OMGoodness. Are you kidding me? We had MORE water balloons and Popsicles than last year? How can that be?  Our party at least doubled in size.  With more than 5,000 water balloons, 1,600 Popsicles this party was total INSANITY.

Kids across the neighborhood started asking me about the water balloon and Popsicle party BEFORE school was even out last year!  Several of them told me they bought their water balloons early so they could secure their spot at our party.  It warmed my heart to know how much all the kids (including mine!) were looking forward to this years back to school bash.  I had a few kids tell me "I can't wait, but I can wait....oh it's so hard.  It's such a fun party, but we have to start school 3 days later."

The rules were almost the same as last year, however we did add a little kid area & we talked about Popsicles.

I had all the kids sit in the grass while parents strategically placed balloons around the play equipment and I went over the rules:

#1 - you must sit here until I tell you to go
#2 - you must eat as many Popsicles as you can WITHOUT throwing up
#3 - anyone over the age of 5 is not allowed in the little kid section 
#4 - no water balloons to the face
#5 - do NOT throw balloons at parents with cameras
#6 - after the water balloon fight eveyone that participates MUST help clean up broken water balloons!
#7 - HAVE FUN!

I had a team of paparazzi on one of the balcony's capturing photos this year.  MANY of the photos in this post are from my good friend and neighbor jrstinson.  She does amazing things with her camera!  I feel bless to have so many amazing shots from her!  Thanks J!

I ran out of room on the back porch and we had to start putting the balloons on the grass.

Watch the slide show for more of the story. 
If there is a picture of your child in here and you would like it feel free to contact me and I will send it to you.

SO.MUCH.FUN!

How fun is our neighborhood?
Our teens ROCKED it out even more this year.
This was our 2nd annual back to school kickball tournament in the hood.

Click HERE for pictures from last year.

This year, they took it to the next level:

They even planned out the teams BEFORE the game this year.
But no worries, if you showed up and didn't have a team you still got to play.

Captain of the RED TEAM!

BLUE TEAM captains!

The game was VERY SPIRITED this year!

And he was SAFE!!

I love how you can see the sand flipping off the top of his sandal.
Even though he missed the ball, he still made it safe to 1st base! :o)

That boy can KICK!

This year he had it all figured out and didn't run past one single base.

There was no shortage of Popsicles!

Those that were too small to play found other ways to entertain themselves.

Mud puddles are seriously fun.

I'm not sure which team won.
It really doesn't matter.
Well, maybe it does if you ask the kids.  I'm sure there is a big dispute.
In fact, I just ask my kids who won the game and they said the blue team, but they were all on the blue team.
I wonder what the red team would say....

For me it doesn't matter.
It was just another fun day on the ROK.

This is one of our FAVORITE summer adventures in Korea!
The kids LOVE going to Splish and Splash Water Park at Camp Humphreys.
It really is a great water park for kids (and adults) of all ages. 

This pictures shows the 'little kid' area.
If you look to the far right corner you will see a small swimming pool....that pool is super shallow perfect for toddlers.
In fact the whole area pictured is perfect for toddlers.

This picture shows one of the 2 larger slides (I'm standing on the top of the other one - it is open as you will see in pictures to come.)  And do you see the life guard on the right side towards the middle?  He is working the 'big' pool.  This pool is Olympic size and has 2 diving boards (again you will see in pictures to come), a high dive and a regular diving board.

I'm going to warn you right now, there are some SERIOUSLY CUTE KIDS in this blog post.
If you have an aversion to cuteness, stop looking now.
I'm warning you.

A rare moment when these two actually love each other.
Don't get too excited, I think right after this picture Boy 2 tried to drown Boy 1. ;o)

These boys had a ball hanging out together.

Big sisters are THE BEST!

Freckle Face.

Isn't this one of the most adorable girls you have ever seen?
I love the drip of ice cream on her nose.

There was so much fun to be had on the water slide!

Hamin' it up!
This girl was the 'photo bomber'  in a past post.

Even the moms were getting in on the action!

I love how he was looking right at me.....'take the picture so I can move on lady'!

The brother of the photo bomber....the tongue out thing must run in the family! :o)

One of my favorite shots of the day!
What a cutie!

Water parks are exhausting!

Some of the momma's of the bigger kids hanging out in the pool working on our tans.

My friends are hot.

She looks like a super star.

And it looks like she is in a photo shoot for J Crew.

So much fun was had on the high dive!

Look what I can do!

This girl was awesome. 
If I had jumped off the high dive I think I would be making the same face!

Doesn't he look graceful?

I am one blessed momma.

Splish & Splash information:

Camp Humphreys is about 1 hour from Yongsan.

Monday - Thursday  open 12 noon - 8PM
Friday - Sunday open 11AM - 8PM

No outside food.
You may bring in Gatorade and water ONLY.
They sell booze at their concession stand.
You can order food from the restaurant next door to the water park.

031-619-6412
754-6412

Daily Rates:
US Individual:
E1 - E5: $5
E6 - O3 (includes W1 - W3): $7
W4/O4 - O10 & Civ/Contractors: $8

US Family:
E1 - E5: $10
E6 - O3 (includes W1 - W3): $14
W4/O4 - O10 & Civ/Contractors: $16

Non US ID Card Holder: $20

Non US ID Card Holder: $26

Season Passes:
US Individual:
E1 - E5: $80
E6 - O3 (includes W1 - W3): $100
W4/O4 - O10 & Civ/Contractors: $120

US Family:
E1 - E5: $160
E6 - O3 (includes W1 - W3): $175
W4/O4 - O10 & Civ/Contractors: $200

KN Individual: $150

KN Family: $300

Half-Season Passes (May 18 - July 17 or July 18 - Sept. 9):
US Individual:
E1 - E5: $50
E6 - O3 (includes W1 - W3): $60
W4/O4 - O10 & Civ/Contractors: $70

US Family:
E1 - E5: $90
E6 - O3 (includes W1 - W3): $98
W4/O4 - O10 & Civ/Contractors: $110

Ages 12 months and younger are free of charge. All others will pay rate listed. DoD civilians/contractors who are military retirees will be charged at the rate of their retired military rank. KATUSA's will be considered by their military rank.

Ttukseom Swimming Pool at Ttukseom Resort.
Holy Goodness.
I've always wanted to hit one of the pools on the Han River so this seemed like a perfect thing to do with our group of friends that we hung with on Thursdays this past summer.
Only problem -
I didn't realize it was summer break at the Korean schools too.
(They have a totally different school schedule than we do.)
You can only imagine our surprise when we arrived in the subway station (above ground), looked out and saw this:

We texted that picture to a few of our friends that were behind us with the message "ABORT, ABORT!"
Serveral of our friends did abort the trip, but many of us powered on.

Our plan was to meet up with our friends at the pool...I mean how hard can it be to find a group of Americans... 
Right?
Maybe a little harder than we initially thought.

Are you kidding me?

Thank GOD Beth had the common sense to stop at the CVS before entering the park and pick up a couple goodies.
Notice the caption at the bottom?
Our answer was "HELL YES"!

It took us a little while, but thanks to technology and pasty white skin we finally found our group & we were thankful Marcille was tough enough to man our spot without anyone popping a tent.

This is the lazy river.
LAZY RIVER.

Instead of "Where's Waldo"....
Where are the Americans?

There they are!

Again, Beth is a genius.

I was even thankful for Cass.
True Story.

A few of the kids sporting their mandatory head covers.

They were so excited to have a little room when they were some of the first ones in the lazy river after the whistle blew.

All that free space didn't last long......

This boy decided just to pretend he was in the lazy river. :o)

Little kid area.

Welcome to Korea!
These two had only been on the peninsula a couple of weeks.
They weren't sure if they should be smiling or running for the hills! 

I know....lots of pictures of the lazy river, but I just couldn't get over the amount of people!!

Tent city.

Apparently you arrive early, set up camp and stay all day.

And when the park runs out of room to set up your tents, no worries - just go set up BEHIND THE porta-potties!!
(GAG!!)

We really had a great time. 
Lots of smiles.
Lots of laugher.
Lots of freak out moments.
Lots of FUN!
I'm glad we went.
However, one time is enough.
Next year if we go I will double check the Korean school calendar.

The Ttukseom Swimming Pool is only open from July - August.
To get there Seoul Subway Line #7 to Ttukseom-Resort Station. 
Exit 2 or 3.
Trust me, you will be able to find it.

You can take food, coolers, grills, tents and more in....really, whatever you want! 
This is Korea.
Pretty much anything goes.
Prices: Ages 4~12: 3,000 won / Ages 13~18: 4,000 won / Ages 19 and older:  5,000won

This summer the kids and I have put together a 'summer camp at home' sort of thing.  It's not too crazy to where they will get burn out, but just enough to keep them on some sort of schedule for the summer. I have found that my kids do  MUCH better when they are scheduled (less fighting, less complaining and they don't complain about not playing video games!).  

The kids have a list of things they must get done each morning and then in the afternoon we have theme days:
Make it Monday
Tuesdays with Trish - kids free day, Mom goes to lunch with Friends
Wondering Wednesday
Take a Trip Thursday
Family Friday

                                                     So far so good.  This was our first Take a Trip Thursday group:

I let Girl and Boy's 2 & 3 pick what they wanted to do for their first Take A Trip Thursday outing.
I could not believe my ears when they said they wanted to take a hike!
So like any good mom would do I did a little research and we ended up hiking Umyeonsan Mountain which is located right behind the Seoul Art's Center.

I feel bad that I can't give you specific directions to the trailhead, BUT the directions I took off the internet were not that good and it took us a while AND we went a convoluted way.  I can tell you a few things....
Line 3 - Nambu Terminal Subway is the closest subway station to Seoul Arts Center.
Click the link above for a map of the area. 
Go to the front of the SAC and look for the big overpass.
Go through the big circle - this is the trailhead.
When I go back I will update directions for you.

We only hike the safest of mountains!

At the summit!

This is a super easy hike.  Only 239 meters to the top.
With a spectacular view at the top!

How cute is this group?!

From the top we hiked over to Daeseongsa Temple.
I haven't been able to find much information on this temple, so just enjoy the pictures.

This hike is GREAT for beginners.

A couple of weeks ago we were reminiscing about our previous time in Korea when we remembered a hike we went on - one that we LOVED.  It was drizzling rain when we went; there were tons of boulders to play on, and ropes to help you pull yourself up the mountain.  We decided to try it again just to see if it would be as fun as we remembered - and it was - actually it was more fun!  :o)

To get there take subway line #4 to Gwacheon Station take exit #7  and walk straight up the path.   You are certain to see many, many hikers and at this point you might be thinking that you are totally underdressed.

You will go through this cute little tunnel filled with children's art work....you are sure to stop and take a few cute photos.  :o)

Hiking is serious business here in Korea -
Make sure you stretch it out before your hike!
And if you are not sure how to hike just check out the lady in green. 
She has great tips.

When you get to the end of the path you can go either left or right. 
Both ways will take you to a trail.
We like going right.
Walk maybe 50 steps and you will see this set of stairs across the street on your left side (right across from the church).

I was a tad bit worried after hiking for a few minutes Boy 3 was tired and had to take a break.
Luckily for all of us, this was the only time he got tired.

Wishing it had been a clear day...

Boy 2 was the star of the hike, posing for me anytime I wanted to take a picture.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the natural beauty in Seoul.

He is just cute.

We made it to the top!
(Well, to the top of where we were going anyway.)

This picture was 4 years ago in the same place. 
My how they have grown!  :o)

As always, if you aren't getting enough exercise on the hike you can always stop at an exercise area to kick it up a notch.

Boy 1 had a GREAT time on the hike.

Boy 2 had the best find of the day!

This boy had NO FEAR.
Which in turn FREAKS ME OUT.

This hike was so beautiful!
And the kids had a ball.
Win-win in my book!

If you look closely you can see flower petals floating through the air.

Great day, great hike.
Great kids.
I love my life.

I am just going to claim it.
Rest With Coffee & Books is my hands down FAVORITE café I have been to so far.
I loved EVERYTHING it had to offer.
Books, internet service, a computer for people to use, comfy chairs, FREE bread and coffee, nice background music, waffles, coffee drinks of all kinds, gelato and of course, Dr. Fish to chew the nasty off your feet.   

The main room:

Need a book?  They have bookshelves full. 
They were all in Korean, so if you can't read Korean then bring your own book.

Self bar.
Gotta love it.

At the self bar you can have all the free bread and coffee you can eat and drink.
As long as you order 1 item from the menu.
They even have toaster ovens to toast your bread
AND
They give you butter and jam when you place an order at the counter.

Sampling of the free bread:
It taste better than it looks.

Girl said the hot chocolate is THE BEST she has EVER HAD.
In fact it was so good that she ordered a second one.
She told me that she wishes she could make hot chocolate this good.
Give her time and I'm sure she will. 

She is just so cute I couldn't help snapping a ton of pictures of her.

Don't worry, I'm not posting all the photos I took, only a few of my favorites.

She really is this sweet too.  She is a great daughter and sister to her brothers.
Plus she has an amazing heart.

I tried something new, a cinnamon honey latte.  It was very YUM.

I'm not sure if I have told you this or not, but Koreans are WILD about waffles. 
Just not for breakfast - they don't want them for breakfast. 
They only want them for dessert.

When girl and I were finished warming our souls and filling our bellies we were ready to dip our feet in a tank of little fishies to get our 'poor mans' pedicure.

First the lady comes over and washes your feet off.

And then it is time to dip your feet!

Ahhh, sweet little fishies.  This is no big thang.  We have done this before.  It tickles, but it is a good tickle.

And then....we decided to switch tanks.
OH MY GOODNESS.
I have NEVER seen Dr. Fish this BIG!
And ready...with mouths OPEN WIDE!

Sticking my heel in.

Oh my goodness.  This TICKLES and FREAKS me out a bit!
But I think I can do it....

...I only lasted for a little while before I had to take a breather....
I mean check them out.
Savages.
I'm kind of afraid they will take off a toe.
Girl doesn't want to have anything to do with this tank.

Going in again.
This time all the way.

OH MY GOSH...

This is really FREAKY!!
AND TICKLISH! 

I can't take it much longer!!

Feet out.
Relaxing.

Oh my gosh ~ that was crazy fun! 

We spent about 18,000 won on a latte, a hot chocolate, a chocolate waffle and 2 doctor fish.

There hours are 10AM-midnight everyday.
Credit cards are accepted.

I hope you have as much fun as Girl and I.

I think this would be an awesome place to have a date night.

Christmas break has been filled with snow and COLD! 
At first it was grand - snowmen, hot chocolate, snowball fights, more hot chocolate & more snowball fights! 
We had a white Christmas and we couldn't have been more happy.
Then we had a white the day after Christmas, and the day after that, and the day after that and the day after that...
You get the idea.
Lots of white.
Lots of cold.
Snowmen weren't looking so exciting.
Neither were snowball fights.
These cold winters days turned into lots of inside time.
Well this past Friday was the last day of winter break and I knew I needed to get the kids out of the house and head out on an adventure! 
Lucky for me (and the kids and my friends) I had found an article on this great little café a few weeks back -  Norang, Coffee and Crafts!
Coffee for the mom's and crafts for the kids - and if that isn't enough of a win, win.... get this.... 
The best part is that the mom's get to drink coffee while the STAFF of Norang helps the kids with their crafts! 
A mom's PARADISE at the end of winter break! 
How awesome is that?!

There was only one tiny little problem. 
The directions. 
They sounded simple enough.
I was the fearless leader. 
I can do this.  No worries.
6 happy Mom's 13 happy kids - dressed and ready to hit subway. 

Long story short. We got lost. 6 frazzled Moms, 13 very unhappy kids wandering around in 18 degree weather for over 45 minutes.  I was afraid at one point that the children were going to turn on me and have me for lunch.  I kept saying 5 more minutes as I was fearful for my life.  I think at one point one child started growling at me & I'm pretty sure I saw fangs.  Thank God the owner of Norang took mercy on my soul and came where we were and guided us to the café.

So before this gets too ugly, let me give you directions.  Good directions.
Take Exit No.4 at Maebong Station (Orange/Line #3 Track).
Once you exit the subway TURN LEFT at the 1st intersection.
Walk until the street dead ends (maybe 5 minutes).
This is what it looks like:

When you get to the end of the street TURN RIGHT. 
Walk about 30 seconds and you will see Norang on your right.
It is that simple.
This is what the outside of the café looks like:

As soon as we arrived I ordered 13 hot chocolates.
There was heat.
There were crafts.

And within minutes all was forgiven.

There are rows and rows of shelves filled with crafts for the children to choose from - the cost was from 5,000 won - 25,000 won per craft and there are PLENTY to choose from!

Once your child picks their craft, the staff is there to help oversee the crafting process and to help the children with whatever they need.  They even have shirts to put on over their clothes to help the children stay clean.  Of course Boy 1 didn't have time for the shirt and went straight to work!  :o)

I love these girls!  When I told them to look up for a picture they told me to 'hold on a second' - and they proceeded to paint their hands for the picture! 

Their daily schedule.  Notice anything odd?  IT IS IN ENGLISH!  Did I mention the owner of this cafe (Gina) speaks perfect English!  She was so kind and helpful.  The customer service was FANTASTIC!   

How cute is this little area?  The kids are welcome to draw on the chalkboard and to color on/in the house.  This a GREAT place to bring the kids!  Boy 2 is considering having is birthday party here! 

They even have crafts to go! 

While the kids were happily crafting, the mom's were pretty happy themselves! 

I give this place 5 out of 5 stars!  Everything about this place was great!  The staff, the food, the crafts, the drinks!  There is only ONE thing I would change, and that would be to add wine to their drink menu! 

Traditions. 
Funny thing, I don't even remember how we started this tradition or how long we have been doing it. 

The thing with traditions:
As you all know we are a military family. 
We move on average every two years. 
Things rarely stay the same for us.
New house.
New friends.
New schools.
New jobs.
New playgrounds.
New  pets.
New restaurants.
New grocery stores.
And that just scratches the surface.

This, my friends, is one of reasons behind my madness. 
So many things in our lives change so often that I need and want stability for our kids, my husband and myself.  
Even with all the change in our lives there are so many things that stay the same and there are many areas where I can help create that stability: 
The 'guts' of our house - even when we can't take all of our worldly things with us we take as many things as possible to help create that "we are home" feeling.
Our true friends. We may make new friends everywhere we go, but we also keep in contact with those we have met over the years.  Thank goodness for Skype, Facebook and Kakao!  :o)
And traditions. Traditions are a huge part of that stability.  Even though I may not remember when, where or why we created a tradition, it is something that doesn't change in this crazy life we live.

                                                                             New Year's Eve Fondue!
As we were sitting around the fondue pot this New Years eve the kids mentioned how every year we invite someone to join us for fondue.  We reminisced about Austin....Austin was Boy 1's BFF in elementary school/Junior high and how he spent a couple of years around our fondue pot ringing in the new year with us.  Girl's friend Lauren, who now lives in Spain is now bugging her mom about start this tradition in their own home.  Connor, Boy 1's BFF from the past 2 years in Texas hung out doing fondue with us last year.  This year was Boy 1's girlfriend.  How awesome is that? 
Tradition.

Reminder:  Cheese coming out of the fondue pot is HOT. 
Don't burn your mouth.

One of the cool things about living in Seoul is that on NYE morning you can run to the fish market to pick up fresh shrimp for fondue.  The uncool thing is that I have to remove the heads. 

Fill fondue pot about 1/2 full of peanut oil.  Heat on high until peanut oil reaches a temperature 350 - 375.  To cook food stab with fondue fork and put in oil.  Cooking time depends on what you are cooking.  Shrimp takes the least amount of time depending on the size of the shrimp.  This is where you will need to experiment.  Chicken & pork need to be cooked all the way through - steak can be cooked rare - well done depending on your preference. 

You can dip shrimp and chicken in Tempura if you so choose.
Feel free to marinate your meats or leave them as is before cooking.
I marinate our steak in Soy Sauce and Montreal Steak Seasoning.
I add salt and pepper to the chicken. 

                              This is actually my FAVORITE thing to eat during the entire fondue experience:

Stuffed mushrooms:
What you will need for stuffed mushrooms:
Large mushroom caps
1 brick of cream cheese
1/4 cup of chives
Tempura Batter.

Mix cream cheese and chives together in a bowl.
Fill mushroom cap with mixture.  Stick fondue fork through the cap in the meaty part of the mushroom.
Dip in tempura, covering ALL AREAS.  Make sure everything is covered in tempura batter or your oil will pop!
Put in oil and cook until golden brown.

My mouth is watering just looking at this picture.

Something new we tried this year was stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon.  That's right, I said bacon.  Mmmmm.

Stuffed Jalapenos:
Large jalapenos
bacon
cream cheese and chive mixture (use the same as the mushrooms)
shrimp
tempura batter

Cut the top off the jalapeno
Slice one side of the jalapeno, keeping it attached
Deseed
Put some of the cream cheese/chive mixture on once side of the jalapeno
Put a shrimp on the other size
Squeeze the jalapeno back together and wrap with a piece of bacon
Stab with fondue fork & dip in tempura batter, again making sure to cover EVERY AREA!!  Put in fondue pot and cook until a deep golden brown. 

Hello beautiful.

A few important thing you need to know about the meat course.
- Have separate plates for uncooked and cooked meats.
- NEVER let the uncooked meat touch your cooked meat plate.
-Do NOT touch uncooked meat with your hands.
- Do NOT eat off fondue fork.  You are sure to burn yourself.
- Place cooked meat on your 'cooked meat plate' and eat with a fork.


                                                                             Fondue Rule:
The only rule in fondue is that if you lose something in the fondue pan during ANY course you must kiss someone of the opposite sex at the table. 

Dessert Fondue.
The last course.
Can you guess what Boy 1 said before this course?

Melt both types of fondue in fondue pot on low heat stir until smooth.

Things for dipping:
Strawberries
Bananas
Pound Cake
Cheese Cake
Blueberries
Raspberries
Marshmallows
Pretzels
Really anything that taste good dipped in chocolate.

Vote on which flavor you like better.
In this house we are 3 for dark, 4 for white.

Fondue starts in our house anytime after noon on New Years Eve.
In between courses we play games, watch movies and just hang out.
5 minutes before the new year we open the sparkling cider!
This year we had sparkling grape and cherry.
As a reminder to myself: Don't ever buy cherry again.

Ringing in the New Year!
Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!