N. Seoul Tower

The North Seoul Tower is on top of Mount Namsan.  We decided to make this our first tourist stop in Seoul.  We took the subway to the Myeong-dong stop then had to walk uphill to the cable car depot at the bottom of Mount Namsan.  There are multiple ways to get up to the North Seoul Tower, but we chose to take the glass cable cars up.  The walk to the cable cars was a little confusing.  All the streets were extremely narrow and it was difficult to see the street names.  Plus, all the street names we did see all looked the same: Toegye-ro 18-gil, Toegye-ro 20-gil, Toegye-ro 20-na-gil...

Since it was our first time looking at street names, we couldn't find them, and then when we did, we couldn't tell the difference between one street and another.

We finally made it to the Cable Car depot, and made our way to the cable cars.  The entire car is made of windows.

The clear car takes cables about 30-60 feet or so above the ground and has a magnificent view of the city.  It takes about 15 minutes or so to get from the bottom of the mountain to the top.  The kids loved having their faces right on the glass.  Little Monster was so excited he was doing a little dance.  Poor Kevin has a problem with heights, so the wall of glass and being so high off the ground made him a little dizzy. He was very happy when we stopped but everyone else was disappointed.

The disappointment didn't last very long.  As we got off the cable car, we were greeted by a spectacular view of the city and some gorgeous mossy stairs to the tower.

After one flight of stairs, we reached the Roof Terrace and thousands upon thousands of love locks. On every space available on all the fences we saw padlocks and combo locks all locked to the fence.  It was such a neat sight to see.

I saw the locks and said, "Dang, we should have brought a lock!"  However, it IS a tourist attraction, so right around the corner was a lock stand where you can purchase a key-less lock to place on the fence to declare your unfailing love.

The kids picked out a lock and we obtained a permanent marker and made our unfailing family love declared in writing on our lock.  Then with contention, name calling and pushing, the kids proceeded to fight over where we should put our love lock.  "Can you feel the love tonight?"

After a good 10 minutes of breaking up fights and yelling at the kids that this is supposed to be a "love" lock and we are supposed to love each other, we finally agreed on the perfect spot for our not-so-love lock.  The kids quickly forgot about fighting, all agreed they had personally picked the best spot and then fought over who would put the lock on the gate.  At this point, I'm over the whole love feast and take the lock and lock it quickly on the gate.  They all cheer and again are a happy family, and I'm exhausted.  Big Sis declares that it's cool that we left a piece of our family in Seoul and we can come see our mark in South Korea every time we come back to visit.

The kids announce that they are now at the point of starvation, so we hurry up a few more flights of stairs to the restaurants.  They are so hungry that we go to the first place we see, an Italian restaurant called, The Place Dining.

We walk in, sit down and immediately realize we made a big mistake.  This is one of those anniversary restaurants that you save up for and go for your 10th, 20th, or other big anniversary date.  The menu only had a few items and I would have to sell Little A, just to pay for our meal.  Unfortunately, the kids are so hungry, and we don't know what else is around, so we just secretly decide to sell a kidney each and order some food.  I order the cheapest thing on the menu, which was a bowl of soup, we order a pizza for the kids to share, and then Kevin orders a salad and pasta. Little Monster is tired, hungry and super squirmy.

The restaurant does not have any high chairs, because let's be honest, we were probably the first shmucks to bring kids in the restaurant. While the food was lavishly being cooked (It better be a gold stove), I take the Monster out to walk around.  We go out the door and around the corner and are greeted by the sights and smells of numerous affordable restaurants,  palm to forehead!  I was tempted to call Kevin and tell him to sneak out of the restaurant.  Oh well, lesson learned.  And at least I can tell people that I ate in the romantic-amazing-view-on-top-of-the-N.-Seoul-Tower The Place Restaurant.  I will just keep out all the dirty details.

Kevin texts me and says the food is there, so Little Monster and I make our way back to the restaurant that will cost me a kidney.  I behold my bowl of soup and there is an 18 inch plate with a little hole in the middle that is about 3 inches in diameter.  There was enough soup for 6 spoonfuls.  The pizza has tomatoes and fresh basil on it, so the kids peel it all off and have two slices of the most expensive cheese pizza they have ever had.  Perhaps it wasn't really cheese, but grated gold.  Little Monster doesn't want any of the food, so I bust out a granola bar for him.  I can just feel the daggers being stared through me as he crumbled it all over the floor and himself and proceeds to vocally yell and express his hunger and exhaustion.

Since my 6 spoonfuls are up, I take him out once again to walk around.  We find a really neat lookout above the restaurant that also has locks covering the fence.  Little Monster runs all around and enjoys trying to pull the locks off the fence.

The girls one by one come out and join me and the Monster.  We enjoy the view, the locks and people watching.  Kevin pays the bill and joins us.  We walk around and go through a lighted tunnel.  The tunnel is surrounded by flashing and blinking lights.  All the kids enjoy the lights!

We see a few beautiful traditional Korean architecture, and more locks.  By this time, it is already past 8:00, and Little Monster is past the point of no return.  He is so very tired.  We make our way back to the Cable Cars.

The truth is, it really was amazing and incredible.  True, my kids were crazy and tired and hungry and fighting but that's the reality.  Gotta keep it real!  I love my family.  I love the moments we really do express our unfailing love, and I love the exhausting moments when it seems the walls will crumble with all the fighting, but it's my family and I love them forever, and I have a lock on the N. Seoul Tower to prove it!

The Cozy House- Seoul

The rental apartment that Kevin found on booking.com is called The Cozy House.  It's a one bedroom with a loft.  The room also had a small table and a swinging chair.  The kids loved the swinging chair.  There was always someone sitting in the chair.  There was a small bathroom with every amenity you could think of.  It had a small kitchen which was hidden by a folding door.

The kitchen was about the size of a small closet.  There was also great internet and the loft had enough beds for four people.  We brought the port-a-crib, so little Monster slept on the main level with us.  The room had a little AC unit, so it did take about a day before the apartment was comfortable.  The loft had a fan, but the kids never did get very cool up there.  You couldn't beat the view though!  We were on the 19th floor and it overlooked a great part of the city!!  We could see the N. Seoul Tower from our window.  The windows opened and that was a little freaky.  The kids were not allowed to play with the windows.

Walking to the apartment felt like walking in a storage hallway.  All the doors were super small and tall.  They looked like they were vaulted in.  Every time we walked down the hallway, I always felt a little claustrophobic.

The kids' loft was very wide, but it wasn't very tall.  The kids absolutely loved the idea of the loft and enjoyed it the first day, but by day three they were complaining that they couldn't sleep because they were way too hot.

I remember as a kid, I slept on the second story in California, and my parents did not run the AC at night.  I remember being so extremely hot that as a child, I would sleep in just my underclothes.  I suggested this to Big Sis and she was so grossed out at the idea!  She said she would rather sweat. M&M choose the best seat in the house.  She slept in the loft right up against the glass railing.  At night she would just stare out the window enjoying the beautiful neon lights!

Seoul Bound and Subways

We were getting a little stir crazy in our tiny hotel home, plus Kevin has quite a few use/lose days, so Kevin took Wednesday- Friday off. We decided to branch out and explore Seoul.  Kevin found an apartment to rent on booking.com and booked it.  The room had a bed for all the older kids and we would just bring our port-a-crib for little Monster.  Since we don't have our car yet (It's somewhere on a boat in the Pacific Ocean) we have to rely on public transportation to get there.  There are busses here that take the military members from one base to another in South Korea.  We paid about $22 for our entire family to take a one way ticket from our base to Yongsan, the base in Seoul.

It took us about an hour to get to Yongsan.

We brought little Monster's carseat, so he could sleep on the bus ride there.

As we rode the bus it was so neat to look out the window and see the super tall apartment buildings and the fields. When we arrived at Yongsan, we went to the travel office and got directions to the nearest subway.  We walked down and out of the gate and entered Seoul for the first time!

First Look at Seoul!

Before we left for Seoul, I had done some research on the subway system.  I had downloaded the Seoul Subway app, and found out that the easiest way to take the subway, if riding it multiple times, is to get T-Money cards and pre-load money on the cards.  By using T-money cards, the kids get a discounted rate and we don't get charged for transfers.  We bought T-Money cards at our local convenience store and loaded 30,000 won on each card.  I was super worried about the kids loosing their cards, so I punched a hole in each of the kids' cards and put them on a lanyard to wear around their necks.

As we find the subway, and walk up to the card swipe entrance, Kevin swipes his card and walks through.  M&M swipes her card, the machine makes a loud "Meeeeah" and as she tries to walk through, the entrance door closes and won't let her through.  Big Sis also tries to swipe her card, gets a loud "Meeeah" and her doors close too.  I try to get through and my machine says "Err" on the card swipe section, and I am getting my doors closed also.  Little A is under the height restriction so she just walks right through.  Here we are with half our family on one side and the other half on the other.  We keep trying our cards, keep getting closed doors and the machine is speaking to us in Korean.  The entrance is also the exit and people are swiping and exiting.  We are causing a bit of a back up, so some people are swiping their cards to get us through.  During this hullabaloo, a station worker leaves his room and comes out trying to talk to us, as we look completely confused, a little Korean stops and interprets what he is saying.  This little Korean angel stays with us for about an hour as the worker is trying to figure out what is wrong.

Our little Korean Angel

Lesson #1- Never punch a hole in your T-Money card!  Any damage to the card will break down the card and it will no longer work.

After a few phone calls and a lot of translating, we find out that the kids' cards have broken down and no longer work due to the hole.  The worker gives us an address and tells us we can try the T-Money company to get our money back, but he highly doubts we will.  At this time, I am close to tears because Kevin is frustrated, the kids are starving and I just lost us 90,000 won.  We have no idea how we are going to get out of the subway, as our kids now have no way to exit the station without a ticket.  We came all this way to only spend our vacation stuck in a subway tunnel and die from starvation, (at least it felt that way).  Then our little Korean angel takes me to a machine where I can purchase a one way ticket to our hotel for all the kids!  We get our tickets, thank the worker and our angel a million times, and are able to continue on our journey with our one way tickets, and directions to the T-Money building.

Station Workers and our Angel

Lesson #2-   Seoul subways are NOT stroller friendly!!

When we finally enter the subway, we are met by a million and one stairs.  We have to go up, then down, the up, up, up, then down and up and down again.  All the kids are carrying a rolling suitcase, I have little Monster in a stroller (which I have to carry), Kevin is also carrying the port-a-crib, and Big Sis has little Monster's carseat strapped to her rolling luggage.  The poor kids are having to lift and carry the luggage through all these stairs.

At one point M&M makes it down three stairs then just sits right in the middle of the staircase and announces she can no longer continue forward.  I leave little Monster in the stroller at the bottom of the stairs with Big Sis and run up and grab the suitcase and bring it down the rest of the way.  A few times, a Korean would just grab the suitcase and carry it down or up for the girls!  They would always try to say, "It's OK, I have it", but of course, the Korean would not understand and would help them (which I know the girls' appreciated!)

After a few stops, one transfer and more stairs, we finally make it to our exit!  As we try to exit, M&M is scared of the machine and swipes her card as fast as she can, and attempts to exit.  To her dismay the machine beeps at her and won't open.  M&M had swiped her card in the enter machine instead of the exit machine!  She attempts to swipe the exit machine, but it now won't work as she had just swiped it.  I also cannot get my card to work, since It was not the card used to let me in the subway.  There is no handicap machine, so the stroller is not able to get out either.  Kevin gets out and then we lift and carry everything, including kids, over the exit doors, and are finally out of the subway!  Kevin walks out stating, "We are never taking the subway again!" and of course, we are met with one last set of stairs up out of the tunnel!

Hotel Home Sweet Hotel Home

We have been in the Turumi Lodge now for about two weeks and we still have about two weeks to go.  The Turumi Lodge is the TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) here at Osan.

Kevin is not considered "essential", so we have to wait for a 4 bedroom to open up.  If someone comes to the base that is essential, then they will get the apartment before us and we just keep hanging out on the waiting list.  Since we have gotten here, most families that got here the same time or after us, have all been placed in an apartment.  We just keep waiting and waiting.

Since we are a family of 6, we are over a single room occupancy, so we are assigned two rooms.  None of the rooms, as we can see, connect.  They gave us two rooms, and the rooms are not even next to each other or across from each other.  One room is in the middle of the lodge and the other room is the very end room.  Each room has a small kitchenette when you walk in the room with enough plates, bowls, silverware, etc. for 6.  It also includes a small selection of baking necessity, such as pots and pans, measuring cups, mixing spoons and such.  There is a small microwave/oven in one, stovetop burners, and an American fridge (Thank goodness!!!). Korean  fridges are so so small! After you pass through the small kitchen you are at the living room which has a small table and 4 chairs, sofa and a tv.  There is then a door which opens to the bedroom.  The bedroom has a desk, tv, and a double bed.  There is a bathroom vanity area to wash hands and do hair, then an actual bathroom with shower and toilet.

We put little Monster's crib in the bedroom with us, and for the first week Big Sis and M&M slept on the sofa bed, and Little A slept on a toddler size air mattress on the floor between the table and sofa sleeper.  The air mattress kept getting in the way, so we found out that the sofa cushions are the same size as the air mattress, so we had her sleeping on the sofa cushions.

The second room was used to store our excessive amounts of luggage and was used as the game room.

We brought our wii and before we left the states, I bought a few new games so the kids had something to look forward to.  During the day, we will escape to the game room and play board games, watch movies and play wii games.

The only problem is that the room is so hot!  The game/ luggage room is the one where the AC only slightly works in the bedroom part.  So, the main room doesn't get very cool.

After a week, the two older girls were complaining about sleeping on the sofa bed, and were begging to sleep in the real bed in the other room.  Little A was begging to sleep in any sort of normal bed.  The poor girl has been on air mattresses and the floor ever since our stuff was packed away two months ago.  I thought the girls had valid points, so I dug around all the luggage and found the baby monitor.  We set the monitor up in the luggage/game room and let the older girls share the full bed in there.  With the monitor, we can hear when they go to bed, when they wake up and if there are any problems.  Little A finally got a real bed and now sleeps on the sofa bed.

I had high hopes that with all of us in such small confines, we would get along better, and there would be less sibling fights, and less yelling. It seems the kids are more irritated with each other.  There have been more fighting, name calling and rude behavior.  I feel I am just playing referee all day putting one kid in time out after another.  I sure will be grateful for more space when we finally get into an apartment! However, when they are in good moods, they do play well together.  They will play the wii, color, read books, and watch movies.

One nice thing about living in such a small space and without our belongings for so long, is that I have learned that we can live and be happy with even the littlest of possessions.  Our stuff is just that- stuff.  And the more stuff you have does not equate to more happiness.  Perhaps for our family space=happiness.  LOL!!  But it is nice to know if I lost everything, we would move on and live just fine.

Shopping like a Korean at the 4/9 Market

This morning, the kids and I wanted to experience a true Korean Market so we walked to the 4/9 Market.  We went with two friends, which made it super nice, because I totally would have gotten lost if Sarah wasn't there to help guide the way.  One thing I have learned, is that Korea is not stroller friendly, so I carry Little Monster in my Ergo everywhere.  It sure gives me an amazing work-out.  Especially when it's hot outside.

Let's talk about the 4/9 Market.  What a weird name, right?!?  It's actually a descriptive name!  The 4/9 Market only runs on days that end in a 4 or 9!  How cool is that?   The market is miles of outside vendors selling everything you could thing of.  The main reason the 4/9 Market is so popular among the women I have met, is because they sell the best produce!

Imagine a 5 foot sidewalk, now on that side walk imagine a booth like at a fair, now take away the booth, and you have all the goods props up on tables, on the ground, on buckets and other flat surfaces.  The sidewalks have one vendor after another with only about 2-3 feet of sidewalk to pass.

See all the Umbrella's across the street?!

One thing about Koreans, is they know where they want to go and nothing will stop them or stand in their way.  It is perfectly normal for a Korean to push their way through, even separating you from your kids, to get by or to get where they want to go, and they don't say excuse me.  They aren't being rude, it's just what they do.  I was holding little A's hand, and a few times a bent-over very elderly Korean lady would shove her way between us to get by because we were blocking the way.  The look on little A's face when she did that was humorous and when she didn't say excuse me, little A's face became priceless!!  She pointed to the lady and whispered, "Mom, she's so rude".  We had a cultural lesson right there, and all the kids learned something new.  Hopefully they don't start incorporating this custom!  Yikes, just image four little kids shoving their way wherever they want to go without saying excuse me in the States.

The Market went down sidewalks, through alleys, in front of stores, and lined the streets on both sides.  Everywhere you turn, there are umbrellas covering a sidewalk stand.  In the alleys and closed-off streets, the vendors lined both sides of the streets and went right down the middle.  We saw fresh produce heaped on plates for 3000-10000 won.  We saw clothes, blankets, hair bows, dead fish, dried fish, live fish, dead hanging cows, a cow head on a table, live fish in tanks, beans, sprouts, grains, and so much more.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to see as much as we wanted because poor little Monster had fallen asleep in the carrier and was turning bright red.  I was getting very concerned about him.  Little A and M&M were also starting to complain that they were getting headaches and were hot.  

The highlight of what we saw was definitely the meat stand where the parts of cows were hanging and a full cow head (brains and all) was sitting on a table.  M&M took one look at it and turned a shade of green, turned around quickly and said she was going to be sick.  As evil as it sounds, I couldn't stop laughing!

Why yes, yes that is a cow head.

We also saw a huge vendor with every type of live sea creature you can imagine.  In of basket, there was a ton of little octopuses (or is it octopi?). The girls were extremely infatuated with them, and the vendor came over and grabbed a tentacle and started tugging one out of the basket.  The looks of utter disgust at him touching it, and surprise at the octopus moving around and extreme fascination was such fun to watch!

The vendor pulling out an octopus 

We ended up buying a huge plate of small nectarines (I think they were nectarines) and a plate of peaches.  I have a feeling that the 4/9 Market will definitely be a must-do on every 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, and 29th of the month!

My Turn Outside the Gate

Last night, I was able to venture outside the gate for the first time!  I was so jealous that Kevin and a few of the kids were able to go yesterday.  I wanted to take the maiden voyage with them.  But since Little A was sick, I stayed at the Hotel Home with her.  Outside the gate was crowded, busy, new, lights everywhere, new smells, and words that looked like drawings everywhere.  It is so crazy to be somewhere and not be able to read anything.  It wasn't scary or over daunting though, because I experienced this when I lived in Russia in 2001.  I felt like I was in a cartoon with crazy picture writings everywhere.  The people driving around was the craziest part.  I was told that the driving and traffic here is lawless, and it sure felt like that.  Cars are parked in every which way in every single tiny spot available.  The cars are going down alleys, streets, and it honestly looks like there is no rhyme or reason, just go from point A to point B in any way possible.

We went to an Indian restaurant for a Hail & Farewell dinner for those in the med group.  As we were walking up the steps to the restaurant, I felt I could die at any second!  The iron steps and platform that we were walking on was old, rusted and had holes everywhere.  At one point, I felt my entire weight sink a few inches.  I ordered Curry and Naan bread and really enjoyed the food.  All our kids looked like walking vampires with blood red eyes, and poor Monster had a fever from teething and was super grouchy and tired.  The kids didn't eat anything and were asking every few minutes if we could leave.  We also made the mistake of sitting in front of the portable AC unit.  Combine tired, grouchy, freezing cold kiddos all in one, and the combination is perfection for failure.  In all honesty, being in the restaurant felt like we could be anywhere in the world, and not just South Korea.

However, the second we walked outside of the restaurant, all of a sudden, the tired grouchy vampires turned into bubbling, excited wide-eyed kids!  M&M was jumping in place as she drank in the flashing neon lights and odd stores that surrounded us.  Instead of can we go home, we were hearing, can we stay?!?  The neon lights were so bright that it looked like day.  Signs were in every which way! We walked down super narrow alleys that were filled with stores carrying jewelry, hanging meat (how long has that been there?!?), and weird food.

I'm excited to turn those cartoon characters into something I can read and understand!  I am excited to go out into these crowded busy streets and know were every store is.  I am excited that I get to call this place home for the next two years!

Kevin's First Travel Outside the Gate

I have to give credit to a great sponsor; my old residency friend Aragon Ellwanger, who I am replacing here as the oral surgeon. After picking me up from the passenger terminal, shuttling our insane amount of luggage over to TLF, he offered to take us out on Thursday night for a tour of the city. Sadly, Little A was having G.I issues, so Heather decided to stay behind with her and Little Monster while the other kids and I ventured out into the city.

The gates here on the base are what you see first: oriental style manned by Korean security along with Security Forces. Since so many people walk here there is a large parking lot out by the gate that people will park their cars at inside the gate and simply walk out. There is a 10pm curfew for the first two weeks while you are here regardless of rank, allowing you the chance to fully in-process through your initial briefings of the unique mission here. 

Aragon told us about a really neat restaurant in the middle of Songtan, but gave us a round about tour of the Songtan Entertainment District (SED). Incredible sight: stores crammed next to each other all selling the same thing (make-up, leather goods, trophy shops, food markets). It's amazing how these businesses even survive when you have five competitors right next to you selling you the same thing. The hilarious part though, is that the owners or workers of these shops just sit outside their stores with other people playing games, eating or talking; stark contrast to American isolation where you never leave your store or associate with your competition. 

We drove, or better to say weaved through the streets having no idea how you even navigate them. No street signs, rare traffic lights, people driving anyway as they seem fit and parking; well it's wherever you want. The cars are hilarious: Hyundai's that I have never heard of but are the same style are some American ones, Kia's that have random numbers attached to them instead of model names, and other brands of cars that I seriously have no idea what the designers were thinking ("Hey, we should make this a hatchback / truck / SUV / car that looks like a cheetah.") Hilarious. The signs and power lines are so congested that you wonder how anyone can see where a certain store is since it's overwhelmed by a hundred of its friends lobbying for the same line of sight. We drove around laughing and joking as the girls commented on why stores sold toilets only, why busses parked in the middle of the road, and what all these signs must mean. 

We eventually made it to a dual store: one full of Korean candy, and the other of the Hibachi style restaurant where they serve Galbi (gal-bee) which is a cooked chicken/veggies that you dip into cheese. Winner! The restaurants here have very little items that are discardable: all cups are stainless steel and glass and kept chilled, chopsticks are stainless steel, etc. Aragon taught the girls and me how to appropriately hold chopsticks which they nailed down really well. I didn't realize I had been holding them wrong all these years!

The items included in the Galbi were all raw, cooked in front of you, and surrounded by a ring of melted cheese. Super fun time. 

To enhance the cultural experience, Aragon grabbed some fruit that looked like pineapple but was actually pickled Korean radish which was absolutely hideous to the taste. He made it up by getting us Korean Cider (Sprite knock-off) that is way better that any American soda; natural sugar, little carbonation, very good. The girls were funny when they said - "we don't drink much soda in our family," a comment that made Aragon laugh about how "healthy" we were. Food was amazing. 

Lastly, we then went to the Korean candy store next door. They had a German section which brandished the Kinder Eggs - a forbidden item in America that Heather loves. Aragon is like the grandparent that you don't want, but yet can't deny, since he taunts you to let your kids have anything they want. He instigated the kids into buying some candy, which I also discover the Korean version of Mamba's that surprisingly is better than American Mamba's. He did the same thing the next night when we ventured out and dropped 20000 won ($20 bucks) getting Korean looking stuffed animals out of a claw vending machine - which actually worked. It was a huge gamble and risk to win them, but we did!

Super fun memory. We returned back before 10pm as to not be arrested, grateful for a guide who gave us a wondering introduction to such a fun place.
-Kevin

The Patriot Express and TLF

"There's Our Plane!!"  The kids are excited to get on the PE/ Rotator

Around 7:20 AM, we were able to board the Patriot Express, AKA the Rotator.  The Rotator is a military contracted transpacific flight of over 11 hours to Yokota, Japan then Osan, South Korea. The plane was extremely nice, the food was amazing, each seat had a nice TV with over 40 movies to choose from, there were pillows and blankets on each seat, and we were able to sit together. Little Monster had a few bouts of grumpiness when he was ready for a nap and super tired, but overall the kids did extremely well. On our flight from San Antonio to Seattle I got motion sickness, so luckily I had a motion sickness patch in my purse and I did much better on this flight. After 10 hours, we landed in Japan.  We were required to get off the plane and wait in a small room while the plane was refueled, cleaned, maintenance was performed and other necessitates were cared for.  We waited about 2 hours then got back on the plane and landed directly onto OSAN AFB about an hour and half later.

Once deplaned, we were required to attend a briefing to go over how to fill out the customs form.  After the briefing, we were lucky enough to be one of the first 10 groups of people to go through customs since we had small children!  Score for having mini me's! After we made it through customs, we experienced something we have never seen before.

We came down the escalator only to be welcomed by a standing ovation and over 30 people from the Squadron welcoming our family with signs and banners. Amazing!! Coming from 4 years of a residency that didn't care about you as a person or any of your efforts, made this stark contrast, it was something to be treasured. It made us almost want to cry. They had two cars waiting to cart all our stuff to our new hotel home, TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility). When we got to TLF, they even carried our bags up the stairs to our second floor rooms. They don't have elevators, which made lugging 24 bags up two flights of stairs on 2 hours of solid sleep a feat to say the least. I am super grateful for all of Kevin's fellow flight commanders that helped carry our stuff.


Our rooms are super small here, but we have all we need. We have two rooms here due to our family size of 6, and of course they aren't connected; that would just make sense, huh. In one room the A/C works in the bedroom but not in the living room, and the other the bedroom A/C doesn't work but the living room does: so we take our chances on whatever seems more comfortable.  We put most of our luggage in one room along with the wii, both rooms have our clothes in the drawers and the other room has all the kids' toys, games and coloring stuff. We have food in both rooms and it seems they are both in a constant state of disarray.

We hadn't been in the room not even 10 minutes when the phone rang, and Pam from our church here was at the front door with groceries for us!  What an amazing welcoming experience for us!  Our sponsor, Aragon took Kevin to the commissary as well as taking him the next day to get our ID's loaded so we won't be arrested as imposters on base. Everything is within walking distance which is super nice. We are excited to start exploring!!

A Night at the Airport

Ever wonder how to move a family of 6 almost 6000 miles? Answer: Amazing friends and a lot of answered prayers.

In order to fly to South Korea, we had to first fly from San Antonio to Seattle.  Our flight from San Antonio was on Alaskan Airline and it departed at 7:00 PM; super fun time to drag 4 kids on a 4 hours flight.  Our amazing neighbor's, Cole Helm and Chris and Krista DeGuelle helped cart our 24 bags of luggage to the airport.

We left at 4:30 PM. I have to admit, my biggest worry was how on earth we were going to be able to move the luggage around the airports.  With a little faith and answered prayers, we had angels with us every step of the way!

Each of us (including little Monster) had two carry-ons.  In addition to everyone having a rolling luggage, we also had two violins, one huge backpack with our life in it, a diaper bag, and two small carry-on personal bags. Oh ya: can't travel without a stroller, carseat for the baby and a booster seat!  With me pushing the stroller, that left little A to pull a roller, Big Sis to pull two rollers with the small carry on resting on the roller and a violin on her back, and M&M had two rollers and a violin on her back also.  That left Kevin with everything else - luckily he's buff and it was easy for him (yes this is Kevin writing this part). We had a lot of funny looks, especially from the person that initially checked all our bags. Total count: two large check-on bags per person- making a total of 12 large check-ons, 6 small carry-ons, 2 violins, 2 personal bags, 1 backpack, 1 diaper bag, 2 carseats, and a stroller and a partridge in a pear tree.

Chris and Cole brought all our luggage into the main doors close to where we needed to check in for ticketing.  From there Kevin, Big Sis and M&M took the 12 large bags over to ticketing to check them on the plane.

The flight on Alaskan was about 4 hours.  It was a nice flight without any issues.  Little Monster was tired because it was his bedtime, and since we thankfully had a seat for him, he slept in his carseat.  The airline had free movies via their flight app.  I downloaded the app on my iPad and Kevin's iPad, and Kevin's phone and the girls were able to watch Storks.  They also had their Kindles and their own headphones, so they kept themselves entertained playing games and watching movies until they were too tired and all fell asleep.

When it was time to get off the flight, we had the issue that Big Sis and M&M couldn't roll two suitcases down the small aisle, so Kevin took one roller and went first with the intention of returning to grab more luggage.  I was cleaning up our rather large mess and the kids were trying to get the luggage down.  Some time went by and Kevin was not returning, instead all the flight attendants asked if they could take some luggage off for me. Where did he go? The four flight attendants helped me and the kids get everything off the flight.  When I got off, Kevin was standing there fuming mad.  Apparently it's against TSA policy that once you pass the plane door you are not allowed to return on. He asked to get back on, but they wouldn't let him due to him being a security threat.

So now came angel #3. One of the pilots was a retired Air Force pilot, she heard Kevin was active duty, and offered to help with all the luggage and kids. She lead our family to the USO and even carried some of our luggage the entire way too.  I am ever grateful for her help.  Our kids were super tired as it was now after 11:30 PM San Antonio time.

We got our carry-on luggage checked into the USO luggage hold, and I went to the USO "Family Area" and found a vacant crib and laid little Monster down.  Yet another answered prayer happened as he laid down eyes open looking around, but he never made a peep.  He took in his surroundings, found them satisfactory, then closed his eyes and slept soundly all that night.  Kevin took the girls to the USO dinning and got them all hot dogs, sandwiches and cupcakes, a perfect midnight snack.  I need to mention here, that the USO is volunteer ran, and everything is free for service members - such a blessing.  I am so grateful for the volunteers and for the amazing accommodations of the Seattle USO!!

M&M and little A got PJ's on and brushed their teeth while I turned the very last available couch into a bed for four.  They came right in and went right to sleep.  Big Sis went and helped Kevin get the 12 mammoth check-ons. Angel #4 came in the form of Skycap!  Randomly there was a guy walking around with a huge cart and when Kevin came down to baggage claim he discovered that the Seattle luggage carts could really only accommodate 3 bags: no way he could transport 4 on his own.  The Skycap angel loaded them all on and walked the luggage all the way to USO and Kevin was able to check all those bags into the USO luggage hold.  Kevin finally got to our little couch around 11:30 Seattle time, 2.5 hours after we had landed.  Kevin grabbed a pillow and some blankets and laid down on the floor for atlas an hour of sleep.

I didn't get much sleep that night.  I was worried that little Monster would wake up and wake the other two babies in the room.  I was also worried that we would miss our check-in time, since we were super confused about when we needed to go down and get our tickets.  There was a briefing at 1:00 AM, so I went to get more information.  Kevin and I found out that as a family of six, we had seats already together for us, so we didn't need to go down to get our tickets until 3:30.


So grateful for this as I was finally able to sleep for 2 hours!  We woke up at 3:00, took showers, got the kids changed, then lastly work up little Monster and put him in his stroller.  Our next angel was the USO volunteer at the luggage hold.  Kevin had already asked a handful of people what the skycap number was and not a single person knew the number.  This volunteer knew the number and called skycap to come get our check-on mammoths!  Skycap loaded everything, and then we walked  to ticketing. As a family you don't have to check in until 4am so the mammoth line to go through security was already past. We checked right in, loaded off our 12 boulders, and got our tickets in no time.

We made our way through security, with three bags flagged.  We had to wait for each bag to be opened and hand checked.  Kevin also had to do a pat down for the second time; he looks so suspicious.  All our luggage was cleared and we were finally good to go to our gate!  We found our gate, found a restaurant for breakfast, ate, and then took a nap!