FourKanesKorea

Late Summer Oklahoma-style

2009-10-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

The following are the realtor's pictures of our new home. We have already upgraded somethings, like the fridge and both front and backyard landscaping, just haven't take pictures yet. Included also are some pictures of us enjoying the beautiful late summer here.

JUL - AUG Coming to America!

2009-10-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

Mike and Jeanne's Backyard

Shawano Sunset!

Napping abruptly after visitting the Vernon Hills IL water park with Kelly, Lorene, Marie, Liam and Tara (and Daddy)

Grandma Flo and the Mustang we bought from her for Jim to zip around in while I drive our "smart" Honda Odyssey... no Odyssey pix? Nope.

Mike's house

Visited the pro shop and atrium

Forcing Jim to pose in front of a GINORMOUS Packer helmet.

Joey is an expert with the water hose.

Joey in his team's adirondack chair!

Smiley Joey

Best pic of the summer for Jimmy - at the Kompasses in Hawthorne Woods IL

Aw... Jimmy at Uncle Mike's

Vacation is sooooooooo great it brings out my dimples.

Jimmy being cute again.

Aunt Jeanne with the boys and Jim

These are Hawaii - we stopped there for 3 nights with friends on our way back to the midwest.

June in Seoul

2009-09-19T20:52:00.001-07:00

In June, we did lots of things; we went with lots of people from my Army unit to a Korean baseball game... the LG Twins versus the Doosan Bears. Unfortunately, "my team" lost to the Bears. Our boys are the Twins' mascot after all. Joey got his first foul ball - his daddy nearly had to wrestle it away from a older Korean guy. Joey had run over away from us at Third Base and the foul ball went straight for him ... so Jim ran over to hopefully keep it from clocking Joey on the head and when it landed a foot from Joey some older guy tried to take it away from our little boy. Pretty lame...

Zoo & Field pic

2009-05-29T02:23:00.000-07:00

Random May pix

At the Seoul Zoo

My company in the field

Joey at teh Zoo

Mongolia part one... apologies for the duplicates

2009-05-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

So, we went to Mongolia to trapse along the Ghingis Khan land... no one knows where he is buried so maybe we rode our horses near his burial site?! The people were great, they are still nomadic in the rural areas. We spent three nights in the Gun Galuut area about 200 KM Southeast of Ulan Bator, the ugly capital city. We shot archery, hiked and road horses alot! It was a good time. We visitted some locals and they shared A LOT of goat yoghurt with us, which was slow getting used to, but actually tasted okay. Game me a tummy ache the next day, but oh well! We watched a Mongolian Sumo Wrestler win some title in Japan on a Satellite TV in a Ger ... might be nomads but they know about the satellite dish!

Out trusty steeds whom we named Dick and Bob.

The view from one of the nicest hotels in Ulan Bator ... not a nice city at all... I recommend you visit but NOT the capital... only the countryside!

Kanes meet Khans part two

2009-05-29T02:03:00.000-07:00

Some more pics of Mongolia!!!

Mongolia National University

Showing us to our Ger upon arrival to Gun Galuut (steppes)

TINA AND OUR WRANGLER DUNDUCK

TINA, YAKS, a STREAM

TINA AMONG THE GERS WAITING FOR DUNDUCK THE WRANGLER

YAKS A PLENTY - THEY ARE SO COOL!!!

Kanes meet Khans part three

2009-05-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

Jim and Tina on our trusty steeds on the steppes Ghingis trod.

Dunduck our Mongolian Wrangler on his horse

Kanes meet the Khans

2009-05-27T23:51:00.001-07:00

What the heck? We went to Mongolia and the countryside is beautiful, the locals are incredible neat, resourceful and much like us... the capital city, though should only be a transit point - the city that the USSR forgot.

Tina with the coolest yaks ever!

More cool yaks!

Tina in our Ger Camp.

The camel we corralled.

Jim with his ancient bow.

Jim in Chingis Khan Armor --- I was embarrassed, yes I was.

We named our horses Dick and Bob.

Our neighbor, a Mongolian nomad, Ganduck - he looks 18 years old, but he has a 13 year old son --- the son looked six. His wife made us fresh Goat Yoghurt and it's still rumbling in my belly but actually tasted okay.

Jim and our awesome local wrangler, Dunduck.

Again, UB is ugly!

Ulan Bator is ugly ugly ugly; the countryside is glorious, though!

The saddles are really small; the butts are not THAT large.

Our Wrangler Dunduck in Mongolia, Gun-galuut Steppes to be exact

Day at the Park May 3, 2009

2009-05-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

AFTER THE HIKE - Gelato, then an impromptu Nap!

JOEY

JOEY AND JIMMY

JIMMY

JIMMY

Buddha's Birthday Parade & Tulips

2009-05-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Citizens' Park in Yangjae

2009-04-25T04:23:00.000-07:00

We go to this Citizens Park about every 3 months, it has a lot of acreage and a pretty neat new Playground equipment area. Jimmy's in Blue, Joey's in White.

New Piano Early April

2009-04-25T04:20:00.000-07:00

We got this neat plastic - yet durable - battery-operated piano at Korea's version of WalMart. It was a microphone, imitation drums and cymbals and a lot of beats and it actually not annoying. It was only $60! They boys love it and play together on it sometimes.

Flying a kite ....

2009-04-25T04:18:00.000-07:00

Boys BDay

2009-03-06T20:47:00.001-08:00

A low-key celebration for the boys' third birthday... but for the first time, they EACH had their own very poorly turned-out cake (I blame my oven being very small and only in celsius). Also the process and results of their 5th haircut!

Christmastime

2009-01-18T10:09:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMASTIME...

The lights in Seoul..

Joey playing with a cool wooden and velcro "make a pizza" toy.

Jimmy going after the wrapping of a bowling set.

The lights of Seoul again.

The boys SHARING a toy ... for a minute!

2009-01-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

Early December in Seoul...

We adopted a Maltese mix that we named Gimli. He is 4 years old. He was advertised as being potty-trained. He was not and the boys had a little rash reaction to him, so we took him back to the shelter. It's too bad, thought the kids would dig him but really the house-broken thing was too much ... with twin 3 year olds and a dog peeing all over ... NOT.

Saw the 8th Army band at the Seoul Arts Center in a free Holiday Concert with Korean opera singers .. it was nice.

Pic from one of our terraces (ya... sigh...) after the first snow... kids don't dig snow yet. That MUST change!

First snow again.

Last first snow... LOL>

November Rain, Snow, Dark of Night

2009-01-06T02:11:00.000-08:00

Hello ~

November was significantly colder and more dreary than I remember it being last year in Seoul. Below are assorted pictures from the month. Most are snapshots from our party for a bunch of our friends and my Soldiers over Thanksgiving weekend that we had in our new apartment. It was a nice time and it was great to see so many of my Soldiers "brave" the subway to have a good meal and a beer with the boss.

Our view & Talofofo Falls in Guam

2008-10-24T03:57:00.000-07:00

One view of the pool and bar area.

Obvious self-potrait of us at Talofofo Falls in central Guam.

Right before and just after arriving on Guam

2008-10-24T03:52:00.000-07:00

Back to the future ... some shots of the boys before we left for Guam on the 18 OCT.

Jim Jr out in the Talofofo falls mist.

Joey does not want to go in out direction.........

The pigs of Loveland at Talofofo Falls in Guam ... don't ask me about the label of "loveland" - it's an interesting yet upsetting story.

The boys jumping around on the bed with Grampa.

The boys jumping around on the bed with Grampa.

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Guam guam guam...

2008-10-24T03:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I tried to estimate how many of these pictures I would post and I have messed it up but all that matters at that the next three posts are from Guam. It's a very beautiful place few of us Westerners get to visit and it's part of the USA... such a shame it's not closer!

A view from our room.

Jimmy during his first paddleboat ride in Tumon Bay.

View south of our hotel.

Jim, Jimmy, Joey, Raye, Jim at the pool one afternoon.

The view at dusk.

Pacific Paradise Part 1

2008-10-24T03:28:00.000-07:00

More of gorgeous Guam...

Jimmy and Joey expended some energy at a part next to the Basilica.

The Chamorro Night Market ... best BBQ chicken in the WORLD ... and only a buck per kebab! Really ... incredible BBQ ... for the love of Kingsford Charcoal.

Joey offers to take his turn driving the rental minivan.

Golfing at Andersen Air Force base on Guam - not a bad view, eh?

Golfing at Andersen Air Force base on Guam.

Pacific Paradise Part 2

2008-10-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

Jim and I took the boys and Jim's parents to Guam from Korea for 6 glorious days of 80 degree sunny days in a resort; I can't say enough good about this little island secret; It's part of the USA so you don't have to muddle through a language barrier but the island culture is evident and everyone is both friendly and competent. Very nice place indeed.

Jimmy decided he could save us some money and go as a carry-on...

Some male bonding...

Outside our hotel room to Tumon Bay at dusk...

Jim and his parents before mass at the Agana Basilica in Hagatna, Guam's capital city.

Jimmy and Joey taking a cozy break after a long "swim".

The Helldog Torch is Passed

2008-10-23T05:30:00.001-07:00

Jim has his Battery Change of Command Ceremony - with special guests, his parents, in attendance all the way from Wyoming.

I got all dressed up and got some pretty flowers.

The moment of responsibility changing.

Prior to the ceremony, Jimmy introduced himself to Jim's Soldiers.

Jim giving his speech.

Jim, his former boss and the new commander.

Happy Birthday Mommy

2008-10-03T08:21:00.001-07:00

SEPTEMBER was a pretty beautiful month but both Mommy and Daddy had to go to the field for a little while. Daddy insisted on us getting our third haircuts. We acted better this time than last but it was still pretty hard for the stylist to get it done! We are pretty antsy!

Hot and Muggy August

2008-10-03T08:12:00.001-07:00

I guess we didn't do anything special in August. I had to leave for work for 9 days in the middle of the month. Joey smashed his face on the marble floor, chipped a tooth a little and bent several back, but they are pretty much back to normal. Jim finally got a replacement on the hook for his job which means he is free to move down to Seoul 24/7 in mid-October. Yeeha!

Joey and Jimmy are really enjoying wrestling more lately.

Mommy had to leave early in the morning for nine days, so she took a snapshot to remember us peaceful angels by.

Peaceful angels? This happened a couple days before Mommy left.

Still wrestling.

Jimmy from below.

As American as Baseball and Apple Pie

2008-08-24T02:45:00.000-07:00

Hello ~

I took most of my company (about 80 people that work for me) to a Korean Professional Baseball game on July 3d. We saw the LG Twins beat the SK Wyverns by one run in the 10th inning. It was a lot of fun and first row seats along 1st base line were only 7,000won... like $7. Nice, eh?

Then we went to the best fireworks show I have seen in a while on the Army post in the middle of Seoul. That morning Jimmy and Joey were mildly sedated to get a Audiometric Brain Response test done ... to determine that their hearing is okay ... so they were acting a little drunk (and groggy), it was actually a little funny to watch Jimmy try to chase down the soccer ball when he couldn't really walk straight.

The pictures are intermixed below:

Random May Adventures

2008-07-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Jim and I went alone to Namdaemun market one afternoon ... saw some interesting sites.

Typical alley with food vendors...

The red pepper vendor...

Joey a few weeks ago at the hotel's neat playground...

Jimmy taking it easy with Dad on the couch...

Last but certainly not least --- chicken feet for sale at that same alley; I don't want to know the myriad possibilities for these.

April touring Seoul a little

2008-07-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

In front of the entrance to the National History Museum

Easter Egg hunt on K16

Joey on the slide at our apartment complex playground

Joey loves hats!!!

Jimmy doing his thing

Daddy giving Joey a "how to be a monkey" lesson

Me and some of my peeps all pimped out in Class A's

March just stunk

2008-07-07T03:48:00.000-07:00

BIRTHDAY BABIES MAY

THIS IS WHERE I SPENT TWO WEEKS OF MARCH ... ROCKY AND UGLY

Green Knights of the Fox - Saint Norbert College

2008-04-03T02:50:00.000-07:00

Jim, Joey, Jimmy and I visitted our Alma Mater, Saint Norbert College on a appropriately bitterly cold and snowy day in De Pere, WI.

Isn't just one of the prettiest places in the world ... ? Prettiest place in De Pere for sure!

How far we've come in 7 short years...

Oklahoma, Germany, Macedonia, Alabama, Texas, Iraq, Oklahoma, Korea.

Here while Mommy works on the camera and Daddy attends to Jimmy, Joey tries to sneak off to cruise for college chicks.......

He looks south...

He looks West...

No luck so far.

And he's off and running to the North - he spotted one!

Much to his chagrin, we snatched him up before he could smother some poor unsuspecting 19 year old Sophomore with "JOEY kisses".

The Cowboy State

2008-03-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

We ended our United States vacation in the fantastic and snowy state of Wyoming. We mainly went to visit the boys' Grandparents; the feet and feet of powder at nearby Grand Targhee Ski Resort was a definite bonus!

Here is Jimmy --- his first time on skis and he really dug it; he had a huge smile on his face. The background is Jim's parents' subdivision in Wyoming. Nice eh?

Here are the boys in their "posing with the G'rents" location --- their beautiful stone fireplace in Alta, Wyoming.

Jim's parents got us a guided snowmobile tour in Yellowstone! And, of course, that included their watching the boys for the day! This is us standing in front of Old Faithful geyser while it is erupting.

I think we are standing in front of Gibbon Flats here. It was a neat day. Too bad the machines are governed at 45 MPH.

2008-02-19T03:46:00.000-08:00

So I messed up the next post, but it is:
#1 --- Jimmy & Joey at lunch at Good Company in Appleton
#2 --- Joey trying to blow out (spit on) his candles on the cake from Gramma R
#3 --- Jimmer, Jimmy, Joey & Brooke on Uncle Mike's Four-Wheeler
#4 --- Connie & Jimmy
#5 --- Gramma R, Jimmy, Connie, Joey at Good Company
#6 --- Mike on top, Jimmy, Jeanne, Joey (L to R)
#7 --- Jimmy and me, Gramma, Joey and his Daddy

Phew ... sorry about the terrible mistake!!! :)

Early Second Birthday with Gramma R

2008-02-19T03:33:00.000-08:00

Green Knights of the Fox

2008-02-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

No visit to the Green Bay area is complete without taking a stroll through the beautiful grounds of Saint Norbert College in De Pere. While this afternoon was especially cold and snowy, it only made our memories more fond.

Here are the four of us under the arch that leads to Main Hall.
While Daddy reapplies Jimmy's mittens in the background Joey starts trolling for chicks.

He changes his direction as he catches a scent of perfume...?

Wow, starting to break into a run --- he must have gotten a sighting!

Jimmy was not as pleased with the falling snow and frigid temps.

Visit to Neenah

2008-02-18T23:49:00.001-08:00

We took a trip to Neenah for one overnight, too. My sister Connie lives there with her family and below is the scroll of pictures from hanging out with them, it was a lot of fun.

Jimmy in the middle of a marathon session of "row row row the boat" with Aunt Connie as Joey waits his turn! Connie must be especially adept at "row row row the boat" because Jimmy was all smiles and didn't want her to stop ... EVER!
Joey and Jimmy in the hallway of Appleton East High School. They are inspecting basketballs for the first time in their lives during a break in the action. We were their watching their cousin Jeremy's Neenah JV team play.

After the margaritas and Mexican food, we talked and played in the living room. Here Joey is with Connie's husband, "Uncle Jimmer".

We stole Jeremy's room for the night, so this is an action shot of the boys searching it for contraband... not!

Daddy Jim is there trying to get the boys to stop squirming long enough for a nice posed shot of the two of them ... that's a tall order ... at least we tried!

Connie and Jimmy snuggling.

24 Visit to Palatine

2008-02-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

We arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport 15 before we left Seoul's airport --- if you do the math, the flight takes 15 minutes less than the time zone differences due to the international dateline, so here is a shot of our totally tired time-confused family at Lisa & Jim's house in Palatine!

YEAH! We're back in the U.S.!!!

Here is a picture of Kathy and Joey. Lisa was nice enough to have lots of family and friends over to share some great Chicago pizza and to catch up with us; of course, mostly everyone wanted to see the boys!!!
Here are Joey and Uncle Denny; Jim & Jimmy

It was much too short a visit to Palatine, but we have such large families on both sides, we can never get enough time with anyone!

Tokyo for New Year's Eve

2008-02-14T04:58:00.000-08:00

We took the kiddos to their third Asian country for New Year's and we all fell in love with Japan ... loved everything except the cost of living! Clean air, good food, friendly people ... that's not saying the opposite of our current locale, but........

The fam at the East Gate of the Japanese Imperial Palace in Tokyo on a beautiful December 31, 2007!!!

Me in front of the Meiji Temple in Tokyo... we have a really good bus tour which is in itself something that we possibly have NEVER done before, we tend to hire a private guide or go on our own, but this worked out quite well.

Jim and Joey in the Shibuya Intersection in Tokyo

This picture is of Jimmy and me in Shibuya intersection ... Tokyo's Times Square. "They say" that if you laid a $100,000 bill (ya, if there was one ... stay with me...) down on the street there you could not buy that real estate with the bill ... shoosh. Neat thing is there is a two-story STARBUCKS over my left shoulder! Ah... America wields its influence so subtlely sometimes.

Props to the little Wild Hogs

2007-11-25T04:34:00.000-08:00

Tough guys sporting their colors!

Here is Jimmy in his Harley shirt from his Aunt Teri!

This is Joey doing his best model pose in his HD shirt from Teri!
These are my men after lunch celebrating Jim's induction into the Knights of Columbus; they are walking out of the Navy Club in Yongsan, Korea.
Here are the close-up props to Doc's Harley Davidson store in Shawano County, WI!

Dragons are SCARY!!!

2007-11-25T04:23:00.000-08:00

Jimmy and Joey were not the scary sort of Dragons, instead they were the very cutest kind of Dragons you could ever imagine!!! Here they are are some friends' house borrowing some of Theo's toys!

Here Jimmy is on the right investigating the playground ship while Joey thinks about popping out the port hole ... but it's on the starboard side so maybe it's not the port hole? Hmm...

Here the boys are getting ready to go out Trick-or-treating with Mom and Dad!

Oh, the places you'll go...

2007-11-15T04:08:00.000-08:00

JOIN THE ARMY - SEE THE WORLD!!!

Not just a cliche anymore! I went to Wisconsin, Washington DC and China ... all from my home of South Korea and all in October! Kinda cool.

This is not the best I could have gotten, but it was an afterthought pic as I whizzed southeast into Green Bay on Hwy 29 from Shawano ... the leaves were so much prettier than this, hopefully you've lived in a place that has beautiful autumns like WI does...
My friend Catrina and I getting ready to leave the hotel in Beijing .. my second trip to China this year. I like Beijing a lot ... more than Seoul.
Above is a pretty countryside pic of central South Korea.
Finally a shot of "light" traffic on the Beltway (495) coming south from Silver Spring MD to McLean VA. I've you've been there, you know what I mean by this being light traffic!

My blessings

2007-10-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody!

We are settling into Fall in Seoul now; it's getting cooler at night and gets dark really early, it's nearly dark around 6 pm now. I like to walk with the boys after work at least twice a week and I had to break out of flashing red light for the stroller last week!

It's nice, though, and hopefully the raininess of the last 3 months (REALLY!) will finally let up and give us beautiful, cool and clear fall days. Yes, fall is my favorite season!

Above is an awesome shot of Jim giving Jimmy a smooch on our neighborhood playground. This particular weekend we met a family who had just moved to Seoul from Appleton, Wisconsin. The dad works for Kimberley-Clark!
Finally, some pix of Mommy and her boys! This is Jimmy looking especially innocent... looks can certainly be deceiving, but isn't he just one of the two cutest boys EVER!?!?

Here is Joey reluctantly being held like a teeny-tiny baby. They just don't put up with the snuggling like they used to!
We pushed them up to the playground on their tricycles - they still have to learn how to steer and pedal for themselves - and as soon as we stopped, they were off and running!
Joey taking a moment to "adjust" his daddy's hat ... more like steal it, of course!

FIRST HAIRCUTS!!!

2007-09-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Here Jimmy is getting his first haircut! The lady did a very good job - taking advantage of precious seconds that were available when he decided to sit still. Jim held each of them throughout the process as I tried to hold the other one and take a picture. We will definitely remember MooShi's name when we go back for another trim!

Don't let this pcutre deceive you - Joey was not well-behaved at all during his haircut, but I have to admit that they do look a lot less scraggy than they did before with Jimmy nearly having a full-blown mullett!

This is one of our regular stops every weekend - the Starbuck on post. We had just gotten the boys these tricycles, so we drove them onto post and pushed them around on them for a bit and stopped for Frappucino's in the middle - they look like little cruisers in the picture. They are slowly getting used to using the tricycles now but still aren't able to understand the pedalling part of it, so we push and steer with the high handle in the back of each which is easily removable.

On Labor Day, we went with the baby backpacks out to the Gwanghamun neighborhood of Seoul and we found a Tony Roma's, where Jimmy skipped lunch in lieu of a nap!

Here is a post-haircut shot of Jimmy's big smile. This was taken in the back of the nice hotel on the Army Post. He flashes this smile a lot and it is starting to really fill in since they are finally getting canine teeth and molars.

16 Days Away ...

2007-09-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I have a good reason. I had to go away for work for the last 16 days of August, so I crammed in all the Mommy and her Boys time before leaving and therefore didn't have time to update this. Also, over this past 4-Day weekend, it was the same story, making up for the time lost.

They boys are getting so big and starting to make decisions. They say about 8 words that we can understand... Car, ball, cheese, teeth, backpack, dadda, bye-bye, and "NO". It's so neat when we can actually understand something they say!!!

So, that pic above was Joey and this one is Jimmy. My sister had gotten this pic emailed to her and she said it looks like Jimmy is flipping the camera off, but I didn't notice that, I just thought he looked so innocent and now it looks a little devilish. They had a good time at the playground on one rare sunny summer day in Seoul.

This is from early August. The four of us went "Playground-hunting" in TongDucheon, Korea --- up near whtere Jimmy and Joey's daddy works Monday - Friday. We found a new thing for the kiddos to try, a merry-go-round. They liked it a lot and were all decked out in their throw-back muscle shirts playing on the throw-back equipment. The high-rises in the background are typical of the cities in this part of Korea. Pretty neat, but look scummy awful fast --- these are rather new.

After dropping Dad off at the bus station to head up back north on a Sunday afternoon, the kids crashed and I snuck them up to bed a bit early, but they did sleep through the night regardless. Aren't they darling?

Normal Seoul Weekend

2007-07-31T05:48:00.000-07:00

TUESDAY NIGHT IN HANNAM-DONG...

I feel inspired to update the blog today - earlier than I normally get around to it. Why? Because the boys and I went for our walk tonight and it was the first time that I recall going for a walk in Seoul and not being basically forced to stop at some point for the adoring locals to touch and play with the boys. Although I do cherish the fact that the kids are darn adorable, it makes me a little uncomfortable and does border on annoying.

We are normally serenaded by choruses of "ipo da" (cute) and "sangdoomni" (twins!) as we walk along just trying to fit into a rather homogenous society. Thankfully we live in an a neighborhood called "UN Village" with about 20 Embassies within a 1/2 mile radius, so we aren't the only non-Koreans around. Today I realized that I walk past 8 Embassies on our normal walk, hadn't noticed the Bulgarian one until tonight, there was a new sign put up for it.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of us a few weeks ago on the playground on the Army base in Seoul.

Jimmy - the kid from Easter Island? Ha ha. Yes, Aunt Jeanne, those are your outfits! Thanks!
Joey in a rare moment of apprehension or cautious consideration? Nah, the camera lies - he never hesitates to get himself into situations that make me gasp and run toward him!
Daddy showing off his aspiring professional photography skills... This is just the coolest pic!
The Kane Family in their Harley Davidson outfits from my sister Teri --- pretty cool. We were definitely stamped as Americans in these outfits! Thanks, Teri!!!
Moments like this are those that might be somewhat unique to mothers of multiples ... if they both fall at the same time, who do I grab? Is it a subconscious reaction? Am I better off to let them both fall and just give hugs later instead of dealing with my own psychological misgivings about choosing one over the other instinctually? Wow, I need to go to sleep... Cheers, y'all.

Jim's Change of Command

2007-07-24T04:24:00.003-07:00

Jim took command of HHB, 1-15 Field Artillery in Camp Hovey, Korea on July 9th. It was a nice little HOT ceremony. Here are the pictures:

This picture of (L to R) the outgoing commander, battalion commander and Jim.
Here I am, the "First Lady of the Battery" getting flowers during the ceremony while entertaining Joey. Jimmy is being entertained just behind us by the Battalion S1.
Jim gets big points for making no speech, just saying things "remain in effect". The NCOs sitting behind us cheering and clapped for his no-nonsense approach, not wanting to keep the soldiers out in the searing heat for any extra time.
Here is the new commander and his men!
Jimmy in front of Joey on their way to the "Iron Triangle" restaurant for a post-command reception.

Jim's little boys and his wife are very proud of everything he has done to get to this point, so have earned so much trust in his chain of command to be entrusted with the lives of these soldiers, way to go Jim!

Trip to Pusan

2007-07-15T02:51:00.001-07:00

Pusan

The second largest city in Korea (5 million peeps). Located in the SouthEastern corner. 3d largest container port in the world. It also has a nice beach... well, I've been to Hawaii, Southern California, Florida and Thailand PLUS to some extent in my "mountain loving" mind, a beach is a beach... but too much mumbo jumbo, I'll just let you see some pics. This first one is a self-portrait (duh) that was aweful, but the only one that proved we were on a beach, so....

Yes, we took the early fast train on a Friday to Pusan (without the kids!) and stayed one night, returning to Seoul the next night late. The train went as fast as 160MPH, not quite a bullet-train, but it was pretty darn zippy. Not bad for a society that was pummelled to almost nothing 53 years ago! Anyway, we got to stay out past 0100 and sleep in until after 0900, so it was just the break we needed. We could have missed out of the first opportunity in over a year to gamble... roulette will take your money on every continent, I imagine. We tried to local Kalbi (spicey BBQ pork ... YES, pork!!!) and I cried a little, so that means it was sufficiently hot, I guess.
This is a shot of the Chunnyeolsa Shrine which is from the 1500's I think. I forget which Dynasty and if it was the Chinese or Japanese who smacked the Koreans around on this occasion, but either way, it was very pretty and it was the first time I had experienced little Korean kids pointing at me and yelling "Mi Guk! Mi Guk!" at the very top of their little lungs. Anyhow, we stayed at a pretty decent 3-star hotel - Riviera Haeundaue - and were like 200 meters from the beach with also had a TGI Fridays, Bennigans, Starbucks and a pretty yummy Indian restaurant which again was good, but only made me perspire, not cry, so not as hot as Pusan Kalbi was!
These are some neat shots of the Pusan Harbor from the Pusan Tower... like the Seattle Space Needle, only not nearly as nice looking. Weather was not the best, so the view is limited, the pic does not do it justice, a very busy port!
UN Cemetery up there in the foothills north of the city.
Another port shot, with the bridge that connects the High Dollar Real Estate part of Pusan. It was nice to get a break from working and being overwhelmed Mom&Dad. That probably won't happen for an overnight again until we come back to the states this winter, so we appreciated it.

Baby Backpack Season

2007-07-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

We had a pretty boring 4th of July, since it was on a Wednesday, Jim had to stay up north at his "workweek" home, so the boys and I were home alone. The highpoint of our day was a short jog down to the American housing area to play on their awesome playground and swings. The boys are already naturally going in opposite directions when at all possible in public, so it's fun to gauge the level of risk when choosing who to be closer to! The climber seems to get most of my attention. They will climb onto anything lately - so far (knock on cheap Korean pressboard) no big falls!

This is the look on Joey's face after being told that he will live in this box forever if he doesn't go to college!

We got some stuff in the mail the other day and the nanny immediately did what the boys normally argue must be done --- make us a cardboard car! It's the least expensive toy out there and sometimes they even take turns pushing each other around in them!

Now that it is warmer out, we've broken out the baby backpacks again and each Saturday that Jim is down in Seoul, we climb up to the neighborhood Pagoda that overlooks a neat couple of bridges on the Han River --- unfortunately the summers aren't especially sunny here, so the view is not very clear.

Jimmy's on the left, Joey on the right ... they like running around on the Pagoda after riding their Mommy and Daddy pack-mules up to the top every Saturday!

G' Rents in Seoul

2007-06-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

My husband's parents came to visit us and our boys in May. It was a nice visit - we took them to a few places in Seoul, but mostly just hung out, actually, at home. We can't wait to see them again this winter in Wyoming.

Jim, Jimmy & Raye in front of Seoul's tallest building, the Daelim Life Insurance building on Yeouido island, which was reclaimed from the Han River. It was a sand bar that the Koreans tried to turn into Korea's Manhattan. It does have their "Wall Street" but is not really comparable, but I guess someday it might.

Grampa Kane and Joey at the park on Yoeuido Island in Seoul

Joey - Daddy - Jimmy

Yoeuido Island, Seoul

Tina - Joey - Raye - Jim - Jimmy

Seoul Grand Park Zoo in Gwacheon

The most hilarious picture I have seen in a long time - Grampa Kane giving the boys his silliest smile from the balcony through the glass in the living room.

Peking Duck

2007-05-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

Meeting a Chinese boy at Tianenmen Square.

That is the understatement of the vacation! Chinese can only have one child, so for them our TWO white boys were like rock stars. It just can't be explained as well as it can be witnessed. They get a lot of attention in Korea, but there are a couple Westerners running around Seoul --- in China there are fewer Westerners, so the attention was exacerbated. At one point, the crowd had to be shoo'd away from a security guy. What a crazy (and actually annoying at a certain point) situation!

This time we replaced the Chinese lady and her son with Jim's parents. Phew, better!
And, there you go - the quintessential pic of Mao that you've seen a million times on TV.
Here we are in Temple of Heaven, akin to Central Park in Manhattan, except it used to be closed to the public and was simply the residense of royalty. It was a cool place because we went early in the morning and watched thousands of Chinese doing Tai Chi, which is anything from what we think it is in the states to the jitterbug to country line-dancing. Honestly! It's just dancing to whatever music you want, or no music at all, or spontaneous yoga - it is hard to describe, but very cool that folks of almost all ages go to the parks and dance/exercise together in the mornings.
Ah, there it is --- "When in Rome..." Raye takes her shot at some Tai Chi meets line-dancing with some Chinese ladies; she did it for quite some time and was assisted in a very friendly manner by the ladies closest to her there. She caught on like a local!
More to come.........

They know about the fork

2007-05-22T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hey! He just got back from China. Never thought I'd say that! I am reminded of a Seinfeld bit where he is talking about chopsticks. He says "They know about the fork ... the Chinese farmer in the field, he's not standing there working the soil with a poker, but with a pitch fork... like a dining fork ... they KNOW about the fork." It loses something when it's written in a lame blog. Ho hum, it's funny, really!

We went to Beijing and the nearby portion of the Great Wall from 3-8 May with our 15 month old twins and their paternal grandparents. Here are some pix, the weather could not have been better - it was, however, China's "Labor Week" - like we have Labor Day, they get a week off - which means EVERYONE was out seeing the tourist sites with us. 1.5 billion Chinese competing with us at The Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven - not to mention the many shops of knock off Polo, Coach, Kate Spade, Gap, Abercrombie, Spyder, North Face, Nike ... I could go on forever.

Finally, here is that accurately named "Great Wall" --- we walked up it for almost an hour and a half, which I think covered 3.5 miles uphill, on stairs, with our 25 pound precious bundles on our backs, so they did it, too, and so did Grandma and Grandpa!!!

In the following pic, you can see Jim and Jimmy in the center if you look intently - they headed down in a hurry when Jimmy started to fall asleep on Jim's back. The backpacks are great, but not the best way to catch a nap!
When we got back into our guide's van, it didn't take very long for both the boys to zonk out. Grandma bought them the smallest "I Climbed the Great Wall" tee shirts the venders had, so we draped them in them for the photo op, but didn't get the words "I climbed the Great Wall" in the pic due to limited space in the van... still awesome pic, they were so tuckered out! Needless to say, the adults were rather smoked also!
I will post more of China and the rest of the Grandparents' trip to Korea soon!

The Scary Korean Easter Bunny

2007-04-09T02:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

Spring has finally arrived here in Korea. The cherry trees are almost finished blossoming. I pretty much missed a chance at getting a picture of those at their prime. It came earlier than I remember it coming from the last time I lived here. Unfortunately, with the beautiful cherry blossoms, comes the Hwang-Sa, or Yellow Dust/Sand. This stuff gets blown over the East China Sea from the Gobi Desert to the Korean peninula. It carries pollutants and if it's over 300 parts per million or whatever, all young children and elderly should stay indoors and drink lots of water. Well, last Sunday it was at 1300!!! The city is so polluted anyhow, this exacerbated it and made my throat some discomfort. Nasty. Anyhow, now it's a crew drill for us to check the levels every morning to know whether or not the boys can go to the park that day.

Here is a pic of the boys (Jimmy left/Joey right) and I on Palm Sunday after mass. All dressed up and not much of a selection of places to go on such a high Yellow Dust day!

Here we are that same night sporting some new summer PJs. These guys are just so darn happy - wish we had more relatives to share them with! With every stage I think that I will miss something from the previous one, that this can't get better,. but they are learning so much now (like how to undo child-proof drawer latches...JOEY!) that it is amazing.

As promised, the scariest, most ghetto Easter Bunny you have ever seen! Oh well... I was shocked that they weren't afraid of him/it. The boy before us just screamed - I saw no reason to blame the child. This was the only Bunny in town!
Jimmy, who is apparently more urban than we'd prefer, keeping his hands as far from that prickly spring grass as possible --- ewwwwwwww! We will have to start exposing these boys to the grass more so as to not get them used to only asphalt, marble and hardwood surfaces. When we rotate back to the states, they will have to learn what wall-to-wall carpeting is, too.
Joey going from beginner toddler to intermediate toddler. This was his first exposure to uneven terrain. He also prefers to walk without shoes, so he's working on getting over these challenges!

We are looking forward to Jim's parents coming to visit the first two weeks of May. It will be awesome to share the boys with them, and it's great that they are willing to come half-way across the world to visit all of us over here. All six of us will go to China to see the Forbidden City (Beijing), the Great Wall, to buy a set of Callaway clubs for $100 and see what their Peking Duck is all about ... not in order of priority!!!

Some thoughts about my gifts...

2007-03-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

Joey has more ups and downs
His smile makes my day.
Jimmy uses his brain first
His mind is so darn sharp
Joey is firey, he punches and kisses
His attitude is unmatched
Jimmy sits and looks at upside down books
His acceptance is enviable
Joey has no fear whatsoever
He acts with his heart
Jimmy raises an eyebrow, takes a seat
He watches Joey fall down
Joey prefers vegetables to crackers
He even eats beets & broccoli
Jimmy goes for the chicken & hamburger
He is a true carnivore
Joey is an accomplished flirt
Not a lady goes by without a smile
Jimmy knows his head, his belly, his ears, his nose
He learned them each after little reminding

They are both the world’s best huggers
The world’s sloppiest kissers
They eat so well
They poop so much
They love everyone they meet
And of course, everyone they meet loves them.

If only we could bottle up their goodness to share…

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

2007-03-08T02:10:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! Welcome to March. This month we celebrate the day that so many of the Kane ancestors are so proud of, Saint Patrick's Day. I'm not sure how that will manifest itself for us living in Korea, but we will at least drink a Guinness in honor of those crazy Irishmen who went before us.

The picture below is one of my husband and our boys in our living room with our Million Dollar view of Seoul's Hannam Bridge and the Han River behind them. The view gets much better at night when all the headlights and tailights appear, plus the Hannam Bridge has lights on it that constantly change through all the colors of the rainbow. It's very soothing and an awesome perspective. We like in a nice neighborhood; one of our relatives is a Korea Soap Opera star and he has a chauffeur. Crazy!

Here is Joey in one of his typical facial expressions. He has a lot more ups and downs than Jimmy, but his ups are really awesome, and he's up a lot more than he's down. We are on a neighborhood playground in this picture.
This is Jimmy in an expression befitting of the words on his shirt, "Don't Bug Me". Too funny! Jimmy's the more even-keel and serious "thinker" of the pair. He's also got a bit more fear in him and therefore a bit more "sense" about crawling off the sofa or banging his head on our marble floors for fun, for instance --- Joey is very passionate, though. Their personalities are really starting to come through already at 13 months of age!
These are all my boys on some Kimchi pots. If you don't know what Kimchi is, you gotta try it sometime. It's a Korean vegetable dish. In winter, it's cabbage with a whole heck of a lot of red pepper and garlic. It ferments in pots such as the ones below to give it an extra kick. In summer it's got more variety, like radish and cucumber, and is not just a hot wicked veggie, but has normal flavor.

The picture below is of my hubby and I after his unit's Spring Formal. It was a lot of fun to get all dressed up and be entertained by the awesome soldiers in his unit. I have blue accents on my jacket because I am Aviation and he has red because he is Field Artillery.

See you all back on the blog in a couple weeks! Have a fantastic Saint Patrick's Day.

Happy Birthday to us!!!

2007-02-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

February 3d was the boys' first Birthday!

We didn't celebrate on that date, though, because they were both in the midst of an awful stomach flu/virus that left them spewing from both ends. It was so hard to deal with, they were so sick, but were incredibly well-mannered despite it.

We had to take Jimmy to the ER first. A friend of ours, JennyJo, met me there to watch Joey. She didn't know that Joey couldn't walk, but she just set him down and let him go and guess what? 5 steps... The next day 7 ... This past weekend 9. He consistently takes 5 or 6 and he's got standing completely figured out! So, he certainly did walk before his 1st Birthday ... 3 days before. Jimmy's watching and learning, I'm sure he won't be far behind. Jimmy rolled over and broke a tooth first, so it's fair.

Joey's on the left there, looking like he's ready to dive into the cake. Jimmy looks like he's just checking out the flame on the candle. He was indeed a lot more timid when we put big slices of cake in front of them. Here is the aftermath!
Jimmy very methodically ate the cake handful by handful, with only slightly less messy results than his crazy brother, Joey....
This is Joey after about 20 seconds of eating! He was eating like there was no tomorrow, maybe thinking we'd change our minds and take the cake away!
Here the boys are after their post-Cake baths, finding the one kitchen cabinet that isn't toddler-proofed, full of safe Rubbermaid containers for them to play with on nearly a nightly basis. Riiiiiiiiight, those aren't quite clean anymore, but then it's pretty much just me who eats out of them, so I'm not worried and it keeps them happy!
Keeps them happy MOST OF THE TIME! Wow, these guys are biters now that they each have 7 teeth, and in this terrible (yet classic) instance, Joey bit into Jimmy's cheek when I turned around to clean up the stove top. It wasn't as bad as it looks, but it is rare that they wail like this and Jimmy was back to normal very quickly. Don't judge the photographer, she's also the hugger that consoled him.

SEE YOU IN A COUPLE WEEKS!

Slow as Molasses in January

2007-01-21T03:58:00.000-08:00

January has certainly been slow!

Jim's been in the field a lot, so the boys and I have gone up to Dongducheon a couple times because he's not allowed to travel to Seoul on those weekends.

This picture is from Jan 2d, I think, when we had a four-day weekend and left the boys at home with the nanny in order to go skiing. Well, it barely met the definition of skiing, but nonetheless we skiied. Later, our Korean friend Lucy told us there are much better places to go than the one we chose. That figures. Anyhow, here I am in the new ski jacket Jim bought me for our 5th Anniversary --- Dec 29th.

It has been pretty darn chilly here in Seoul this January. We haven't gotten much snow at all, but it's been cold (rarely getting above 30F) and windy. So, here are our little bundles all bundled in snowsuits given to them by Aunt Nancy who lives near Chicago. They are toasty warm and the boys are in good spirits, although they don't look very happy!

Here is a shot of Jimmy III sleeping under the super-warm Grand Targhee blanket that his Gramma and Grampa Kane bought him for Christmas. Sweet Dreams, darlin'.

Here is Joey, crashing just as comfortably, under his gift blanket. Joey often sleeps like he's just been shot. He's run himself tired throughout the day doing his best to tackle his brother as often as possible!

One of the few recreational activities we can enjoy with the boys in Korea during the winter, we've become rather regular bowlers! Jimmy and Joey like it because it's a pretty loud activity, so they never get "shooshed". This is Joey rooting for Mommy to get a strike!

See you all in February, hope your January went quicker than ours did, especially if you are a northern member of the family!!!

Christmas in Seoul

2007-01-09T05:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it through our babies' first Christmas and unfortunately it was very far away from almost everybody we love. We shared awesome toys with the boys, went to a very delicious Christmas Day brunch and even had some good ol' (not so old...) American Starbucks.

Christmas brunch at Hartell House on Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, South Korea
Jimmy & Joey with their pile of gifts on Christmas morning
Daddy Jim building block towers with the aid of Starbucks. The boys took their turn knocking the towers down, first cautiously but soon after with much gusto! The rocket-car in the background has been fun, but also has handed out some little bruises.
That there is a good rule, keep the car on the rug, but unfortunately these guys zoom around on it too fast for us to keep those limits. In the background is Joey with Gramma and Grampa Kane's push wagon that has bead wires and bins for blocks. It pushed well and doesn't tip over.
This is just an early December morning in Seoul off our balcony.

More Korean Excitement!

2006-12-14T00:25:00.000-08:00

This week has been CRAZY!!!!!!!!!

Jim couldn't come down to Seoul this past weekend, so me and the boys drove north to stay the weekend up there very close to the DMZ. Jim lives in a 15'x15' room that has a kitchenette, dinette set, bed, desk, dressers, and a small nasty bathroom. It's only one small step up from our 9'x9' trailers in Iraq! Anyhow, we visitted and went bowling and out to eat at the Golf Course. Searching for entertainment for the boys - there is only so much you can drag with you in a Toyota Tercel for the weekend - we found that they fit rather well into Jim's laundry basket, so here's Joey. Unfortunately a little later, Jimmy was in it and leaned himself forward and bonked his forehead. Seems like Jimmy always has a bruise on his poor forehead. You just can't always be in between him and everything harder than a sofa.

These are my men. Aren't they handsome? This is actually from a couple of weeks ago, but my pictures are pretty sadly organized and I just "found" it and wanted to share...... ;)
Here is Jimmy getting into mild trouble, working on chewing on his daddy's shower shoe. It's nearly as big as he is!
And, look what I found on sale at OLD NAVY.COM!!!
And, Santa stopped through Seoul the other day, so we went and hit him up for some teeth and noisy toys and better balance........!
Happy Holidays if I don't get back on here before then!!!

A Long December

2006-12-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody! It's December... yuck.

There, that's the extent of my creativity - hope you aren't colorblind. So, who can name the boy below this text? You can't see his left ear, which is one of the give-aways, but you can see his fourhead and, yes, there is no cowlick, so this is Jimmy! Did you guess right? He's sitting in one of our Sherpani Kid Backpacks and trying to eat a little Chuck Taylor key chain while we eat very good Greek Food in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea. The restaurant is called Santorini and if you're in the neighborhood, getcha some yummy lamb dinner... Germany is still the "mecca" of Greek food for me (not having been to actual Greece), but this place was a very pleasant surprise. None too cheap since good quality meat is expensive here, but worth a splurge now and then. Greek is probably my favorite food. Anyhow... the cutie...

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And the cutie's cute brother, Joey, also in the restaurant sitting in a Sherpani Backpack. In keeping with our habit of having two of just about everything, he even has his own Chuck Taylor shoe keychain. We had those given to us by some friendly store clerks at the Chuck store in Myongdong, Seoul, South Korea a couple months back. Koreans seem to really love our boys since twins are generally pretty rare in Asian societies and certainly ones that look like ours are! Can't wait to take them to the Great Wall with their Gramma and Grampa this spring!

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Here is a shot of our balcony. It's really pretty large for such a sprawling metropolis as Seoul. It was a nice day, so Jim is feeding them lunch out on the balcony. The kitchen chair is absolutely not my style, either, it's Army-issue furniture. Ours is in storage in Oklahoma.

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When Jim is down to visit, we bathe them at the same time, in the big bathtub. They like the bubbles and duckies and boats. Mostly, though, they like trying to tackle the wet slippery baby that is in the tub with them! (Joey left, Jimmy right)

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This shot is GREEEEEAT! Joey, totally spontaneously, grabbed hold of the handhold while riding the subway a couple weeks ago! He's on my (Tina's) back in the backpack. I didn't know he was even doing it until I went to move and thought I was caught on something. He looks like such a little urban commuter! Help! We need to get these boys our in the woods with some rifles and wild animals! Well, I guess we can wait a couple of years for that... :)
MORE LATER... Take care.

October in Seoul

2006-11-27T01:32:00.000-08:00

WE SURVIVED OUR FIRST ENTIRE MONTH IN KOREA (SEPTEMBER) ...

HERE'S A GLIMPSE INTO OUR OCTOBER 2007!

This beautiful family is mine! Jim was fortunately down in Seoul for an exercise (as you can see by his uniform), so he got to take the boys Trick-or-Treating with me! We went to a high-rise American apartment building, full of Majors and Lieutenant Colonels. We figured they out-rank us so maybe they will have more/better candy....? I'll leave to to wonder whether or not that was true. Joey is the Lion and Jimmy is the Frog.
Here's an awesome very candid shot of the boys starting another wrestling match over who would get to investigate Mom's lunchbox! Check out those teeth!
Yes, it is getting chilly, so on go the gloves, hats, shoes and jackets. It takes like 20 minutes to get them dressed for a walk, so walks are now longer just to make it worth the effort. Surprisingly they are pretty good about wearing the stuff. I can't believe the gloves stay on --- better than the shoes. Joey left, Jimmy right.

Had to include the cutest shot of some Korean Kindergartners outside the largest KyongBeukGong Palace in NW Seoul. They are so darn adorable in their matching school uniforms. Everyone wears uniforms, private or public schools, through high school.

Another stroll on a warmer day. Jimmy's chewing on a toy telephone while Joey gets a better view.

Take care everyone, hope your Thanksgivings are great!!!

7 Month Old Cuties!

2006-11-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

JUST SOME RUN-OF-THE-MILL EVERY-DAY PICTURES OF OUR HANDSOME LITTLE MEN!

SEPTEMBER 2007

I think Joey is trying to eat his SeaHorse puppet --- named "Sanjay", he is an Indian SeaHorse and has a similar accent to Hapu on the Simpsons, when Jim and I do puppet shows for the boys!
Our just barely firstborn... napping. How precious!

Joey regularly sleeps like he's just been shot!
Joey (left) and Jimmy (right) blurry with excitement! Evidence that supports the "Joey does not like his socks" conclusion. He always takes them off, prefers them as toys in lieu of clothing, I guess.
I had NOTHING to do with this, Nanny Corrie put the Favre hat on Jimmy, honest!

Jimmy either tired or mad or sad, don't know which because I don't remember what sound he made after I snapped the pic!
Joey on the left, Jimmy on the right. Jimmy normally looks like he has a plan, an agenda. This picture would support that claim, wouldn't you say? As a disclaimer, I have to add that the area rug is indeed ugly... apartments in Korea rarely have ANY carpetting, so we had to take what we could get to get these guys some comfy floor covering to crawl and fall on!

Anyunghaseo - in Korea!

2006-11-19T03:47:00.000-08:00

We are now living in Korea!

We got to Korea on August 25th. The flight over went very well actually because the Army paid for four whole seats and Korean Airlines gave us the bulkhead row with two of what they call "bassinet seats". They are little baskets that attach to the bulkhead. The boys slept most of the way and that left Jim and I with 2 seats each, which was a blessing. We couldn't have asked for a better flight.

We went straight to a nice on-post hotel, www.dragonhilllodge.com, which was a good way to be received. We had to inprocess the next few days and after 8 days we moved into our house on-post. It's a pretty nice place and definitely large by Seoul standards. Jim lives up north in Tongducheon Monday - Friday, getting to come down to Seoul on most weekends. He is a Fire Support Officer for 1-72 Combined Arms Battalion and I am working in the 8th United States Army G5 (Future Plans) shop. 8th Army (www.usfk.mil) is commanded by LTG Valcourt and the United States Forces Korea is commanded by GEN Bell. They both work in buildings right next door to me, which is awful when you are a lowly Captain. Don't worry, though, I make a mean cup of coffee!!!

I will continue with some of our latest pictures of the boys and stuff we've been doing around Seoul!

This is a shot of Jimmy and Joey sporting their "Mommy support", donning the helicopter outfits! Starting to get a bit chilly, so they are wearing light jackets that they got from their California cousins Tara and Liam.
We went to the little Oktoberfest on post in late September. Petra, a very good friend of mine form Lawton, OK, lent us these cute baby Lederhosen outfits to wear! Petra is a German-American and also has twins, but they are already teenagers. It was really nice of her to share such special outfits with us. The Oktoberfest was a little disappointing since we've both been to the real deal in Munchen, but at least I won the arm-wrestling contest and Jim got 2d in the man's division. He probably won't like that I published that. Anyhow, our prizes got us a really nice free dinner but we both had little scabs on our elbows. Too funny!
My big boy Jimmy trying to eat a Breze (pretzel) at the Oktoberfest! So much for that low-carb diet, I had to have a couple liters of Bier, a Breze and a Jagerschnitzel.
Ah, finally, proof that we do explore the city and not just hang out on post! Jimmy is practicing his diplomacy in preparation for his run for the "world presidency" in 2048. We were on our way in the subway to MyongDong, a shopping district, when these ladies were insisting on communicating about the boys despite our lack of Korean knowledge and theirs of English. We decided we needed to commit "namja" to memory, it means "boy". This is important because she just got up and grabbed Jimmy's crotch in an attempt to determine his gender!
Lastly, here are the boys on their 8 month birthday sporting their cousins' colors, the Dodgers and Lakers. Just in case you are wondering, no, Jimmy did not pull Joey down backward right after I shot this picture, but they do that often enough! It's like Ultimate Fighting Championship on a daily basis. Such cuties, eh?

Yellowstone National Park

2006-11-18T19:06:00.000-08:00

While in Wyoming at Jim and Raye's, we took a day trip to Yellowstone National Park, which as every American should eventually know, is an amazing place. You can't see everything in one day, so we limited ourselves to Mammoth Hot Springs and Old Faithful.

Below are Joey and me, Jimmy and Jim in front of Mammoth Hot Springs, getting more use out of our Sherpani Kiddo Backpacks. They are pretty convenient once you get used to slinging the kid onto your back while they're inside them! Joey didn't seem to mind wearing his "Cool Dude" sunglasses, but Jimmy didn't wear them for long. I'm not sure if that was because HE didn't like them or his Daddy didn't like them on HIM....?

Well, this next picture is NOT Yellowstone, but my favorite lake, Jenny Lake. Jim's parents took the kids for us for 3 days and 2 nights and we stayed in Jackson. One day, we rented Kayaks and got out onto Jenny Lake. I was pretty frantic the whole time. With the Tetons behind you, it's pretty intimidating and the water was cold since it is NW Wyoming, although August. It was the first time Jim and I had sea-kayaked and we would both like to do it again, especially in this breath-taking setting. We just love this part of the country.

Back to Yellowstone. We waited quite a while for Old Faithful to keep her word, but she finally did spew and we realized -- too late -- that we were downwind! So, we got sprayed by sulfur-smelling geyser spit. Say that ten times real fast! Thankfully, Grandpa was there (below) to protect Jimmy while Grandma (nearby) protected Joey from the icky smelling mist. It was funny, though, looking back on it.
Ok, as advertised, Gramma protecting Joey as the mist builds behind her --- most of the benches cleared out as people saw it coming, but with two babies and a Lab in tow, we sort of had to stick it out, quite a logisitics tail.
And, lastly, there's my Jim with our Lab Bonnie, who will be staying in Wyoming with Gramma and Grampa while we go to Korea for 2 years. We will miss her. She's a bundle of energy and incredibly loving.

August in Wyoming

2006-11-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

The boys flew for the 3rd time (at the ripe old age of almost 6 months) from Central Wisconsin Airport to Wyoming to visit their other Grandparents. They did well considering it was actually three small flights with all the connections, but it was a pain in the butt with each of us carrying a diaper bag, stroller, our own carry-on, and a boy! We are not looking forward to doing this all the way over the Pacific in two weeks!

Below is an awesome "caught in the act" shot of Jimmy, who apparently snuck into my wallet while left somewhat unmonitored on his Grandpa and Grandpa Kane's living room floor! That look in his face is priceless. He always looks like he's plotting something, so this was finally proof!

Jim's parents rented some horses from a neighbor for all of us to enjoy in their neighborhood, which is the Grand Teton National Forest. Gorgeous. Here is a shot of Grandpa Kane who, despite being born and raised in the Chicago area, has become quite the Western Mountain Man since retiring out to Wyoming 4 years ago.

Here is one of those mandatory poses, of the Kane Grandparents with our boys, all decked out in cowboy hats for the occasion. They are standing on their front deck, pretty beautiful, huh? We like it better in winter there because of the skiing, but it surely is gorgeous in the summer, too, with so much outdoor activity just outside your house! Jim Sr is holding Joey and Raye is holding Jimmy. Looks like Joey is ready to take off on Grandpa!
This is a shot of me with Joey and Jim and Raye, during our hike up Darby Canyon. It's a 4 hour round-trip hike that start in Idaho and ends in a cave in Wyoming. It was incredibly beautiful. We just bought the Sherpani Kiddo Backpacks the day before in our favorite Ski-Hike shop in tiny Driggs, ID. We couldn't find any in all of mighty Jackson, Wy, the day before! Anyhow, it was quite a workout, especially with 20 pounds of baby on my back! They were really good until the last 10 minutes, thank goodness! We packed sandwiches and ate them at the top while the boys had a bottle!
Back to the horses, Jim and Jimmy on a very tempermental and stubborn horse!
We also went to Yellowstone during our visit, which is only about 1 1/2 hours from Jim and Raye's house. I will post pictures from that day soon.

August in Wisconsin

2006-11-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, it's been forever, so I better get to updating this thing, three months late!

So, my boys Jimmy and Joey and my husband Jim and I had 23 days of vacation in August, split between Wisconsin and Wyoming. It was a gorgeous summer in both places, but to keep things simple, I will go chronologically and start with pictures from Wisconsin.

This first one is of Joey and his Godmother, Jeanne, my brother Mike's wife. They are sitting on Mike and Jeanne's deck in their backyard near Shawano. We stayed with Mike and Jeanne and we had a great time with them, drank a lot of beer, ate some awesome home-cooking and saw a lot of people we hadn't seen in a long time!

I am the youngest of 7 kids, so it is rare that all of us get together. My mom invited us all to Club 117 in Bonduel (where I graduated from High School) for Sunday dinner. The food was great, but it was especially nice to see some family members we hadn't seen in years. The boys met a lot of people for the first time and I think they presented themselves well since they got held mostly by others instead of by us! This picture below is my brother Pat's wife, Lynn, holding the other twin boy, Jimmy.
My Mom really wanted to go to the NorthEast Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo, so the boys got to experience their first zoo very close to home! It's in Suamico, which is just a couple miles NE of Green Bay. The grounds were very pretty but since it's in a such a small town, the assortment of animals was not too impressive. A nice place to go for a walk to enjoy the trees and flowers, mostly. Below is a picture of Jim with Jimmy and my niece Brooke with Joey. It was a beautiful day!
The boys even got to go on a ride in a HUGE tractor, courtesy of "CPR Custom", my nephew Chris' custom field-work business! His dad, my brother Pat, drove the tractor over for us and the boys went for a spin with Jim. They definitely thought this was pretty cool!

Our time in Wisconsin just happened to coincide with the Bonduel Lions' Club Corn Roast. It's a much bally-ho'd event in SE Shawano county, that although I lived there 17 years, I don't think I ever attended before! So, you pay $3 and get ALL THE CORN YOU CAN EAT! It's awesome fresh sweet corn, but the best part might be ALL THE BUTTER YOU CAN POOR ON THE CORN! Of course the butter is awesome fresh locally made stuff, which I just realized does not have trans-fats. Bummer, now it's just not as neat of a memory. I like to be rebelious sometimes. This picture below is Jim, my sister Connie and my niece Brooke. This was accompanied by a fair amount of Miller beer, of course!

Family Reunion Hermitage, AR

2006-07-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

This is my little family. I am the Mom, then there's my hubby Jim, but now comes the best part: I'm holding Jimmy and Jim's holding Joey - our 6 month old twin boys! Aren't they adorable? They are so much fun. They're even trying to hold each others' hands in this picture. Twinship is unique.

This is a pic of us at our DuBose family reunion in Arkansas over the 4th of July. This shot is the four of us with Jim's parents, Grandma Raye and Grandpa Jim (Sr., the original). It is always nice to see both close and distant relatives again, but it was especially neat this year because it was the first time most of the relatives got to meet our amazing then-5mth old twins, Jimmy and Joey.

First Entry

2006-07-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
Just want to get this started and see what it looks like. Will download some pics and write something more worthwhile later. Take care, Tina