life with the lieutenant

• Only a few more days until the movers come! Besides sorting through everything, I honestly can't really believe it's happening. I did take all the photos off the fridge and the kids' artwork off the kitchen cabinets though, so that is usually my big "it's coming" sign. Steve and Sam just took the bus up to post to go to the commi (I officially cannot go inside anymore!) to get a few staples (milk, yogurt, cheese, bananas). I meal-planned our last week with all of our kitchen things and got rid of the food we will not use before then. The last week will be a mix of Korean takeout/restaurants/waffles I'm freezing this week. 
• This sweet peach is napping on the couch next to me. 

Aren't they just the cutest when they're sleeping?!

• She lodged a blue bead up her nose and all I could picture was taking the train down to the hospital in Seoul in this oppressive heat and humidity and the constant staring. I love Korea and Koreans, but I am starting to tire of being the sideshow on the train. I am halfway looking forward to blending in again.
• We took a nice sweaty walk down to Pang Pangs the other day so the kids could jump their little hearts out on the trampolines and play in the sand and enjoy the AC.

Steve entertained every child there that day, I believe.

• I took the kids to another jump place (ironically, also called Pang Pangs) one afternoon to expend some energy and enjoy the AC. 

• We also had a day of sunshine! Incredible! Too bad it was about 9 million degrees with a side of 100% humidity. We went out around dinnertime to let the kids run and find grass- one of their greatest joys in life these days.

Run, boy, run.

He literally could not contain his excitement over these tiny patches of grass. Just kept running from one patch to the next.

• After becoming sufficiently red in the face (bless their little gingery hearts), we headed back up the hill to our house where we stretched out bathtime as long as humanly possible.
• We headed down to Seoul on Thursday to see Aggie and family. I refuse to believe we won't be within driving/train riding distance of them much longer!

The princess does not walk, are you kidding me? Aggie lives halfway up that mountain towards Seoul Tower. Oof.

• We took this gaggle of children (not pictured: Cece) down to order gimbap from one of Aggie's hidden gems in her neighborhood. It was DELICIOUS and I think the overwhelming heat and humidity might have worn a few kids out. But only just a little bit.

Ajumma hand instructing someone on what to do

•  We ended up staying until after dinner and Aggie made some amazing pizza and salad while I did my best bump-on-a-log impression.

My ginger Italian posing with his signature items.

•  Friday morning brought a sort of "oh sh!t" moment as I realized that we were officially under a week before the movers arrived to start packing and loading our things. I got down to business making lists and sorting clothes and packing suitcases. One of my bigger fears is leaving all sorts of things in our house with the assumption that it will all fit into our suitcases/carry-ons. And then it won't. So I wanted to do a trial run NOW and make sure the movers don't leave anything here that won't fit. We'll see. The kids busied themselves with stickers. More specifically, every sticker under the sun.

Sam, after seeing Molly's paper (that was literally so heavy from stickers that regular tape would not even hold it to a cabinet) said, "Oh Mom mom will *love* that." Indeed.

• Yesterday evening we went to the Korean movie theater to see Minions. I think our movie theater on post showed Minions for one entire showing and then replaced it with the same five adult movies on repeat, so we have been anxiously waiting for it to hit the Korean theaters so we'd have something to do. 

Waiting on the train with her purse (empty candy blaster gun inside- trying to teach her the finer points of a concealed carry) and grape drink.

• When the train arrived, it looked fairly full, which was no big deal because we were only riding six stops. But once those doors opened, Sam and Molly went full-on Korean style and hauled ass to get a seat, beating out a grown woman (who got a seat, one seat away from the one she was gunning for). I didn't know whether to laugh or start clapping. 

• This was the first time I had ordered tickets online for the movie theater, but apparently this is just how it's done in Korea. I showed the confirmation number to the lady behind the counter and she printed our receipt and we moved onto the concession stand. It was tough to choose between the Buttered Squid Family Platter or the mango popcorn, but eventually we just settled on cheesy popcorn and a coke. 

I think the two straw holes are super cute.

•  After picking seats, we moved about 8 times because I sat in a coke-soaked chair, then we were in someone else's seats (had no clue we had assigned seating!) and finally (FINALLY) we were all situated and Steve went to get more popcorn because the kids were plowing through it really fast. I gave Molly the tub to hold onto (well, she took it from me and offered me one piece from her hand- so generous!) and two seconds later, the popcorn bowl was face down on the floor. (face palm) Luckily the fans I carry around are multi-purpose and I could use it to shovel popcorn off the floor and back into the bucket to throw away. Then the movie finally started.

• My kids are not into movies with a lot of action/bad guys in them (we are more into Mighty Machines and Penguins of Madagascar), so Minions was a bit much for them, but they still enjoyed themselves. They even had the cheese-covered faces to prove it.
• As we made our way out of the mall and down to the train station, I checked my train app to see how long we'd have to wait for our train to come. This is not Seoul, where trains come every five minutes. It is more like every 20-30 minutes. Which, when there is no air and it's past the kids' bedtime and did I mention no air? 20-30 minutes can feel like a mother-lovin' ETERNITY. While we were standing there buying tickets, I told Steve that the train was expected to come in one minute. ONE. MINUTE. Are we ready to commit to that sort of hustle with these kids? Bring it on. We sprinted through the ticket gates and ran to the escalator. Sam was running in front with me on his heels, Steve was carrying Molly right behind me. As we're running down the escalator (which, I should add, is only one person wide, very narrow), a man is just standing about a quarter of the way up, not moving, not walking, no apparent hurry, like this is sort some of amusement park ride. As we gain on him, I see the train has arrived and people are getting off and OMG WE NEED TO HURRY UP OR WE'LL BE SITTING IN THIS HOT TRAIN STATION FOR ANOTHER HALF HOUR WITH TWO TIRED CHILDREN!!! We get to the man and Sam yells that "there's a man standing here!" This does not incite any sort of reaction in the man. I tell Sam to go around him (hard to do when it's so narrow) and then I probably almost took him down trying to squeeze past him and I didn't even see how Steve got by him, but we kept sprinting towards the train and made it about five seconds before the doors closed. At that point, I felt like we deserved some sort of trophy, and also, I wanted to stick my face on the window and make a face at the lazy guy on the escalator who missed the train. COULDA MADE IT, SLOW POKE! Enjoy that stuffy 30 minute wait for the next train. 

• Once we arrived home, the kids asked if we were going someplace fun. This seems to be a standard question for them to ask after we have just taken them someplace fun. I asked if they find the bathtub fun because that's where they're headed. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth. "But it's only 9pm! Can't we stay out til 2am like all the Korean kids?!" No sweetie. I'm sorry. Mommy is a big meanie that likes to be in bed before 10. 
• When I woke up this morning (on my own!), I thought that either the later bedtime allowed for a later wakeup, or everyone was dead. Never one to assume the best in these types of situations, I hurried out to the living room and saw that the kids had found the ipad I'd left charging in the transformer overnight.

Stinkers

• After the ipad was confiscated, whining and fighting got out of control and Steve (saint that he is) offered to take the kids up to post so he and Sam could get haircuts and get a few travel items from the PX. I volunteered to stay home and clean and pack in peace. Amen. And everything has been hunky dory until Molly shoved that bead up her nose, but now she is napping and the AC is on and I think I might join her.