28 April 2008

Ohio Star quilt


In my free time I've been making quilts for all the gals that have been having babies. It's a good outlet for the detail-oriented engineer in me :) I decided to try a new "Ohio Star" design for this quilt. The nursery had a transportation theme, and maroon and blue accent. The fabrics are a speckled red, silver stars on a blue field, tan neutral and an antique aircraft print. Backing is blue flannel- finished size 48"x 48". This quilt was lovingly made for Isaac Ray Teague, born Feb 20, 2008.
Posted by Picasa

23 April 2008

New web album

April web album

click on above link to see new pictures and comments from the last 2 weekends...

New tent!

Evan has a new tent/bed that we found at the New Core Mall for $9... what a deal! Evan is quite delighted to press his face into the mesh sides and top, making him look like a molten wax figure. Ernie, Bert, Neptune and a soccer ball keep him company in the tent. We've tried having him sleep in it the last few nights, but he prefers to read and play in the tent and sleep on the stack of futami mats in his room.

This weekend, we went for a walk around a local park/waterway. There were people having picnics in tents... like, camping tents... apparently this is a way to commune with nature and keep the bugs from invading your kimchi. The tent we got for Evan is actually very well made- complete with a tarp-like bottom to repel moisture from the ground, and nice zippers on the door and window.
Posted by Picasa

14 April 2008

Off to school!

Evan is happy to go to school these days. He's very helpful getting dressed, helps me pack his diapers, snack, water bottle, and lunch tray into his red backpack. The lunch tray is provided by the school and he brings it home every afternoon for me to clean it, before he takes it back the next day. A typical lunch menu is a rice and grain dish, soup or meat dish, vegetable side, and fruit. The soup on Thursday was a seaweed soup with dried fish- he ate it, I guess, but WOW did it stink up his tray!
I'm very glad he's a willing and adventurous eater- spinach, beans, curry, fish, beans... don't seem to phase him at all.
Today was the first day I asked if I could take a picture of him with his backpack on- to show his grandparents. He was happy to pose for the camera before we went downstairs to catch the bus.

13 April 2008

Springtime photos



We had our first rainy day last week- but the flowers are out and blooming, drinking up the rain and intermittent sunshine. Photo on the left is the main street into base. Lots of steep hills around here!

There is a beautiful parkway between our house and the route to the main highway- the forsythia are in full bloom along the road. It reminds me of a bush that grew in our backyard when I was a kid.

This weekend we went for a walk downtown to shop for a lightweight blanket for our bed. The cherry blossoms were blooming along the street, the forsythia hedges were spilling over the fences in the neighborhood. A lovely time of year to be in Korea! And to think it was all brown and dirty just 10 days ago! The boys were nice enough to pose for the camera while we walked downtown- a light breeze was blowing the petals off the buds- Evan was excited to see "snow" again :)

Sunday afternoon we went for a drive to explore the area near Pyongtaek. We didn't make it to the lake, but visited a high-rise mall/grocery store while Evan napped. I took this picture on the way back to Songtan. I think it's an elementary school- all the schools here are very colorful with huge playgrounds and green space around them. The plantings near city buildings are quite spectacular. Evan's school is happily decorated in spring colors with amazing detail and 3D foam irises on the seasonal bulletin boards- I'll try to take a picture in the coming days.

07 April 2008

Arboretum


Follow this link to see the Korean website:
Mulhyanggi Arboretum

We visited the Osan Arboretum this past weekend with another young family. The kids all enjoyed running around and the adults enjoyed letting them run around :) It's a beautiful park just north of Osan- about 15 minutes from our apartment. The grounds feature a manicured labyrinth, tropical greenhouse, "insectarium", picnic areas, paved walking/biking trails, an orchard, and many acres of forest to explore.


Evan ringing the bell at the center of the labyrinth- Yeah! We did it!

06 April 2008

My soup is moving...



Soup from "the 4500": BOILING oxtail broth with whipped eggs and green onions cooking on top. Notice Evan is too busy eating to talk to me...
Posted by Picasa