We DROVE to Osan today

Steve was off work today so we went to Osan Air Base...Steve was stationed here 14 years ago and back when I was in the Air Force, flying in the Medi-evac squadron out of Japan, I would come here once and twice a week...use to see Steve too...back when we were just friends.







We drove believe it or not. Osan is a pretty big Korean city an hour south of Seoul. It was a really nice drive.





We had some errands to get done for our SOFA stamps and Korean visa's.









Back 14 years ago there were only military people here...not now. The base is DANG NICE with families every where. Look at the foodcourt....Captain D's, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Subway, Taco Bell, Baskin Robbins and a few others...oh and Chili's.



And check out this BX...I will want to go back for sure. The base is totally different than it was 14 years ago.










Now out the front gate...nothing has changed. They have the best shopping. The stores are the same...same stores in the same location...crazy and what fun Steve and I had today showing our kids.

The perfect stuff for sell for my family!!! Ben picked up a Drew Brees jersey today.

They liked all those mink blankets. Osan is a fighter jet base. There were cool F-16's flying all around us...we aren't allowed to take picture's of that stuff...but my kids sure enjoyed watching them practice.

And of course I scored a new Coach purse. Love that Korean shopping.

This past weekend of course we went out to support our local "Boys Of Fall". It was Seoul American High School vs. Daegue (sp?). Next week our team Seoul American will fly to Okinawa to face-off Kadena and then they will play here at Yongsan again...that's okay we will be glued to the TV this weekend...LET THOSE GAMES BEGIN!!!!

"GET HELP"

The kids were asleep, I was relaxing on our stiff Army couch stitching watching an episode of General Hospital...Steve was in the shower. "GET HELP" (I thought get out) started screaming from the monitor thing on our living room wall. I am yelling for Steve to get out here I think there might be a fire or something and we need to leave. He takes forever so I yell for him again. He still doesn't jump out of strange long shower. So I run into my room yelling at him while the monitor in the living room is going off. I then hear Steve and he says it's him he is locked in the bathroom. I was wondering what was taking him so long. See this picture in our master bath...the toilet has a million buttons and on the wall are the emergency buttons...that's what Steve had pushed. He said he had been yelling for help 20 min., poor guy was sweating to death in there. The very next min. our doorbell is ringing and our doorman and security guy from downstairs were up here. The alarm Steve hit goes to them. The siren was flashing and going off in the hallway outside our front door too. HOLY MOLY! Steve got out and the Korean guy was smiling and bowing after he had finally got our alarm to go off...we were so embarrassed.

This is the control panel in our living room. You can let visitors in the building, open the front door, we have an elevator button to push so when we are leaving the house the elevator will be waiting for us on our floor. It's got a camera so you can see who is coming and going. This apartment is SOOOO nice. Can you believe we have gaurds to let you in the parking garage and a doorman that says hello and bows every time you enter the building....it's crazy.

Things so far have been fun. Last night I went to the South Post Chapel for the quilting club...FUN STUFF! Last Saturday we also took the train to Dongdaemun to the huge fabric market...WOW. I am going back....alone or with friends. I took pictures I will share later.

We made it to Korea

We made it!!! We LOVE it. We feel like we are in NYC here. We live in the Megatrium Apartments and they are MEGA nice. We are on the 17th floor of the 33 story building. There are four of these huge towers in our complex.

Ben looking out the living room window.

Looking out one of the windows in my room. Seoul is endless mountains and high rises with 22 million people.

The kids love taking taxi's every where. On Friday we took one to the pool on base.

Ben must have gone off the diving board a dozen times at least.

Madi really had fun sliding down the slide. All afternoon helicopters kept landing and taking off right behind that white building. They are cool to watch but are really loud.

Here are Ben and Madi at the Dragon Hill. The Dragon Hill is the hotel on base. It is so nice...it's one of those military resort types...but nicer than the Hale Koa and just as nice as The Shades of Green.

Look at Madi at dinner the other night. We went out for the traditional Korean Bibimbap. I need to have the kids practice with chopsticks here at home so poor Madi doesn't look like this again.

Late yesterday afternoon I had gone shopping at the commissary. After I got home Madi played store for hours with the food and bags. I remember doing that as a kid and Steve and I just laughed at how content she was in her own little world. We are all happy to be together and to have a home once again.

Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum

The kids and I leave for Korea tomorrow. Steve took the same non-stop flight Atlanta to Seoul last week. He said they played two movies Ben and Madi have not yet seen so they are excited. I am ready to be there. Steve has our new apartment and the Army loaner furniture already in it. I am ready for a home cooked meal...we have been eating out for over a month. So since we are flying out tomorrow I thought I could share our pictures of our fun fun day we had at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.

Here is Madi in front of the Enola Gay. It's probably my favorite plane in the museum. It is the plane that dropped the bomb on Japan. When I was in the Air Force I was stationed in Japan and have been to ground zero at Nagasaki and Hiroshima...I enjoy our history in the Pacific so that is why this plane would be my favorite.


The SR-71...have you seen the movie Transformers 2. This is the museum and plane that were in the movie. For that reason this might be Ben and Madi's favorite plane.








The Concord...I think this is Aunt Onalee's favorite plane.






Look at Steve in front of the VERY FIRST military aircraft...this cracked me up.









The whole museum is awesome...a MUST see!!!

Here were are in front of the Space Shuttle...they had the coolest NASA section...I learned a few things.

Thank you to our one and only Aunt Onalee for such a memorable day!!! And for treating us to those yummy hot fudge sundays (minus the nuts...HA HA HA) afterwards!

Wish me luck for tomorrow...me and two kids on a 14 hour flight. Thank goodness Steve's mom has been here to make these last few days really fun for the kids and easy on me! She is out with them now giving me a little bit of calm before tomorrow's storm....Thank you Teresa!

Yankee Stadium, Serendipity, F.A.O. Schwarz and Wall Street

Well we are hanging in there. Steve left for Korea on Sunday, got there Monday. He has already found us a house there...a nice one too! The kids are excited. Steve's family came to visit us last weekend and are coming again this weekend...Steve's mom is going to see us off. We have been having fun. Another family moved into our house a few weeks. So we are in a hotel right next to Discover Mills Mall and The Mall of Georgia....nice! This kids love the race track store in the mall. Look at that track to race on. We have been swimming every night here at the hotel, so things are good.

I have been working on my hexes...I enjoy handwork so much but these hexes sure take hours to sew together.

In New York City, Yankee Stadium was one of our stops. Phew it's up in the Bronx. Madi had to go to the bathroom while we were on the 4 train so we got off...in the Bronx...that was something! 2 police guarding the bathrooms in McDonald's.

Remember last Spring we went to the Yankee's spring training down in Tampa...funny we see both of their places in the same year.

On our first night in New York City we went to Serendipity but the wait was over 1 1/2 hours so we came back the next day and only had to wait 20-30 minutes.

OOOO-LALA their famous frozen hot chocolate...what a HUGE treat.

If you go to New York City and have kids like us F.A.O. Schwarz is a must. It's in the bottom of the Trump Towers. You should see their Barbie section...to-die-for.

F.A.O. Schwarz is home to that BIG piano. Look at Madi dancing on it. There was a sign you can take one home for $250,000. Don't you remember this piano from the Tom Hanks movie Big.

The bull. It's down the street from the New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange.

On the other side of Wall Street in the old City Hall. There is the statue of George Washington...this is the place he took the oath of office becoming our first American president. After spending 2 1/2 weeks going up the East Coast, Ben and Madi have now been to just about every early American historical site there is. The trip was so fun!!!

Times Square...

... it was mesmerising!!!

It was very family friendly. M&M's World on Times Square was one of our fist stops...MMM

Did you know right in the middle of Times Square is the world's BEST Toy's R US.

There was a big Ferris wheel inside. Madi wanted so bad to go on it...so we let both her and Ben go by themselves while Steve and I sat back and enjoyed watching them.

Inside Toys R Us they had Spiderman and Iron Man walking around. Look in the LEGO section...the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building built out of Lego's.

A life sized Barbie. Madi was so cute walking all around inside. It was packed full of all kinds of barbies.

Transformers...

T-Rex...

Ben and Madi were living in a fairytale in there.

Right smack in the middle of Times Square there is a recruiting station...we cracked up. See the bright U.S. Air Force sign. I can't express how much we all LOVED New York City!!!