GOOD times.

2005

2006

2008

2009

You know, it can't be easy to follow an act like "The Birthday of Jane and Ruby", but if anybody can handle it, it is our very own Major Earnest. In all his humility and in all his devotion he makes February 21st a delight no matter what. And while he does not actually enjoy me getting all mushy on him I hope he will allow me to say that he remains the best decision I ever made, ever. So thanks for making me look so good Darin. Happy Birthday.

(the 2007 picture is missing because that's the year we came home from a quick weekend trip to Utah only to find that a water pipe had burst and caused flooding on all three levels of our home. That year is seared in the memory forever, but there were no birthday festivities to note.)

After two/three days in a row of birthday bashes (depending on what constitutes a bash. If it means treats and cake, I think we have to be honest and say we did that 3 days in a row!!) some down days were in order. I believe it was Tuesday before I got dressed again. But by Saturday (yesterday) we were ready for a change of pace. With a series of church meetings to be held up in Seoul this weekend, we made reservation for a one night hotel stay up at the Army base in Seoul. Despite the fact that the "vacation" was only going to be a one-night stay, nothing could diminish the joy of the Earnest children. And when they heard about the indoor pool (as if we don't have one of those right across the parking lot from us), George started packing on Wednesday.

Darn the traffic from Osan to Seoul, it was already 6:30pm before we reached the hotel. But with the lavish weekend buffet still in full swing, and George vowing to sample every foreign item on the buffet, the trip was started with a bang. A late night dip in the pool, followed by beds made of sleeping bags on the floor, the trip was turning out to be a success.

We made it to our church meeting right on time the next morning. And as if we planned to keep the girls up until 10pm the night before, they mercifully slept through almost the entire 2-hours, actually allowing Darin and I to sit still and listen.

After our meeting, we returned to the hotel to check-out, much to the chagrin of the Earnest children. As we sat eating our after church snacks of push-pops and Big Eds (that's what you eat after churhc, right?!), Henry dreamed of what life would be like if we had stayed at the hotel on vacation for a whole month. And the girls told me that we should come back with Grandma.

As luck would have it, one of Darin's old mission companions was on business in Seoul this weekend, so we had planned to meet up with him after church.



We picked the Korean War Memorial as an easy destination to explain to a Taxi, and we all rendezvoused. Thanks to the lovely, yet slightly smoggy afternoon, running around the War Memorial was a perfect activity.





And I'm sure you won't judge us when I tell you we picked Tony Roma's as our spot for Linner (the meal that you have when you had Push-pops and Big Eds for lunch, and yet it's too early for most people to eat dinner). Because while we debate around our dinner table on a fairly regular basis the merits of life in Korea, there does seem to be one fact that we all agree upon, and that is unfortunately (only to those who love it), we are not fans of Korean food. So when Reid suggested the Tony Roma's close to his hotel, our children's tummies rejoiced.



(I will have you know however, that the children all agree that the best part of living in Korea is their ever expanding DVD collection. The boys have no shame in stating it as the best thing about Korea. The worst thing about having moved to Korea, if you ask Henry it's the food, if you ask George and Jane, it's the smells.)

So with that, we wrap up the month of February, with all of it's birthdays and celebrations, and mini-vacations. And we look ahead to the month of March when our very own Grandma Z is coming to town, and we mark the 9-month anniversary of our arrival here. I know good things are in store for all of us.