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Sunday, 17 May 2009

  • Sara's Birthday Party

    Sara's birthday is June 11th which is usually during our summer travels.  So we celebrated a little early with a tea party at our house and her friends from school.  There were the five girls from her class and the other faculty children from fourth grade.  They dressed up, we played charades, had tea cup races, and of course had tea and fancy treats.  The girls all had fun.  Jonathan and Jamie Lee came over to play with Silas and Nina at the same time.  Jamie and Nina had their own tea party in her room. Silas and Jonathan wore their suits to greet the guests and escort them up the elevator. Then they quickly changed clothes and resumed more boy-like activities.  Check out the photos.

        



Sunday, 26 April 2009

  • Spring Break Adventures

     
      We've been back at school for two weeks already but we had a very mentally refreshing although very physically active Spring Break this year. We stayed in Daejeon but did lots of day trips.  We went swimming at the indoor pool, hiked on the mountain in search of cherry blossoms, played and rowed at the lake, bicycled in Songnisan, and walked around the Hwasong Fortress in Suwon.  We had lots of adventures.  We were a few days too early for the cherry blossoms on the mountain but we saw tadpoles, people picking wild herbs, and discovered that our trail through the woods has been de-wooded...so sad. 
      We went to the lake with Grant Dewey and his boys. We took two inflateable boats to paddle, the kids covered themselves completely in mud, made sand castles, laid in the sun, and then got chased away at the end of the day by a police boat.  Apparently you have to have a permit to "boat" on the lake.  Oops!  It was lots of fun though.  I wish I had pictures of Sara sitting in her mud puddle.
      John and I went on a date to bicycle at Songnisan...it was about 35 miles around the park and mostly around the mountains...it was great to be out together but John's version of "flat" is different than mine:)  He had to do a lot of coaching those last 5 miles! 
     We all took the train for a day trip to explore the Hwasong Fortress in Suwon.  It was built in 1750 but has been restored. It's 5K around but we walked for 3 hours and didn't finish...it's our mini version of the Great Wall of China. The modern day city of Suwon has grown up both inside and outside of the fortress walls.  The kids had lots of fun looking for the names of the people who made the original bricks although I'm not sure we ever found any...just graffiti I think.
      The next few weeks are full of end of the year activities at school.  We have 6 more weeks before our summer vacation begins.   The days will be so full I'm sure they will fly by faster than even we would like:)
      Check out the Spring Break album for more photos. 

     
     

Sunday, 29 March 2009

  • Time to catch up...

     I've been meaning to post to our blog for quite a while now but I didn't realize that it had been since January.  We've had a busy winter and are excited at the beginnings of spring happening around us and the nearness of summer.   

      We were blessed to request and get approval for me to be allowed to work only part time at school beginning in August.  So we will be staying in Korea at least through June of 2011.  I'll also be changing positions from the Early Learning Center to working with research curriculum in the secondary library.  It's been wonderful to have been with Nina while I had to work full time but I am excited to have more time at home...both for our family and for being able to have students over on a more regular basis.  So I won't be with Nina in the mornings next fall but I'll get to bring her home with me in the afternoons. I've never had that kind of time with just her so it will be fun to do that for a year before she starts kindergarten in 2010.   John will stay in the same history position.

     We're  making plans to be back in Florida this summer from mid-June to the end of July.  Just looking at the calendar and all that we'd like to do in that time  and I know it will go by very quickly. We leave here June 8 and will spend about  a week in Hawaii before we head to Florida.  It will be a nice long "layover" for us.  We found a pool and have been trying to get Nina used to the water and  Silas used to the water again...he's forgotten that he knows how to swim.  Sara's part fish and has even been learning to use a snorkel and fins so she'll be all ready to look for sea turtles and fish.  I can't wait to watch the kids explore outdoors, to see a big blue sky, and to feel the sand between my toes.  

      John's on his way home today from a two week teacher exchange trip.  Our school exchanges teachers once per year with  St.Georges School in Rhode Island.  The first part of his trip was aboard the school's teaching sailboat in the waters surrounding the Puerto Rico islands.  What a rough "business trip!"  They snorkeled with sea turtles, watched schools of rays playing, and spotted  a whale.  After a  week on the boat he went to observe at the school in Rhode Island.  He had a great trip but we are more than excited to have him coming home tonight!     

      I'll post some photos to a March album of the last few months.  Last weekend Silas "ran" (sprinted and walked) his first 5K. He was very proud. I thought it might slow him down the rest of the day...not a chance!

     

Monday, 26 January 2009

  • Happy Lunar New Year!

     We have a nice had long weekend (5 days) off from school for the Lunar New Year celebration in Korea.  We haven't really done anything to celebrate aside from eating some special Korean snacks but have enjoyed relaxing together. We have had lots of cold weather and several snow flurries this winter but not enough to sled on until this past Sunday and just for a few hours.  We call it snow and our Canadian friends say "..snow? When did it snow?"  We went out before they salted the smaller roads and found a few short runs before it melted. Another family from school has a Husky that pulled their children around the soccer field on their sled. Now that looked like great fun! They were just heading home when we got there.  Maybe next time we can join them:)

    We've also been baking, making Valentine's Day cards, playing in the gym at school, reading a ton, and dreaming of summer with lots of swimming.  

    Nina getting ready to play in the snow...

    Here's Nina getting ready to play in the snow.  These were the only long underwear choice in the backwoods of New Zealand 18 months ago. They finally fit her well.   Nina asked if she could please wear them to school just like this.

    Check out the albums for some more photos of Christmas and snow.    

       

Wednesday, 24 December 2008

  • Christmas Eve

     

    When the Sara was 3 and Silas was almost 2 we started acting out the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve.  This year we decided to record our story.  We did not have a rehearsal so there are several bloopers to keep you laughing as you watch.   I must also clarify that Nina is not normally a nose picker but something must be itching her nose tonight.  The video also ends with Silas as one of the three kings worshiping Jesus with a song...for those of you not fluent in Korean he is singing Happy Birthday in Korean.  Click on the image above to see the video. 

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  • jandhwilloughby
    @jbreezy8 - The newest Brownlee would be born already...it would be like when we came with Nina. We'd love to have you back!
  • jbreezy8
    Trying to convince my wife that Korea is the spot to be next year. Not really working out. See if you can make a stop at our place for a couple of days. Seattle is usually nice in June or July for a layover. Hope all is well at the Willoughby household on the first day back to school.Jim, Julie