Typhoon? Is that really going to stop us?

The second day of school was canceled because of Typhoon Baloven coming into town today. The boys decided to take advantage of the opportunity of a little down time and decided to get busy on this fort. They were then allowed to eat lunch underneath watching TV. I am so thankful for wood floors... Easy to sweep up and take care of. No,the Typhoon here in our area wan't a big deal, but even Brandon had work off and just about everything was shut down on all of the posts in Daegu. We knew it was a big deal even when our apartment announced the Typhoon a few times during the day and we know this because the only thing we could understand them say was Typhoon and thank you. Thankfully there isn't a Korean word for Typhoon. We only get bits and pieces of what is being said. At least we are getting that much right? Hopefully there will be school tomorrow!

Boys, Boys, Boys!!!!

Yay! The boys are off to school today! Braxton is starting 4th grade and Isaiah starts 1st. They both have been growing up so much. It couldn't have come on a better day. A lot of mom's have the problem of having a hard time sending their kids off to school. I am not one of those types of moms especially this morning. We were off to a rough start. We were all up at 5 am playing wii fully dressed with beds made and not wanting to miss out on any privileges that we had in the summer. They both have forgotten that when school is in session they only have 30 minutes of electronic devises per day and that happens only after school and any homework. We didn't want to have our pictures taken, but were quickly told that that is what all the good annoying mom's do and they got stuck with one of those. We were then upset about not wanting to take out the trash because their new school clothes would get dirty and remember you wanted to take our pictures? Then we were upset because we wanted to ride the bus to school and I told them that I would take them. It will be Isaiah's first day of first grade and he won't be getting taken off the bus with an aide this year. I can't believe how hard I am making both of my kids lives. But then to top it all off. Our mad scientist Braxton was experimenting again. What would happen if he stuck a penny in the padlock portion of the door and then proceed to lock it. Well, yes to your question..... we discovered the answer. The door and the lock stay shut and stay locked. Thankfully we have a small office room next to our entry with a window. That is how we were able to get to school this morning. Yes, I have been debating to do the great mom thing of having homemade cookies ready for when they get off the bus this afternoon. They may just get them I am still deciding;)

Needless to say we had to call our real estate agent to coordinate the property manager to see if the door could be fixed. The doors here are a lot different than they are in the states. The hinges don't just come off easily with a hammer and a screwdriver. I really haven't figured out how to get them off. I really thought that the door would have to be broken to fix it. But the door was fixed in about 10 minutes. And it didn't get broken. And so I may not stay mad. But I gotta love the things the boys come up with to make life more interesting and even sometimes entertaining. What will they do tomorrow?

Stress Relief

I've been putting a lot of stress on myself lately by just worrying about life. And waiting to hear about things; that I just needed to get doing something to keep my mind on other things. So as I took Braxton's school teacher to the fabric market the other day I decided that I was going to give myself a project to work on. I have never made pillows before and I wanted to do something more with our couches and tie something in with our crazy wallpaper. I found this darling designer fabric for cheap and decide that I was going to make some pillows without a pattern and no measuring. I figured it would be fairly easy. I also put in some hidden zippers so that they can be washed if needed. Now I'm thinking that I may need a few more of them in different sizes. They also had coordinating fabrics. Hummm... endless possibilities. The boys are liking them a little too much. But it is fun to be able to have something to do to keep one's mind occupied for a time. Now what to do about next week?

Phi Phi "Pee Pee" Islands and more shopping

We decided to take one last excursion to do some more snorkeling. We went to the Phi Phi Islands and it sounds like "Pee Pee" When you say it and so the boys were so excited to be able to say potty talk and not to have to get into trouble. The snorkeling was fabulous. The water was beautiful and clear and we could see coral and beautiful fish. Isaiah was a little nervous at first to just jump right out into the ocean, but figured out that it could be fun quite quickly. Just by holding onto mom's hand made all the difference. Unlike our first snorkeling adventure Isaiah just wouldn't let go this time and I was okay with that too. As we were finishing with our snorkeling, we got out some bread that we had brought with us and threw it into the water while Brandon and Braxton were finishing up with their time out. Breathtaking! Wow! These islands were the most beautiful that we had been to while we were there. We also found out that Braxton gets sea sick! We took a slower ferry this trip and Braxton's tummy didn't like the trip too much. But once off the boat he was great again.

We finished our trip up with shopping and more relaxing. With more massages. I can now say that my neck knots were affecting my headaches and I am going to need to get them a little more often.

We had so much fun in Thailand and Isaiah cried so loudly because he said that he loved it there and didn't want to go back to Korea. It also helped having a live in dog "Rascal" living at the hotel that he could play with daily and a wonderful staff that we became quick friends with. The boys had to say goodbye to the restaurant server Ean three times and hotel receptionist Gay two times. I guess this trip topped every trip that we have been on. We can't wait to go again! I am also very sad that we had to come home, but glad to be back. Not glad to have to get back into responsibilities again.

Thailand Day 6 and 7

We took the boys to a dinner show Called Siam Niramit. Let's just say that the food was amazing. Buffet style and mostly Thai food. Yum! Everything delish. My favorite of the night was the crackling Thai noodle salad, and the curry soup. They provided a preshow show outside and brought out a traditional elephant army procession and let us take pictures. The show was just as good as any Broadway performance that we have seen. The front of the stage turned into a river within the first 30 minutes and then there was a Thai downpour which we were experiencing most of the time we were there. They brought out live animals including elephants goats and chickens. They has fantastic costumes and the dancing was amazing. It kept both boys attention. And better than that we were in Thailand during the slow season and the cheap seats were great. We were next to the stage and were very pleased.














Not much to see at the Phuket zoo, but it was fun to be able to see a few of the different shows that they had. This was the hottest and best weather day that we had while we were there and had a great time.


A little scary and sad as to how these elephants were in the cages. They were out in the open like this and just chained into a thing in the ground by one foot chain. Humm. Are we really safe?



















This was how close we were to these lovelies.











This guy had just stuck his head inside it's mouth. My camera was too slow to capture it!

Thailand Day 5

This was our lazy day in Thailand. The boys got to experience a massage because they are so cheap here. Braxton loved it and fell asleep within minutes and Isaiah was wiggling the entire time. We then took the boys down to the beach and let them play in the ocean for a little while. It downpoured on us while we were playing but it didn't matter because we were already wet and it had pretty much been raining off and on while we have been here. Fun, fun day!

Thailand Day 4

We took a very fun excursion this day and were very entertained. We first were taken to a monkey show where they showed us some ticks that one particular monkey could do, one being riding a trike. We were then brought to another area where we watched and participated in the snake show. It was so crazy what the trainer would do with the snakes. We were then brought to a 30 minute elephant ride where we started out riding in a seat strapped to the elephant's back and then about half way through the boys were allowed to ride on the elephant's neck. The Boys were thrilled. Isaiah pulled a leaf off of a tree and put it in front of our elephants eyes to get it to go a little faster. But the experience still wasn't over. We were then led out to the ATV's and rode around for a bit on some of the same jungle trials that we took the elephant ride on. The boys loved it especially when it started to downpour. It just made the mud fly and bigger puddles to splash in. We then were taken to a "fish spa" where the fish eat the gross skin off of your feet. We have tried this in Korea, but the fish were a bit bigger here. They loved
Braxton's feet.