A Brief Winter at Osan

With highs in the upper 40's to low 50's this past week, most of the ~16" of snow from last weekend is nearly history. Another unfortunate victim of the warmth is our friend shown on the right. Constructed by Hannah and dubbed "Friently" this poor chap didn't last much more than four days. Who knew the local birds would enjoy Twizzlers as much as they did.

Fortunately, the warm weather brings with it the promise of spring...and humidity...and yellow sand...

Hannah's Portfolio Added

We have begun scanning and uploading Hannah's artwork. View the Hannah's artwork album to view her masterpieces.

A Furious Start to '09!!

Well, it has been a whirlwind of a month...a fast and furious kickoff to 2009. First, please note the addition of three new albums:
--Gangnam Underground Shopping
--First Snow of the Season
--Tumbling and Stuff

Needless to say the Sweazey ladies have been running amok with shopping, dancing, tumbling and everything in between. In the meantime, dad continues to work goofy schedules, but still finds time to avert death with Hannah.

We also cost ourselves a few life-force points by venturing into Seoul traffic again - this time to do some shopping in the underground Labyrinth of Banpo station and the Gangnam underground shopping district. The objective: craft wares and birthday gift. Mission accomplished. Secondary mission (directed by Hannah): gelato. Also accomplished. Oh and no way passing on a Krispy Kreme along the way!

We just got in from enjoying our first substantial snow of the season. There was enough accumulation to enjoy some sledding and snowball fights. Dad, we'll of course keep you posted on any weather update. Right now, we're expecting about 6"

If speeding down a slope wasn't enough for Hannah, she also joined a tumbling class to expend more of that infinite source of energy. Note boyfriend Luke in the pictures gawking over her....

That's it for now - we'll report more after the Storm of '09 passes!

So little time...so much to do!

We are all up-to-date on our photo albums and they are ready for viewing (we hope)! As you can probably tell, it has been a crazy 9 months here! We have tried to take advantage of the opportunities we have had to travel and see all that is to see here on the ROK.

Our first real trip was to YongPyong and Mt. Soraksan. Friends of ours arrange some nice accommodations for a group of about 30 or so. We stayed at a place called Greenpia (which was a nice condo...the only drawback where the Korean beds). Greenpia had many activities for the little ones (during winter it is a ski resort and during the summer they offer rides and activities). Hannah and I enjoyed riding the "mountain coaster" and beating daddy down the mountain. We spent a day hiking around Mt. Soraksan and before we knew it, time was up and we were headed home.

USAG Camp Humphrey's (not too far from us) has a huge water park called Splish and Splash. We found ourselves there several times over the incredibly hot and humid summer. Check out the pictures of Hannah posing with "The Angels," a local band that invited Hannah up on stage to sing and dance. Fearless Hannah also insists on going down the big water slides all by herself. Splish and Splash is a great water park and we look forward to going again when the weather gets warmer!

Or course you will find pictures from Hannah's big 4 celebration. We invited some friends over to eat cake and play with toys. Take a look at the cake that Hannah picked out!

We have taken several trips to an amusement park called "Everland". It is said to be the 4th largest amusement park in the world. It has a little something for everyone! Hannah is finally tall enough to ride some of the roller coasters! On our last trip we found the "nerf ball" house, which had air guns that you could shoot the balls out of...we enjoyed "fighting" with the others (and Ryan especially enjoyed shooting at unsuspecting people). Everland also had the sledding hills up and running. Hannah was tall enough to ride one hill solo and the other she had to be accompanied. It was great fun to sled down the hill and see Hannah play in the snow.


Congrats to Daddy on pinning on Major! We are so proud of him! We had a nice luncheon to celebrate the occasion. Unfortunately, the lighting (and camera) weren't the best so the pictures didn't come out too well. Hannah took many of the pictures in the album.


Our Christmas was very busy! We attended a few parties, Hannah had a winter dance recital and we were able to visit a local orphanage. We enjoyed a relaxing Christmas day at home playing with our gifts. Thanks to all who thought of us this Christmas! We truly had a great Christmas...of course Hannah made out like a bandit and seemed to open gifts the majority of the day!


There is a taste of how we have been spending our time here. We have also taken several trips to Seoul, enjoyed the local cuisine and found many great stores for shopping. Hopefully, we will soon post more pictures from our adventures!

Love,
H

Ahhh! We're in Korea!!

OK, this is our first blog attempt. I hope it works!

See you soon!

The Sweazey's