August in Seoul & Sauk Mountain

It's Wednesday (I know. Someone confirmed it for me when I was pretty sure it was only Tuesday.) It's a busy week, and I'm not feeling very deep, so this will be full of random thoughts, no doubt.

Today, Cade came home from school and told me that he had to go to "the office." I tried asking more questions. He ended up telling me, "I did something bad." He wouldn't elaborate more than that. That's pretty much been his M.O. this year, though.

When I ask him a question, he will not give me the answer I want to hear. "Cade, did you have a good day?" (pouty face) "No," is his reply. Thankfully, every once in a while, he'll volunteer something. Yesterday I asked him which one of his teacher's washed his lunch box for him. He didn't answer that question, but he did tell me that "teacher Sumi" was gone and that he missed her. So, that's a good sign!

In the past week, the humidity has dropped considerably, which is such a relief. Eighty-eight degrees seems so much more pleasant when the humidity is not 100%. I was finally able to straighten my hair for the first time since we'd left Washington (though I'm so lazy on vacation that I rarely did it there!). Little things like this excite me right now.

Speaking of excitement, Eric is finally starting to feel better, and he is able to return to school this week. He saw the doctor on Monday and the pneumonia was 90% gone. He has another week of antibiotics and he still isn't feeling 100%, but it's very exciting for me to be able to get back to our routine. Taking Kennedy to school was far more traffic than I wanted to deal with on a daily basis.

The temperature has actually dropped just a bit, as well. Last night, we were able to sleep with the doors open and just the fan on, instead of using air conditioning all night. This is something to be excited about! Evening temperatures dropping into the low 70s and daytime temperatures dropping into the low 80s. Woot.

I am really looking forward to fall. It is beautiful here, even if we don't have the regular fall stuff--pumpkins, sweaters, and Halloween. The temperatures are always very mild; you can finally put on a light sweater without sweating. The leaves turn (though not until about November), and you can find squash (it's like a pumpkin, right?).

But with fall comes the fear of winter. And winter is soooo long here. So, while I'm excited that temperatures have dropped a bit, I keep wondering how my little routine (which seems so easy right now) will look in the wintertime. When the roads are covered in ice. The car is frozen. And I get to stand outside twice a day waiting for Cade's school bus in sub-freezing temperatures. Gotta focus on the present. 

In a lot of ways, I feel that our transitions this year have gone well. Yes, that first week of school was stressful. Yes, Cade has suffered more than any of the rest of us. But the hardest part for me has been what my students call a "first world problem." It's the fact that the laundry and cleaning is up to us again. I know. You feel really sorry for me, right? But I know what I'm missing and you don't!

This week we have Kennedy's open house and soccer practices began for me twice a week. We have our staff retreat this weekend. So, we actually have only a four day work week next week with the high school and middle school open houses and Kennedy will start swim lessons in the afternoon. Next week will be busy, too!

We're excited to get out of the city this weekend and spend a few days at the beach. The weather should be beautiful. We are going to the same place that we went last year, so it's nice to know what to expect. The kids are really excited to spend a few days with friends, just relaxing and playing in the sand.

These pictures are from our last hike before we left Washington. My dad had been wanting to head up to Sauk Mountain, which is just off Highway 20 past Concrete. He'd been watching for a clear afternoon, and the weather had been looking good. We really only had one night that worked for us, though, since it was our last week on the mainland.

So, in spite of the fact that there were clouds we headed up and the rain clouds did result in some pretty skies, although we missed the sunset from the summit. I had intended to dump all of the pictures in just this one post, but I couldn't narrow them, so I'm going to just leave you with these. There will be more to come when I find the time!