stuff. Austin was excited to see "trucks" and he got really excited when the teacher let him join in on the fun. He wants to be like big brother SO bad!!!! Aiden did alot better this year than he did last year. It is amazing what a few months will do. Last year at his preschool we took a trip to the fire department and he did not want to get close to the trucks...let alone try out the stuff. This year he jumped right in and was excited about it. Aiden has "grown up" alot and he really loves this preschool. I am glad he has adjusted well to everything and I know Austin is looking forward to going next year :)

Yikes!!!!

Ok, this really freaks me out!!!!! I just wanted to share this picture with our upcoming parents who plan on making the trip to Korea while we are here. This was outside of our house at the window ledge. This is the 3rd one we have found on our house...thankfully outside. EVERYONE knows how I feel about spiders and I know you can about imagine my reaction if I were to see one in the house....I think I would head back to Ohio :)

Osan Air Show

What a great day we had today. The weather was beautiful and we got to enjoy an air show at Osan today. Osan is about 35 miles south of us and they have a really nice base. Although the air show was crowded, it was very enjoyable and we look forward to going next year if they have one. There is really so much to say about our time there. The highlight of the show was at the end when they did a "demo" rescue mission. They had 4 A-10's, 4 F-16's , 2 Apache helicopters and 1 blackhawk. It was really cool and they even had flare and bombs on the ground go off. It was also nice how close we were able to get to the different planes and choppers. The boys got to sit in a blackhawk and in an A-10. As you can tell in the picture below, AUstin was very unsure about sitting in the plane with the pilot. He would not smile at me for anything...lol Overall, a great day!!!!!!!!

Picnic & Nap Time

The boys were pretending to have a picnic the other day and they were having so much fun. Aiden even spread a blanket out for them to sit on. Austin is doing a good job pretending but sometimes Aiden gets frustrated as Austin does not always play the way Aiden wants to. Also, I had to put Austin down for his nap in Aiden's bed and thought he looked so cute laying in there. He seems so little in such a big bed. However, we may move him into his own big boy bed soon as he does great in it and that way when we take vacation or come home Austin does not need a crib.

Fall Festival

The base had a Fall Festival Saturday the 11th (Josh's b-day). We also had Aiden's friend Addison's b-day party, celebrated Josh's and went to the festival for a few hours. By the time we got to the festival it was winding down and getting ready for fireworks but it gave the kids some time to play and run around. Jan's (Addison's mom)brother and his family also joined us. They have 3 boys all under 6 and he was chasing all the kids around playing tag and the kids were having so much fun. Fireworks started at 8pm and although they did not last long, the boys loved them. Attached is a picture of the boys with Addison and Emerson.

Aiden's Soccer

Today was Aiden's first soccer lesson. He has done this a little before at the YMCA in Ohio. He got 2 lessons there and remembers alot from it. He already knew NOT to use hands, how to dribble, kick a goal and also how to stop the ball with your foot. He even got to demonstate how to properly stop a ball :) He did great and I think he will really enjoy this. Austin was trying to get into the action as well. Although he did not get to play much soccer, we did let him run with the "team" at the end around the field. He had a HUGE smile on his face the whole time and really enjoyed himself as well.

Kids Day

Today was "Kids Day" in Korea and the base celebrated with a little festival for the kids. The CYS hosted the festival and it was at the Elementary School here on base. It was fairly crowded but not as bad as I thought it would be. It was nice having it at the school because they had the playground to play on along with the booths set up for the event. Sadly, it was not a nice day outside so we were only able to stay for about an hour or so. It has been beautiful weather for the past few weeks and I was upset to see of all days for it to rain, it did it today as the kids were having SO much fun. They had food stands set up, several "carnival" type games as well as the famous jumperoo and the dunk tank. They had balloons, face painting and several other things as well. Best of all it was ALL free!!!!! That is the great thing here on base is they provide festivals throughout the year and most of it is free. I believe the food did cost but not very much and we did not eat there. Aiden had so much fun doing the dunk tank. I felt bad for the guy in there as it was chilly today and he was visibly cold. Anyways, the kids got three tries and Aiden did it twice. The first set of throws he did really well. The second throw hit the bulls eye dead on and he threw it hard enough to make it dunk but it did not. The guy even thought he was going down because he got the "fear" look on his face and even held his nose. Aiden was a little disappointed it did not work but he got back in line and tried again. The second set of balls he did not get as close. He always was in the right area but never hit it again. I felt bad he did not get him with his "good throw" as he should have. He took it with pride though and the guy in the tank told him he did a great job and almost got him :) Enjoy the pictures below and the next scheduled festival here on base is on Josh's b-day!!!!

Aiden's 1st day of school

Today was Aiden's first day of preschool. He was very excited to go and did very well on his first day. He said that in the beginning right after I left he got sad but the teacher told him I would be back soon and he said that made him happy :) The preschool here is very nice and I think he will have a great year and learn lots of things. He goes 3 days a week now and next year will most likely begin kindergarden....I can not believe how big the kids are getting. Austin misses Aiden as he has asked about him 3 times and Aiden has only been gone for 2 hrs....lol Next year will be Austin's turn to start preschool and I think he is ready as he did not want to leave Aiden's classroom today :)

Yard work & toads

Today Josh and the boys worked in the front yard to try to get it looking more like a garden and less like a forrest. The bugs are SO bad in the yard that we are hoping that not only will it look better but that this will help cut down on getting so many bug bites!!!! We bought the boys their own working gloves and garden tools to help and they did such a good job. The highlight of their work was finding LOTS of toads hiding out in the overgrown ferns we were removing. When I was washing the outside of the windows, I would hear a rustling noise in the garden and could not find out what it was. Well, now I know....toads and lots of them. Needless to say once I came across them I decided to watch and not help :) Anyways, below are some of the pictures I took today. I wish I would have had a movie camera as Austin was so funny with the toads. When they would find one, he would get real excited and start screaming and laughing every time they jumped. Aiden is really good at cathing them and holding them so Austin could check them out. You would see the toad hopping down the sidewalk and Aiden trying to catch it as Austin jumps behind him screaming and laughing!!!! Too cute!!!!! Anyways, below is also a picture of a big toad Josh found. Aiden said it must be the "daddy toad" so I got a picture. We still have alot of work to do out front as it is a mess so I am sure there will be more pictures to come!!!!