Play Ball!

Today was the beginning of a new era for our family: organized sports. Andrew is on his very first T-ball team called the Golden Dragons. We have a one hour practice once a week and one game on Saturday. There is only one other team (Red Sox -- why they couldn't come up with something a little more original I can't explain) so we'll be playing them all season! It's very organized and is completely focused on learning the game and having fun. Perfect!

They play three innings and every child gets a turn at bat each inning. No one is keeping track of "outs" or keeping score for that matter. They rotate positions on the field as well.

Andrew started off as pitcher. He got more action in that position than you can imagine. Pretty much every ball hit went straight to the pitcher's "mound." He did great at catching the ball, but he had no idea what to do next. The first time he held it, the second time he threw it home, the third time he gave it to the coach. It was so much fun to watch!

Every time a kid hits the ball, everyone is yelling something to the kids: "Run! Run to first!" or "Throw the ball!" It's comedy.

Andrew managed to get hit in the face with a ball before the game even started. He was just sitting there on the sidelines, enjoying the day and Wham! Right in the cheek. He cried a bit and brushed it off.

Three innings is about all their attention spans can handle, here they are in the third inning, hitting each other in the head with baseball bats. Andrew is #5. At least they were wearing helmets!

Pizza Night at the O-Club

Every Monday night is build-your-own-pizza night at the Officer's Club on base. The kids LOVE to go, the big draw for them is the bouncy castle they have inside the room. Ainsley and I are soooo tired of the sub par pizza, but it's a good place for the kids to run off some of that energy especially in the winter.

Andrew always sees lots of friends there and they usually end up running around the room playing chase. One of these days, there is going to be a major food accident, but until then, we will pretend they are not our kids and keep on eating our pizza while they run around like wild animals.

This week Madeline had her first bouncy castle experience. She seemed mildly entertained. I really think she enjoyed running around the Club more. Usually we keep her strapped in the high chair (it's good to know where at least one of your children are at all times) but tonight, FREEDOM!

Return to Everland

Today we went back to Everland for what should have been a nice relaxing trip. Little did these Dumb Americans know that it was a Korean Voting Holiday which means that every Korean family in the country decided to go to Everland, too. So, it was pretty crowded and it ended up raining later in the afternoon, but we were ready to leave by then with our three tired out kiddos.

Today's adventure begins in the area of the park called "Zootopia." Your basic zoo without all of the safety precautions we've come to love in the good ol' US of A. All that was separating us from the tigers was a ditch of water (and hopefully a strong doggy shock fence.)

Near the tiger exhibit was this one:

That's right, dogs! They have an exhibit for dogs! It was called "Canine Village" and they had about 15 dogs or so just hanging out in a room for people to watch. And they were watching. There was goofy music playing and doggy glamour shots hanging on the wall. Bizarre.

What would a trip to the zoo be without some Jackass Penguins!

The Safari ride that we wanted to go on was an 80 minute wait. But, from what I heard, there is nothing but the bars of the van window separating you from the lions and tigers and bears, oh my! So, we convinced Joshie that a pony ride would be just as fun:

For food today, we ate anything on a stick. They have fruit on a stick (I'm talking giant pieces of melon on a stick), corn dogs, pizza rolls (looks like a long eggroll with pizza filling) and some other meats on sticks which I could not identify. But, considering I had just read an article about how dog is the fourth most popular meat in the country, we passed on that. And the chicken. (There is an outbreak of bird flu just south of where we live. I'll post the links to those great stories later.)

Josh rode a big kid's roller coaster for the first time today and it was great. Ainsley took this adorable video of him on his second time around. (Click on the link if the video doesn't work)

Joshie roller coaster ride

Don't forget the gaudy parade of fake flowers:

While the kids played on the playground, Ainsley snapped this picture:


Yes, little children, "Wisdom come alone through suffering," have fun!

Here is Madeline with her fan club. They were fascinated with her eating her cheese.

Joshie digging in:


Successful trip:
Pretty cherry blossoms:

Lost in Translation

I have had this post sitting around for awhile because I know as soon as I post it I will find the most hilarious addition, but time is awastin'.

I don't speak a lot of Korean. I only have a few useful phrases that I am able to use, so I do give those Koreans who speak broken English lots of credit. Howeva, there are many opportunities for laughter when a translation doesn't go quite right.

Signs like this one at the park:

Or items like this coffee machine downtown: Not a coffee drinker? How about some sweat? Mmmm, refreshing!

We bought this potty seat at Emart for Josh. It's a Winnie the Pooh theme. As you can see, it's a product from their "Baby Pooh" line...

Madeline's Baptism

Madeline was baptized this evening at Our Lady of Peace (church on base). So far all three of our baptism have been very different.

Andrew was baptized during mass with another baby. Joshua had his own private ceremony in a small sanctuary. For Madeline's, we started the ceremony at the front of church and then walked in the processional. Then we went through the mass until it was time for the baptism and all of us went to the altar. Josh and Andrew had jobs. Andrew was in charge of holding the chrism (I believe that's the right word for holy oil) and Josh held the baptismal candle (not lit). Let's just say that our future altar boy will be Andrew. Josh was twirling that candle like a baton. We thought for sure he would break it. Then, both Ainsley and I got to pour water on Madeline's head. She cried, it was probably really cold! Then at the end of mass, we went back up to the altar for another special blessing. It was neat.

Here is a picture with our priest Father Voelker.

Kindergarten Performance

For weeks, all we have been hearing about from Andrew is: "Mom, don't forget, on March 28 is my big performance, okay?"

The kindergartners performed three songs at the Volunteer Appreciation dinner last night.

(Pardon the red eyes, but after packing up three kids, snacks, the video camera, etc, the last thing I wanted to worry about was bringing the nice camera. But, I have learned my lesson and will bring the better camera next time....)

Here is a picture of Andrew when he finally spots me in the crowd:

This was a fun song about being LIONS:

The one song they actually sang without musical back up was one about being "Children of the Air Force." It was too precious. But I have to get that off the video camera which is going to take awhile.

Afterwards the kids were treated to ice cream sundaes and balloon animals from a very cranky clown named Scrabbles. Josh with his "monkey" (we thought it was a dog, but what do we know)

Andrew's signature move (he's been doing this in a lot of pictures lately)

And to think I almost missed this for a day of shopping in Seoul.... shame on me!

Madeline the Peanut Princess

Madeline had her 1 year well baby check today and she is TINY! Here are the stats:

weight: 16 lbs 10.5 oz (off the chart, sound familiar?)
height: 29.75 inches (70th percentile)
head: 46cm (80th percentile)

When Angela was one, she weighed 16 lbs 15 oz, so Maddie is not that far off the mark. Still, she is so small that we are starting the whole weekly weight check thing like we did with Andrew.

In addition, we are back to the Pediasure diet (again, shades of Andrew) and just stuffing her with as many calories as we can. Butter on everything, ice cream if she'll have it, etc. Quite possibly the luckiest baby ever.

Developmentally, she is great. She says "uh-oh", "all done," "chicken (chichi)," "up," "this," "nigh nigh," "dada", and "mama". She's walking lots more and likes to put things on her head and feel them slide off. She still loves to dance and does a cute little hop when she's really gettin' down.

We did all the bloodwork to make sure nothing weird is going on, but having been down this road once before, I'm sure she'll be fine. Just petite!