life with the lieutenant

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.