Early December

 There are all kinds of sleeping traditions right now. Teddy first. Ted has to leap into his bed each night and set up his "guarders". These are 4 animals which have to face out of the 4 corners of his bed. According to Ted the guarders watch out for dreams and keep all the bad ones away. He is hysterical scrambling to all 4 corners to set this thing up every night. They have to face outwards but the animals are interchangeable.

EXCEPT for the chicken. The Chicken guards the ladder. Always. And let's face it, the ladder is probably the weakest link in his whole bed defense so the chicken is one tough bird.

 Jeff and I have rationed Sasha to 5 sleeping toys at any one time. Because there is no room for her in her own bed. By the time we go into check her she has gotten out of bed, fetched all the exiles, and is waaaay over her quota. Don't know how she functions sleeping like this.

 Then there's this guy. This is his "I can't sleep because YOU left the lights on" pose so he sleeps with one paw over his eye. Oh the humanity...

We are trying to gear up for Christmas. It's soooo hard because there's just not much going on in Korea. No music or lights around town, no anything really so it's quite sad. But we're trying.

 We got a little tree and it's all decorated!

 And Santa came early for me this year. I FINALLY got a car!! I love it. It's a '04 Rezzo and it's got all the driving ease of a small car - easy to park and easy to swing a U-turn, but it's got a flip down 3rd row of seats for when you have more people around! I can take 7 passengers all with seat-belts!!
It's runs on propane (!). So I have to go to a special gas station that says LPG on it. I'm trying to figure out where all those propane gas stations are. But it fills up for $40!

Teddy had a cool Pre-Christmas project for school. We had to shop for cookies, crackers, and anything else they thought they could build a structure out of. Their class has been studying buildings. This is what he brought home:

 I thought it was excellent and he informed me that the red gummy bear on the marsh mellow on top is actually Santa coming down the chimney.

 My friend Cora had a gathering last Friday called "Christmas Cheer" Everyone came to her bungalow and we had Christmas treats and mulled wine ect. It was quite nice. I wanted to make my traditional Christmas castle for the kids but my Korean oven is so small that I literally can't bake a castle wall in it. So I took pictures of her bungalow:

 And made that instead! I had to lug a lot of stuff from the U.S. - you can't get molasses or candy canes here.

 The kids loved it. They hovered around for about 2 hours. We had a sign on it that said "do not eat until 6:30" and as the time came they got closer and closer. Then they got to tear in! It was gone fast. I think Ted made off with an entire wall!

 Also keeping me busy is the Christmas play. I was in charge of making 10 hedgehog costumes. I have NO IDEA what hedgehogs are doing in a Christmas play, but I guess I will find out next Wed. I finally figured out how to make a hedgehog after much experimenting:

The best thing about it all is the discovery that Max ADORES felt. He would come tearing around the corner and leap and attack me every time I was working and then start attacking my felt pile. Adorable right? We made him a fort out of all the left over pieces and he drags in from place to place in the apt and then crawls inside his felt tunnel.

 Then last Sat was the Smith's pour-out. That's a party for someone who's leaving. They are headed for Dubai. So we ambushed them in Burkas. I can't believe Zoe is leaving. We thought we would be here together until the end. So, so, sad about this.

 The Smith's left on Sat for good, Cora left on Tues until January and then this week all the Australians left the compound for good as their project is over. So we had a fun weekend and then it felt like the Grinch came and took everything and there's nothing left but a bit of wire on the wall. 90% of our friends are gone, the parties are over and we still have 2 weeks until Christmas and it's dreary and freezing outside. So sad. I forgot how hard it is to be an Expat at Christmastime. So I have been running a LOT just to have something to do. Max is doing really well right now. He's gained his weight back and seems to be puking a lot less. It comes in waves with him so it's nice to see him doing well for a change. Look at those luscious paws. Love him!

 And I got to go on a Field Trip with Sasha's class. We went to the Busan aquarium.

 Me and my girl:

 Year 3 class!

 And last but not least, trying to stay busy and summon some much needed Christmas Cheer, Sasha and I made candy canes. It was hard and there was a definite learning curve. We can't wait to make some more but we were actually very proud about how our first batch came out!

The Big Trip! Days 1 & 2

The big trip began as all big trips do: with chaos. The night before we left I told the kids "now let's just have a quiet evening and we'll avoid any last-minute emergencies." I should have kept my mouth shut. Not one hour later Ted came barreling across the playground and tripped at the last second. He face-planted right into a bench. Here'e what his eye looked like the night before the trip:

And here's what it looked like the next morning:

It was squeezed shut. So of course we were like "Plane or hospital? Hospital or plane?" We were unable to even pry the lid up to check to see if his eye ball was OK. Not to mention would we even be allowed on a plane with a child that looked like Quasimodo??? We were in full-tilt panic mode when Ted came running out of his room sporting a pirate patch and yelling "I'm all set to Go!" So we went with it! He literally rocked the patch for all 3 flights.

In all the mayhem, Sasha still remembered our countdown chain and cut off that last link for us just as we were going out the door.

Our first flight was to Japan. One thing that's been great about living in Asia for the last 2 years is that our kids will now officially eat/try anything!

We flew from Busan to Toyko (2hrs), Tokyo to Detroit (13 hours) and then Detroit to Orlando (2+hrs). What a trip! When we got to MCO our bags were the first ones out, we got right on the Magical Express and the bus was pretty full so we took right off. And Saratoga Springs was even the first stop! It was an epic Disney win. And Teddy's eye had gotten to the point where we could see it again.

Saratoga Springs is all themed to horses and racing and it's a beautiful resort. We checked in,

Checked out our room,

And then headed to get some very late dinner/breakfast/who knows? It was 8:30 pm but we had slept a bit on the plane and it was 9:30 am Korea time so we were kind of wired and not sleepy. So we ate and then went to the pool until 11pm!

The next morning we found out that Mickey had left us refillable mugs as our first Mickey Present! We headed straight to the Artist's Palette to fill them up and grab some breakfast!

Mickey Waffles! We don't know what they put in those things but they taste like no other waffles on earth and we love 'em!

Our 2 nights at SSR were for us to just relax and get over our Jet-lag so we headed to the pool.

There was a race to open the slide at 10am and Teddy won!

He got escorted to the top of the slide by the cast member and was the first one down.

Sasha was right behind him!

We love pool time!

We had a blast in the big pool and then headed over the play structure thingy to check that out.

Love the way they play together!

Then back to the big pool!

On our rest day each person got to pick one thing that they really wanted to do. Sasha's pick was some great pool time. Check. Teddy wanted to eat lunch at the T-Rex cafe. So we took a boat over to downtown Disney to eat with the Dinosaurs.

We didn't eat in the Ice Cave room this time but it was still super cool to watch.

Jeff and I ordered a coron-ita. It's a massive margarita with a corona stuck upside down in it. Magical.

Look at this thing! I don't know who came up with it, but they definitely need a raise!

We were hungry after all that swimming. We're ready to dig in and sooo happy to be on vacation!

I ordered the shrimp skewers over rice with mango salsa. Now T-Rex cafe food often gets a bad rap, but this lunch was fabulous!

King of the Dino's!!

After the lunch and the Coron-ita's Jeff and I were barely ambulatory but we gamely headed out to the Lego store just to check it out.

And Teddy got a Tattoo!

Then we headed back to SSR for a much-needed nap. Jeff's pick for the day was to get some really excellent food so we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then caught the Monorail to the Grand Floridian. Here it comes!

First ride of the trip!

We had an excellent meal at Narcoosee's. It's one of several awesome restaurants at the Grand Floridian and it kind of sticks out over the water with a great view of the MK.

My dinner. It was seared tuna with spicy shrimp. Sooooo good!

Narcoosee's:

That left just my pick for the day. I wanted to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. So we headed into the MK just for the parade. We found a great last-minute spot in Frontierland.

The first time I saw this parade I was 5 and there have been many versions of the night-time parade but with this one they brought back the original music and I remember it from 1977! It brings back such awesome memories! And its so fun to watch the kids make their own memories. Sasha just spotted the fairies coming around the corner!

Up Next: The rest of the gang arrives and the trip begins for real!