This weekend was so nice and relaxing. No commitments. Last weekend was a little crazy--we had too many parties to go to (a nice problem to have) but only having one this weekend is so wonderful.

I haven't toted my camera around lately, so here's one from July. We went to a little river with friends. Their little girl, Yerin, is in the background on the right. Roughly the same age as Anja.

Funny story: One evening about a month ago, I stopped by Yerin's house to see how her mom, Hyunjong, was doing. Hyunjong is really sweet, smart, sharp, and fun to talk with and I've enjoyed getting to know her. She was past her due date and pretty sick of being pregnant. So I thought I'd pop in, say something cheery and see if she liked lasagna after she delivers and gets back from the hospital. (Yes, of course!) It turned out that she had been having contractions about 10 minutes apart. Real labor, but not soon enough to go anywhere. So she and I talked. I kept saying, "Gee, well I should go," but she wanted me to stay to take the focus away from the labor. It's pretty cool to say, we had a really great conversation and laughed about international politics, culture, etc while we charted her minutes.

So, the next morning her car was gone. I was sure they were at the hospital. Two days later, I saw her husband and asked how things went that night. He said, "Well, our hot water heater (on the second floor) leaked all over the house that night, soaked the wall in the living room." Then I realized, their water broke around the same time her water broke. He shook his head yes and we both bent over laughing. But, that's not all. Her baby was delivered 6 minutes after they arrived at the hospital. 6! I joked how she almost delivered in the car! I guess Hyunjong talked with me, putting off going to the hospital a little too long.

Anyway, the pic I posted is the last time we did something with them. Their life has changed dramatically for a little while.

Return from Summer

We're back to blogging after a summer of...not. Mostly doing lots of other things. Thad and I went to Turkey; Anja visited Grandma and Auntie for a week during that time. We also ran around Minneapolis and Wisconsin to visit as many friends and family members as possible. Here in PA, we've been getting back in to the swing of things again, and adjusting to the new schedule that a new school year always brings. Things are going very well.

Here we have Elana and Anja (I dare you to say that 5 times fast) being their cute selves in a neighbor's fancy kid house on Labor Day. Though Anja's legs could deceive you, Elana is actually a solid 4 inches taller.

Yay! Baseball!!

The local AAA team, the Spikes, provide a pretty fun event. Notice I didn't mention how good of a team they are. 18-56 for the 2008 season. Nevertheless, it's a new little stadium, with friendly atmosphere, and usually a few decent plays per game. Most important: they have funnel cakes.

It may forever make me chuckle that Anja likes to hug the large, strange, costumed animals that have always freaked me out.

Catching up for May

May has been very busy, but most noteworthy, I got a good job, Anja got in to school, and Thad sucessfully finished his first year at grad school.






We even had time to stop and smell the roses. And touch the caterpillars.







Oh, so this is what he looks like. We finally have Thad back!











We found the elusive Lady Slipper on a walk in the state forest.








Auntie and Grandma Naneki visited over Memorial Day weekend. It was very fun to have them here, but unforunately, this is as cooperative as Anja got the entire time.

Phoebe, Anja, Sebastian, and Alex (among others not in this pic) enjoying the all-time favorite Slip n Slide.






Our friend and student, Ni-Yong, who is visiting from Korea and learning English with us. I think Anja teaches her more than I do!

Gee, There Sure are a Lot of Burgs

Yesterday Anja I went for a quick trip to visit Papa Rick in Dillsburg (near Harrisburg) who was staying with friends. We got to go trampolining and kitty holdin', see a cool train set, feed some fish in a pond, and play a kid guitar.



















On our way home we hit a really bad thunderstorm. Unfortunately, the heavy rain started once we hit the interstate, but after a stressful while of slowly going up, down, and around the mountains, it finally let up. Eventually, I noticed the windshield wipers started making noise telling me they were dry. So I turned them off and thought the most of it was over. We could still see lots of lightning in the distance--what a beautiful pink! But, it was quiet and relaxing as we drove for a while, watching the storm seemingly fade into the distance. In a blink, what seemed like an entire lake at once fell upon the car. I couldn't see at all! I let up on the gas and turned on the wipers, which didn't help immediately. It took a couple seconds to know for sure things were fine, that we weren't going into a ravine or something, but that's a very long time when you're cruising at 60 mph. To break the tension the rest of the way home, we named as many 'burgs as we could: Harrisburg, Phillipsburg, Boalsburg, Pittsburgh, Anjaburg, Truckburg, Streetburg, Mamaburg, Kittenburg, Bugburg...





Meet our garden plot. There are probably about 50 out there. Our garden neighbor is at the left of this shot. Don't tell her I forgot her name, again. Today we dug more troughs where a heavy rain can pool. (Should've done that more before yesterday, d'oh.) People get such a kick out of helping new gardeners, coordinating trades of seeds or future veggies, telling each other of plants they brought from their home countries... it really is a lot of fun. We might get a frost Tuesday, so I'll hold off on transplanting for a couple more days.

Gorgeous Weather

I'm not rubbing in how great the weather has been because if you still have cold weather, you're probably suffering a little. But it's been absolutely beautiful and no one here is taking it for granted. It will be crummy again soon. So we've been revelling as much as possible.

Anja got a Highlights magazine subscription for Christmas from Great Grandma Betty and she read it outside for 10 minutes all by herself.

Lovely Ladies

The neighbor ladies are having tea and crumpets talking about the American tax system. Er, or maybe it's juice, animal crackers and suggesting how to not fall over in their chairs in the lumpy grass. Clockwise we have Anja, Clover, Julia, Mimi, Seo-Jung, and Xara.

A couple weeks ago Seo-Jung (Danielle) kept forgetting and asking my name. We noted it was difficult to learn a name in another language. I said, "Well, you sometimes use an American name, maybe I should have a Korean name." She thought for a minute and decided I should be called "Mindalay." I not only liked how it sounded but I could actually say it. I asked Hwan-Mee, her mom, what it means. Dandelion. I told her it was perfect because I love the color yellow. She hugged me and ran off.

New joke from Darren, age 6:

2 + 2 = chocolate pudding.