Happy 5th Birthday, Jessie Bug!

Jessica opening presents on the morning of her birthday.
Jess eating her cinnamon roll and apple juice, her breakfast of choice.
She is modeling her gift from Mommy and Daddy - a pink kimono pajama and robe set. She calls it her karate or kung fu outfit. I think she and Carson have been watching Kung Fu Panda too much. We love that movie!
Five Candles!
We were all helping her open her presents. She received her 1st Webkinz pink poodle, a cheerleading outfit with pom poms, and a Pretty Princess game. Carson even played the Princess game. He's such a sweet brother.

Happy Ch'usok!

Jessica mastering the use of chopsticks while eating strawberries - She also tried the Korean rice cakes, see the pink flower on her plate, and Bulgogi.

The Korean holiday of Ch'usok is this weekend. We plan to stay on Post most of the time - we'll finish hanging pitures, watch movies, and have friends over for dinner. Jessica's class celebrated Ch'usok on Wednesday this week. Many of the children were wearing Hanboks, the traditional Korean dress for Ch'usok. Carson's class celebration was on Friday. I couldn't attend because Jessica was home from school. Sorry, Carsy, no pictures from your party. PBS had the following information on Ch'usok. "Perhaps the greatest Korean holiday is Ch'usok, or Harvest Moon Festival, which is held on the 15th day of the Eighth Moon according to the lunar calendar. That is usually in September or October and is marked by the rising of a full "Harvest Moon." Ch'usok is usually described as a kind of Thanksgiving for a good harvest, but it is really an ancient holiday dedicated to the ancestors. Families gather from all over the country and from overseas for the great holiday. Visitors to Korea are always warned to stay where they are at Ch'usok time because almost everyone is on the road going back to their ancestral homes: journeys that by car would normally take two hours might take fifteen!"

"Fancy Nancy" Party

Jessica had her 5th Birthday Party on Saturday, September 6th. We had a "Fancy Nancy" barbecue at the picnic pavilion outside our apartment building. The girls all wore their dresses and tiaras. We read Fancy Nancy books, colored Fancy Nancy pictures and the best part of all, ate parfaits. Parfait is a fancy word for ice cream sundae, according to Fancy Nancy. Happy Birthday, Bugaboo! I can't believe you're 5 years old now.

Street Vendor Food

We ventured to Dongdaemun Market to shop for birthday supplies for Jessica's party. After shopping we ate food from the street vendors. Carson ate a hot dog that had batter and French fries fried around it, somewhat like a corn dog but with fries. Jessica had a hot dog on a stick. Joe and I had spicy chicken on a stick. They were all delicious, so either we were really hungry and desperate or we found a good vendor. We weren't alone with our food on a stick. Everywhere you looked people were eating from a stick. We did break our sticks afterward and toss them in the trash, because the rumor is, they re-use the sticks. Gross! I just had to keep that out of my mind. While we were sitting on this street corner we had 20 or more Koreans stop and say "oh, ah" about our blond hair, light eyes children. They touch them and ask to take photos of them also.

Jessica's 1st day of Kindergarten

Jessica had her 1st day of Kindergarten at Seoul American Elementary School on September 2nd. She was very brave and didn't even cry when we dropped her off. This is an improvement from last year. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Hoffman. Her friends Gabriela and Kimberly are also in her class, so it helps to see them every morning. Rest time is her least favorite activity and she cried during rest time the 1st few days, but we decided that if she can go 5 days without crying at rest time then she'll get her nails polished at the Dragon Hill Lodge, she loves that!

New Crocs

I bought Garrett his 1st pair of Crocs. Joe and I went to Namdaemun market on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd while the kids were in school. I found these tiny Croc knock-offs with 3 jibitz each for 5,000 won about $4, what a steal! Garrett doesn't like them and immediately kicks them off his feet. I'm glad I didn't spend $30 on Crocs to discover this.

Garrett, the Mess Maker

Garrett gets into EVERYTHING! His favorites are the plastic shopping bags, garbage bags, sandwich bags and disposable gloves. I have moved all of these items out of his reach since these pictures were taken. The two middle photos look like he's saying, "Who Me?" He crawls around our apartment so quickly that we can't keep up with him. Just this week he also got his fingers shut in the sliding glass door by Jess and his hand in the bedroom door by Carsy. Double ouch! The kids are learning to watch out for him before shutting any doors/drawers/closets. He can also stand up right on his knees now.

Carson's 1st day of 1st Grade

Carson started 1st Grade at Seoul American Elementary School on Monday, August 25th. His teacher is Mrs. Fahey. The elementary school is a 9-10 minute walk from our front door. We load Garrett up in his stroller, put Jess on her Buggy Board behind the stroller and we head out to school. Jessica missed Carson a lot on his 1st day of school. She has to get a hug and kiss from him each morning when we drop him off. Carson likes 1st Grade. He thought buying his own lunch was cool. He reports liking "everything" about school. Carson received 3 "Happy Notes" the 1st week of class, more than anyone else, he informed me. He's not so sure about the homework he gets for 1st grade. He met a very fun friend named Adam in his class though, so he's always excited for school. Adam came from Oklahoma before Korea and his dad is in the Army. Because Yongsan is a Joint Post our friends are from all the services - Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy.

Petra Kebab House

We found a delicious Morrocan restaurant called Petra Restaurant, Kebab House. The restaurant is on a hill outside of the Post in an area called Itaewon. Itaewon has so many restaurants, we could try a new one each week and never have to repeat. We took a photo of the sun setting over Seoul. What a cool city! Jessica took the 2nd family photo.

I love books!

Garrett was holding onto the bookcase last Friday and pulled a heavy book right on his face. It split his lip. He had a hole on the inside of his lip, probably where his tooth went into it. Ouch! I took him to the E.R. even though it didn't bleed long and didn't look too bad. The doctor said it was "borderline" needing stitches. If Garrett were a girl and we were worried about the cosmetics of his face then he would have stitched it. I’m so glad he didn't stitch it. He gave me some future advice on boys, yes, they will hurt themselves and cut their mouths/lips, so if the cut is on the outside of the mouth it will probably need stitches, if it's on the inside it will not. Mouths heal quickly and don't get infected, great to know! Boys are a blast because of their high energy and independence, but they are also a little scary. You just never know what they will try. As you can see from the above photos, his injury has not scared him away from pulling books from the bookcase.