DaisypathVacation Ticker

Thursday, June 26, 2008

NEO Chicks

Last women standing: Kim, Annalies, Gretchen, Me, Cathy (everyone else passed out early;)


I'm not sure how to fully explain the NEO Chicks or how I got involved in them, but they are a fun group of girls.

NEO stands for non-combatant evacuation operation. That means, when all hell breaks loose here, this is how they get all of the families out of Korea as fast as humanly possible. It may involve the use of these:



The one for babies is totally horrific. It's like putting your baby in a giant Ziploc bag with a bottle attached to it. Oh, yes, it even has a lovely harness so you can wear your baby around your neck if you need to. And, chances are, if the sh*t goes down, I would probably have to wear Madeline around my neck in order to carry all the paperwork, food, water and diapers I would need to escape. So, without saying anymore than I should, it would be a terribly horrific situation and it's one that I don't really care to think about too much.


Howeva, we are required to think about it a couple of times a year when we "practice." So, in order to combat what would otherwise be a depressing exercise, someone (can't remember who) came up with the brilliant idea to pre-party before we process the NEO line. Imagine, if you will, 20 or so liquored up women carrying their assortment of paperwork and gas masks through a military processing center and you have the NEO chicks.



After the first NEO, it was decided that we needed uniforms (pink T-shirts that say: No Woman Left Behind) and more practice was necessary to hone our skills. So we had plenty of parties to build up our tolerance. Then, when we had perfected our mad drinking skills, we took it out for a night on the town about a month ago. I stayed out until 1am (curfew) and actually got stopped on my way home at the Korean sobriety checkpoint by my house. I, of course, passed, or I would be writing this from some sad Korean jail.



But, I digress. Two weeks ago was our last get together, complete with the requisite drinking and a couple of rounds of Twister (which proved a lot more difficult as an adult). Gretchen beat me, but that's okay, she's going to Alabama, too, so I couldn't start off any rivalry with her just yet or it would be a long year ;) Just kidding. I am glad she'll be in the same neighborhood as me when we get back to America because she is loads of fun! Here is a picture of our butts:


According to Gretchen, the other Twister pictures were not flattering. What? Twister pictures not flattering? Shocker.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day!


Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies out there!

Today we celebrated with the traditional made-t0-order breakfast followed by gifts. Lucky for Ainsley, Andrew had drawn a dazzling portrait of Daddy at school AND did the Daddy Information sheet just like he did for Mommy.

My dad is "35" years old. (Correct!)


My dad weighs "200" pounds. (really 195 but who's counting)


My dad likes to eat "saek." (Steak -- correct!)


My dad's favorite show to watch on TV is "the news." (Yes, that's the only show Andrew is aware of his Daddy watching.)


My dad's favorite animal is "Gurela." (Gorilla -- um, okay...)


My dad's favorite thing to do is "go to work." (we have LOTS of fun around here)


My dad's favorite place to go is "The bolling ally." (hmmmm)


My dad always tells me "not to hit my borthr." (Correct!)


I love it when my dad Buys me toys. (Correct!)

We spent the day at the water park and came back just in time for the boys to see "Kung Fu Panda" at the movies.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Madeline - 15 months old

Madeline had her weight check this week and she now weighs 18 lbs 3.5 oz and is 31 inches long. That puts her in the just about the third percentile for weight and around the 75th percentile for height. Shocking, I know.
In other Madeline news, I thought you might like to see a picture of Madeline's first curl. It's in the center of the back of her head. If I have to make a prediction, I would say that her hair has Josh's coloring (duh) and Andrew's texture. It'll be another six months by our genetic calculations before she has enough hair to give a definitive answer.

At 15 months, she will follow a two step command like: "Go find Bunny and take her for a walk in your stroller." She will walk around the house calling for Bunny, "Bun! Bunny!" Which really sounds more like "Mun! Munny!" But she's into the calling for people thing because last weekend at the pool, Madeline and I were in the kiddie pool and the boys were in the big pool. She saw Daddy across the way and put her hands over her mouth and started calling, "Daaaaadddyyyy! Daaaaaaadddddy!" It was hilarious.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Calendar Men


Andrew and Josh keep their own calendars hanging next to their beds. They keep all of their important events on the calendars, like birthdays and pizza night. But there are some other important dates to remember:
For example, in March, Andrew was a dancing machine. As you can see, he was scheduled to "dans" everyday for about 2 weeks.




Or, the "Pig Mick" which was scheduled for yesterday. Andrew meant the Kindergarten "picnic" for the last day of school.



Our personal favorite is when the kids make an entry like on May 3:That is called "Mad Dad." Apparently, the kids got yelled at that day by Ainsley. Not to be confused with "Mad Mom" which happened on March 21 according to Josh's calendar which is on a boat to America.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Last Day of School!



So long, Osan American Elementary!

We'll miss Andrew's teacher, Mrs. Alcott. She's moving this summer, too. Check out Andrew's hat.
And the teacher's aide, Mrs. Tichota was super sweet, too.

So long, CDC!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008