Our little Christmas tree and train

Preparing for the holidays

 

It seems like little has happened in the past week but if I wait too long then too much happens so here is another attempt at a weekly blog update.

The weather has really changed for the colder and we are learning about the faults of our home come wintertime. We have added some insulation and weather stripping which seems to have made a difference in the overall draftiness of the house. The house still feels cold but maybe not as cold as last year (a definite maybe).

Joon has been changing rapidly every day it seems. He speaks way better Korean than me (as I am reminded of often) and he is really getting into books. He is always looking at the pictures and asking “what is this?” and requiring us to read the book several (hundred?) times per night. He has also discovered the tv but books seem to be the priority for now. 

It seems the past week has been mostly about shopping. Buying christmas presents for the family back home and trying to decide what everyone is into these days. Shopping is one of Joon’s favorite activities. He has not crossed into the I must have this toy phase yet so we consider ourselves lucky thus far.

A couple of weeks ago I ran in a local 10k race. Here they are very organized about the whole affair with prizes, free food, photos and medals for all. It is pretty fun to be involved.  Here is a link to the website to see some pictures: http://marathon.hallailbo.co.kr/ In the middle of the page are some pictures. type the number 15243 in to the search bar above those pictures and hit enter.

Okay, Joon is waking up from his nap, gotta run, Peace

New Pics

Finally uploaded our pictures from the last two months so check it out!

http://picasaweb.google.com/yjoely

Chopsticks 101

Here is Joon learning to use his trainer chopsticks for the first time...

Time for an update!

Sorry for the delay. October just disappeared. Here we are in November with cooler temps and shorter days. It has been a busy month including the Cheosuk holiday, Mandarin harvest, home improvement projects and Joon growing quicker than we can sometimes believe. Today I made an attempt to have him 'reading' (really just memorizing) for the camera with no luck. I will try again soon. Currently he is supposed to be going down for his nap although it seems like his need for the nap becomes less and less. We do like the nap tome around here so hopefully it will continue for a little while longer.


Moon and I are putting up some interior insulation for our concrete walls and preparing to replace some doors to make the house a little more bearable on the cold windy days. We are also getting read for another 10 k race next weekend. So far we have kept up with our weekly runs and our energy levels are good. They usually take a not so glamorous photo of us while running which I will post a link to if I can find it.

Here's a pic from a few weeks ago on one of our many walks around the island. They have a coastal system of trails that are 15 to 25 km in length and offer a nice mostly flat walk through farms and coastal vistas. There are also Oreum' s which are parasitic volcanoes that are all over the island and provide short but steep and strenuous hikes with nice views at the top. This is how we have spent our fall when not indoors. Joon will soon be to big for his carrier so we wanted to take advantage of the cooler weather to get some hikes in before the really cold weather arrives.

So long for now, More pictures to come and we hope everyone is doing well.

Traditions

Moon's Fathers grave with a classic Oreom (parasitic volcano) in the background

The month of September marks the end of the summer around here and the transition to fall and winter activities. An annual tradition for most families on the island is the maintenance of the graves. These graves are simple mounds scattered everywhere and anywhere you might look in the country. For most of the summer these mounds become overgrown with ferns and grass and become almost invisible. Of course everyone knows where their family member's graves are and weed whackers and scythes come out in force to trim them down so they look like nicely manicured plots. Some folks have stone walls surrounding their graves and some even have headstones or fancy marble structures. Often they are grouped together in fields or in a space that resembles a cemetery.

After a small hike Moon's family starts the clearing process. (yours truly lazing behind the camera of course)

After the hardwork there is a small ceremony to honor her father and then we eat a well deserved meal.


Here we are at the end of the hardworking day posing on the nicely trimmed mound.

Fun...

Hey! Long time no see...It has been a busy Month both here and at home and posting to the blog has become a low priority. Sorry about that. As many of you know my parents were in a pretty severe car accident. They were pretty shaken up and suffering from a variety of injuries but are doing much better now. Thanks to everyone who kept them in their thoughts and prayers. We felt pretty helpless on this side of the ocean since we couldn't be there to offer physical support but we did what we could.

For now I am just going to post some older pics we took back in August. Joon has been turning into a little man which is awesome to watch. We will have a new singing video up soon. For now, Enjoy!

Here is Joon working on his first pizza dough. He was pretty excited about the whole process especially since cheese was involved!

Here are some pictures from our second camping trip to the beach. ( smudges compliments of Joon's fingers!)

Fun in the sand!

And this gem is our first attempt at clamming which was a minimal success. Once we figured out we didn't need to dig so deep we were too tired to try much longer. Still we had a nice soup with our catch.

More to come! Hope all is well...