So it has been awhile....the time just flies by and I don't exactly move too quick these days or have much energy. I did experience a Korean Hospital to have little man checked out and all went well. I had an interpreter which helped at the beginning, but the Dr actually spoke Ok English. Little man weighs in around 3lbs right now and we could only see his profile and no matter how much the dr pushed he was comfy and had no intentions of moving for him. This hospital was in better shape than the one I went to in Japan....the first time I went to a Japanese hospital pregnant with Bryce I wanted to cry...didn't feel that way here. I left for a short time to get a blood test and when I returned Bryce had an entire bag of Starburst Jellybeans...he gets free food wherever we go.
Our apartment is working out great, but boy is it dirty around here....guess you can kind of tell that by the not so clear days. So I have had my workout on cleaning the floors in some manner daily...not so fun. I found another grocery store nearby that actually has raw prepared seafood that I could bring home and cook. You know instead of killing it myself after I choose what I want and cleaning it up....the other one also had half a cow it was chopping up when we went on our fresh seafood search....just didn't appear too sanitary just hanging there as the guy chopping it up comes out and asks if we need help. Ummm no thanks we are good...
Here are a few random things so just in bullets:
* I really miss a dryer for our sheets and towels....no soft fluffy towels for us
* All of the appliances play a song when their cycle is over (washing machine, dishwasher, fruit/veggie washer)
* I really like the fruit/veggie washer. I can just spray my cleaner on them and dump all of my apples, oranges, peaches, grapes in and 15 min late all is clean.
* Driving around her is not for the timid....crazy drivers, crazy traffic, and rules yeah they don't really follow them at all

We did finally do some traveling over the 4 day weekend so I will stop chatting and put some pictures on here :)

He enjoys playing in the laundry room!

Naked reading of Curious George!

Playing and the Splish and Splash at Camp Hump.

Daddy at the top talking Bryce into trying this slide! When we pulled up in the parking lot the first thing Bryce said was, "I am not going on those big slides, OKAY!"

Yeah well he changed his mind and loved it!

They also had Putt Putt, with WAY to many water hazards...if you can see that his shorts are wet..that is bc he forgot he was not longer in his swim suit and he walked right into the pond to retrieve the first golf ball that made its way into the pond.

Using the water to our advantage...

We can't forget about Daddy's bday...his last year in his 30's :) The cake was a blueberry yogurt cake and it was very tasty.

A visit to Everland and these cute characters.

Bryce didn't enjoy any of the rides....

The Korean girls don't like Bryce either or ever overwhelm him :)

He enjoys map reading and figuring out where we should be going.

Malipo Beach...the water was freezing...but the beach still lots of fun

I think I am 29 wks in this picture.

 

Just in case you thought I was kidding when I told you that you pick your seafood out for yourself....

The beach....there had a really bad oil spill in 2007...we did remember but could only read the year and tell by the pictures :)

Moved In

Well we did finally get our Korea shipment and have set up our new apartment. Bryce is thrilled to have his bed back, but was a little concerned that his bedroom was soo far down the hall from ours. Trust us we can still hear him. He doesn't get out of his bed he always calls for us when he is ready to get up. Which I have to admit is kind of nice. We are still learning how to work all the appliances. I have figured out how to let people into our building, our front door using the video intercom and to call friends using the intercom that live in one of the 15 buildings that make up the Posco apartment complex. We do have a dishwasher, but man is that thing small. We used our washing machine last weekend for the first time and man at 1and a half hours per load, laundry might be a daily task. Yes that is just to wash, then you have to hang everything up in the drying room, its awesome. We will see how the cloth diapers go when we come back in the fall. Oh and the highlight of the apartment for Bryce is the fancy toilet :) He prefers to use our potty when he has to go number 2 so he can press the water and dryer function for his bum. The biggest mistake we made was not having the video running the first time he did that.
Driving around here is at your own risk! Horns are honking everywhere, pedistrians have the right of way which is normal but don't assume they will look up before crossing the street to see if anyone is coming no matter how fast you may be driving. Red lights seem to be optional and most people honk at you and drive around you. You may turn left on green but only when you have an arrow...assuming that they remembered to put a green arrow on every light which they didn't. Oh and some lights flash yellow from all sides so you proceed with A LOT of caution.
The BOB is getting a lot of use. We are about a mile from the gate and another mile into base to get to everything. The side walks are less than smooth so we roll just fine. I walk into base a fair amount for play groups, library, and soccer practice. Although I steal the car for the trip back. The weather has been really nice so Brian doesn't mind running too and from work, which takes about just as long to drive due to traffic.
We are adjusting to apartment living. Bryce still misses his buddies and doesn't understand why the Korean children don't speak his English as he calls it. Mommy they won't talk to me and when they do I don't know what they are saying. The other Korean Mom's shared a frozen drink with him when all the kids had treats the other week. We learned later that there is a lady that comes around with a cart in the late afternoon selling frozen treats and we had just missed her when we came down to play.

Moving and unpacking 2 crates is much easier than an entire house. Everything shot up this thing and Bryce was pleased to have his bike be one of the first things :)

There are two hiking trails close to our apartment. This one Bryce can walk the entire way and there is A LOT of outdoor workout equipment along the way.

Soccer time on base...lasted a whole 10 min before he was hungry and wanted to play on the slides that are right next door.

Awesome bakery right by our apartment. We will be here a lot. I did learn that when we came back it was a better idea to have Bryce in the stroller and grabby hands at bay....lets just say we left with a lot more than I intended to bc of his nose smelling or little fingers touching....

Subway is his favorite lunch right now and he decided he needed to wear this flyer for these subs while eating

The other hiking trail, more work but fun and where Brian went for a run. We did take the stroller up this thing part way and lets just say that if Bryce's feet can't do this one we won't be going without Daddy.

Cute little girl excited to say Hi to Bryce and very dressed up. Lets just say we felt underdressed. They treat this trail like you are in Colorado and are going to go through drastic Temp changes and weather....FULL up tech gear from head to toe for about 90% of the people we passed

At the bottom there is an air hose to get the dust off...lots OH Fun

Mother's day dinner...Bryce very interested in what is going on. The meat was cooking over hot coals.

He demanded that he use chopsticks too

He was did get some rice into his mouth :)

My sweet boy!

High Lights from week 2

Okay so thankfully our sleep patterns are back to normal and daily naps :) We are still in the TLF but our things our here and cleared customs! They can't deliver until Tuesday morning which should work out fine. It is only going to take about 15 trips from here to our new apartment to clean out the TLF so we are hopeful we can borrow someones van. This weekend should be nice weather so we are hopeful to get out and enjoy it all with pictures of course. Here are some bullets from the week.
* Apparently anything goes as far as transportation around here. It was an exercise week, so it was pretty funny to see someone in MOP (chem mask, flak vest, etc...) gear riding down the road on an electric scooter both the stand up kind and the sit down ones :)
* Not sure the house keeping staff cares to ever Knock before entering or cares that they can hear you in the other room trying to brush your toddlers teeth....good thing we don't walk around naked much.
* We did make it to a new weekly play group, The commissary with toddler size shopping carts for Bryce, he loved that his cart had things in it we needed to buy, and Story time at the library.
* I am overly excited to have more than 5 outfits to choose from when our things get here. Lets just say it has been a challenge to pack  with my growing belly. Since we left our house the last week of Feb. So lots of thing I could wear I didn't bring here bc I already couldn't wear them.
* Very excited to have elevators in our new place...carrying the BOB up and down the stairs is kicking my tail to go for walks.
*We also got to go into Brian's work and meet some of the people he works with and their families...Bryce likes his new office...buttons to push everywhere and lots of spinning desk chairs :)

Posco Apartment we are on the 5th Floor. These are about 2 years old and there are around 10-13 of these buildings around our complex. Everything is key coded and there are TV screens so you can see who you  are letting in. There are a lot of Americans that live here and a few from work...apparently we can call apartment to apartment on them too.

There are 3 parks at our apartment complex this is the one in front of our building. We will get pictures of the other parks later and there is a little spray ground that turns on for a few hours during the HOT months.

There is a gym that is part of our complex and an outdoor workout area. This must mean only the guys sweat?

Outdoor workout area also at our apartment.

Hiking trail around the apartment complex.

A very happy toddler to have a zip line at his own park.

No shoes allowed in the house in Korea either. They do a great job with Entryway storage. There are floor to ceiling closets for shoes and jackets, a few drawers, and a counter with a mirror.

This is the hallway when you come in the entryway. You go right to the 3 bedrooms and left to the kitchen, Familyroom, and our room.

This is one of the small bedrooms, no closet, and there is the random glassed in area that all the rooms have?

This is Bryce's room the only one that has closets, but they do take up the entire wall and they are top to bottom with shelves, drawers, and hanging space.

This is Bryce's bathroom.

Familyroom, with those glassed in areas. One you can see is where you are suppose to hang laundry. You can see the haning thing behind the couch. The apartments come with some furniture and LOTS O Windows. That tall thing in the corner is the AC and the floors all have heating in them, each room with a floor heating control. The last people used the other glassed in area for a play room...which Bryce thinks we should do too...we will see how hot/cold it actually gets out there.

looking back into the kitchen, Fridge is a normal size, I have a special veggie fruit washer :) and a touch with your foot turn on for the sink

 Our bedroom door is off to the right.

Our bedroom

Entrance to our closets, vanity, and bathroom

our shower and bath tub, at least they have a glass door to keep the other part of the floor dry, unlike in Japan

Rest of bathroom...our Japanese house the floors would be wet everywhere bc they didn't use dividers...so in the middle of the night you could step in puddles on your way to the bathroom...very excited we don't have to do that here...we do have fancy toilets that heat up and do lots of other things...I wonder what Bryce will think when he pushes the button that washes his bottom off :)

Our little man still loves to snuggle his favorite toys!

Emart visit and Apartment complete

Okay I know I know I need to get pictures up here. Last week things were so busy that buy the time Brian would get home from work and we were off base it was already getting dark. So we were excited about this weekend, but it is proving to be a very rainy one, which isn't helping the picture taking process. Trust me there isn't anything exciting to take pictures of on base. Which pretty much is a two block walking square, with no grass and lots of concrete :)
We did decided on an apartment but people are still living in it so we felt bad taking pictures. We are suppose to move in next Friday if the inspection and all the paper work is complete...Oh and our things are actually here. I promise to post pictures of it. I sure love FB over here...I wasn't a FB when we were at Kadena. I belong to 4 Osan FB pages...The apartments are sort of furnished and you just buy things off of others to add to what you might need. Picked up a coffee table and end tables yesterday. We heard there are hiking trails close to our apartment along with lots of food and coffee shops to explore.
We went to Emart yesterday, which is their equivalent to TARGET :) It is a crazy 3 story shopping experience. We were looking for curtains bc we need it to be dark when we sleep or rather when the sun comes up super early and all the rooms have floor to ceiling windows. We think we figured those out and how to hang them, so next weekend we will be going back. We also found some foam matts for comfort and our feet in the kitchen or play room that are WAY cheaper than what you find in the states we will see how well they work. Tried some kind of dough on a stick with different flavored sauce that I should have gotten a picture of. The 1st one Brian bought was super spicy, so Bryce and I passed on that one and settled for the chicken broth dipping sauce. Bryce ended up with free candy and a balloon just bc he is American. I didn't see any other American  at emart so we didn't stick out at all. It also didn't help that when we were looking at curtains, Bryce decided to take off  running with the ugly valence roll that you cut to your size. We heard the nice lady saying BOY BOY stop! Good job Bryce.
They aren't kidding when they tell you not to bring your family until the spouse is settled. We are fine but by next weekend I will be more than ready to get out of this tiny place. I have learned how to use a convection oven, that I don't like lights that are on sensors bc all hours of the night they randomly come on or won't turn off, or refrigerators that have a low sensor knob so your toddler can turn the  thing off without us knowing. (lets just say the ice cream was a little soupy last night) I do love that I can do 3 loads of laundry at once, (especially since when we leave hear we will no longer have a dryer bc Koreans don't use them) and that I can walk to everything in a matter of 5 minutes. Plus the little work out gym next door to our room is kind of like a toddlers play ground and nobody is ever in there. Okay that is our end of the week update. If the rain holds off we will get some pictures and post to add to all of this.

Korea here we come!

Well we made the trip and all went rather smooth, even with all of my anxiety about the trip. They could have cared less about my drugs and IV I was taking across the world and Bryce really did well with the LONG trip. He was more excited about wearing his headset and the pillows and blankets they had laid out for us on the plane. I will tell you I was worried bc unless he is tired his TV shows or Movies aren't all that interesting to him for very long let alone for 13 hrs. So I am happy to say that I didn't have to pull out any of the treats that I had bought to entertain him....although they have been used since our arrival and our 3:00 am starts to our days....YUCK. This part has not been fun....it is kicking my ass to be honest. I took a 4 hr nap yesterday since I couldn't sleep on the plane and Bryce maybe the same...we are working at better timing today. That is why I am typing this and not napping :) Luck you all...
Note to myself this is not Japan, this is not Japan...so stop answering in Japanese and freaking learn some Korean. Maybe after I study for my drivers test, with the lack of sleep that may be hard this week. Everyone is friendly and the Koreans love my little blond haired blue eyed boy. He has picked our apartment based on the playgrounds they have available and just ignore the screaming toddler being carried over his Daddy's shoulder while we apartment search and he can't play on said playground. So this morning around 4:00 am he said Mommy we have a car now will you please just drive me to that playground that I couldn't play on yesterday....We think we have picked the apartment complex now we have to decide on which apartment. They are all a couple years old, have a gym on site, and many playgrounds. But they are all a little different inside based on furniture, size, random glassed in porches that don't open to the outside but can be used for storage....I will post pictures of that later..., lack of closets and crazy bathrooms, south facing for AFN or not, and kitchen looking into family room or not. Not all Realtors have access to all apartments so it is a game.
Made it to the BX today but couldn't go in bc I don't have ration card yet....getting this afternoon....but they do have a Starbucks which made me smile even if I can only have decaf right now. Although furniture prices have gone up in the Asian market since we have been in Japan or maybe they were always more in Korea....Bryce did notice hey that looks like some of our furniture....we will see what I can find else where...not that we need anything....but baby boy might :) Out the main gate for you Kadena friends it is a massive shopping of craziness and can you believe that the Commisary is actually closed on Monday and we have to stay under a budget (ration around 600 a month)....we may be close each month...my boys can eat. Better wake up little man after his 3 hr nap and hope for a longer nights sleep. More apartment searching this afternoon will try and actually keep this better updated.