Reading

This year we started schooling the Nature Girl in the Nursery curriculum we use. She has been learning to write in cursive and her vowels and consonants and how to put them together as blends. She is doing very well. Tonight when I was reading stories to the girls, the Nature Girl stopped me and started pointing at all the letters on the page she recognizes and calling out their names. The story could not go on until she was finished finding them all! It was so cute and made me proud as her teacher! As for the Artist, well she is having a blast reading books on her own. She reads things everywhere we go! It just tickles her to to know she is doing it "all by herself"! Yeah for home-school! How else could you share the joy of teaching your children to read and seeing them realize the gift they have been given?!

Just Like Heaven

I have to admit, autumn is my favorite season. All the beautiful colors everywhere. I have missed 7 autumns living in the Southwest. I have been wandering around Korea in awe like a child for the last month watching the trees change colors. It amazes me the way God paints the world for us. On the way to church today we saw a sidewalk covered in bright yellow leaves. The Artist said it was like heaven where the streets are gold. On the way home we stopped to grab some pictures of the brilliant leaves we saw today... I hope you enjoy them, too!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

The girls and I have been watching the leaves change and since we really don't want the season to end yet, we decided to bring the season inside with us. We collected leaves from a variety of trees while we were running errands and then made rubbings of them. We cut them out and decorated our room with them. The girls and I had a blast making our own pile of leaves!

Learning to Ride Bike

I mentioned to the Artist the other day that I thought it was time she tried riding her bike without training wheels. She didn't say much at the time (which is surprising for her) but told me later that she wanted her daddy to teach her how to ride her bike. He was out in the field (army talk for pretending to be doing their jobs in a battlefield environment) for a few days, so I told her she would have to wait until he returned. When he got home, that was one of the first things she started talking about. That weekend, my husband removed the training wheels and took both girls out to practice riding. The Artist did very well. She will be riding without training wheels soon. Though, I do expect to have quite a few bumps and bruises on her until she learns to keep her eyes on the road. The Nature Girl did very well, too. She wobbles alot, but she stayed upright pretty well. It was so cute to hear the Artist's thoughts on learning to ride. She told me, "I am nervous about riding my bike without training wheels. Do you think I should try it or not, mommy?" I like that she can articulate her thoughts so well. While she was riding on her own for a stretch, her sister hollered out to her, "Great job! You're the best! I love you." Awww can you get any cuter? 9/18/2009

2nd Annual Blue and Orange Ball

My dh had a company ball to go to. He avoids these things like the plague, but I like them. It is an opportunity for me to go out with my husband all dressed up for dinner. Since I didn't expect the army to be having events like this in Korea, I didn't pack my fancy dress(es) or my husband's suit. So my sweet neighbor let me borrow her dress (Thanks!). I was able to meet a few new people there that my dh works with. I am always glad to get a chance to get a picture with my man!

Soyosan Mountain

I have been aching to see autumn leaves for years. I have been living in the Arizona desert and central Texas for the last 7 years. They just don't have fall there. When you grow up in PA and NY state, you know what autumn is supposed to look like. So, I talked my dear husband into going hiking with the girls and I so I could try to catch some trees in their glory. Well, unfortunately, we were a little early to catch the color, but we had a good time climbing the mountain.


Soyosan Mountain

A horse statue with my girls and their friend

The only trees I caught with color.

I want to come back in the spring... I believe that this is a resting area covered with wisteria vines.

The Nature Girl with a walking stick. Checking out what new discoveries she can make.

Hiking up the road, the beginning of the mountain trail.

The sign telling about the temple located on the mountain.

The arch where you pay to enter the mountain. It cost about $3.00 for the 5 of us to get on the mountain. It cost $2.00 to park.

A waterfall and a grotto with a shrine to budda.


Proof that I was there. lol

The ajama who took the picture wanted to have her picture taken with the girls.

Waterfall

Nature Girl couldn't help herself, she had to dig in the tire tread covered stairs to find a bit of nature to be her newest treasure.

Stairs, stairs and more stairs... oh, my calves hurt the next day!





Climbing the rocks


The Koreans were excited to see little ones do so well climbing their mountain. They would laugh and clap when they saw the girls.

We didn't make it to the top of the mountain. When we thought about the trip back down the mountain... helping and carrying small kids... we cut our hike short. But the girls hiked for a really long way. If I could have read the map, I might have had an idea about how far we went.



The strangest thing I think I saw was a station where they had compressed air so you could spray the dust off your pants at the end of the hike!!! We rebelled and left the dust on our pants. There was actually a line of people waiting to spray themselves off.

Chilies, chilies, everywhere

The Korean people love chili peppers and chili powder. It is in so much of their food. As you walk along, you see the plants growing everywhere. Once the chilies have ripened, they are laid out to dry. Usually on the street or sidewalk. I have even seen them laid out on the median of the road and once they were taking up a parking spot on the main road! So when you come to Korea, be prepared to see chilies everywhere!



Here, they blocked off a seldom-used road to dry chilies!



Here are some people laying out their peppers in the morning to dry for the day

Here are some dried peppers separated from their seeds.