Apartment

I woke up early again this morning, after having coffee (5th cup of the day!) with Anna last night and having one of those soul searching what the heck am I doing kind of talks. I also saw a couple of other friends while we were sitting there.

Dallas stopped off at my apartment around 8:30 to borrow black eyeliner to make a Harry Potter scar for his Halloween costume for school. By that point I had already been up, had breakfast and coffee and started arranging my clothes, suitcases and other random things around the apartment. I finished that up and took pictures for you people. So here you go:

This is the view from my door, standing in the shoe drop area. On the right side is the doorway to my kitchen/laundry room. The door on the left is my bathroom.

This is the view of my bed from the kitchen. You can see the shoe area I mentioned in the bottom left. The basket at the end of the bed has sheets and some cushions that will be used at chairs if anyone comes to visit.

 Not sure if you could see all the colors of my bed in the above picture, so here is a close-up. There is a blue striped fitted sheet, covered by a green and white polka dot Korean sheet thing, then an orange and green thin comforter and lastly the yellow and white flowered top cover. Plus the multiple pillow cases.

 This is the view from standing in the bathroom. My fridge is in the far left corner next to my clothes.

This is my bathroom. It is pink with a window to the alley behind my building. It's high enough up that people shouldn't be able to see in, although there is a balcony with air conditioners where if someone was fixing them they could totally see in. In the bottom left corner you can see 2 hoses. I am not really sure what they are for - maybe cleaning the bathroom? In the right hand corner where you can't really see is the shower. Something you might not see is the sink. That's because there isn't one. I am still getting used to it. There is a faucet with a turn dial to switch from "sink" to shower, but if the "sink" is on, it just falls to the floor. So I've been brushing my teeth etc. in the kitchen, which feels weird, but better than having a wet floor all the time.

This is my kitchen - you can't really see the sink but it's in the corner behind the door. Just like last time, there's no oven. But I do have a microwave on top of my fridge, a toaster oven (that is sitting on the gas burner) and an electric kettle (that is sitting on the washing machine). In the bottom left of the picture is my washing machine. I haven't used it yet, but it could be interesting. There is a drain in the middle of my kitchen floor, so it will a surprise to see if my kitchen floor will flood, or just get damp when I do laundry. I will keep you updated.

Home away from apartment

So I still don't have internet because the other teacher (the one I am replacing) is still here so I have to wait until he's gone tomorrow to have it transferred to my apartment. That means I'm back in Cafe Bene. The people here are starting to know me - not that I blended the first day or anything, but this is the 3rd day in a row I've come in a sat at the same table. This is technically the second time today that I've been here :)

I had dinner last night with Josh and Dallas. We ate at a tiny shop very close to my apartment. I met Josh first and he and I both ordered bibim guksu - super thin noodles in a spicy red sauce with a hard boiled egg on top. That's Josh's usual order apparently and I think it might be the first time I've tried it. It was really good. Dallas met us a little later and didn't order anything because he had already eaten. We chatted for a bit, then they left and I went home.

This morning I woke up at 5:30, then did a combination of reading and sleeping until 9:30 when I got out of bed. I made my usual trek to the coffee shop and was the only one here for almost 2 hours (other than the staff). I met Keung He, a friend I made last time (duh) for lunch at noon and she took me to a soup place. We had Soondubujigae - soft tofu soup. It was very good - spicy, but not so much that my nose runs. They also had good side dishes. I didn't try all of them (including the pieces of white fish), but I did eat bean sprouts, spicy carrots, broccoli with something on it and some seaweed thing. I wore my Uggs today and they have button up sides. I need to remember to wear slip-on shoes when I go places with Keung He because she usually takes me to Korean places and you have to take your shoes off. I held up 3 old guys at the door. I tried to let them go past me, but she told me not to worry about it. It was so nice seeing her - she always makes me feel happy because she is such an upbeat person - even when she is sad! After soup we had coffee and talked about her new job - she is at a new school now.

After coffee with Keung He, I went to my school to look at some books and get some information from Seth. Woods had his old phone for me and we went to set it up. He had to leave early because he was interviewing a new student, so I waited at the phone store while they set it up, then walked back to the school. I am glad it was a sunny day because otherwise I would have been cold - I'm currently wearing a t-shirt and it's starting to get chilly here now. When I got back, Seth showed me a few more things, then I left before the students got there. I got a few essays to grade, then went back to Cafe Bene to update this blog, facebook and check email again.

I already have a busy schedule for the next few days. I'm meeting up with various friends to catch up, saying goodbye to Anna, starting work and then going to visit Liezle this weekend. It's odd though because even with all of the plans I have, I am feeling lonely. I'm not sure why. Possibly because I haven't lived alone in the last 6 months. Even when I was "alone", there was always a dog or cat around and then a person within a few hours, so I was never truly by myself. Here, on the other hand, I'm by myself for a majority of the time. Even when there are other people around, they aren't really interacting with me. I think this feeling will change when I start work for real because I will be busy for a large chunk of the day instead of wandering around.

Pictures etc. of my apartment and other general info is still in the works, don't worry, I haven't forgotten :)

Government

I woke up again at 7 on Monday morning. I think it's jet lag related, but it still seems odd because that would be 6pm EST and it's not like that was a normal time for me to wake up from napping or anything. I had coffee, frosted flakes and took a shower. I still don't have my luggage, but my clothes were dry from being washed the other day (although I still wouldn't really call them clean). I read for a little while until my boss picked me up at 9 to go to Masan to get my alien card.

In Korea (and I'm assuming in most other countries as well) you have to have a visa if you're staying for a period of longer than 90 days. There are different visas for different purposes - studying, working, missionary work etc. For most teachers, we get an E2 work visa. It's good for a year. Within 3 months of entering Korea, you have to go to an office and officially register. You also get an alien registration card (or ARC). You usually need this card to do stuff like open a bank account and get a phone. Luckily I still have my bank account open from the last time I was here and my boss is transferring his phone to me (I still pay the user fee though). It's relatively easy (at least from what I have to do, but then again I stand there for the most part while my boss does the rest) to get the ARC.

You have to have your passport with the visa attached, photos and a medical check. I asked about the medical check, but my boss didn't think I needed to have it when first applying for the ARC - he thought you might be able to do the check later or use a self-check from home (which you have to send with initial paper work in order to get a visa number for the visa application - ok, so maybe it isn't as easy as I think it is). One thing that I find interesting is that Korea changes the rules often and doesn't always tell everyone. I don't think it is in an obvious place to find - like a website or something. I know some things are listed - for example when you apply for a visa with the consulate, everything that you need is listed in a chart and you just follow what it says.

We got to the office and realized that I didn't have any pictures with me. I sent them with my original application which was all I needed to do last year - they used the same pictures - but apparently that has changed and I needed new ones. Luckily there was a photo booth in the office. I guess that happens a lot. I paid 6000 won for 6 passport sized pictures. The only bad part was that I was wearing a shirt that I had been wearing for 4 days and didn't have make-up or anything on because I wasn't expecting to have to take a picture. It's not awful, but it's not the best looking picture either. Oh well, it's only going to be on my ID card that I have to show lots of places for the next year, no biggie.

After getting my picture taken, we started to fill out some paperwork, then talked to an immigration officer who said I needed to have the medical check done first. So then we went to a near-by hospital where we waited in one line only to be told we were in the wrong spot and then waited in another line. The check itself was relatively easy (and I went through it last time too so I knew what to expect). They measure and weigh you, check your blood pressure, do a vision and hearing test, take a blood and urine sample and a chest x-ray. The lady had some difficulty getting my blood (which is typical for me) (and my elbow is still sore 6 hours later!) but eventually found a vein.

This hospital was different because they did everything but the x-ray in the same big room and last time I was in a bigger hospital and we went from check point to check point. This time they also did a chest measurement where the lady literally took a tape measure and put it around my bust line. The other difference is that last time they did some check of my teeth or jaw bones and they didn't do that this time. The whole check lasted about 20-30 minutes. The only problem is that the final results (which you need for the ARC) won't be ready until Wednesday. While we were waiting for my tests to be done, my boss looked up some other information and we found out that we can get the ARC in Jinju, but only on random Wednesdays. So next Wednesday (assuming I passed the med check) we will go downtown and my ARC done.

The funniest part of the whole thing to me was a questionnaire that I had to fill out. It's basically a psychological section because they don't want depressed or alcoholic teachers (I guess). The reason it was funny is because the questions were beyond obvious. You had to say how often you felt certain ways. Some of the questions were things like "I always feel sad" or "I am lonely and have no friends" or "I use alcohol to numb my feelings". Then you had to write any previous medical concerns or medications.

After the med check we drove an hour back to Jinju and chatted. We did a couple of other paper work related things, then I had the rest of the day off. I ate some more cereal, drank another cup of coffee, then went back to Cafe Bene to use their internet. I have been sitting here for over 4 hours now checking email, writing, posting things to facebook and chatting with people. It's probably time for me to go since I need to run back to my apartment before meeting Josh and Dallas for dinner.

First day back

If you read my last post you know that I didn't get "home" until after 1 on Sunday morning Korean time. Even with my lack of sleep and being exhausted, I still woke up at 7 am Sunday morning and couldn't really fall back asleep. I went out to the corner store and bought shampoo and coffee mix (I forgot how much I missed Maxim - I guess because my mom always had coffee already made in the mornings). I took my Nook with me and attempted to find some internet. I ended up standing near the bus stop and logging on to a food store across the street. I messaged Liezle and Anna on facebook and told them I'd be at a coffee shop around 12 if they wanted to come find me since I didn't have a phone yet.

Then I went back to my apartment, showered, made coffee (I am totally getting an electric kettle when I get home by the way. It boils water in less than a minute and is awesome.) then got back in bed and read for a couple of hours. Then I decided to go to the coffee shop and email people, write on this blog and check to see if the girls messaged me back. They did and they showed up right after 12.

We went to our "usual" spot for lunch and all had soup for lunch. It was sad because I couldn't remember what it was called but we eventually figured it out. After lunch, we went downtown because Anna was looking for souvenirs and also some stationary because she was working on a letter writing project for her classes. This is Anna's last week in Korea and I am so glad that I got to see her (and will hopefully get to see her later this week) before she left. We found some giant bears at a store downtown, then wandered around for a little bit. We ran into 2 other friends of ours there and I said hello. They also introduced me to another Ryan who recently moved to Jinju. The four of us went to a different coffee place (Angel in Us) and sat upstairs in the balcony and people watched while we drank coffee. I seriously need to remember to keep my camera out at all times because some interesting characters walked by.

After coffee we went across the bridge to another area of town and had pork bbq for dinner. It was pretty good. It was kind of funny because at first we were the only people there because we went to dinner at like 5. Liezle had to catch a bus back to Masan because she was trying to get back for another friend's going away dinner (but I don' think she made it) so she left right after dinner. Anna, Ryan and I went to MBC theater and met some other people to watch the new James Bond movie. I enjoyed it even though I've only ever seen 1 other James Bond movie (and it was Pierce Brosnan one). After the movie I went home and read for a bit then fell asleep. It was good day and I was glad that I was able to see Anna and Liezle at the same time before Anna has to go.

The three amigos after dinner

I'll tell you more about my initial feelings about being back in Korea and going to get my ARC in the next post.

Rollercoaster of a trip

I'm here in Jinju now - back home - sort of. I'm in a new apartment, start at a new school and the majority of my friends aren't here anymore, but there is still a comfort of knowing where you are when you walk out the door. I'll go into more details about all of that soon, but for now, I'll tell you about my adventure to get here.

It started off on Thursday night EST when I somehow had to get rid of 7 pounds of clothes and/or move them into different bags. Mom helped me tons and I ended up with 2 huge roller bags. According to our home scale I was a few pounds short - according to the airport scales the next morning, one was 51 and the other was 50 - but they didn't hassle me about it so I didn't care. Originally I tried to get away with not having an additional carry-on (other than my backpack) but that didn't happen. All of my shoes ended up in a smaller roller bag. I also have a box of summer stuff that mom is going to send me soon (thanks mom!).

So I don't often sleep well when I have to wake up early in the morning - paranoia or something. So I probably had 3-4 hours of sleep at best when I got out of bed at 5:45 Friday morning (Happy bday Wawa!) to get read to leave. All my bags were packed and I just had to shower and feed Layla one last time (bye bye pumpkin - don't pee in mom's house please). We decided to leave a little earlier than we really needed to because Atlanta rush hour traffic can be crazy. Luckily we basically avoided it all. I'm still glad we left early because the airport now has a new International terminal which is clear on the other side of the airport - like a 15-20 drive around the airport. It's tacked on the end of the existing airport once you're inside, but to check in you have to go around. It's new and beautiful and clean and had no wait either at check-in (where they didn't charge me for my second checked bag - woot!) or at security. Because we were there so early, mom and I decided to get a coffee before I went through the gate. It is always sad saying goodbye and I loved spending the last few weeks with my mom because she makes me laugh (often unintentionally) and we got a lot done.

The first let of my trip was pretty easy - my plane left Atlanta at 10:30ish and was a 3 and 3. It was super full so they offered to check carry-on backs to your final destination. I decided to do it so I wouldn't have to lug my shoe bag through the next airport. I sat in the way back in the middle seat. I was between a guy who works for the CDC in public diseases (on his way to a conference) and a guy who was in his 2nd (I think) year in med school somewhere in Massachusetts (on his way to a mini-internship and to visit his brother). The 3 of us talked for a lot of the 5 hour ride. The 2 things that sucked were 1- you had to pay for movies and most TV shows (I didn't and watched the free random stuff) and 2 -they didn't feed us (except for 1 bag of mini pretzels). They had food you could buy, but I didn't feel like it.

When we landed in San Francisco, I had about an hour and a half to get to my next flight. I had to exit the domestic side and check in with Singapore air at the international terminal (again on the other side of the airport, but luckily I was close so it wasn't too far of a walk). When I checked in, the guy was slightly confused because I had 3 checked bags with no additional fees noted. I told him one was carry-on and that they never told me I had to pay in Atlanta. He didn't argue and gave me my boarding pass. I had to go through security again which took about 25 minutes. I called Roll while waiting in line and got to say bye to her. When I was close to my gate, I heard my name being paged. That has never happened to me before and I was all panicky because I thought they might bump me or something. Luckily all that happened was they moved me to an exit row seat. My seat was actually quite nice - I had lots of leg room and could stretch out, had the side to lean on (but oddly no window) and the best part was that I didn't have to climb over anyone to pee!

International flights are awesome because they give you free stuff. I had a gin and tonic shortly after take-off and then proceeded to watch about 5 movies (Ted, Step Up Revolution, The Lucky One, the Dark Knight Rises, Rock of Ages and part of Magic Mike). I only slept for about 15 minutes after they turned off the tv. They fed us 2 meals which were pretty good. They also gave us snacks and water and hot towels. The strangest, but delicious, part was when they walked around after the first meal with dessert of ice cream sandwiches. I would recommend Singapore Airlines for the flight experience.

The bad part happened when we landed in Seoul. It's pretty easy to find your way around the airport in Seoul and luckily I had done it before anyway. Customs didn't have a line at all and I zipped through it to baggage claim where I waited...and waited...and waited. The bag I checked as carry-on in Atlanta made it but my other 2 didn't show up. After 20 minutes of staring at the baggage carousel (and when it stopped moving) I went to the help desk. Luckily the lady spoke pretty decent English and was also nice enough to let me use the desk phone to call my boss. Between the 2 of them, I found out my bags were left in San Francisco. Why? I don't know. They are supposed to arrive in Seoul tonight and hopefully will get delivered to Jinju on Monday morning. At that point, I had been awake for 23 hours and was all jittery because all my clothes, toiletries and well, everything, were in those bags. I blame my mom and friend T-Dawg who kept saying weird stuff about my bags.

So, at that point, armed with my backpack (which luckily had a toothbrush and deodorant in it - as well as my computer and all the really important stuff like my passport), huge winter coat and carry-on (with shoes, socks and bras) I made my way to the information desk. The lady there told me where to get the bus to the express bus terminal in Seoul. I found that bus (with some help from a nice lady) and got off in a hour with no problems. Now I know where it is when I go home (it's not in the bus station, but down the street). For those that know the Psy song, the name of the stop where the bus terminal is located is Gangnam :)

I'm also glad that I have been to that bus station before, but if I was brand new, I would have cried. To get a ticket to Jinju, you have to walk on the right side all the way to the back, then turn around and go outside to where the buses actually are. I bought my ticket with no problem and found my bus. The issue now was contacting my boss. I thought I might be able to email him using my nook, but I couldn't get service anyway around my bus and we were leaving in 15 minutes and I didn't want to miss it. Luckily people in Korea are super nice (one of the reasons I wanted to come back) and the girl who sat next me let me use her phone (and even dialed for me) to call my boss. This is when I found out that while I had charged my iPod, it somehow deleted all of my songs. Luckily I had an iPod mini with me and that worked, although my head phones broke so only 1 ear bud actually had sound. So 4 hours later (1 am Korean time), I arrived in Jinju.

My boss met me at the bus station and drove me to my new apartment (which he "secured" that day - glad I didn't know that earlier). Like I said earlier, I'll describe it in another post. He was super nice, texted a friend for me, went out and bought me milk and cereal for the morning and told me he'd pick me up Monday morning to start paper work to get my alien card.

When he left, it was 12:30 pm EST on Saturday, so I had been up for almost 30 hours at that point (minus about 2 hours of off-again on-again sleep on the bus), hadn't showered since the start of that 30 hours (so looked and felt disgusting) and had no clothes. When I woke up, I walked down to little mart next to my house and got a mini bottle of shampoo and when home and showered, so at least I felt better. Now's the time for an over share - I decided to wash the 1 pair of underwear I had last night, but as Korean don't have dryers, they are still wet, so I am commando (which I know is a style some people are comfortable with, but I am not one of those people), wearing a zip up hoodie with no shirt underneath (since it is also damp) but a clean bra and socks, sitting in a coffee shop waiting for 2 of my friends.

It's good to be back, but I can't wait to settle in.

Fall

I've been home for a bit and mainly I haven't done too much. My mom and I have seen some movies, I've done a little shopping, visited the library and taken some good naps. My big project was supposed to be cleaning the basement, but we've run into timing issues (aka my mom didn't feel like it) so we haven't done too much with it other than vacuuming up bugs. Instead, I sorted all our old videos, 8mm films and slides and am having them turned into DVDs. We went to multiple places because some needed to be avi files for editing, while other didn't and some places had higher rates for one thing but lower for another. We should be getting the majority of the films back in the next day or so, so then I get to start the editing process - yippee.

I did go to the Atlanta food trucks with a friend of mine. It wasn't really what I expected, but the food was pretty good. If it was closer to our house, I'd probably go again to try out different stuff. Plus they have live music sometimes.

Combo soul food and Mexican = the blaxican. I didn't eat here, but I might in the future.

This past weekend my mom and I went to Callaway Gardens - a huge botanical garden with other stuff. I've lived here, on and off, for more than 15 years and somehow this was the first time I've ever gone there. We rented bikes and biked around the gardens - it was my kind of biking - no cars, not too many people (or hills). It was a perfect day, cool and sunny, and we had a good time. The trail goes around the whole park with various "stops" and we went to a birds of prey show, the butterfly house and the horticulture center.

Olive the barred owl flying between trainers

Gandolf the grey screech owl being adorable

Flowers outside of the butterfly house

Mom and a giant plant inside the butterfly house

They had a college mascot/football thing at the horticulture center and this was obviously the best one

Waterfall inside the horticulture center

One of the lakes we biked around

After Calaway, we went to this bizarre park thing, kind of in the middle of nowhere called "Wild Animal Safari". Friends of my mom went and said we had to go because it was a trip. I wasn't sure about it because I don't really like when animals are all penned up, but with the exception of the liger, most had the ability to roam free and seemed well nourished and cared for. We rented a crappy Toyota with bars on the front windows and drove through the park. The animals would come right up to the windows and reach for food. Some would run into the middle of the road to stop your car so that you would feed them. I drove and it did make me uncomfortable a couple of times because I didn't want to run over a cow or anything, but if you chucked a food nugget, they would turn away.

Our sweet ride

They got all up in your face

Ever wonder what a cow tongue looked like?

Sometimes bulls just walked in the road

This giraffe wanted some nuggets

I think they preferred the bus - less of a lean

I'm glad we decided to go to both of the parks and we had a great day.

Summer: Part 3

At the very end of our Outer Banks trip, my grandfather passed away. He had Alzheimer's and his kids had a bunch of hard decisions to make over the course of the summer that I won't go into. His death was sad, but also an end to the horrible disease that took his dignity. Per his wishes, he wanted to be cremated and we decided to hold the memorial service at the end of the summer so that my brother would be able to attend.
In the meantime, the girls went back to school so I had a fair amount of time to myself. I went to the park, read a lot and got documents together for my return to Korea (more on that in another post). I also hung out with some friends from law school.

View of the trees in Fred Fletcher park - it looked a lot nicer in person

The girls got bored one day after school and I let them "tattoo" my feet. In case you can't see, my toes say "Ryan", just in case I forgot who I was.

For Labor day we went back up to MD for a pig pickin' at my aunt and uncle's house (aka the crab shack). While we were there, we figured out a bunch of the cousins are 4 years apart and took a picture. We also did a cousin pyramid of sorts. I also played Catan and was accused of being anti-social for doing so. It was worth it.

This picture makes me feel old because there are 24 years between me and the youngest one on there...ugh.

Kool-aid and I made grill cupcakes complete with a variety of meats and veggies

Catan players

I stayed at my aunt and uncles for another 2 weeks after Labor Day and there were soccer games, more cousins moving to NC, and my uncle and I started watching (and finished up to date) Boardwalk Empire. Towards the end of September, my brother returned from Afghanistan. I went to the base to meet him and cried at all the music and rejoining of families. His old general came to see him as well, which was sweet.

I made him stand there. See that gun? Yea, it took us longer to go home because he wasn't allowed to bring it with him in the truck.

After the pick up, we ended up driving around the base for another 2-3 hours returning equipment, getting his bags and doing paperwork. We then drove to Raleigh and stayed with some friends. On Saturday we went to the NC State v. Citadel game, which happened to be military appreciation day. It was good game (in that State crushed it) but was too windy for the parachuters to jump at halftime. They still played "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes, so I was happy.

Unfurling of the flag

I spent the next week at my brother's house, cleaning, doing laundry and catching up on lots of TV shows. I also semi-packed for Korea as I had to leave most of my clothes at his house. We then went up to DE for a "celebration of life" and memorial service for my grandfather. First, we stopped in MD to visit my mom's side of the family. We had dinner with her brother and sister and my grandmother. We also had lunch with grandma the next day and talked to her for awhile about life.

Our family plus grandma

Us with my mom's brother and sister

On the back porch at my aunt's house

On Saturday we got together at my aunt's house and put together some memory boards and chatted. On Sunday, some of the cousins took pictures at a horse farm (after playing poker at Delaware Park), then went to a celebration of life at the funeral home. We greeted some old friends of the family, but mainly it was us sitting around and telling stories.

Older cousins plus some significant others

Afterward we went back to my aunt's house and had dinner and chatted some more. We wanted to talk a family picture, but my dad and another uncle were late, so we ended up only taking a cousin picture. This is the first time we've all been together in at least 3 years, and possibly ever.

All the cousins

The cousins got together and decided to throw a surprise 21st birthday party for my cousin Bubba. Although the timing was weird because of my grandpa, it was the only time we'd all be together for awhile. Only the youngest 3 weren't there, but as they are well below drinking age (and not even in middle school yet), it was probably for the best. He was totally surprised and we had a good time. We had another attempt at a cousin pyramid. It was good, but still needs some work.

Surprise shots!

Told you it needs a little work

Massage after the pyramid

Squats - who needs a gym when you have a sister?

The next day was the memorial service. I read an excerpt as did my aunt at a mass. It was really moving and of course I started crying during the hymns. After the mass, we went to the graveyard where both of my grandmothers are buried. Pop-Pop was to be buried in between them. He was a member of the Air Force and they did a tribute including taps (cue the crying). The flag was then presented to my brother (a surprise to him) which caused some more crying.

Bouquet from the grandkids - there was a yellow rose for each of us

After the service we had lunch together as a family, including a Jagermeister shot in honor of my grandfather. It was a nice way to say good-bye, both to him, and to the majority of my family which I won't see before I leave at the end of October.

Cousins all fancy

The whole clan (minus one uncle)

Oldest girls - the big and little but not the little little

There were awesome rainbows and formations of rainbows on my flight home.

I will post some more soon, including more about my reasons for going back to Korea and some details surrounding my return. The summer is over and I couldn't have asked for a better one. I have a loving, supportive family and I can't thank them enough for being there for me and for being as awesome as they are. I love you all like brothers.

Summer: Part 2

The majority of the summer was doing random stuff with the girls. We played at home, did lots of art, went to the pool and a variety of random other activities. Luckily the family has a membership to the Durham museum of Life and Science. This place is awesome. It is super hands-on and you can play with just about anything. There is a large outdoor area too. There is a dinosaur trail, animals, and a wind-water exhibit. There is also a huge butterfly house with lots of varieties of butterflies and random chicken-like birds.

Climbing on a dinosaur

Running from a T-rex

Teeth comparison

Peanut holding a huge butterfly. I think it's a moon something.

One day the girls decided to be pirates. They made treasure maps, a telescope and hook hands. Then LouLou, the younger one, decided to put on a chicken costume from a Halloween 3 years ago. She had a wedgie a mile long. So she was the parrot to the pirate. We did a few other things like this, including a ballet complete with backdrop which took a large chunk of the afternoon to complete and 4 costume changes.

 

 

 

 

The girls started tennis this summer. We did this on the afternoons the day they didn't have swim team. The played in a couple of "matches" and went undefeated on their doubles play. LouLou went to another swim meet before we pulled the plug on the meets (huge time suck).

Check out the game faces

Swim meet intimidation

My aunt and uncle are doing some weird time share/buying/renting thing with some friends and neighbors at Topsail Island. We went twice during the summer because we happened to be out of town on a few of their weekends. The house is really nice and only one house over from the beach. It's also a fairly secluded beach and it's nice not being near anyone.

Attempt at one of the ocean, feet, relaxing pictures. I couldn't lean back far enough to get the ocean. I then got a spa treatment when the kids rubbed the sand on my legs and exfoliated them.

Empty beach = bliss

One day I took the girls to Pullen Park in Raleigh. The park was recently redone and had an awesome playground, train, pond with ducks and boats and the big hit - a carousel. One of the best things is that all the "rides" cost $1 so you can do stuff without it costing a ton of money. At the end of the day it started to pour, but luckily we got to the car in time to avoid the huge downpour.

Riding pigs at Pullen Park

 I mentioned the museum earlier this post. I bring it up again because we went there about 6 times over the summer. They had daily science experiments and you got stamps for attending. Once you got enough stamps you got a prize so the girls wanted to go a lot. The prize ended up being some plastic plates to store leaves or bugs; it was a letdown. We all learned a bunch though so it was still fun. This year they added a "contraption" room with PVC pipes, balls, pulleys and other things to make something like a Rube Goldberg machine. We spent a lot of time in that room playing with buckets and ropes.

Goggles for a luminescence display

Their "machine" consisted of a dozen buckets and clamps and every piece of rope they could get their hands on.

Sitting in a chair to show ratios

LouLou's birthday is in July and she ended up having a handful of parties. A handful of family came down as a stop over on their way to the beach and brought some other cousins with them. The boys went to play golf on Friday afternoon and the girls went to a paint your own pottery place. I wanted to steal 2 of my cousins pieces.

This is one of the pieces I wanted to steal

I made napkin rings and gave them to my mother

 Birthday number 3(?) (after her actual party and a swim team one and possibly one more) was a trip to Atlanta to the American Girl store. We stayed at my mom's house, went to Stone Mountain for the laser show, a Braves game and had brunch at AG, complete with doll party accessories (they made me bring my doll as well).

Licking icing before we sang

For the fourth of July we made my brother patriotic rice krispie treats (which was fun once we figured out wax paper was the key to lack of mess) and some cards that included bacon fireworks.

Thanks pinterest!

 At the end of August we went to the Outer Banks with the majority of the family. We go every year and this was an "off" year meaning that many who are usually there, weren't. We still had fun, but we missed the people who weren't there.

Roll's new additions - including MoMo's teeth!

Double smiley face

We had lots of seaweed this year, but no jellyfish

Chillin' on the beach. The original tent folded in half one day so this was the replacement.

Fishing group. They brought back lots of fish which I didn't eat.

Family photo

The rest of the summer and beginning of fall will be coming soon...