Rich & Sassy

Famous Dave's

We didn't care where, but we knew we wanted barbecue.

Geodes and Dinosaur Eggs

Hanging in Ry and Kristy's back yard.  This was when we first got to Phoenix, and the weather was really nice.  It had me fooled for a while.  We hung out outside and took walks.  I really thought that's how it was all summer.  It changed.  Fast.

The geode party!

Pipz!

The big man!

Waiting to crack that rock with the hammer.

Goodies.

Nice.

He liked it when I put the glasses on him.  I promise.

And So It Begins...

The first thing we did on home leave was take all the kids to the dentist.  All 5 at the same time.  it was a production.

The next thing we did was go to Target.

Recession Special

Lady Liberty.

We were freezing!  The idea of going on a boat, with even more wind, to see her close up, with all the scaffolding around her, did not sound like a good time.  So we looked at her from afar and vowed to not make this our only trip to New York as a family.  We'll see her up close.  Maybe when we actually own cold weather clothes and 70 degrees doesn't feel like we'll die.

(One of my worst picture taking jobs of all time.)

We spent a lot of time on trains this day.

Here's where we had lunch.

They were everything we hoped for.  And more.  It almost brings tears to my eyes thinking about them.

More time at the park.

Climbing a tree.

New York was so awesome.  So glad we got to spend some time in Long Island, spend some time with family, and show the kids the city.  Great memories.

LIRR

Into the city...

We bought pretzels on the street and ate them with some huge Cokes.  Forgot the bottles came that big in America.

Behind BA is an H&M ad for their swimwear.  They were everywhere.  And huge.  So we saw a lot of Beyonce's bod during our time in New York.

Empire State.  Didn't go to the top.  Too short on time.  Too short on cash.

Times Square.  Did you know Spiderman hangs out here?  And Elmo?  And even Mario?

Best Skylanders display ever!  Made the boys happy.

We also stopped in the Nintendo store.  Their day wasn't going to get much better.

Rockefeller Center.

We ate the most delicious (and most colossal) pastrami sandwiches ever created.  Or at least that we have eaten in a long time.

Rainy day.

Central Park.

We walked to the American Museum of Natural History.

Taze!

Thank you for sharing your room with us!

Coyle's

The next day, we flew to New York.  We are so lucky Trish and Travis are living there, and they let us stay with them!  The first thing we did was go to the beach...

Freezing but fun!  Travis was awesome with the kids.

There were these little crabs everywhere.  The kids loved digging for them and holding them.  They reminded me of nasty bugs, so I didn't touch them.

And, of course, there was some shell collecting.

Then they took us to this awesome pizza place.

Then they took us to this even awesomer ice cream shop!  So so so good.  So good to be in America.

AKA the Rainbow Park

We got to spend a day at the park with some old friends!

Getting there wasn't easy.  We rented a car that day so we go to some old hang outs.  And for some reason when I am driving myself around northern Virginia, I am lost.  Ugh, it's annoying.  Not to mention I had just came from a country where they drive on the left side of the road.  And a country that follows no traffic laws.  I was a bit nervous.  When I was looking for this park, I accidentally pulled into a "special area".  Once I pulled in, I knew it was a wrong turn, but I couldn't get out.  I had to go all the way to the guard station.  He was mean to me!  He asked me why I was there a couple times.  I said I was lost, and said I took a wrong turn.  He told me to never go back there again.  He also said if I passed certain cones, "there would be necessary protocol."  Jeez!

That night we also went to Cheeburger Cheeburger.  One of our old favorites.  It is one of the only things G remembers about living there.  It was fun, but unfortunately everyone was tired and could hardly keep their dropping heads out of the food.  It was a pretty quiet evening.  Not a lot of talking.  I don't know why I didn't take a picture.  

The next day we strolled around the Mall again.

Here we are at Potbelly.  We had our first meal in America here.  It was wonderful.  And then we ate there 3 more times.  It was a happy coincidence that there was one right by our hotel.

Because of jet lag, we had a strange eating schedule.  We usually only had two real meals.  At the times we weren't eating real meals, but we were still hungry, we ate snacks.  We had a premier room at our hotel which basically meant that we had access to free snacks and drinks anytime we wanted.  It was a lifesaver!  Every night at midnight, and every morning at about 4, a group of us would walk over there depending on who was awake.  We raided it.  It was kind of a fun experience to enjoy some very missed American snacks and soda in the middle of the night when no one else was awake.  It was some memorable family time.

Sun Chips

I just have to say, Washington DC is awesome.  It's beautiful, and walkable, and there's good food everywhere!  The first day we were there we walked around and visited a couple museums.

Back of the White House.

Front.

Loved this food stand.

Natural History.

The Capitol.

 If anyone is curious what jet lag looks like, here you go...

We tried so hard to stay awake until 6pm, but it was too hard.  Unfortunately, this is how we all felt our whole time in DC.

Gudu

I forgot to write one thing about Korea.  Everywhere we went, we noticed right away that everyone was wearing brightly colored athletic shoes.  I would say about 8 out of 10 people walking around were wearing tennies.  And they were all very colorful!  It didn't matter how old or young the person was.  It was awesome.  My Converse looked drab!

It's Like I've Been Here Before

Even after a 14 hour flight, they were excited to be in America.

Yay!

Drinking fountains!

Seeing the flag was awesome, but what we really wanted was the food!

Quarters

The next morning, we decided to go see the city.  We got super lucky because it was a holiday, and there was a big parade and all kinds of costumes.

Gyeong Bok Gung Palace.

As soon as we walked in, we were approached by a bunch of kids.  They all had iPads and they were practicing their English on us.  They were students who were doing a "scavenger hunt" for a class.  One of the things they needed to do was to take a picture making a star with fingers.  We were one of only a few western families there, so we made a lot of stars and had a lot of pictures taken of us.

This place was beautiful!

This was the guard out front.  He stood very still.

Then we went to a market.  Shoes everywhere!  We almost bought some "Gangnam Style" socks.  You know, since we were near Gangnam.

We bought some pancakes (?) from this guy.  They were had a chestnut filling.  Yum!

This pretty much ended our time in Seoul.  Even though it was only 2 days, I loved it!  It was so nice.  I don't want to sound too harsh on Jakarta, but it was like opposite world.  Everything was clean and organized.  There were big buildings, but there was non of the glitz.  It was just efficient.  And I saw families everywhere.  Dad's taking care of kids, and moms carrying their own babies around.  And even though it is still very populated, and people are everywhere, they all had something to do.  It seemed there was a sense of pride in what they did.  Again, I know it was only 2 days, but that was my impression.  We were happy being there.