Bear Tree Park

Last weekend, the day after Christmas, we took some friends and all went to bear tree park. It is exactly what it says. A park full of trees and gardens and landscaping... And then a small area of it full of bears you can feed. It was pretty cool.

CHRISTMAS in Korea!

So, this will be the seventh Christmas Matt and I have spent together, as a married couple. It is the FIRST Christmas we are spending alone as a family. This is the first time we get to actually figure out our on traditions and which traditions we want to keep from growing up. It has been chaotic, but fun so far. Due to the lack of planning because it came so fast, things haven't quite fallen in to place like we'd like, but we are figuring it out.

So, we like the idea of doing a Christmas kickoff, which is an idea that comes from Matt's oldest sister. We did do it, but it was a week late. We also didn't have the kids pjs yet, so they will be opening those on Christmas Eve like we both did growing up. But, to kick off the season, the kids opened and an ornament, hot chocolate, book and popcorn. We also started the 25 days of Christ. There is an ornament for every day with a scripture, video and quote to go with it. It is to help keep Christmas Christ centered. We are still trying to catch up. If we do 3 today, we will finally be caught up. Matt and I spent two nights painting and putting together the ornaments.

Christmas Kickoff. They opened an ornament, book and had hot chocolate

On Friday the kids will sleep under the tree. This is something we'd also like to do earlier in the month but it's been crazy and Max has been sick with croup. He's finally getting better. We also plan on doing something every night next week, (week of Christmas) we just haven't planned that out yet. Harper will still have school and Matt will still have work so it's the first time we don't actually get a "Christmas break." We have finally had to grow up haha.

On Christmas Eve we are going to have the dinner I had growing up, which is basically just a bunch of finger foods. We are thinking of making and adding fruit sushi to it. The kids would have fun making it and would love eating it. We will also do Luke 2, or something along those lines. Maybe we will just use are small, baby less nativity set and do the nativity. Then, we will watch a Christmas movie and then send the kids to bed. After that, of course, Matt and I will set everything up.

Christmas Eve Dinner and new Christmas PJ's compliments of Three Two Seven Six

We are doing the "Something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read." We did have a few things we had already bought, so they will get a little bit more than that. We just want to avoid going over board like we did last year. Matt and I are both suckers when it comes to buying stuff for the kids. As for Matt and I, we won't be getting each other much this year as we want to save up to travel.

On Christmas day, we will open gifts, make breakfast, hang out in PJ's and then make ham or turkey for dinner. We have both and haven't decided what we want to do yet. Our planning is still up in the air.

So, with all of that said....we miss our families lol. I'm so excited to spend this Christmas with just the kids and Matt, but there is something about not having the option to visit family that makes me miss them all even more. Both sides! But, this will be great for us and I'm looking forward to it.

The Korean reusable wrapping paper that I absolutely love. 

The Kids waiting for us to tell them it's okay to come down and open presents. 

This is the Korean lamp that Matt got me. I love it! 

30 Years....I feel old haha

Okay, so I just had my birthday last week. Usually a birthday doesn't mean much, but this time I just felt different. My 20's are gone. As Matt put it, it actually feels like we should be responsible adults and not kids. I mean, obviously we are that way, but we still aren't settled down and won't be for years. I don't know how to explain it though. I'm just crazy haha.

Anyway, Matt made it a great birthday. I actually woke up with the desire to deep clean, so I did that all day. The kids even cooperated with me, which was a birthday miracle. Then, Matt got me the cricut wireless adapter, my first willow tree figurine (yes I want to collect them) and the game cribbage. He made crepes and individual chocolate molten lava cakes. He's pretty much amazing! He did everything I asked and more. I don't deserve such a great guy.

I had lots of friends call me as well, which isn't something that normally happens to me. It was also different in that my family all had to figure out the timing of my birthday. All of them, except 1, called me on my birthday, which was the day before them. I don't know why, but it just made it feel even more special. I realized how much I miss my family, both mine and Matt's sides, even though I love being here.

The week before my birthday they were all able to get together for my grandma's funeral. She passed away just after Thanksgiving. I was saddened that I couldn't make it to celebrate her life and see my family. It's a good feeling to have though because I think that since we lived close to them, we took it for granted. I haven't been able to get with my brother's much since we got married, but now that it's hard to do that, it makes me miss them all more. I'm glad they all got to get together and have fun though. I think it was definitely needed in our family. Maybe next time we can be there.

Meet Patch

So, Harper finally went 7 days without a potty accident. We told her if she did that, she could get a guinea pig. I, unfortunately, have fallen in love with the little guy. He's pretty funny. Anyway, Harper does a great job caring for him and he knows he is hers. He loves that little girl. He does like me quite a bit since I clean out the cage and feed him while Harper is gone. He eats a lot! He really likes romaine lettuce, alfalfa and his pellets. The occasional grape and papaya treat are his favorites as well. He is spoiled and we have ordered him a new, bigger cage and some other stuff. I'm hoping to get another one soon since they do better in pairs.

UPDATE: We had to give Patch away due to the fact that Harper didn't give him enough attention everyday, and the morning sickness I was experiencing was making it hard for me to clean the cage every week. Harper was very sad, but we told her we will get a dog once we get back to the States.

Express Bus Terminal and Dongdaemun

So, the Saturday after Thanksgiving (which we spent with amazing friends here with way too much food), a few of us went to The Express Bus Terminal. So, it's Christmas shopping as well as a fresh flower market that is set up on the 3rd (I think) floor of the express bus terminal. I think we used every form of ground transportation that day. It was perfect timing because we had just discovered that somehow all of our Christmas decor got packed away with my parents stuff and is stored in the States at my brother's house. We were lucky enough to somehow end up with our stockings and little people nativity set. That was it.

We drove to AK Plaza in Peyongtaek and got on the express bus that takes you straight to the terminal. Once there, we went shopping.  It was definitely a bit overwhelming but a ton of fun. If you don't want to spend money, don't go with friends. The other two ladies I was with and I kept convincing each other to buy the same things. We ended up with some awesome, but heavy bags. We still had plans to head to Dongdaemun to get a few things. So, with our ornaments, decorative houses, wooden and golden trees to decorate the outside of said house, a ridiculously heavy wood fence looking thing, we headed to the subway to go to Dongdaemun.

The reason for heading there was that my friends wanted to get some of the Korean re-usable wrapping paper. I had no idea what it was but once I saw it, I too had to buy some. We spent way too much but dang it, our gifts under the tree are going to look amazingly beautiful haha. I also needed to get the rest of my material to finish the duvet cover I was making for our bed. Word to the wise....if you come to Korea and plan on bringing a king size bed, buy all the bedding before hand. You can't get it here and nobody can ship it due to customs. You can use shipitapo.com or myapobox.com, but we didn't want to pay extra for that right now. ALSO, if you ever plan on heading to Dongdaemun, which is the craft/fabric area, take pictures of the aisles and such that you like because chances are you will never find them again without it. We were lucky enough to have done this and were able to find exactly where we needed to be, and rather quickly. One more thing....DON'T TAKE KIDS! It would be too chaotic and hard to keep track of them.

So, after Dongdaemun, we took the subway to Seoul Station and got on a train to head back to Peyongtaek. Once we got home, we went out to eat just to end the kid free day. It was such a fun time. I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time and I loved the company I was with.

This is the dreaded wood that was so heavy to lug around. 

Harper's gymnastics

Harper started gymnastics on the first of October. She has been loving it. She is very self motivated. After just 6 classes (one class a week) her teach asked me to move her up to the advance class for her age group. She has gone to that class, as well as her old class, for the past 2 weeks and has improved immensely. We don't push her at all, but she is loving learning new skills. She can do pretty good cartwheels, great hand stands, bridge, jump on the beam, handstand roll and she finally got the courage to jump from the low bar to the high bar. She has asked me to help her work on back walkover's already. She did jump last week and didn't quite have the support she needed and fell off the high bar. The way she landed looked like she could have broken something, but she was fine the next day. Thanks goodness!

Max also got a trial week last week to see if he can follow directions enough to get into a class. They aren't allowed to sign up without a parent in class until they are 3. The teach approved him so we will get him in Harper's first class starting next month. He and Harper are constantly flipping and jumping off of everything. How they aren't broken yet, I have no idea.

All of the videos I have of Max right now are too long so I'll have to update those later. 

Random Happenings around Home

 I couldn't resist this picture. I thought it was so precious

 I've decided to rock the natural do!

 This was our first of 3 ikea trips we made in the past month

 The closet in the kids toy room. I'll get pics of all of our house once I get it clean with pictures up. 

 The rest of their play room

 Harper enjoying painting on the walls

 The HUGE pillow I made for the kids. 

 The kids trying on their gas masks (we all have to have them here)

 These crazies just posing

K-16 Air show bust

So, we went up to Seoul the weekend of the 24th to go to the Air Show at k-16. I also managed to get a dentist appointment up there that morning. We went up Friday night and stayed the night in Gangnam. Matt price lined a hotel and decided on the Ritz Carlton because it had a swimming pool. So, he took the kids down to swim while I got ready for my appointment just to find that they didn't allow anyone under the age of 7 in the pool. Totally lame! So, he let the kids swim in the hot tub. But, that place (meaning Gangman) is impressive. You can definitely tell its the higher end of Seoul. Here are a few pics.

 Random pics of this crazy girl while we waited for our dinner

 View from the hotel. None of my pictures do this area justice

So, the reason for the title is that we went up there mainly to get to the air show. Well, once we finally found it, we searched for parking for like an hour. We didn't plan things well and nobody had eaten. When we finally found where it was on the post, we couldn't find parking. By then, we were just annoyed and decided to drive home instead. We took the kids to jump nori as soon as we got home. So, this is a pretty cool little kids cafe close to home.