Can you believe it?  I gave into peer pressure.  Hubby has one, all my kids have one, so now, I too have one. 

Honesty though, I have really been enjoying it – well, other than my bum hurting!  My bike is SO fast, I can totally beat my husband in a race, if it is for short distance, I get a little tuckered out when it is a long distance race, but give me time, give me time!  

The question is now…do I start training for a triathlon?  Well, it would help ease the pain of how much the bike cost if I were to do something like that, but am I ready for that kind of work out?  I don’t know.  I will have to get back to you on that.  Swimming is my downfall; maybe I could convince Hubby that I need a swimming pool for training purposes.  Humm…..

 Boy 3 stopped wearing diapers during the day on Saturday.

Girl learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels on Monday.

Boy 2 learn how to swim without a life jacket on Tuesday.

Boy 1 says I cannot tell you what he has learned this week.

My boys are in print & on the internet.  Go to www.cozcoz.com then skip intro, click on catalog, make sure it is on Fall 2008, scroll through the pictures to find Boys 2 & 3. 

Not a very flattering picture, I know.  Hubby and I went out Friday night  in Seoul, to a Mexican restaurant where we were served by a Pakistani waiter, listened to a Filipino band and drank American beer.

You all know how I LOVE a good deal.  On Friday my friend T. took me shopping in Dongmyo area.  I am so excited about SOCKS….I know, who would have thought socks could excite anyone, but when I am getting them at .50 cents a pair, this girl gets excited!  I had to restrain myself from buying them all (Staci understands).  50 cents, come on, and they are good socks, Tommy, CK, Ralph Lauren, and so on!  I got Hubby his own brand, Boy 1 his own brand, and a brand for myself (you know for ease of telling them apart).  Here is a photo of the store with my friend T. shopping.

You can get ruffled socks, tall socks, short socks, no show socks, low show socks, Garfield socks, Hello Kitty socks, fuzzy socks, toe socks and more!  Socks, socks and more socks.....I'm in sock heaven.  Below are the socks I bought, over 50 pair.....

This area also had some CRAZY type shopping.  If you have the time and you like digging through piles you are sure to find great deals here...

And another shirt that isn't quite right.....

My Thursday was somewhat relaxed; I started it as I always do, with coffee at my house. (Actually I really start at the gym, and then go to the commissary, and then I have coffee)  My little coffee group seems to be growing, and I truly enjoy my Thursday mornings. There were 7 ladies here this week, as well as all our kids.  We always have a ton of food, as most people bring some sort of goodie.  I would like to think everyone comes over because they enjoy my company, but I think is just for the good coffee.  J  If you live here and you are reading this, coffee is open to one and all, bring your children and come hang out on Thursday mornings.

On Wednesday Girl went to her first photo shoot for a company named Elden.  The modeling agent picked us up at 9AM, and then about 9:20 on our way to the studio, we were rear-ended. Thankfully no one was injured.  Just a bit shook up, and the modeling agent's mini van was pretty smashed up in the back.  The young man that hit us was very apologetic, so much so that I started feeling bad for him.  He was very concerned about making sure everyone; especially the children were not injured.  

Girl was very excited about her photo shoot and even more so when she realized she was going to be working with one of her good friends.  They were adorable together!  Where else eat all kinds of goodies, drink soda, play with your friends, and make money all at the same time?

The picture above was right after hair and make up were done.
The picture below is with her very handsome co-star.

The picture below is with her good friend, L.

Girl had a great day, she worked a full day and loved every second of it.

I started the day off with a trip to the flower market.  I go weekly for fresh flower.  I don't know what I am going to do when we move back to the states and don't have my flower market to visit anymore.

The orchids in the photo above cost 6,000 won, ($6).  The flowers below, I have no idea what they are, but they are pretty aren’t they?   They were only 2,500 won. They are in my bathroom.  At any given moment I have between 5-10 bouquets of fresh cut flowers in my home.    Right now I have 8.

After the flower market I came home, got everyone dressed, sent Hubby off to work, then the kids, myself and 2 friends plus their children headed to the subway & took off for a day at Seoul Grand Park, the zoo.  We had a great time. This is the second time we have been to the zoo and we still have not seen it all.   The picture below is in the Seoul Grand Park subway station. Not eveyone is pictured.

This picture is not great, but I wanted to show it to you anyway.  This gazebo type structure we are having lunch on is very popular throughout the zoo.  They are great for having a picnic on and it is not at all unusual to see people resting or taking naps on them throughout the zoo. 

Sometimes packages take a little while to get to us, especially if it is sent on the slow boat. The package that arrived on Monday was VERY large, and the sender was not able to send it priority because of its size, and I am sure it would have been ridiculously expensive.  This package took over a month to arrive.  Boy 2 was very excited when he realized it was for him. 

 Some of you know how piñata crazy Boy 2 is.  He loves the game Viva Piñata and wants to decorate his room in piñata’s.  Thanks to Grammy, he now has a piñata for his room, the only problem is, it is too big to hang from his ceiling.  J

You know how sometimes life goes through ups and downs?  Right now, and for the past several months (since hubby has been home from Iraq) my life has been UP. Things are just falling into place, and all is good and calm (as calm as it can be with 4 kids & a crazy dog).

I have been staying extremely busy, this week being no exception. I have taken 162 pictures this week if that is any indication on how busy we have been!  We started the week off on Sunday with Boy 2 going on a photo shoot. He shot for a company named COCORITA.   I haven’t been documenting all the photo shoots on my blog, because I didn’t want to bore you with them all and I don’t want to seem like one of “those freaky mom’s”.  We do the photo shoots as long as they are fun for the kids; it is not something we are forcing on them.   With that being said, I think this will be Boy 2’s last photo shoot for a while.  He doesn’t love it like he did in the early days (you know, like last month).  Sunday his photo shoot was 8 hours long.  I always ask my kids if they want to do the shoot before I commit to the agent.  He told me yes, even though I did my best to explain to him that it was ALL DAY LONG.  At the end of the shoot he said “If Ms. Sue calls again and asks me to work all day, tell her NO.  Tell her I will only work a short day.” 

Here are a couple of shots from Sunday.

Boy 2 fell in love with the two puppies on this shoot.  They were sisters, he was really wishing he could bring one home with him.

On Monday I decided to say home, as it was raining again, for about the 4th day straight.  We have officially hit Monsoon season. My housekeeper was here, and it was a good time to clear the clutter…we have only been here 3 months & it is amazing how much paperwork one can accumulate during that time.  I got rid of a ton of paperwork, but also held on to a lot of it, because get this….. When we moved here and I was getting briefed on housing, they did not mention anything about recycling, so I ask.  The told me I did not need to recycle.  I didn’t understand, so I continued to ask about it, and I ask if I could recycle if I wanted to. The told me NOT to recycle.  This really threw me for a loop; because I know in Korea recycling is MANDATORY.  They even have cameras on trash cans in the apartment buildings to make sure people are doing their part and recycling.   On the streets you can’t even find trash cans because of the recycling rules. You just keep your trash with you and throw it away when you get home.  Many of you know how I am, so I continued to press the issue, until they finally told me that I do not need to recycle because the Army HIRES PEOPLE TO GO THOUGH OUR TRASH!!!!!!!!!  Can you believe that?  I think that is INSANE, and it makes Americans look so LAZY!  I was shocked, and still am.  It freaks me out that people go though my trash.  So, back to the subject, I held on to a lot of my paper work so I could shred it.   I got a shredder last night and will be shredding paperwork today.   On Monday I also reorganized my pantry, added a few labels to thing that didn’t have them, organized my kitchen a little better & so on.  I feel much better. 

We also had numerous activities on Monday; Boy 2 & Girl had swim lessons, which they are excelling in.  Boy 2 had TKD, he likes it, but is always getting in trouble by the Master for talking.  He is going to be very strong since he averages about 100 push-ups during each class, an - he has TKD 3 times a week. Boy 1 & Girl had piano, we have a new piano teacher that comes to our house, what a blessing this is.  It cuts out a trip for me, and helps with my sanity.  Not to mention it saves on my gas bill, which is now out of control with gas prices at $4.24 a gallon here (that price is on post, off post, in Seoul, gas prices are well above $7 a gallon – if I calculated correctly).  I am so thankful I do not have my Yukon XL anymore.  I am sure it would cost over $120 to fill that bad boy up now.  I do feel bad for the poor saps that bought it from us. 

I need to run, my kids all need me, & I have to run Hubby to work.  I will finish telling you all about my week when I find another spare moment.

TTFN!