• Steve's car has sold. About a month too early. But better than a month too late, I guess?

• Steve likes to pretend that it sold so quickly because of how well it was taken care of. I mean, that hoopty was spotless if you overlook all the dings and scratches and that duct tape on the floorboard! Spotless, y'all! He also posted signs at all the bus stops about what a great family car it is. Because you know, deployed soldiers love a good family car. I like to tease that my FB ad did the heavy lifting for him.

• Only had to weed through a few Nigerians that might not have understood the sarcasm in the ad and found a soldier that wanted it right that very second. We also got word that my car has made it to Baltimore. Less than a month to get from Korea to America! And to think we could have kept it here for another month! Grrrr...... Oh well. I'm happy to know that AC and private transportation awaits us in the States.
• Sam and Molly eat SALAD now, which has to be the weirdest development in our house in 2015.

Yep, I'm that weird mom documenting baby's first salad.

BEHOLD!!!! I am so proud.

• Here we have a random picture of Molly posing with a receipt. What can I say, we are a bored people these days.

• Our apartment complex fills up the rock pit with water once a year and all the kids go nuts. It only lasts for a day or two, which begs the question as to why we even have this rock pit. Molly was overjoyed that it was full and promptly hopped in and got to "swimming." (Although note: no one will set foot in an actual pool.)

• The cabin fever started setting in and the kids and I hopped a train to the closest "big city" to us. They haven't been on the train since we first arrived in Korea, and it was kind of a nightmare then, so I was curious how they would do now and wanted to test the waters before we attempted riding all the way to Seoul.

• There is a section of every train car that is reserved for "old, weak, pregnant, with baby, or disability" and every time the kids get on, some 200 year old person always stands up and offers them their seat. This fills me with nothing but embarrassment and awe, but if the kids don't sit down, the ancient person that stood up usually looks very offended at me and keeps barking at the kids in Korean to sit down. So they do. And these two older train friends promptly took the kids shoes off for them and gave them candy and made sure they were comfy. 
• Once we arrived at the big mall that is attached to the train station, we headed up the escalators to Molly's Pet Shop. Talk about being in heaven. Wild horses couldn't pull her out of there. But the promise of the big playground upstairs eventually did.

•  But first, a stop at the facilities.

As much as I loathe taking the kids to public bathrooms, I will greatly miss Korea's bathrooms. Usually clean, always a kid-sized option, and big ol' changing tables.

• And finally, the playground.

I have an identical picture of these two from the first summer we were here, except Molly was looking at the bear next to her and screaming in terror. She was still leery, but managed to be bribed for this photo.

The playground is on the 9th floor of the mall and this is the view from the "treehouse."

Coming down the escalator, this shirt was front and center. Had to stop and take a pic. The sales girl looked at me a little crazy and I returned the look because "I don't think you know what this says."

• On the bottom floor, there is a food market and lots of bakeries and coffee shops and other pretty edibles. Let's not forget, an Auntie Anne's, which may or may not have been the entire reason for the trip that day. Molly and I split a garlic pretzel (that really just evaporated too quickly) and Sam decided that was not for him. Luckily they were selling these right around the corner.

• The kids were well behaved on the train and gave me hope that we'd make it to Seoul eventually. Once we got off, Sam ran to this statue and asked me to take his picture in front of it. I am pretty sure he has no clue what this is.

And I'm not sure why our town has a breastfeeding statue on the main corner, but whatever.

• Later that evening, we took the train in the opposite direction to our favorite beef and leaf. Pregnancy kinda turned me off to beef and leaf for a while, but my guilt over not seeing our ajumma for so long was stronger, so we went. She jumped out of her chair and said that she thought we'd moved! Then she reminded us that it had been two months since our last visit and I vowed never to go that long again. After stuffing ourselves full of yummy food, we decided that taking the train home was irresponsible and we needed to walk back. Molly just couldn't hang.

• Finally built up the courage to take the train to Seoul. Our first train ride to the mall was only 6 stops (~20 minutes). The train ride to Seoul is 26 stops (~1.5 hours). Despite the crowded conditions and lack of air, the kids did well and we made it to Aggie's house in a nice puddle of sweat.

Lollipops are the easiest way to get everyone to behave.

• The next day we decided to try out the kids on the local buses. 

• We rode up to post, ran some errands, then tried out a bus to see if it would take us home. It didn't, but it did drop us off in front of the kids' cafe with the trampolines and sandboxes. Steve thought it would be super fun to walk home from there.... the kids did not necessarily agree (neither did I...) but once Steve mentioned ice cream, 2/3 of us perked up.

As seen inside the convenience store- they sell these cups of ice, then you pour in whichever packet + booze and voila- you don't mind sweating your guts out while walking all over creation. Sadly, I cannot partake, so I continued to mind walking everywhere and sweating my guts out.

Ice cream and lotto tickets

• Monsoon season is in full swing here and we haven't seen the sun in well over a week. We have been trying to keep busy, but with no car, it's feeling a bit difficult. We've tried some indoor activities.

Chores

Staring at each other

Modeling eye pro

"Cooking" lunch

Reading

Napping (who needs pants?)

TV

Rainy walks to the store

Rainy walks to the bus stop

• And thanks to Aggie's generous hospitality, we have been to Seoul about three times this past week to cure our rainy boredom. She is so sweet to host our sweaty selves. The kids have the time of their lives and everyone sleeps good that night.

"Learning" all the way to Seoul

Meanwhile, those of us without a seat are smushed into this...

I scream,

you scream,

we all scream for ice cream!

Riding the bus through Seoul

Waiting to catch a train home

Sleepy babes

• Yesterday we rode the train up to post (in the pouring rain) to go bowling. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, but there were two lanes open. The kids beat the pants off of us and I found bowling with kids (while trying to bowl a game myself) to be quite stressful. Sam is already asking to go back to "the bowling pin" and play again.

• In closing, here is a picture of my only friend left in town.

Love her and hope she never dies

no1curr that you can't get yerr carr outta the garage

• Sam is curled up on the couch reading Molly a book. These are the times when I sigh contentedly and think, "This is why we had two." The times when they are fighting over the same blue car (whilst surrounded by no fewer than 37 other nearly identical blue cars) makes me wonder where we went wrong in our judgement.
• We finally caved and turned on our AC. July 11. Mark it on the calendars. I think we made it longer than last summer, but not by much. The humidity came on full force and when you start sweating before you can even put deodorant on, it's time to get some cool air going.
• When asked if they want a baby brother or baby sister, Sam excitedly tells us he wants a sister. Molly (always needing to be the opposite of Sam just in case it will drive him crazy) says she wants a brother. Sam takes this to be The Word Of God and starts whining that noooooo he wants a sister! Molly tells him she wants a brother, and so on and so forth until I start yelling about how WE DON'T EVEN KNOW and IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYWAYS GEEZ YOU GUISE.
• I am having some early-onset nesting which has been brought on by the most extreme case of boredom I have ever encountered in my life. Our house is sorted and what we can live without has been packed. A new low for me was dumping out all the clothes the kids have outgrown and re-sorting, bagging, and labeling them all. I like to think I'm really doing Future Jenn a solid here, but there is a slight chance that I just wasted a lot of time.

sweaty time suck

• One would think we'd be so busy since we are "so close" (depending on where you sit) to moving. We have about a month left until we fly and I am just so ready to be gone that it's killing me. There are hardly any Americans left here, we are down to one car with AC that doesn't reach too far beyond the steering wheel (sorry, kids), sweating that starts before we get out of bed and never stops, and while I know we will miss our town/Korea once we leave, there is just a huge part of me that wants to GO already. There are things in Pennsylvania that are waiting for us to take care of, and I want to be there and get started. I want to stand in the house, plan out the rooms, see what all has been sitting in storage for the past two years, and go see an OB that is actually an OB. Which brings me to my next bullet point.
• Our "clinic" here is best for people who experience mild to moderate menstrual cramps and maybe the occasional case of strep throat. It is not a true medical facility. I have been mildly impressed with the care I've received thus far during this pregnancy (two visits, for those of you keeping score at home), but I am ready to see someone who specializes in obstetrics. I'm ready to get my kids caught up on their immunizations (too may horror stories from friends- refuse to get anyone a shot here), get Sam tested for allergies (this cannot be done on post and Koreans do not test children until they are 6 or 7 years old), and just PICK who I want to see for this third baby's care. Speaking English to someone who fully understands me will be a breath of fresh air.
• We took our first family vacation over the 4th of July weekend. We went to Sokcho (Soccerchow, if you're Sam), which is a coastal town in Korea known for its beautiful mountain ranges and ocean (the mountains are about 15 minutes from the beach). It was also our first time staying at a Korean pension. Luckily this pension came highly recommended by lots of American friends and the owner was just the sweetest thing. We could walk a block to the beach (there are no beachfront hotels here), listen to the waves as we fell asleep at night, and had the most delicious breakfast delivered to our room the next morning. I wish we had spent more than one night!!

Swanky, right? Yeah there were no sheets on the beds. Just a comforter and matching comforter pillow shams.

The bathroom was pretty open, with the drain in the floor on the opposite side of the room of the shower. It made potty trips post-shower pretty interesting. And wet.

*looks underneath* "Is that where his milk comes from?" Errrr how about I just take your picture?

Sunrise at the seashore with Sammy and his seashells

REAL EGGS. FRESH FOOD. HOMEMADE YOGURT. TAKE NOTES, HOJO.

Love and a lookout tower

Next beach trip will hopefully have warmer water!

• We had the remnants of a typhoon blow through over the last two days, and it was not nearly as exciting as I was prepared for it to be. We basically just got a lot of rain and some cooler temps (appreciated!). We also just about went batshit crazy from all of the indoor time and Steve and I reconfigured a few Major Life Plans so that was fun. If fun can be equated to stress that makes you want to tear your hair out.
• I am still selling/donating almost anything that isn't nailed down and it feels SO GOOD. I know exactly which of our current possessions will fit into our new home (physically as well as aesthetically) and I hate to say it, but I think about 50% of it isn't going to make the cut. There is not too much love lost since it was all gathered via yard sales or craigslist, but I am really trying to weed out things that have lost their functionality or things that I've been holding onto "just because." It's been very freeing, if not terribly inconvenient because there is no one left here to take any of this stuff. 
• In other interesting news: I made grits on my own for the first time in my life. And while they tasted great, I have concluded that they are not nearly as good as when my dad is making them for me. Idk if it's the whole act of me not making the food myself, or if he incorporates more love (or salt?) into it than I do, but I like his better. I also ventured into the Korean beauty stores for the first time this past week and holy mother of face masks, WHYYYY have I not gone in sooner??? I have started to realize that the $3 Oil Of OldLady facewash from the commi is not cutting it with my skin anymore, but I truly had no clue how good things could be. I went and browsed with my friend Rachel (who has since abandoned me here in Korea) who is experienced in Korean beauty stores, and it was seriously the most fun I've had in a while. There are tester bottles of EVERYTHING, every bottle has some sort of English on it (I have incorrectly assumed (for the past two years!!) that everything would be in Hangul and I would have no clue what I was purchasing), the products are just amazing, and they load you up with free samples to boot! I did a claynetic face mask last night (for the record: no clue what claynetic means, but clay sounded nice), and while I did resemble the Hulk with a mild to moderate case of leprosy for 15 minutes, it left my skin so soft and clear and fresh. I also put snail serum on my eye bags and like to pretend that it's not gross and that it's making a huge difference in how tired I look! Or how not tired I look. That's the goal, I guess. (Omitted: the leprotic Hulk selfie. You are welcome.)

Girls' night out mango cheesecake bingsu (with mango gelato- there is a God, and He loves us very much!!)

• Salmon Molly ask me daily where their friends are. Sam actually lists off all of his friends and then asks me where each one is.
• Sam: "I love Aidan and Weevi and Cece. Are they in Seoul?"
• Me: "Yep, sure are."
• Molly: "My thoul in Merica."
• Me: "Your soul is in America?"
• Molly: "Mhmm."
• Me: "Surely you mean Seoul the city and not your actual soul, right?"
• Molly: "Mhmm." 
• Me: "Mhmm ok, Myer. I'm keeping an eye on you."
• Why is there no wine during pregnancy? I snuck a sip of Steve's red last night and almost cried it tasted so good. Might be adopting that whole European glass-a-day motto during the third trimester.
• This man is my spirit animal. 

• The only thing that could possibly make kids' cafes any better is to have a room full of beds/hammocks for the parents to take naps in. Steve and I snuck out during the last hour of play and told the kids we had to grab a couple things from the store downstairs. In all honesty, we went downstairs and had donuts from DD and then browsed the grocery store at leisure. 

• I really tried to maximize our indoor time during the rainy days recently. The kids played in pillow forts, did the whole jumping from couch cushion to couch cushion to avoid the lava, went to the library, fought over who got to hold the umbrella, "helped" me make a countdown chain for our time left in Korea (yeah, nobody actually helped), hit up kids' cafes, and helped me make cupcakes. I had two box cake mixes that were given to me by friends that were moving, so I figured we could make one to pass the time. I also look for any excuse to make frosting. It is no coincidence that we just purchased a jar of animal crackers... After making the cupcakes and frosting, I sampled one. I told Steve that maybe my taste buds are off (which happens about as often as a solar eclipse) but either the cupcakes or the frosting tastes like plastic to me. He tasted, "I think you are crazy when you're pregnant," and proceeded to give the kids a cupcake. Then, "Oh. Wait. There's an aftertaste. It's like.... plastic. How old are these?" How old are these?! I just made them! They are an hour old. Steve digs the box out of the recycling. "Jenn.... you're about seven months too late....these expired in January." Well eff! So we threw all the cupcakes away and now there is a tupperware full of chocolate frosting in my fridge and animal crackers in my pantry if anyone wants to come over. Just sayin.

• I really wish there was more to update on, but I am really not kidding when I say that life is pretty boring right now. So, in closing, here are some sunset pictures from the past few weeks, taken from the front seat or the laundry room window.