Lotte World

In an effort to be better organized this year, I'm actually posting a blog about something that happened just yesterday!  Hopefully by posting things here and on Facebook in a timely manner I won't feel so overwhelmed and never want to post anything because it becomes such a major task.
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Yesterday after dropping David off at the airport, we headed over to Lotte World to help a friend celebrate his 6th birthday.  Lotte World is a theme park similar to Disneyland, except a large portion of it is indoors - which was wonderful seeing as it was a whoppin' 25 out yesterday!  Other than having to wait in line for long periods of time, it was great!  I think the adults complained about the wait more than the kids did though... 

The first thing we did when we got there was head to the ball pit.  The kids and I got there well after the others, and Kim had made reservations for 2:00 PM and we got there just in time.  The kids have such a great time in these places, and they got 45 minutes to run amok.

 I was feeling a bit targeted.

 Tristan sighting his "gun" in

 As you all know, my kids get gobs of attention everywhere they go, and today was no exception.

This man standing next to Grace filled her bag I don't know how many times.  As you might imagine, she didn't complain about that at all!

 On the other hand, Tristan had to fill his own bag.

 Having a little fun with the kids.  This was about the extent of my being able to ride rides.

 Tristan and Michael watching the bumper cars

 Oh how I wish I had one of these at home...

We took a "hot air balloon" ride around the park.  Here's a shot from the ceiling of the place.

 Yep, that's an ice skating rink down there.

 We made it downstairs in time for the parade - it was pretty spectacular.  Unfortunately, my pictures don't do it justice. 

This lady is teaching the kids how to dance.

We had a great time, and it was a good distraction after dropping David off, knowing that we won't be seeing him for 3 months.  How do you like that?  My wonderful husband leaves his wife and children alone in a foreign country for 3 months... during the bitter cold winter.  Humph.

Not really.  Well, it's all true, but we aren't upset with him about it.  He's off to a school in the DC area that will be great for his career, both in the military and civilian world, and we have some great friends here who we know will help us whenever we need anything.

Fun With Grandma

My mom arrived in country on the 16th, and wasted no time getting down to business with the kids.  Her first project was making rice krispy ornaments with them. 

Tristan trying to be sneaky and stealing a marshmallow.

The finished product.

 Then she and Grace made some white chocolate m & m bark...

 ...and a mini cupcake Christmas tree...

(I did decorate it at least)

 ...and the leftover cake batter got baked into 5 two-tiered cakes in her Easy Bake oven.

(I didn't decorate these...)

 Tristan got a paint-by-number sun catcher for Christmas.

 And Grace got a kit to make a couple of outfits for one of her dolls, so Grandma is teaching her how to sew.

She's really enjoying this and even wanted to iron the seams with Grandma's help.  As much as I'd like for her to learn how to iron I had to say no because my iron puts off some really hot steam.

Grandpa's Hat

November 27, 2010

When we were going through my dad's things, we came across his Master Chief's hat.

 

 We salute you, Master Chief Keyser.  We love you and miss you!

Kentucky Horse Park

November 23, 2010

One of the places that we didn't get to when everyone was out for David's and my wedding was the Kentucky Horse Park.  So, we thought we'd venture out and take the Samuelson clan to go see some spoiled horses.  When we got there we discovered that is was closed, but the grounds were open and accessible, and we ended up having a great time.  Though we didn't get the history of the horses or get to see all the different breeds that they have on site, we also didn't have to fight any crowds, and we got to get hands on with quite a few horses.

 The horses were more than happy to oblige a few little hands.

 Grace is a tad bit spoiled...

 Tristan sitting on a barrel of David's favorite bourbon

Grace and Tristan trying to sneak up on a barn cat

 Amazingly enough, Tristan the wild man was the one that caught up to it.

 A little fun with the leaves

 

These two were absolutely inseparable. 

On the way home we took the "scenic route" through some horse farms, and saw a tobacco barn that was actually in use to dry tobacco.  Something you don't see very often anymore since most of the tobacco farms are gone from Kentucky.

Bowling

Tristan has been begging to go bowling for weeks.  Every time we drove by he would ask if we could go today (that amounted to every day since we pass it every day we take David to work).  I told him that we would go when Grandma was here, and we finally made it!

 

 

Surprisingly, the kids bowled 3 games and were still wanting to play more when us old folks wore out!  And that didn't cure Tristan's desire to bowl... he's still asking if we can go bowling, just not as often.