First Day of School 2014

This was cleverly done at the end of the day when everyone was tired and ready to go home...

The Tune

Izzie: Mom, you made me lose the tune!

Ben: Ah, Izzie... you had already lost the tune!

Overheard from the Bedroom

Izzie:  Are people meat?

Ben: Yes.

Izzie: Okay.

2-Wheeler

 During the summer - while Grandma and Grandpa were here and dad was taking Korean classes in Seoul - Ben learned to ride a bike!

And someone else practiced on a run-bike she was outgrowing.  

Wacky Hair Day

 Ben's school recently had Spirit Week.  We were unable to find green hair color (washable) so his "grass" had to be red.  It was still pretty wacky!

Two of the wackiest students around...  most of the kids just had strange ponytails.   I think the kids will get more into it next year now that they have an idea of what they can do!

I didn't get a fantastic photo of the bugs, but he had a spider, scorpion, fly, grasshopper, cricket, cicada... We used a glue gun to fasten them to cheap metal hair clips.  Several fell off during the day, but we just glued them back on.

Ben was the talk of the school for the day!

Jack Rabbit

Here is Ben with a jack rabbit that he made for a school project on animals and their habitats.  He made it out of a drinking yogurt container and some strange craft material we came across here, which is like tiny painted styrofoam balls.  

Wacky Hat Day

This is a duck hat.  I love you !  (to the Grandmas...)  OOOOOOOOXXXXXXXX

by Izzie

Field Trip

The 3rd through 6th grade recently went to a track and field meet, so on that day the 1st and 2nd grades went to a cultural center in Gyeongju.

The students poured chocolate into molds shaped like important Korean relics.

(That's a background picture on a stage behind her, if you are wondering.)

The worst part was when the students had to eat the chocolate that wouldn't fit in the molds.  Nobody liked that part at all...


Then they made masks.  They used a strange substance that seemed like tiny styrofoam balls in a mixture of glue and paint.  You could even mix the colors to make new ones.  Somehow the paint did not stay on the children's fingers.



Ben made a fox and I got to make a rabbit to give to Izzie... but it has since ripped and been recycled.

Then we had a picnic lunch and played some outside games before returning to the school.

One of the typical Korean games is called Talk Dari Sa-eum (literally chicken leg fight) and involves kids standing on one leg while they bend their knee and hold onto their other foot.  Then they hop toward another person and try to knock him/her off balance by bumping into him or her.  If the other person falls or lets go of his/her leg, that person is out and the other one wins.

It reminds me of games we played when we were younger, games that I hope are not played much anymore... like Red Rover.  Really, isn't it a miracle we survived childhood without multiple trips to the hospital for dislocated shoulders?  I also remember sitting on the crossbar of the swing sets at my first elementary school and playing clapping games with my friends.  This means we were not holding on with anything but our legs...  and I don't ever remember being told to get down by any of the teachers.

Were those teachers crazy, or have we become overly cautious in this day and age?   At any rate, the students all survived to chicken fight another day.

Izzie's Christmas Program 2012

Izzie's class did a handbell performance, a dance, and the song "You Raise Me Up" with hand motions.

Izzie did a great job and kept her eyes on the teacher so she would know when to ring her bell.

You might notice that Izzie has the same expression in all the photos.  The teachers gave the girls a slight bit of lipstick, and Izzie kept her lips slightly parted throughout the entire program so it wouldn't come off!

Spelling Bee

Late last year Ben was one of 2 students from first grade who went to a spelling bee in another city.  He had to wake up very early to get on the bus, so he slept in his clothes.  Twelve students went from our school, and I was able to go with him as one of the teachers.

Here is most of the group from our school.  Ben studied hard and did a great job.  One of his favorite parts was getting to have a burger for lunch and pizza for dinner!

Bug Lover

Grandma Ann came to visit during the end of September and beginning of October.  One day we headed to the park down the road to try out Ben and Izzie's birthday presents:  a stomp rocket and a kite.  Unfortunately the wind wasn't strong enough that day for the kite, but it was perfect for weather for stomping!  Don't you just love Ben's form here?

 It was also perfect weather for catching dragonflies.

Drinking Fun

Kimchi!

That would be the Korean equivalent of "cheese!"  Izzie made this mask on her own in July of this year.  At the moment her favorite things to draw are princesses and animals.

Cutting Day

Izzie is a very creative little girl.  She likes to draw on paper, fold paper, and cut paper.  She especially likes to cut paper into tiny, tiny pieces.  (The ones shown here are larger than usual.)  She is pretty good at cleaning up when asked to, but 5 minutes later she will be started on a new pile, usually in the middle of the kitchen or hallway floor.  So, for our own sanity, Sunday was declared Cutting Day.  Cutting Day - a day when a little girl may take her cow-shaped scissors and snip away to her hearts' content.

Izzie's Haircut

After finding lice again after the first shampoo last month, I decided it was time to make the search easier.  The problem was, I didn't want to take Izzie to the hairdresser because of the infestation.  The bangs are a little rough, but the overall result is better than I expected!  The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't look as tidy because it won't all go back in a ponytail.

And if you're wondering why she's holding a McDonald's coupon, it's for no reason other than that's what she wanted - and I agreed in order to get a picture of her hair.

Hanbok

Izzie's preschool had a market day when the kids brought items from home, set up a store and went shopping for each other's items.  Izzie took some shoes in good condition that she had outgrown, some books, a puzzle etc.  She came home with a pair of rubber boots and a hanbok - traditional Korean dress!  She calls it her princess dress, and initially wanted to put it on each day.  I promised her that we would go take some "princess pictures" when she was in a good mood and the weather wasn't as hot.  It took a few weeks but eventually we headed out in the evening after the heat had subsided.  I drove to a rice field where I hoped no one would gawk at the foreign girl in Korean dress and her camera crazy mother.  Unfortunately Izzie (without Ben to wind her up) almost fell asleep in the car and then was in no mood to cooperate. (This was only a 5 to 10 minute drive!)

She was momentarily distracted by the prospect of throwing rocks into the rice paddy, but the thrill soon wore off.

  We are not amused.

This shot was from the period of time during which she tried to avoid looking at the camera at all costs.

 There's a real smile!

(Because she knows she is going to be goofy.)

Aye, aye, captain!

Your goofy wish is my goofy command.

 Still, I thought I did pretty well considering her level of cooperation!

 It looks like the hanbok is handmade and the flowers on the hanbok are all hand-painted.

I think this is the only full length shot I got - as she is carefully turning away in order to thwart any picture taking.  And no, Crocs are not traditional Korean footwear... but they are handy in the rainy season.

Izzie had enough energy to request a different dress, but after getting into it we decided it was time to go home.

Yeosu Expo 2012

While we were visiting Grace we were convinced (okay, it didn't take much) to take a trip down to the World Expo in Yeosu.  We took the high speed train down, which was fairly painless compared to what would have been a 5 or 6 hour bus ride.  We got in late and headed to the Expo the next morning.  We brought our passports because we had heard that the entrance fee, usually 30,000 won, was only 10,000 won if you had a foreign passport.  Better yet, it was some sort of foreigner's day and the fee was further reduced to 3,000 won!

There was a lot to see, although there were long lines for almost everything.

Here's Ben at the aquarium. We saw whales, sharks, jellyfish, otters... Izzie really enjoyed the stingrays. 

We went to a 4-D movie which means that in addition to being 3-D there were sensory effects.

Ben and Izzie were all smiles before the movie, which consisted mostly of fish being chased through the water by a shark, but also included really loud sound effects, and our chairs being jerked around, jets of air, and some bubbles being blown into the theater.  At the end of the movie (about 10 minutes later) they were both in tears.  So that went well...

One pavilion had a neat story that included a boy riding on a manatee.  A young Korean boy came out to start the show, we watched the movie on a screen, and at the end the boy came out again and this giant manatee flew across the crowd before coming to the boy to be hugged and kissed.

I thought the street performers were most interesting, and there were no lines to wait in.  Ben even got to help this guy out.

 More street performers...  they were from all over the world.

This "puppet" reminded me of Big Bird.

The kids took some turns riding in the Grace's mom's wheelchair.  It was extremely hot and the wheelchair saved us a lot of moaning and complaining.

Not quite sure what to think of this giant bird pecking at her!

By dinner time Izzie was beat.  She slept right through it, but woke up for the show just after 8.

Waiting for dinner and playing on the cell phones. We try not to let the kids use our phones much, but they do come in handy at waiting times or long trips.  They can watch movies, and play games...

Here's a daytime shot of some of the grounds.

Twice an evening they put on "The Big "O" Show."  O as in oceans.  The show consisted of a video, lasers, and fountains and jets of water.

We ended up being at a bad angle to see the movie, which was displayed in the center of the O, but it was still enjoyable.

 As a child I remember going to the Canadian National Exhibition.  For us it was the pinnacle of summer excitement.  I can imagine how my parents must have felt at the end of the day: glad to have done it, even more glad it was over.  (Correct me if I'm wrong!)

If only these things took place when it wasn't quite so hot!