Last Minute Plans

For the past few years we have spent the 4th with the Carlson Clan, but this year vacation plans differed so we had to figure out "something fun and memorable" without them! No easy task, because the Carlsons are lots of fun wherever fireworks are involved.

Procrastination swept over me (again) and no plans were ever made, until Facebook came to the rescue (it's a long story). After a little bit of texting and a few phone calls, a last minute plan was in place involving 3 families, a boat and teriyaki chicken. Could it get any better? We were so excited!

At 11ish...(really? Who can be so prompt on a holiday?) ... we met at Black Lake in Tumwater to spend the day riding on the Behrens' boat. I have done a fair amount of water skiing in my teens and early 20s and always thought nothing could beat it, but I gotta tell ya, this tube riding thing is so AWESOME! No dragging your face through the lake with water shooting into your nose and out of your eyes, ears and mouth, no arms being yanked out place, no worrying about where the water might go if you fall wrong (I'll just leave it at that... some of you will know what I mean and will not require any explanation and if you don't know, then it's probably better not to ask lest you embarrass yourself and me!).

We thought we'd spend a few hours on the lake, but it was so much fun that we spent all DAY there. Afterwards we met up at our house for teriyaki chicken dinner (American, right?) and Jenny's amazing angel food cake dessert. So sad I don't have a picture of it!

It was a great day with great people and I want to do it again!

The first group out, Thomas, Emily and Cole.

Let the splashing begin!

Group #2; Emily, John and Garret. All three showed their inner dare-devil this day.

John, Steve, Emily and Jen... so much fun to spend a day together!

I love this picture because of my Emily on the far left; mouth open and screaming/laughing all the way!

Lunch at the dock.

The only thing better than one Emily is TWO!

Best buds, Emily and Becca

Our trusty (?) skipper. Thanks for the ride Mr. Behrens, even when I almost fell in.

My handsome guys

Jack and Amanda

Emily is such a goof

The MOMS. Doesn't our hair look nice? This must be a "before the ride" picture.

"HIT IT!"

This is when Mr. Trusty Skipper stopped the boat because Jen was inches from falling into the drink and we were laughing so hard we couldn't hang on any longer. You might think it was to our advantage to have a physician along (just in case) but as I recall, she was doing just as much screaming and white-knuckle clenching as the other moms.

The DADS! This makes me laugh because Jack's eyes are closed, Steve's feet look caught in the tow rope and John is happily waving because it's his first ride on his new toy.

A nice ride with Melinda driving the boat... watch out for the wakes, guys!

Weekends in May

I'm catching up on the last TWO weekends.

(Yes, other stuff happened between the weekends, but that would require that I have memory cells dedicated to remembering those types of things.)

So, last weekend was baseball.

Baseball.

Baseball.

Oh, and some baseball.

Friday night started the Cal Ripken Minors Tournament. Thomas's team, the Angels, played one game and won. Saturday, they played again and lost, but it was double elimination so there were more games to be played. Sunday's games started at 9AM with a win. So on went the day with another game at 11AM (a win) and ANOTHER game at 1PM.

That one o'clock game was really a hoot because it was a team the Angel's had never beat and adrenaline was running high by this point in the day. (Good thing because the kids were starting to wear out after already playing 2 full games!) Parents paced while watching; partly because we were all nerves for the boys and partly because nobody could take sitting on those bleacher seats any longer! Well, the pacing, praying and cheering paid off with a third win that day, putting the boys in the final championship game at 3PM. Yes, games at 9, 11, 1 and 3. Exhausting! They didn't win the championship game, but they fought hard. It really was great fun to see them play so well.

This is Thomas, eating after the tournament. A double cheese burger and milkshake and fries at the Ram.

This weekend, Amanda was at her youth group's beach retreat, where it sounds like lots was learned and fun was plentiful. I'm so glad for her to have this time with a really solid youth group and those friends with whom she will stay connected with for life.

Amanda and her friend Maddie at Beach Retreat

Saturday I was home. Sick. With a stomach bug. Yuck. I haven't been that sick in I don't know how long. I hope it's that long before any virus hits me again like that. Sunday I was on the mend so we went to see the Mariners play in Seattle against the NY Yankees. Mariners had one the last 2 games against NY, so it seemed like a reasonable idea that they might win again, but no. Sigh.

I am a lucky girl to sit with these two fine people!

My good looking boy, Thomas. He takes after his Dad!

It would have been fun to see a win, but it's always fun just to be at Safeco and see the M's play. The field is so beautiful and there is no better people watching in the world than at a major league baseball game. It even beats airports and Walmart.

 Fun at Safeco... got to see some of the usual characters, like Ichiro and Moose.

Today the clouds kept their moisture to themselves and I was able to spray weeds, pull weeds, and with the help of Thomas and Emily, get our garden planted. I've never started a garden with so many actual plant starts, but it's been so cold out I haven't wanted to get out and put any seeds in the ground. This year it's beans and beets from seeds, and starts of zucchini, butternut squash, cucumber, cantaloupe (we'll see how that one does!), little pumpkins, 2 kinds of tomatoes, and basil and cilantro.


 So with all that, I think this last picture of Thomas sums up the past 2 weekends pretty well. I just took this about a half-hour ago, at 9:45. Zzzzzz. Blissful, hu?

Now, on with the week. Only about 3 more weeks of school for the kids. I'm ready for the school year to be done and greet the summer. I'm always excited to see what's next!

We interrupt this blogging silence to bring you a new post

I know I haven't blogged for a while. Sorry. And just in case anybody actually DOES follow this blog, no, I'm not still in Korea. I didn't get stuck there. I made it back quite nicely, eating the Western Dinner Choice on the airplane ride home. A piece of roast beef and roasted potatoes never looked so good.

Anyhow, here I am, blogging again. Well, sort of. It's actually just sharing a very cute video that I found through my very cute daughter, Amanda. The little girl in the video reminds me SOOOO much of Amanda at that same age; little bobbed haircut, skinny legs sticking out of a leotard, and shoes that won't do what you want in dance class. Enjoy!

Just a couple of photos...

I wanted to get a couple of pics up real quick. I'll write more later.

Dr. Bowen, Mr. Warren, myself, Mr. Jacobs... the three who interviewed me in 2002 for my board position at WIRB. I've wanted this picture for a long time!

Reverand Jun-Woo Kim, professor at Daegu Catholic University Medical Center, giving his opening remarks. All of the hosts have been fantastic, making sure our every need is met.

Dr. Bowen, giving her welcoming talk, and the media capturing it.

Dr. Brad Waite and myself, on a break. What I love most about this picture is the way Drs. Adele and Owen Reese are leaning in to get in the shot!

Dr. Bowen speaking. This shows the size of the stage.

Dr. Choi. He and his family attended my church when he was a WIRB fellow from Korea. It was so nice to see him again and chat a bit.

Looking across the meeting room. Talks were in Korean and English, with translation available. Notice people holding the listening device so they could hear the translation.

Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore. Or Olympia, for that matter.

Today was all about going to this crazy market district in Daegu. One taxi ride away that cost 7600 wan (about $7.50) sits this crowded, bustling, and at times smelly spectacle. It covers 9 square city blocks and has shops on streets, in buildings, and everywhere in between. Think Yardbirds, Yeagers, or a Farmer's Market. Now multiply it times, ohhhhh, I don't know. Maybe times 1000, and you'll start to get the feel for what this place is. 

Fruits and veggies (Owen on the right)





This lady was pulling the frozen fish out of boxes.  She was busy in the morning getting her display all set up.





And speaking of fish... these silvery packages are all dried fish of various sizes. Some were maybe an inch long and some were up to 2 or 3 inches. All dried. All silvery. All contained a smell I am not accustomed to smelling! I think there were no less than a dozen other shops all selling these fish.

 This is one of the dozens and dozens of inside shops. It actually reminded me of how an antique mall works: many vendors renting space inside of one big room. Each floor covered one city block. It was mind numbing just how much stuff these people were selling. Dishes here, but there were clothes, costmetics, socks, etc. One entire floor was filled with bolts upon bolts of fabric where women could come pick the fabric and have a dress maker design them a traditional Korean gown.



This is the street scene from a skybridge.



The scene from ground level. On the left is a shirt vendor. On the right is a noodle counter. I'm learning these noodle places are everywhere.



Another scene from the street. Notice the pile of ??? on the blue platter.  I consider myself a pretty adventerous eater, but this was too much for me!



I snuck a picture of this women. Yes, she's selling chickens. Live chickens. I think they will be somebody's dinner soon. I regret not getting a picture of the dead pheasants and rabbits hanging from a nearby pole, waiting to be purchased.

This lady was unloading her greens. So many beautiful types of produce.

Bag upon bag of nuts, grains and dried fish.



A place to purchase children's traditional clothing.



This is looking down onto one of these noodle bar places. Quite the kitchen set up. There were probably 20 or more places just like this one that sat one after the other, all down the center of the street.

Me, Owen and Adele. We are looking so happy because we found food we recognized (udon soup) and were ready for some lunch! We all managed to eat with chopsticks this time! See the lady to the right of Adele? I think she thought I was crazy for asking the noodle lady to take our picture.

The lady in the blue apron is making these FABULOUS pancake things. The dough cooks up chewy and the center is filled with a few bits of chopped nuts and honey/brown sugar all melted and gooey. She drops the dough onto the hot skilled and presses them flat so they don't puff up too much. After a few minutes and being flipped several times, they are ready to eat. They make an Elephant's Ear look like baby food. Sooo yummy! It's probably a good thing I don't know how to make these things.

안녕 (an informal hello in Korean, like "hi". Pronounced "an nyoung")



a folk village structure... more on this below

Well here I am in Korea for a WIRB meeting called "IRB Summit 2011". It's being held in Daegu and the WIRB chairs were invited to attend. Exciting? Yes! I came a couple of days early so I could spend some time seeing a bit of the country before the meetings. So now, before I hit the sack, I'm determined to get a few pictures up on this blog!

I don't have time for the post I really want to do... it's 9:49 on Monday evening, April 18 and I'm beat. Between a little jeg lag and a full day of walking, I need to make this short and sweet. Besides, I'm using the hotel computer and it doesn't seem to upload my pictures very quickly.



Hot towels and a glass of water... the first of many on the flight. It was 11.5 hours from SeaTac to Incheon Airport (Seoul).



On the back of the seats were computer screens. They showed movies, but also had a selection to show the progress of the trip. This shows us before leaving Seattle.



And this is when we crossed the international date line!

Today went to the a Folk Village. It took a taxi and 2 busses to get there but it was so worth it. I'll post more later. I am here right now with Adele and Owen, two WIRB friends so we spent the day exploring together. Owen should get a reward for navigating us all the way there and back without any mistakes! We weren't sure how to get back at one point, but after a little problem solving, we did it! To be specific, we had to match up the Korean symbols for the name of the town we were headed for... from the map to the bus schedule. Tricky? Ya. A lot! So here are a few pictures of the folk village adventure.

This is a little food counter place in the bus stop at Guangu. Ever eat at a bus depot? I've always been afraid to, but this place had fabulous udon soup.

This is the folk village. It's basically a Korean "Jonestown" where people still live and preserve the orignal Korean way of life. Original as in mid 1500's before the Japanese invaded Korea. It was different than anything I've ever seen but so interesting to walk around and peek into the different little places it held.



Look at this cute Korean grandma... What you can't see is the funny little cart she was pushing. Not really even sure what she was moving, but she was chugging right along. I like the contrast of the traditional clothing and the car. Oh, and the port-a-potty for the workers at that house!

Many of the homes in the village were occupied by people who seemed to run a business of some sort out of their home. This one sold planter pots. Couldn't see if they actually made them here, or just sold them.

In other homes we saw a tea-house and a bonzai plant nursery. I'll post more on those later.

Ok, I'm off to bed. More later!