Sitting around is for sissies...

Or, another possible title:
When you download 120 photos from your camera, you know it's time for a Blog post!

You decide.

Anyway, we're doing our best to make memories around here.  We are getting these cousins together as much as humanly possible.  We run ourselves to the point of exhaustion most day.  We fall into our beds well past 10pm most nights.  We sometimes don't climb out of our beds until well past 10am!  If this isn't what summer is made for, then I don't know what summer is made for.

Also, I've had a few dreams for my kids (they can thank me later).  I'm making some of them come true while we're here in Utah.  I'm dragging lots of people around with me along the way.  We are surrounded by good sports.

Did you know I've been living at my mom's house for 4 weeks now (with four kids and about 84 bags)?!  And did you know she's still acting like she hasn't noticed?!

I tell you what, if that isn't what a good sport is, well then I've never met a good sport in my life!

Here you go, dream number #1 that I made come true:  Take 8 children, two sisters and a grandma, and hike up "Y" mountain!!

Oh yes we did:

The thing about hiking "Y" mountain is that it's not that far.  Less than half a mile ROUNDTRIP.  So try not to feel too sorry for anyone, except Sarah who often carried two kids at a time.  But it's pretty steep.  In fact, it's very steep.  So while I generally don't feel sorry for this latest privileged generation, I'll hand it over to them for a steep hike up "Y" mountain.  The other thing about it, after you leave the parking lot, you never see the "Y" again until you are basically sitting on top of it.  It's hard to keep kids motivated when they've lost sight of the end goal.

You most definitely should not feel sorry for this guy, getting a ride wherever he goes!  How will he ever learn to walk on his own two feet?!  I'll make him hike it next summer! 

But once you actually reach the "Y", you basically feel like you can do anything!  Especially if you are 42" or less.  Jane completely impressed herself with this mountain climb.  She couldn't stop smiling.  Oh yeah, until it was time to walk back down, then she resumed complaining.

Our three boys, Oliver, George and Henry made it to the bottom of the "Y" from the path, and then were so excited that they had reached the end point that they climbed the face of the "Y" all the way to the top!  Sadly, Brenden, Sarah, Huck and June had to turn back.  Sometimes despite our best efforts we still have to accept defeat and say we'll come back again next time!

Though Grandma and Ruby thought they would never make it, by simply putting one foot in front of the other, they joined the rest of us for the most amazing view in Provo.  And, it's a good thing we brought grandma, she'd never been there before!!

 

A gorgeous moon climbing up over the mountain,

followed by a tremendous sunset over the lake

Followed by a giant snake slithering across the path,

Had everyone nearly convinced that I really had helped make one of their dreams that they never knew they had, come true.  You're welcome!



You'll want to come check in again soon to hear more about the next dream coming true, of taking the whole family (this time even convincing Grandpa) to go see the Mormon Miracle (Manti ) Pageant.  And how even though we got home at 2:30 am the one night, we were all gathered back up again by the following afternoon for a little bit of this:

And this,

And this,

And finally this!

And then how the day ended like this:

all impromptu and completely candid.  All lined up like they still loved and care for each other even after we keep dragging them all over creation.

So, in conclusion, let me just say, if the Garden of Eden herself is more beautiful than Sundance is right now, I probably wouldn't believe it.  It's that gorgeous.

Seriously, tune back in, there are about 73 other photos where these ones came from, and you won't want to miss the Manti recap!

I've got some girls...

And now they have their ears pierced:

Jane all full of trepidation before she was to sit in the piercing chair.

Also this photo was taken just moments before Jane had a full on meltdown.  She's been wanting her ears pierced even more than Ruby.  She's been telling everyone that would listen about how she was getting her ears pierced when she moved back to America.  But suddenly when standing in the middle of Icing at the University Mall, on the actual day of the biggest event of her life, she was overcome with the greatest fear.

Before arriving at the mall, she told Ruby that Ruby would have to go first and tell her if it was going to hurt.  Ruby protested saying Jane made her go first when they got their kindergarten shots (and that's true).  So I sided with Ruby and told Jane she would have to go first.  But when it came right down to it, she melted, and could not bring herself to sit up in the chair.  

Ruby bravely and disgustedly climbed up in the chair to "go first" again.  Ironically, Jane is the one who was born first and often reminds Ruby of that.  But I guess being born first in the twin world really just gives you the authority of saying who goes first for what events, etc.

Ruby did not cry.  Neither would she lie to Jane and say that it didn't hurt.  In fact she told Jane that it hurt very much.  Which nearly made Jane back out once and for all.  Instead, I held her on my lap, and loaned her the courage to do what she wanted to do all along.  

She wailed and cried.  But mostly I think in a gush of relief that it was all over. 

Oh boy do they think they are fancy now!

The brothers came along.  They were equally fastinated and annoyed to be watching.

Before we left Icing, we all tried on pairs of fake reading glasses.  Henry told me I actually looked good in mine.  I may go back to Icing before leaving Utah and invest in my next hot fashion accessory:

When we had had all the fun a family of five can have at Icing in the University Mall in Orem, we left to go watch Toy Story 3 in 3D.

It was a lovely movie, and by the end when Andy was saying good-bye to his toys as he was heading off to college, I'll admit I was crying.  I mean, Toy Story was the very first kid DVD we ever bought, to be played in the very first DVD player we ever bought.   I feel like we've all grown-up together with that movie.  After this movie George admitted that he was crying at the part where it appeared that all the toys were going to be incinerated at the city dump.  I questioned if he was actually crying or if he was just worried.  He confirmed that indeed he had a tear he had to wipe off of his cheek.  And he was not too embarrassed to admit it.  I'm telling you, it was a good movie.

And that's how we spent the weekend together after the kids returned from their week of family camp with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was the grandest sort of weekend.

It's been two weeks.

How've we been spending our time you ask?

One week ago Darin's Grandpa Simmons passed away.  It was somewhat unexpected, amplifying the sudden sorrow of the situation.  He was a big character, full of life.  I know I'm only married into the family but he made it easy to love him.  And besides, word was he was a huge "Earnest Review" fan.  Who's not going to love a man who read my blog?!

When Darin heard about his Grandpa, we both knew that he would want to be at the funeral.  Luckily there was a flight leaveing the ROK about twelve hours later.  He started making any arrangements he could to catch the flight and make his way to Utah for the funeral.

Althought it's sad to see a loved one pass on, isn't it ironic that funerals often prompt the most enjoyable of family reunions?!

Grandpa Simmons was in the Navy during WWII.  To honor his memory, Darin wore his uniform for the day.  I am partial, but he is so very handsome when in uniform:

The military honor at the graveside was one of the most moving parts of the day for me.  I guess after 11 years of being a military family I am finally beginning to understand the magnitude of the sacrifice that all military families make.  It's touching that there are Veterans all over the world who will come to funerals to pay their respects, even if they didn't know the person.

It was a busy couple of days, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world.  What a treat to unexpectedly see so much of our family.  It was great.  We will all miss Grandpa Curly. 

The day after the funeral, my parents took all the oldest grandkids up to spend a week at Aspen Grove Family Camp.  We all went together three years ago, but this time my parents were offering to take the kids while giving the parents a few days all to ourselves!  Darin overlapped with Aspen Grove for two days, so we had two amazing days of sleeping until 11am!! I haven't slept in that long since before I was married.  Of course, staying up until 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning certainly helps you sleep in too.  Because, it's the same weekend that our favorite Aunt Rachel came to town!

Just a touch of family resemblance, you think?!

There have been so many late nights, talking, laughing, eating, playing cards.  It's the sort of stuff that would make me so sad to be missing out on.  I feel so blessed to be here right now.  

Before Darin left, we drove up the canyon to say good-bye to the kids at Aspen Grove.  It's one of the most beautiful places on earth, taking photos is no longer optional in such a location.

We got there in time to eat dinner with the kids

And Grandma

To play some games

and to steel baby Huck away and pretend that he belonged to me!

Huck Wiley

Oh dear, how are we ever going to want to leave?!

Poor Darin had to fly back to Korea.  He isn't supposed to leave for another three weeks.  I miss him already.  It was such a fun surprise to have him join us, that it makes me feel like three weeks without him is entierly too long!  

And now I am alone, sans husband, or kids for the first time in who knows how long.  The silence is at times magical and at times eerie.  I am going to try to savor it as much as possible.  But Friday will be a happy day for me too!!! 

P.S.  thanks to Darin's sister Alyssa (and one of his cousins) for the funeral photos.  That day we were not remembering to get our camera out.  I'm sure glad she thought of it!!  Thanks Alyssa.  

A Total Worldwhind.

Though I carried my huge camera with me the entire journey, are you surprised to hear that I never once paused mid course, traveling from Korea to America, alone with four kids to snap a photo to remember?  I'm not.  There are some things best forgetten, and it's not like I needed photographic evidence to remember the magnitude of the situation.  It was imminently clear to me as I kissed the Major good-bye at security that it was going to be a VERY long journey. 

But what can I say now?  We are here, and mostly all of the travel wounds are healed.  And to tell you the truth, nothing horrendous happened (unless you view the disappearance of a 1-year old DSi as horrendous.  All things considered, I don't). 

But I will tell you something else, when you are the only adult traveling alone with four kids, you don't find many opportunities to fall asleep either.  So the greatest casualty by the end of the journey was my incredible fatigue.  But masked by the jet lag, it wasn't anything spectacular.  I was just really, really exhausted.  After all, we traveled for  something like 18 hours before landing in Seattle.  That's just a long time!

Really though, by the time we were at Baggage Claim in Seattle I was nearly in tears with how well behaved my kids had been.  Not that it prevented me from yelling at someone for spilling the contents of their backpack, or chastising someone else for playing "tag" while we were waiting for luggage.  But when I took a moment to think about what I had just required of my children, I was swelling with pride.  They did remarkably well. 

Our 24-hour layover in Seattle was a welcome relief.  One of my best friends from High School, Kat, now lives in Seattle with her cute family.  When she heard we were headed to an Airport hotel for the day, she absolutely forbade it, and drove her mini van and little ones to come pick us up!  Though I felt terrible imposing on her hospitality, I had to quickly admit that it was the best thing that had happened to me in the past 24 hours!  That was such a fun layover!! 

A quick flight to Utah the next morning (where Jane and Ruby were both bracing themselves that we might not land in Utah until the next day, since that had been their experience up to that point), had us eating lunch at Provo's In-n-Out and browsing the racks of both Gamestop and The Disney Store all by the late afternoon.  Remarkable! 

After two days of serious retail therapy and a much need hair cut AND color (photos to come soon!), we were all starting to feel the joy and triumph of our journey.  We are now happily settling into the real pace of summer vacation. 

P.S.  Nature walks, ice cream on demand, and late bed times are plentiful at Grandma's house.  In case you were wondering!  We are eagerly anticipating the return on the Wiley cousins this week to introduce a whole new level of excitement! 


P.P.S.  WE MADE IT!

2 days to go...

Today was my last Saturday in Korea.

Darin gave me a day pass to head up to my favorite market in Seoul.

It's been a big week.  I said good bye to my friends at Happy Quilt.  I've eaten at all my favorite restaurants, one-last-time.  And today, I went to say good-bye to Dongdaemun.  

I had nothing in mind to buy.  Of course I found a few great treasures.  Mostly a mustard yellow belt for $4.  That made the whole trip worthwhile.

When I was putting Ruby to bed tonight, she said:

"Mom, it's sad that it was your last time in Seoul today."

"Yes", I said, "I'm going to miss Seoul."  

She patted my arm and then said, 

"Don't worry mom, I think they will have a Seoul in North Carolina." 

I felt much better then.

Somehow I don't think the boys felt quite as nostalgic about saying good-bye to Osan American Elementary School on Friday.  

I brought doughnuts to George's class, and ice cream sandwhiches to Henry's.  I gave little speaches in both classes, telling the kids that it has been a great school year, and how lucky the boys are to have had such nice classes.  Both times I had to quit talking sooner rather than later because my voice was starting to get shaky.  I must be getting extra emotional in my old age. 

Mostly I've been doing a lot of thinking about how we can make a home basically anywhere in this world, as long as we take our family with us.  That's all I require to make a home, the Major, and our kids, maybe a few throw pillows.  Anyway,it sure helps to make it an even better home when you run into such nice people along the way.

There have been nice friends for all the kids here.  That's very lucky.  And great teachers, that's lucky too.

Mrs. Wever and George.  The best 2nd grade teacher he ever had!

We leave on Tuesday.

That's kind of sad.

Catching up

We all react to times of transition in different ways. George tends to come home from school overly irritable and easily bored. I know he processes things differently than all of his siblings. I know he thinks ten steps ahead of all of them too. I know he's the only one who's thought two thoughts about what happens AFTER June 1st, so I'm trying to be patient and sympathtic.

Imagine how happy I was when he channeled that energy into impromptu art lessons with his sisters.

They froze the screen on a favorite cartoon character and all took to their notepads in silence as they worked on their renderings.

 And wanted me to photograph their finished products. 

Some of us don't stuggle too much with transitions.  As long as there will be a place to get manicures in North America, these ladies will be just fine:

And if I can manage a pedicure before leaving Korea, I think I'm going to transition okay as well.  I'll get a little cranky though if "pedicure" does not get checked off of my to-do list in the next five days.

In absence of Henry this afternoon, but with an abundance of blankets, everyone found contentment on my bed for a few breif moments.  I was most grateful:

Where was Henry you ask??

He got to go to North Korea with the Major today.  I told the Major as he was leaving this morning for his DMZ tour, I said, "If you don't come home, I'll never forgive you."  I don't know if you've been seeing the headlines lately? 

I'm happy to report, they made it home. 

After sitting in a replica of  North Korean classroom,

And visiting the Joint Security Area (JSA), and standing all together too close to the enemy in my opinion.

 And after hiking into the underground tunnels that were discovered having been dug by the North Koreans.

And after a stop at the very last train station in South Korea where the train has to stop now, without access into North Korea.  Where Henry got his passport stamped with some sort of commemorative stamp.

And after making a U-Turn where they saw the freeway entrance into North Korea, but again, no access is allowed. 

And they did all of that with enough energy to stop at Chili's before making it home after 9pm.  That was a long day, but a great tour.  I hope Henry will remember it.  And maybe even remember the significance of being there right now.   This was the second reason Henry was so excited to turn 10 while in Korea.  The first reason was so that he could get his ID card.  You have to be 10 in order to go on the DMZ tour, so this was a big-deal-day for Hank! 

George got to be late to school by an hour, study his spelling words with me uninterrupted when he got home this afternoon, and go swimming with his little sisters.  So yeah, today didn't do anything to help with his irritability or bordem.  But I tried to keep him excited by talking all about the process of moving and the details of our travel plans, hotel reservations and plans in the first few days of our arrival at Grandma's house in Utah!

Do we really only have 5 days left?! 

No pictures.

And I even carried my camera around with me a few times throughout the day.  I was really going to catch some of our action in photos, but it never happened.  It kind of made me realize that in the end, I just might not have that artistic view of seeing the world through the lens of a camera.  It's too bad.  Pictures make a blog post better.

Top Ten Things that happened today (without pictorial proof):

1.  Ruby didn't take any pain medicine all day long.  I think she's probably better.

2.  The girls and I stayed in pajamas until 12:30, and convinced Darin to come home and visit us during his lunch hour. 

3.  I made it to the post office and mailed some stuff. It feels wonderful when things get accomplished around here!

4.  I finished one of my lingering sewing projects.  It wasn't anything big, but it was something I had kind of messed up on, but really wanted to find a way to make it work.  I found a way!  It made me happy.

5.  I took the kids to our very last "Kid's Membership Night" at the Officer's club.  The food is mediocre at best, but kids eat free.  They do face painting and have a bouncy castle, and the kids always find friends to play with.  They leave happy every time.  Tonight Henry even won one of the $10 gift cards during the raffle.  Way to end on a high note!

6.  It was the last time I have to go to Kid's Membership Night!   

7.  It rained all day long.  ALL DAY.  But I didn't let it stop me from running a drizzly 5 miles.  Running works every time, just like magic.  It clears my mind and puts me in a good mood.  It seems as though it cannot fail.  If I'm grumpy, I should instantly put my running shoes on.  I will come home happy.  Even if it's raining outside.

8.  I got a bunch of emails from my sisters today.  I love hearing from them.  It doesn't happen often enough.  Best of all, it wasn't about anything important, it was just about connecting with one another.  Felt almost as good as running 5 miles.

9.  Darin and I got to watch the Finale of "Lost" together on the couch tonight.  I'm not sure if life gets any better.  It's often about the simple pleasures.  It's pretty rare that we agree about what to watch on TV.  "Lost" (and Modern Family, but it's somewhat of a guilty pleasure) is the only show we both agreed was worth watching.  We've watched all six season in Korea.  I think Korea will forever remind me of "Lost".  And Jiyn and Sun will always be my favorite characters on the show (and they're Korean).  I cried when they died. 

10.  We have less than a week until Summer Vacation 2010 begins!  Let it begin already!!!  We can't wait to go to Target see our family at long last. 

I'm going to take some pictures tomorrow.  I promise!

Endings.

Today was the last day of Preschool.  Ruby got herself well enough to go.  The new dress might have been a motivating factor.  I'm pretty certain it was.  My ladies are suckers for a new frock.  Especially one that has been held in reserve for the last-day-of-school. 

I'm not going to lie., when I gave their teacher a hug, and told her thank you for being such a great teacher, and she replied by telling me how much she loved the girls and what a joy they had been to teach, I totally started crying.  I felt like a dork, but I couldn't help it.  I'm going to be a real mess come the first day of kindergarten. 

Am I really all done with preschool?! 

I'm pretty sure I thought this day would never come.