Going On A Ladybug Hunt

Ender was so excited to go out to the garden. He found so many ladybugs and was so excited to introduce them to their new updated home with all its fine amenities......a JAR with sticks, flowers, and grass! The ribbon was a nice touch Lydia**
Ender, cousin Cody, and Maya on a bug hunt
Maya with her weeds....ooops, I mean flowers
Future Gardener

Spring Break

Spring break was a chance for us to get over to Bend to visit some of our friends. It was beautiful enough for us to get out and play at the park, play basketball, walk around and do a little sight seeing. It snowed while we were here and we had fun watching the flakes fall. We even went hot tubbing while it snowed. Ender kept asking what will we do if we freeze in the water? I said, use a hammer. Here are a few photo's from our trip. Enjoy!

Home again

Ender wanted to sport a MoHawk for his homecoming.
Maya and Bunny relaxing at home
Beautiful Oregon Coast beach. It was in the 60's and no wind!
Kido's enjoying the sand and water

Long over due!

Hello friends, family, and bloggers! Well, we've been back for over a month now and have been absolutely enjoying our time home with friends and family. Oregon is so beautiful! We can't get over its natural beauty. We're living in Corvallis and I've decided not to take on the job in Eugene with Trips. I've had a couple other job offers since then, but we're really looking to get some work near by so we can stay here. We've got our place set up (renting for the time being). That's been a lot of fun to go through some of our bins we had tucked away...it was like Christmas all over again. Ender and Maya are doing great. Ender is back in school, and Maya is kicking it with Mom and Pop's. Camilla is our neighbor and what a neighbor she has been!! She totally rocks. This girl has done so much to help us out since we've moved here and we are so grateful to her and her family for their help. Not to mention, Ma and Pa Hale did a ton for us as well...so thank you, thank you, thank you. To our friends in Korea, if you're reading this, Chung-Su, would you send us and email (swooshj@yahoo.com) so we have your email address. As soon as we get our old computer up and running, we can call you using Skype! Miss you, talk to you soon :) Ender says "Hello, Moo_Oak." We made some new Korean friends here in our neighborhood. They're from Busan and they'll be here for a year. It's been fun sharing stories with them. Hope all is well with everyone out there. Our up dates will still be a bit sporadic until we get a new computer. Keep'n it real! Love the Hale's

Coming home!!!

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to make an official announcement that we are coming home in February! We're super excited to see friends and family again and can't wait to be back in Oregon :) Lydia and the kids are taking this last month off from school and will be preparing for our journey home.

We're not sure where we'll officially land yet? At any rate, if you want to surprise us with foods....hummmm, we're really missing some killer Dawn Cole chocolate chip cookies and calazones, Camilla Messer's yum yum pork chops, Mom Hale's zucchini chowder + Christmas candies, Cami's sesame chicken casserole (something like that), Dana's chicken enchilada's, and Ruthy Marshal's fine cooking cuisine anything! If anyone wants to go to American dream or La Roca in Corvallis with us when we get back, feel free to join in!

We're planning on having a welcome back party shortly after we arrive. We'll also be celebrating Maya's 4th Birthday!!! Look for the details in an email shortly hear. I'll send out another email. If you don't get one, please don't hesitate to ask! I'm saying this now because when time comes nearer to departure, it's possible in the chaos of it all, I'll forget something or someone!

Hugs and kisses to you all,

Jared and Family

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Ender's Optimus Prime nerf blaster. Converts from truck to blaster and blast away!
Have you ever seen so much pink? Maya in her princess/fairy land loving on her paints.

Ender looking handsome as always. He's got a wonderful smile.
Ender and his friend Danny (Moo-Oak) teeter tott'n it with some Korean man.
Looks like Santa came! Ender shouted with glee at 2:30 in the a.m. Beat that.
Christmas morning came with some fun surprises. The kids were so much fun to watch as they opened up their gifts.
Ender got some pretty cool books that convert into a castle and a pirate ship. There are stories that play along with them and you can act out the scenes with little guys.

Take a moment and look at what the pig is eating. Hint: what goes in must come up and out
Here's Maya reaching out to smack the pig with the end of her sucker stick of course. Which end does she lick? You take a guess.
The kids playing on a teeter totter.
Our fair isle Korean chickie.
Kimchi.

Keroro
Who's the super tall, skinny Santa? Jared was Santa for our kid's school. He handed out books and took photos with every God forsaken Korean kid there!!!
Ender and Santa -slash I know what you did for me last Christmas!
Maya and a foam bear. Gee...it almost looks like ice or something?
Ender- love the shot, love the smile, love the coat, love it.

Kids enjoying a bubble bath. Each bubble was hand blown to perfection and shipped in from America.
Maya is in love with this dress. She dresses herself daily in it. Father does too.
This is the coolest gate in our neighborhood. We've tried on several occasions to tear the darn thing down but some Korean women keeps yelling at us.
Thank you Angela!! YeeeHa!

Christmas painting projects.



Oh my goodness! It's a hand made asian bag probably made in china in some crazy sweat shop that we are just thrilled about!

Disclaimer: If you were offended by any of these above comments, Jared made those comments with bad words and poor taste...and he wanted to put more but mommmy wouldn't let me and when daddy gets back from the war, I'm going to set my self free! Ooops.

Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving at our house. Our apartment is so small that we had to pull our bed out of our room and use the plastic bed frame as our table. It was super Korean style. Sitting on cushions on the floor. We got the whole dinner from the U.S. military base. Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Korea.
Sorry about the blurry pictures.
Ender had just had the flu a few days earlier so he looks like a ghost and he has a tissue up his nose because we have entered freezing dry weather and Ender kept getting nose bleeds. Now we have a humidifier and that should hopefully help.
We were lucky enough to be invited to a second Thanksgiving with our friends from New Zealand. We had a super great time and meet some new families with kids.
Now we are busy with Christmas preparations. I love the holiday season!!!
We are headed home to Oregon in just 2 months and have a ton of stuff to get together and send and all that. Our posts will probably be few and far between for a bit.

Naughty or Nice?

Ok Holiday junkies, let the traditions begin! This is truly one of our favorite times of the year...the air is crisp, Christmas tracks come on, the Christmas tree and lights go up, families get together, we scramble to our various events....love it, love it, love it! Hope this year means a little bit more :) We're looking forward to having a very Korean Christmas** God bless :)

Tagged

I am not sure what to do? Serious I am so lost? Things like getting tagged stump me from hear to timbuktoo? I guess I write some stuff about myself? I have no problem talking about myself so here it goes.

I ate my boggers until one day I looked at the booger on my finger and thought "that really doesn't look so good I think I am done eating those". So here I am all grown up and no eating boogers any more.


I told my mom one day that I was ready to start riding my bike and I walked out the front door and got on my bike and rode off into the sunset.

I am a serious adventurer at heart. Nothing can stop my brain and my being from coming up with the next adventure. I think it would be supper hard to be married to an adventurer. Props to Jared for loving me.

I have been working sense I can remember. I bought all my clothes for school that I earned from cleaning peoples houses and babysitting.

I really love to volunteer and fund raise.

I tag whoever wants to be tagged and your momma and her little doggie too.

The Hill

Every other day I hike up a hill near by to work out. It's an outdoor gym at its finest. Ender comes on occasion. I had him take some pictures of me. The one with me is where I nearly broke my ankle after shortly arriving here in Korea. I caution myself every time I approach the spot and curse it under my breath. Gotta love nature. Ender is testing out his new Binoculars. He calls it his "microphone," even though I've corrected him a few times. It's easier to say I think.