Sum it up Saturday!

Hello!! It's been a while! We were on hiatus as we traveled back to the states and back and then readjusted to life back in Korea.

I think I'll will break out in hives and then itch until I bleed and cause scars if I have to really think back on my experience flying home, so I'll safe my skin and give just a snapshot glimpse into our adventure home.

It was terrible. Absolutely. Horrible! Our first flight home was by far the worst experience of my young life, yet. We were up at 5:00 Wednesday morning to get on the 6:00 bus out of Humprheys to Seoul. We arrived just before 8:00. The gates in the airport are not the same as the gates in the states. There is not a Delta check-in counter per say. There are lots of counters and only at a designated time do Delta attendants take their position at the gate. This meant a lot of down time before the gate opened at 9:50. We walked and walked, and crawled around, but mostly did a lot of crying, haha. Finally we were through and God was watching over me, preparing me for the living hell I was about to experience on the flight. There was a great play area for kids to burn off all their energy while they waited. It was only a short walk to our gate, so we spent a solid 2 hours here before boarding.

Isn't this place awesome!!!

 

 

The Flight. Air time - 12 hours. Crying Time - 8 hours. Sleeping Time - 2 hrs. If that gives any mother who has flown with an infant any idea of how my trip went multiply that times two. It was a huge plane - two levels and it was packed. I got death glares from everyone on the plane, including some stewardess. Poor baby Cooper was so excited to see all these things he had never seen before that he just wanted to crawl all around. He sat on my lap in the middle seat - NEVER again! He finally became very tired, but we sat by the bathrooms and the stewardess station. Every time his eyes were about to close, a stewardess would be opening a new can of pop. To sum it up  - the guy next to me ordered two vodka and tonics and didn't even save the second vodka for a second drink. I was secretly praying he was ordering the second one for me - Lord knows I needed it!

Regardless of what happened, we made it home for a very important and fantastic wedding weekend! I had such a great time with family and standing next to my 'sister' on her special day! It was absolutely gorgeous and I would (I think) go through the entire flight again to be there!!

Not a great shot of either of us, but it was as good as we could get. Cooper looked absolutely adorable! I thankfully zipped right into my dress as the first time I had tried it on was three days before the wedding!

It took us a while to get adjusted back to Korea time. Cooper down by 6:00 and up ready to party at 4:00. That week was super long, but we made it and had the weekend to catch us up. Since then, we've been busy Christmas shopping as we have to have everything mailed by December 10th in order for it to get home on time. At least it has made me get my Christmas shopping done early! Here's a few shots over the last week!

Painting with Mommy and Daddy!!

Can you find me? It's my new favorite game.

 

I can't write too much on it now as I am already tearing up, but I promise I will once the big day is gone. We are planning Cooper's FIRST birthday!! I can't believe it is already time to do this. We cannot wait for his party and all our farm friends that will join :) If you didn't get an official invite in the mail - consider this one yours!!!

Sum It Up Saturday!

or Sunday. haha. Man I need to get it together! I feel like I say that to myself all the time. In terms of an entire week, we didn't have that much going on. Busy schedules, making dinner and grading, grading, grading! This was the last week of the grading period, so I was burning the midnight oil most nights this week.

Our BIG news of the week - is the newest arrival of Cooper's baby cousin - Ariyah Rose :) We cannot wait to get home to meet her!

Although it was busy, we had a few very fun milestones this week :) Cooper got his Halloween gift - a new learn-to-walk toy. He took off like crazy! He has no fear when it comes to trying new things. We call him our little monster. He is so wild and loves to be everywhere all the time! He rams the walker into everything, including walls. He finally figured out how to turn the walker when he hits something. Only problem - he only knows how to go right, so he makes complete circles to turn left. Hilarious!

*I can't get the video to load. Hopefully next week.

 



The other great event was Halloween! Our little cow didn't know what to think when we went out. It's a very different lifestyle and adventure to trick-or-treat in an apartment complex. Everyone on the floor came out and sat around to pass out candy. Instead of going street by street, it was floor by floor in the elevator. There were lots of cuties and Cooper wasn't sure what to think of the scary costumes. He lasted a good 45 minutes and then enjoyed seeing everyone else's costumes as we passed out candy.

This weekend we are busy PACKING!!!! We are so excited to be coming home this week to visit all our friends and family. Cooper has his suite all cleaned and ready to go for his auntie Hallie's BIG DAY :) We will be in and out throughout the end of the week - so if you can't see us at the wedding reception, feel free to text or call to stop in and see us.

 

We also visited a new restaurant this week - I'm Your Fan. They specialize in pork cutlets. This is the hot and spicy. I had the double cheese. They are huge pork cutlets with sauce all over and a side of rice. They also had a salad bar with salad, extra rice, and other kimchi options. Andy and I have not found a kimchi we enjoy, but we keep trying! haha. The meal started with a soup of some-sort, but we don't really know what it was. It tasted kind of like a pasta/potato soup, but we couldn't understand the waiter. Andy and I both thought it was okay, but Cooper loved it! He couldn't get enough. Overall, I thought the cutlets were pretty good. Andy prefers not to return, haha. The one of many food adventures :)

Cooper even got his own bowl :)

Sum it up Saturday x 2!

I know, I know...I missed last week! I apologize for not updating, but our life was a big fog while daddy finished his time in the field.

So, for the week of the 14th:

It was Homecoming week at Humphreys High School! We had a spirit week full of dress-up days, a homecoming parade, pep rally, powder-puff football game, bonfire and the home football game to finish the week out! It was busy!!! All the students enjoyed the week and were out in full cheering action at the football game. I has the pleasure of chaperoning the dance for a bit on Saturday and they all looked so great and had a wonderful time! Here are a few pictures from the week.



 Cheering on the Blackhawks!!!!

6th Grade Class float for the parade :)

The fall weather has been absolutely gorgeous! Cooper  has loved spending time outside at the different playgrounds

                          

                            

 

 

This week:

Daddy finally got home late Wednesday night! We love having him home. Hopefully he won't have to return back the field until after Christmas. We have been busy getting the house back in order. Cooper has been really testing us lately. he is either causing a heart attack or making us laugh these days. He is standing up on everything, which makes me gasp with fear every second. Sometimes he thinks he can brave and tries to reach for the next nearest piece of furniture only to stand there crying out of frustration. He is also figuring out new things everyday day making us laugh! There is a video of his latest toy discovery! He has also started closing his eyes while he's laughing which just may be the cutest thing on the planet! Although the baby babbling is just as adorable, I'm a bit nervous we will have the child who never shuts up once he can form words! We are having an absolute blast with him and getting very sad as we realize we need to order things to be shipped here in time for his first birthday! Is that even possible?!?!

 

 

Someone got loose while I was getting him ready for his bath!

Cooper figured out how to work his toy from the Sesame Street Live! Don't mind the mismatched pajamas :)

Last but not least, we even got a taste of Oktoberfest here in Korea! The MWR services sponsored a full German Oktoberfest with German beer, brats, sauerkraut and potato salad. The night ended with a wonderful concert by Aaron Tippin. (Think, where the Stars and Stripes, and the eagle flies!)  it's starting to get chilly here at night so we had to bundle up a bit!

Hope you enjoyed our update! Many of you will be seeing us very soon and we can't wait! Love you all!

Sum It Up Saturday!

Another week has come and gone. I am finding this a tad bit therapeutic to know that each week I get to write another entry is another week  closer to going home! I'm not going to lie - the first thing I will do once getting into the U.S of A is get the largest McDonald's Diet Coke I can find! The only thing here is Coke Zero which is totally disgusting.

This week we were pretty chill. Cooper was still having some tummy troubles, so we started him on a probiotic to help calm it down and it seems to really be working well! We finally got to see Daddy for a little bit this week as he came home on Wednesday for a couple days, but is headed back out to the field early next week. While Daddy was home we got to see Sesame Street Live! together. We had so much fun seeing Cooper's reaction to the characters. He was laughing, smiling and bouncing himself all around!

This week he has gotten very brave and decided to pull himself up on anything and everything and use it as a guide to help him "walk". His favorite thin to do is stand up on one end of the couch and walk his way down to other end. After a few tumbles he is really getting the hang of it. Lord help us - I don't believe it will be long before he is able to walk.

Below is a mixture of pictures from the last week. Enjoy!!

Sneak Preview for next week: Cooper and Mommy are headed to Bear Creek Park and the Gakwonsa Temple on Monday! Stay tuned for pictures :)

Sum it up Saturday

Sum it up Saturday (10/5/13)

This was our first week alone while Daddy was gone. It was a rough week, but we made it and are ready for week 2 to start today! First, let me sum up what we did this week :)

Sunday: Cooper and I ventured to the New Core Outlet Mall in Pyongtaek. It was my first time driving by myself and I managed to make it there without getting lost or getting into an accident! While we were there we discovered the McDonald's they have inside!!! Wahoo!! I happened to get an ice cream cone and it tasted EXACTLY like back home! YAY :) The rest of the food definitely did not taste like the McDonald's we are use to, but it's as close to American food as we are going to get! It's also a lot cheaper.

 

While we were at the Outlet Mall we walked over to a Daiso store. This is the Korean equivalent to our Dollar General. Greatest find ever!!! I was so excited to find this place and know that it is only a 10 minute trip from our house. I was able to get lots of additional supplies for my classroom for very cheap! They also have a lot of neat Tupperware containers for super reasonable. Love this store :)

  This stamp cracked me up!

 

I meant to post this earlier and we didn't attend this place during this week, but we have been before! It is going to be the greatest place during the winter. A place called, Little Bear. For just under $5, you get two hours to let your child run and play. It includes a free drink and the workers come out to play with your kids. Such an awesome place!

 

 

The rest of our week was a bit rough. Cooper has been battling a cold along with an upset tummy. There were several sleepless nights, but the little booger is still happy and playing during the day.

 

 I have the greatest babysitter ever! She sends me picture messages of Cooper playing during the day. Makes me so thankful to get to "see" him even while I'm at work!

Last but not least - back to Saturday morning! This Saturday there was a 7k Breast Cancer Awareness Walk/Run on post. Cooper and I attended in all of our pink glory! This was the farthest I have gone running/walking since getting into the whole idea of running/walking. I felt good throughout the run and was able to finish in 50 minutes flat. Not to shabby for pushing Cooper along the whole way!

 

Have a great weekend everyone and we will see you back next Saturday!!

 

Sneak Preview:

This week Camp Humphreys is host to Sesame Street! We will be going on Thursday and can't wait to share with you our experience :)