19 Year and Forever To Go!

Nineteen years ago in a small baptist church we exchanged

vows in front of God, family and friends!

I would be lying if I said I was not terrified.

The only thing I was for sure of that day

was I could not live my life without you, and that is still true today!

 I had no clue what it meant to be a wife, an Army wife

or what marriage should look like,

 but living life without you was not an option.

On that day I promised to follow you anywhere 

and I would make that promise again today.

Because together we can do anything!

We have had amazing nineteen years.

We have cried more tears of happiness than sadness.

In our most darkest of hours when we both should have been grieving,

you put your grief to the side to take care of me. That is something 

I will never forgot!

We still chase each other around the house and wrestle

like two teenage brothers.

If you didn't know any better you would think we were still newlyweds.

We laugh all the time, can read each others mind, and finish each others sentences.

Being with you is my favorite place to be!

"You are every reason, every hope and every dream that 

I've ever had." -Nicholas Sparks

"I remember the first day I ever looked into your eyes

and felt my entire world flip"-Unknown

In nineteens years we have had three amazing kids, weathered multiple long deployments, built and sold a few homes, moved a lot, traveled the world and lived in three different countries. 

 

 

We have went to our share of military balls, 

explored some renaissance festivals, and even attended a few Oktoberfests,

but the best part was I got to experience it all with my best friend.

Whether we are road trippin' across the US, watching the Red Sox play,

logging miles with the family, exploring different countries, at our happy place (Disney World),

or just chilling on the couch together, you are the person I want by my side. 

You are my ride or die and my happy place.

The world could crash down around me, but if I was in your arms, I know that it would all be ok.

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."-Aristotle

It has been an amazing nineteen and I am excited to see what the next nineteen years look like!

Nineteen down and forever to go!

Happy Anniversary, Babe

"There are no accidental meetings between souls"-Sheila Burke

Seoul Much To See!

 With a little nudging from someone we started our day a 

little later then I had wanted to and I moved our first planned stop

to Sunday. The older two were ready right on schedule for breakfast at 

6:30 am. Normally we all would have headed to the M Lounge, but this hotel had 

a very strict policy in place for the number of guest per room. The older two headed down to the 2nd floor for breakfast. I had told them to charge it to the room and call if they ran into problems. I could hear a little hesitance in their voice, so I headed down with them. I stayed off to the side and they practiced "adulting". They had no problem and off to breakfast they went. Afterwords both said how easy it was and  that they would have no problem doing it the next day.  I went to get the other two and we headed up to the lounge for breakfast, only to realize it was closed for breakfast. Occasionally things get lost in translation, so we made a u-turn and headed down to the 2nd floor to have breakfast. 

I really should have taken some photos! One of the best hotel breakfasts we have ever had. I was over the moon with eggs made to order, but it also had a noddle bar, multiple types of Korean soups, large selection of meats and cheeses, smoked salmon, salad, tons of breads and pastries, fresh fruit, and the hot items included traditional breakfast foods from Korea, America and England.

With very full bellies we headed out to explore.

We made it our first stop Gyeongbokgung Palace and were ready

to explore the ground and learn some history.

We opted to do a self guided audio tour. I really like that way they did it. We were given a small device  that you run over numbers or pictures on the map and then it gave you a history lesson. We learned in Europe the group tours are not our thing. We often spend more time exploring than when we do a group tour.

 

The buildings were beautiful and we learned so much. In school, you sit in 

history classes learning so much, but when you start to travel you realize just how little you 

actually learned. Because of this, I have never had a problem pulling the kids out of school to travel.

We spent the next few hours exploring and taking photos. We did 

stop for a little snack and the family tried some different teas and green onion 

scones.

 

After that we took off to our next location,

Bukchon Hanok Village

It was a cute little area with lots quaint little shops and homes.

 

We stopped for a little ice cream break and a little impromptu dance from Sweet Boy.

 

After that we headed out to find some lunch! We always try to explore the local food and this time 

was no different.

I am pretty sure this place doesn't get a lot of Americans.

The menu and order sheet were in Korean (normal because it's Korea), but it didn't have

any translation or photos on the menu, like other places did. After

watching us struggle with our phones to translate 

they give us a hand written paper 

with some things in English. 

I don't think it was the full menu, but we picked a few things

and marked our sheet and hoped for the best.

The dish Mr. Man wanted was not available, so he

got the same things as the Diva. I ordered Greg and 

Sweet Boy the same dish, but made one spicy.

One of the noodle dishes came out extra spicy!

Greg was very happy about that. We are learning that unlike in the States when

a dish is marked spicy, it is truly spicy. 

This little one is living his best life! I hope he looks back

and realizes just how lucky he was. While he doesn't remember much

of his time in Europe, he is old enough to remember his time in South Korea.

Up next is the second half of our day.  We still had 

"Seoul" much more to do and explore.