catching up...

i've been mia for awhile. i realize that. with a not so gentle nudge from my mom and loving sister, i am back. it has been a rough couple of weeks. things have slowed down to some extent and with that has brought some rough moments. i have been incredibly homesick. not homesick in the sense of missing the states, but homesick in the sense of missing friends and family. i do miss the new england fall, don't get me wrong, but my lack of friend and family connections here have really gotten to me lately. back to the new england fall thing for a minute. i receive emails about the foliage and subscribe to a blog feed about new england travel. talk about kicking someone in the stomach when they are already down! how i'd love to go on our traditional apple picking or pumpkin picking adventures or on our leaf peeping expeditions. ahhhhh. i miss it all. new england falls were my favorite! they do have apple orchards here, but most of them were destroyed when the typhoon struck earlier this fall. i am on a mission to buy our pumpkins today. gotta make sure we don't miss out on our halloween fun, although from what i can gather, halloween is not celebrated here. there are a number of fall festivals and our neighborhood has many americans, so i think our kiddos will have plenty of activity. claire's costume arrived this week and my mom mailed mya's yesterday. we should be all set for our traditional costume show and tell!! yippee! fast forward to my family and friend issues..i used to talk to nearly each of my sisters and my mom every day when i lived in the states. that was a lot of life, but with an hour commute each way, it was perfect. since moving here, i talk to them once or twice a week if i am really lucky. it is hard. really hard. i miss them so much. it makes for some really boring and super lonely evenings. we email daily, but it isn't the same. anyway, i was able to facebook chat with my bestie, michelle this week. that brightened my day. i am not a down and out type person, so this is awful. each day is a bit better so perhaps the funk is passing. thank goodness.

-we joined chris' work crew for a korean feast last night. i was hesitant to bring the girls, but we couldn't find a babysitter. they came along. thankfully, they were fantastic. we sat at the table with his korean colleagues. they are so kind, and i was so worried our girls' lack of appetites or narrow minded perspective on food would offend them. no sir re. claire ate like she's never seen food before. the girl  loves meat. she can eat steak like there's no tomorrow. she is definitely my daughter. anyway, we enjoyed pork bulgogi. it was so yummy. claire even wrapped a piece in a lettuce leaf and ate it. amazing. all in all it was a fun night. mya wasn't feeling so great, but she ate white rice like i eat cookies!

-claire is loving "school." she comes everyday with new little comments. her latest is that so and so is her "best friend." occasionally this is a boy, which chris especially loves. i picked them up the other day and as we were walking by the playground where her friends were playing, jacob came over to the fence and yelled, 'good bye claire.' i said good bye to him, which apparently opened him right up. he continued by telling me that he and claire were going to the movies together. ha! a date at 3 years old. how sweet is that!

-i ran 13 minutes continuously without hurling! pretty amazing if i do say so myself.

-today we are heading out to the air show. the pilots have been practicing for the last few days, so life has been noisy to say the least. mya is so sweet. everytime she sees a plane, she waves and says 'good bye.'