Halloween snacks

This year snacks were made for both daycare and school. I have to thank the "hello cupcake" book with the cupcake idea this year. Werewolves! Rob got to deliver them to the kindergarten teach and said she went ga-ga over them. I had forgotten this is the first time making a snack like that for her class. I sure hope the kids love them and do not get too much froasting stains on them.

For day care we went a tad bit healthier (someone else signed up for cupcakes). Fruit salad in orange jack-o-lanterns.

Jack-o-lanterns

This year Ethan and I carved pumpkins. Rob helped Ethan some, mostly with the scraping. Ethan was able to do his own design and most of the cutting work. Here are some photos of his and mine. We still have not worked out a good way to photograph jack-o-lanterns.

Ethan's (Yes, the photo is sideways, not the pumpkin)

Christine's

First day of School

The first week of school has finally arrived here in Michigan. And Ethan is now in Kindergarten! Each day has gone smoothly, the largest adjustment being feeding him more before he leaves since he will not be having his second breakfast at daycare anymore. I wish I could tell everyone a lot about school but all I have been told so far is that it is "Awesome". I guess that is a good sign. Here are some photos.

Ethan with his backpack, yes, he did pick out the Army one. Which we were happy about, it has a larger main pocket and was better priced then the Transformer one.

Ethan at his locker that he shares with a kid in the pm kindergarten class.

Ethan at his chair. A couple seats down is a boy from Daycare that Ethan at times gets along with and at times does not.

Trip to Wisconsin

Ethan spent a week with his Grandparents in Wisconsin recently. Here are some photos that were taken.

Fun at the Racine Zoo.

Swimming and playing with cousins, Gregg and Mikey.

And this is why Uncle Jeff rocks! Ethan got to help with their drive way by moving dirt.He had a really good time and did not want to come home. A more common issue now-a-days when we leave any Grandparent's house.

Colorado Vacation

This summer for the July 4th vacation we went to Colorado. We spent time at Lake Jackson with family and took an excursion to Royal Gorge and Garden of the Gods. We really enjoyed our time there, the weather was wonderful and it was nice to see parts of Rob's side we rarely see. Ethan, of course, loved everything from the jet skiing to non-stop snacking, to sight-seeing.

Here is the view of Lake Jackson from the deck. The water was not too cold or green this year and the temperatures not too hot and NO large hail this time.

Ethan managed to get the best seat on the deck. I think everyone rotated through it. "Move your feet loose your seat" mentality going strong.

Everyone had fun with all the 'toys' at the lake. Ethan talked just about everyone into taking him jet skiing, her even went tubing behind one of them!

Our first stop away from the lake was Royal gorge. I very high suspension bridge. Admission allowed you to do everything so, we walked the bridge, did a petting zoo, visited a little town, rode the incline train, rode the carousal and everything else we could.



Our fishermen. Not sure how anyone would fish from bridge, but they sure say no fishing, just in case you thought you might.

Rob had a sore back the entire trip, not helped by jet skiing (yet did not stop him) so we thought we should size him.

And Grandma Gwen too. I think she did a much better job looking the part.

Inclined Railroad, almost verticle. It is much more of an elevator. In fact the company who made it is Otis. The cars each hold 4 people standing up. 2 trains run at same time.

A view from the bottom, by the river.
The little red dot is a cable car we rode on across the canyon as well.


The next morning we went to Seven Falls. It a a nice waterfall with a heck of a stair climb up and then some really nice hiking.

There were ALOT of steps! And they were steep!

This year Ethan did almost all his own hiking! No one carried him. While it does not looking it here, he was much more lively on the trails then it looks.

A cool place to rest with Grandpa Bill.

The VERY social wild life we saw. Chimpmunks that are not afraid. He was checking Ethan out. One even was in the gift shop. Came to our feet, looked up waited a moment and then moved on. We are told they di it often.

The last stop before heading back to the the Lake was Garden of the Gods. A park where red rocks are just shooting up out of the Earth.

After the trips we were back at the Lake for a few more days. Ethan even helped some of Rob's cousins put up their tents. I don't think he put any rocks under them this time.

Korea

Well, I have been back for a couple of weeks now. The trip was amazing! I was lucky enough to arrive there and home in the early evening so I ended up with very little jet leg and Tanja and I were able to do tons of things and get in our usual walk 10 miles a day on vacation. Yes, we are a tad bit nuts. We spent the majority of our time on the island of Cheju in Seowipgo. It was beautiful, lush, and wonderful sunny weather.

The first thing we did was take the high speed train to Busan. On the train they rain a cartoon that is meant to teach kids train manners, like talking quiet and not eating stinky foods. It was cute, but really funny.

This is the train station. It was very large and had a courtyard right in front of it.

This is the beach, that in the summer is covered with umberellas and people. Not so bad when we were there. Busan is a fishing community and there were plenty of markets selling fish and "fish-like" creatures. Not the place to be if you cannot stand the smell of raw fish.

Also while walking around we came across bumper cars. It seems you just do it self service style. We opted not to, but I am sure kids would love it.

From Busan we went to the airport and brought tickets to Cheju (cheap, cheap, like $50). Flying in Asia is great, you get on at your boarding time and then plane leaves, no waiting around. Plus it was drizzling a little bit so they bused us the 50 feet to the plane so no one would get wet. It was kind of funny.

We stayed at the Hyatt, here are the views from our room. We paid for a mountain view but got both mountian and ocean.

One of the sites we saw was a large Buddist temple. It is the only one where you can take photos on the inside. It was very neat, with TONS of golden Buddhas all around and really large ones inside. It also had ornate carve dragons inside. The painting all over is seen alot around, we had wondered if it gets painted before or after the wood is up. Later in the trip we saw part of a palace that was replaced, and it was unpainted so I guess the answer is after. It has to be back breaking, labor intesive work. The also had a natural spring in the area so they had fountian set up where you could get a drink or refill water bottles. Buddha's birthday was coming up so every where there were lanterns.

Just up the road from our hotel was a plaza where we had breakfast at the Ropleys Believe it Or Not cafe. Here is a sign for the plaza, by the way, its namesake was no longer in business.

Just up the road from Hooters Plaza was a botanical gardens. It was one of the best I've been too. Clean, non-plant smelly, and not sweltering hot. There were a bunch of high schoolers there. But unlike here they were quiet and not running around. The most important thing for them, the boys at least, was finding a gift for their girl friends. I was told if they did not buy something the girl woudl kill them. Seems like a constant in Korea that the girls have this power over the guys. They will go out of their way to take them home (even if they are not out together), buy them stuff, and carry their purses. It was more common to see guys with the purse then the girls.

The building the gardens were in was amazing. It had a triangle structure that really worked well. And when you went into the tower you could actually open the windows and linger.

While we were walking through the tropical plant section we came across this guy. He had some buddies with him too. There were a few other places that had creature as well. These at least fit in with the plant types I suppose. Some of the others, not so much if you ask me.

Just down the road from the gardens was a park with a waterfall. We actually visited 2 waterfall parks. One closer and one further. Here are photos from both.

What was nice is that admission into everything was cheap. Most cost aroun 2000 won or less then $2. The food price pre meal was about the same here, except that a meal would feed 2-3 people with the amount of things that come with it! Here is some of the food we ate.

This was my first meal in Korea, Dunkas. Pork pounded out and breaded and fried. Good. But as you can see it comes with alll this other stuff. Some good some not, some I did not try. Like the dried little fish. I already knew I did not like those.

This was Korean BBQ. We ate BBQ twice, this was the first time and we had beef. It was very tasty. You cook it at the table, then wrap the meat and whatever else you want in leaf lettuce and eat. Extermely yummy!

I have now had pizza in 3 countries. USA Ireland, and Korea! It was good, a multi-meat pizza. Not exactly what Tanja thought she was ordering but things are not the same place to place it turns out. But good none the less. This was the one meal with out excess side dishes.

But we both still left full.

After Cheju was had a couple of days in Seoul area where we shopped and played. We went to see the palace which is right in downtown amidst all the modern buildings. But what was more surprising was to learn that Koreans like to protest so the main roads were lined with police buses that had police in them waiting if needed to do roit patrols! No rioting while we were there. Did see the US embassy, a non-impressive old building.

We did several other things as well. But it would just take too long to go through the greater then 300 photos I took. It was a really great trip. I would reccommend any one to go. Most menus are in English as well, and the people are friendly. It is easy to get around, I think even without a guide like I had. And there is plenty to do. It was nice having a slower less busy place like Cheju island and then the busier city life of Seoul and Insadong. Now, if I had only had an extra week.