Boooooo!

We had a wonderful Halloween this year.  First up, the costumes.  After some back and forth, Holly decided she wanted to be Barbie.  I know - cute right??  Sarah had her purple fairy costume that still fit her, so we decided to make them a pair from one of the Barbie movies. 

Next, decorating the house.  I was so excited to find the box that contained our Halloween decorations.  Sarah and I got out and hung the lights, then when Holly got home we made a big spider web out of purple yarn.  Got that great idea from Made (http://www.dana-made-it.com/2011/10/tutorial-10-min-yarn-spider-web.html).  This house is so much fun to decorate...  it really just gave us a taste of what to look forward to for Christmas. 

Then it was on to the partying.  Holly's school had a "fall festival" on Friday night, but it was more like a school dance. They had a DJ, dancing, games, and lots and lots of candy.  The PTA did a fantastic job and we had a wonderful time!  On Monday, we decided to go to a trunk or treat that one of the local churches put on.  Again, well organized chaos but so much fun and the girls got their fill of candy and games again. 

Ahhh! Celebrating the holidays in the States.... Sometimes it is good to be "home."  Now, on to the rest of the season!

Not Quite Right

It seems that since we have returned to the Land'O Plenty, I'm the one that's not quite right now.

I think us ex-Osaners need a 12-step program to reintegrate into society.  See if you agree with me

My house is big and beautiful and quiet.  The kids have a yard to play in, I finally have room to put our things.  It's weird to go immediately from "yes, we can go out in a minute, let me finish this up right quick" to "Ronnie, where are the kids?  Oh, they're outside."

I can't get used to people of Asian descent speaking English.  I want to say "Annyeong" and bow slightly all.the.time. 

There is good beer everywhere...  I get excited because it's not just fizzy yellow beer.  I try to stock up everytime we go to the store and they have something good. 

I screamed, "OMG look at all the beer that's on tap!!!!" while pointing and jumping up and down.

The commissary is HUGE!  I get the deer in the headlights look when I go in for a few items.  Then I get asked if I need any help.  I say no, I'm doing fine, but I feel like I need to apologize to people and explain that I just got here from Korea.  Oh, and people look at you funny when you talk to them in public, even if it's being helpful and pointing toward something they were looking for.  So what if they didn't ask me, they said it out loud and I was right there and knew the answer. 

And the BX is even bigger.  I swear it's the size of a Wal-Mart.  And if they don't have it, guess what, I can go to Wal-Mart or Target.  It's weird being able to have selection again that doesn't involve online shopping.

Catchin' Up

A family of three tomatoes were walking downtown one day when the little baby tomato started lagging behind. The big father tomato walks back to the baby tomato, stomps on her, squashing her into a red paste, and says, "Ketchup!"

Sorry...  I know we have been out of touch the last month.  I swear I'm blogging, I just haven't been posting.  I need to get the pictures off of my camera so I can get everything in order... 

Anyway, we have made it safe and sound to our next assignment.  Ronnie is with the 5th ASOS at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in lovely Tacoma, WA.  We have moved into the beautiful dream house and our household goods have already been delivered.  Needless to say, we've been unpacking and setting up house, getting Holly registered for school, and buying Ronnie a car.  It's been a busy few weeks. 

So please check back soon...  I have a few blogs to post about our last few weeks in Korea, our DMZ trip, and our reintegration back into American culture.

Movin' On

Well, we're in Washington!  Greetings from the Evergreen State.  Or as the girls like to say, the land where all the trees look like Christmas Trees. 

Back over the summer we found a home to rent and we moved in last week.  Our household goods were delivered last Friday and we have been steadily trying to dig out of all these boxes.  So here's the house and the grand tour:  (some of these are our pics, others are from when we were here in August). 

Front of the house and view of the "Big Garage"

 

Kitchen and formal dining

 

Another view of the kitchen, into the family room, and Holly's room

 

 Master BR and the big office

Backyard view and the treehouse

 Bays in the "Big Garage"

But the best thing is this:

Mount Rainier is the view from the front porch.  It is stunning and hard to not look at or look for. 

Annyong Kyesayo

It's finally here...  the day we came back to America.  I can't believe that it was already time to go...  I feel that I had more to do at Osan and in Korea.  Our last month has been a blur. 

Holly had her first day of school

and her last day of school. 

We shared Chuseok with our neighbors.  They sent us the plate on the left, I sent back the plate on the right. My girls got an enthusiastic two thumbs up for their bow of gratitude. 

We had to go to Everland one more time, and were joined there by some pretty awesome friends. 

 

We had to squeeze more shopping in.  I love Lotte Mart... and am going to miss the uber-convenient kids play area. 

We spent time with friends who feel more like family and who will always have a place in our heart.  One more dinner, another cup of coffee, quick talks at the BX, and one more playdate. 

 And we finally had to say "See you Soon and send us your address" to Dan and Allison Patak rather than "See you when you get to town" *sniff*

To say that we are going to miss Korea is an understatement.  I feel this way about Texas and North Carolina....  They are my home, a place where we made a life and made sweet memories with our children.  I am gong to miss this beautiful country and her beautiful strong people.  I am going to miss my sweet neighbors who I can't communicate with, but we somehow get by.  I am going to miss going to the commissary and BX and running into seemingly every person I know.  I am going to miss the wonderful ladies of the 25th FS (and of the 36th, and of the base...), the sounds of jets flying overhead, the exercises that never seem to end and always come at a bad time, and the sense of camaraderie and community that embodies Osan.

And we left all this behind in search of a new adventure. 

We landed back in the good ol' US of A on Tuesday morning, after traveling some hours across the pond.  Our flight was pretty uneventful, the girls did wonderfully, we got some good sleep on the plane, and got situated quickly on the other end.  We found out that our household goods and our quick ship are here, so we will be working on getting the house set up the next few weeks. 

Crossing the Line

It's been two years....  October 5th marks the day we left the US in 2009 on our way to this amazing assignment.  As I draw nearer to the end of our time here, I am overwhelmed by my feelings for the ROK and her people.  To mark the anniversary or our time here, Ronnie and I made a trip to the DMZ, Panmunjom, and the JSA.  I'm going to let the pictures tell the story on this post.

One foot in the South and the other in the North

Click on the Slideshow to see our pics.