Happy Birthday Michelle!

Michelle's birthday is next Wednesday, October 17th.  I wanted to make her birthday special this year, though, so I decided to throw her a surprise party on Friday, the 5th, instead.  Her party was at one of our favorite restaurants, T.G.I. Friday's.  Because Michelle and I are regulars there, it was pretty easy for me to reserve a special room for us and our guests.   Everyone had a great time even though the party ran really late.  I am so thankful that I have many friends and family here in Korea!

I also made a video of Michelle looking back at her life to date.   Unfortunately, the movie is too big to post here, but you can find it on Youtube here.  Several people helped me make this movie and plan the party.  Thank you everyone who recorded a message for Michelle.  I also want to single out my co-teacher Kay who translated all the videos for me, and Michelle's best friend, Jina, who invited many people to the party and helped keep it a secret from Michelle.  Please enjoy the video!

Michelle's First Road Trip and Time in Seattle

Wednesday night, July 25th, Michelle and I flew out of Incheon, crossed the international date line, and landed in Seattle...Wednesday afternoon.  This was the beginning of a two week trip with my Seattle family, and it was great!

Thursday was a quiet day for us getting over our jet lag, and Friday morning my mom, Aunt Barb, Michelle, and I started a road trip through eastern Washington (my mom's idea). First, we drove to Lake Chelan for lunch and some time on the beach.  Oh, I miss American hamburgers.  The same day we continued driving to Grand Coulee Dam and watched the laser show that night.  By the way, we had to leave the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics for the laser show, but it was still worth it.  Our second day of the trip took us away from the mountains, through western Spokane, and south to Pullman where I got to see my alma mater for the first time in about ten years.  While driving through all this beautiful country, I pointed out all the landmarks and interesting features to whomever was listening...Michelle slept almost the entire way.

In Pullman, Michelle was the perfect wife because my mom and aunt wanted to go to our hotel and rest, while I wanted to see the university.  So, we got dropped off at the top of the hill and slowly made our way down.  I showed her all around campus, the CUB, the new football stadium, Holland Library, and the dining halls I worked in, etc.  We walked through Cleveland Hall, (they closed the Brain Library), and I even pointed out my room in Stephenson East where I lived for two years.  American universities tend to be MUCH bigger than Korean universities so Michelle was suitably impressed.

Our first stop, though, was Kimbrough Hall ( the music building).  I am pretty sure the building was supposed to be locked, but it was not so we walked in and started looking around.  We walked down into the basement and made another discovery.  The drum locker rooms were open!  Was it divine providence that I was able to put on my beast of a bass drum for Michelle?  I do not know.

Finally, after buying a new WSU sweatshirt, and several cans of Cougar Gold, we headed back to Seattle.  I enjoyed driving on Highway 26 again, remembering all the places my friend Chris' car had broken down.  I almost warned my mom not to drive fast going through Washtucna and Othello, but I did not need to.  Thanks for driving all the way, Mom!

After getting back to Seattle, we still had a week and a half left of our trip, and we kept busy.  We went into Seattle twice (on boat).  Saturday, August 4th my mom and aunt paid for us to take an Argossy Cruise out of Kirkland to go watch the Blue Angels.  We had perfect weather for the show, and it was great!  I had not seen them in several years and forgot how awesome those Navy jets are.  Michelle also got a kick out of seeing Bill Gates' house.  The very next day we went back to Seattle and took a boat tour of Lake Union.  We got some great shots of the city from the water including every Korean's favorite Seattle home, Tom Hanks' houseboat from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle".

We stayed busy visiting with my brother's family.  My birthday party was a lot of fun the night after we arrived.  My mom cooked steak.  YUM.  Michelle and I also went to dinner with Mike and his wife, Julie on the Seattle waterfront one night.  Michelle and I did our best to go broke buying things for ourselves and our family in Korea.  Michelle baked her lasagna for us one night, and barbecued Korean pork on another.  I went to the Spaghetti Factory with three of my best friends, Chris and Shalom Nemnich and Greg LaFrance.  We went to Denny's afterwards and I beat them at Hearts, too!  By the way guys, I am not angry that you forgot my birthday!

 Two days before we left, Michelle and I also celebrated our second anniversary, and I surprised her!  Our wedding was in the Embassy Suites in Bellevue so I suggested that Michelle and I take my mom and aunt to dinner there to celebrate.  Well, after we were done with dinner, the two ladies both went to the bathroom and never came back to the table.  When Michelle started getting worried that something had happened, I gave her her gift, a night alone at the hotel.  I always measure my success in gifts in whether Michelle cries happy tears.  I was well rewarded that night!

Two days later, my mom dropped us off at the airport and we waved goodbye.  We landed Wednesday night and were back at work on Thursday.  We both felt exhausted, but also satisfied.  It was a fantastic trip!

Our Trip Through Houston and the Caribbean

Friday, December 30th, Michelle and I jumped on a plane after school and flew to Houston for a two week vacation.  After a long and bumpy flight we finally arrived to the welcoming faces of my dad and Debbie.  We celebrated the new year together by eating at Whataburger and shopping at Walmart.  Woohoo!  The four of us managed to stay awake until midnight Houston time so we could watch the fireworks on t.v. 

Sunday, Michelle and I started our first Caribbean cruise.  We took the Carnival Magic on a seven day cruise with stops in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico.  Our cruise was fantastic!  Our first three days were spent at sea so we both had a lot of leisure time.  We sat on the deck reading, ate A LOT of fantastic food, played games with the other passengers, and so on.  Michelle was very patient with my football games, too.  I watched several bowl games our second day on the boat while she went to the spa and wandered around the ship. 

On Wednesday, the 4th, we stopped at our first port, Montego Bay, Jamaica.  A couple months earlier, Michelle and I chose our 'Excursions' for our cruise.  At each port we chose one activity recommended by the cruise line to stretch ourselves and make more memories.  In Jamaica, we went ziplining.  We took a bus through Montego Bay to a beautiful forest off the coast, put on some harnesses, and went flying through the trees like Tarzan.  (Except our flying was a little safter.)  It was pretty scary for both of us, but afterwards we felt so happy!  Take a look at this video of Michelle on her final ride.

The next day we stopped in the Cayman Islands and went swimming...with dolphins and stingrays.  A van picked us up and took us to a special cove on the bay where Michelle and I got to rub a dolphin's skin, watch her do tricks in the water, go swimming by holding onto her fins, and even get a kiss!  Then we took a boat out to a sandbar dubbed 'Stingray City' because there are so many of these fish living out there.  While we were there, we also got to pet stingrays, feed them, and even kiss them.  The kiss wasn't that great, but the rest was thrilling!

Our last port was one of Michelle's favors to me because when we stopped in Cozumel we went to some Mayan ruins for several hours.  I learned a lot about Mayan culture that day.  I also found out that Mayans don't really believe the world will end on December 21st, their cyclical calendar will start over.  Our tour guide warned that we will have strange weather that day, though.  After our tour, we stopped at a nice beach for about an hour, but the weather was getting a little chilly so we stayed out of the water.

After three days in a row of excursions, we spent another day and a half on the boat going home.  We went out for a nice dinner in one of the specialty restaurants on board, attended an art auction, and just enjoyed the peace of having so many people to take care of us.  The day we arrived back in Houston the port was closed for several hours because of some heavy fog so we enjoyed an extra meal on board, and were just grateful for a little extra quiet time on our own.

 But wait!  Our vacation isn't over yet!

After our cruise was over, Dad and Debbie were waiting for us at the pier.  We spent five more days with them in Houston and had a blast.  The girls were very patient and let dad and me watch the NFL playoffs the night we arrived.  We also did a lot of shopping for ourselves and our family in Korea.  We went to the dog racing tracks and ate king crab on Galveston Island.  We took a road trip to a town with roads named "Any Way", "That Way", "This Way", etc. and looked at my dad's airplane.  We also went to a fantastic steak restaurant one night thanks to a nice Christmas gift from my brother's family.

All in all, Michelle and I had two fantastic weeks abroad.  It is always hard to say goodbye, but we've already started making plans to meet again in Hawaii in two years.    Until then, we have a lot of great souvenirs, pictures, and memories to help us remember January 2012!

Welcome to our blog!

Hello All,

Michelle and I have discussed creating a blog for quite some time so we can share our adventures with all of you more easily.  Our goal is to tell you about all the 'big events' that we plan for each other during the year along with some great pictures and video.  We hope that you enjoy our blog and welcome all your comments.  Have a great 2012, and we hope to hear from you soon!