Promoted!

 It's Lieutenant Colonel Steeves. (Boom!)
I am so proud.

 

Our family is very excited to share that Geoff recently was promoted from the rank of major to lieutenant colonel. Not all majors are promoted, and making Geoff's accomplishment even more noteworthy, he was actually promoted one year ahead of schedule, or what the military calls "below the zone." The Air Force chose just 119 officers out of 4,200 to promote early to lieutenant colonel, making Geoff part of an elite 2.8 percent.

 

It is customary for a higher-ranking officer to officiate the ceremony and administer the oath of office. Geoff asked his boss Col. Mike "Gravy" Manion to do so. Then, Leo and I changed the rank on one of Geoff's shoulder boards, and Eri changed the other. Geoff gave a speech to conclude the ceremony, and we hosted a party.

 

Col. Mike "Gravy" Manion says we are
recognizing Geoff's past performance, and also his future potential.

Gravy then listed all of Geoff's accomplishments ...

... the list was long, though, and a few
 audience members had trouble hanging in there.

 

Leo and I are pinning on Geoff's new rank, which is a silver leaf.

 

Eri is pinning on Geoff's other silver leaf.

Sealed with a smooch.

Geoff is being administered the oath of office, but no kiss.

Geoff gives a speech highlighting his antics at the academy, which made everyone
 think his promotion to lieutenant wasn't likely, let alone lieutenant colonel.
He also thanked those who have helped him along the way.

Geoff: "Brye, out of everything, my greatest accomplishment has been marrying you."
Me: sniff, sniff
  

Eri and Leo got balloons and a shout out in Portuguese.
(He speaks to them exclusively in our second language.)
 Geoff got a huge hug from Eri and collective "ahhh" from the audience.

 

The after-party began with a receiving line,
where our family accepted congratulations and well wishes.

The chef-owner of our favorite
 Mexican restaurant in Seoul catered the party with an authentic dinner.

The food was really good, but some guests just focused on the chocolates.

 

Looking around for some trouble to cause!

 

 

Two more future Lieutenant Colonel Steeves!
Eri would like to be "in the Air Force" and "a lawyer"
and Leo would like to be "up in the sky"
(said with his index finger pointing upward). 



Happy Thanksgiving and More Tidbits

Happy Thanksgiving from Cambodia / Thailand!

No turkey here.



Military Ball, the Sequel: We had so much fun last month at the annual Air Force ball, we decided to hit up the annual Marine (ooh-rah) ball. Members of all military branches attend these events, but because this one in particular was mostly marines, we hardly knew anyone (though as the night went on, I was in more and more people's pictures). It felt like we were party crashing and it was awesome.

Bedtime story: I was recently invited to the library on the U.S. Army base where we live to read "Daddy Flies" and sign copies of the book. The following week, I had my own little booth at the base's annual holiday shopping event. Seeing so many kids walk away with a copy of my book and knowing it would be their nightstands was thrilling.

Korean Wedding: We attended our first Korean wedding: the nuptials of Andy and Lexi. The entire ceremony was conducted in Korean, although Lexi is American (a fellow Idahoan, in fact). Afterwards was a lunch reception with traditional Korean food, but not the festivities that we typically associate with weddings, like dancing, bestman speeches, and champagne toasts.

Andy and Lexi

Geoff and Leo

There was no wedding cake at the reception, but there was octopus.

Only one of us wasn't disappointed; only one of us ate it.

Kind of a Big Deal: Last year, Geoff became a doctor (of economics, so you shouldn't show him "the weird spot" on your back) and this year, he has been promoted to lieutenant colonel. We are so proud! There was a ceremony where he was administered an oath of office and a party afterward to celebrate this outstanding achievement. Definitely worthy of its own blog post, but we are waiting on pictures from the photographer. Stay tuned!

Eri is changing the rank on one of Geoff's shoulder boards
from major (a bronze leaf) to lieutenant colonel (a silver leaf).

Ready for the festivities to begin.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, from Seoul. This was the first year for Eri, 5, and Leo, 2, to go trick-or-treating, and, of course, they loved it. Halloween is in celebrated in Brazil, but with less fanfare and way less candy, almost none of which is chocolate or that good. Eri chose to dress-up as a ninja, as did Leo (ninja turtle). Geoff resurrected "the coach" and rather than sexy fill-in-the-blank (it's really cold here already), I went with a deviled egg. We ended the night at Eri and Leo's favorite restaurant, where they like to split an order of chocolate chip pancakes with whip cream, which seemed like the best dinner option after all the candy.

Tidbits

Camping: This month we went on our first family camping trip to one of the beaches on Korea's northeast coast. (No one liked my idea of setting up the tent in the living room and making s'mores in the microwave.) We had a great time road-tripping around and stopped by one of the two demilitarized points in South Korea, where you can look over the boarder to see North Korea.

Roasting marshmallows.

Up with the sun, but that's our norm.

Fanning the flames.

Looking for Kim Jong-un.

Outdoorsy on any continent!

The drive home.

 

 Disney on Ice: We took Eri, Leo and Eri's bff Dylan to Disney on Ice, which was a compilation of the most-famous scenes from the most-popular animated movies. I had incorrectly assumed the songs would still be English, but this didn't faze us. The best part was hearing hundreds of little girls in the audience belt out "Let it Go" in Korean. It was so cute and the song definitely did not lose its impact as a feminist call for freedom / LGBT anthem.

Air Force Ball: Date night got an upgrade. For the first time, Geoff and I went to the annual Air Force Ball. This has been our only formal military event since Ring Dance at the Air Force Academy when we were 21. The ball felt like a cross between a wedding and the prom, and we had a blast.

Gunning for Prom King and Queen ...

Food: Part of the fun of living abroad is trying new foods. To a certain extent. Sometimes you get tricked, like when I thought I was buying a bagel with blueberry cream cheese at a Korean coffee shop. It was actually a bagel with black beans in cream cheese. (Also, nothing magical happens when cream cheese and black beans are combined and this tastes exactly as you would expect.) Other times, you know it's not gonna be delicious because items in the dish are unidentifiable and/or stink, such as this fish soup below. A quick picture and a text to a Korean friend confirmed that these were fish internal sex organs floating in there. Most of the food in Korea, though, is very good. We love going out to eat here because native dishes are spicy, plus there are a lot of international restaurants to choose from, too.

My guess was brains of some kind of sea animal.

This drink that looks like dirty water tastes like dirt in water.
We later found out it is some type of root juice with amazing health benefits.

A sure thing. These milkshakes tasted as good as they look.

Sometimes it's best just to make it yourself ...



... or go with the familiar. I found Leo spooning strawberry
cream cheese into his mouth. He cried when I took it away.

Reading at Eri's School: Last month I published my first book, a children's story called "Daddy Flies." As an almost-famous author, I was a guest of "Deer Class," which is Eri's kindergarten, to read the book and answer adorable questions. Eri was so proud, which kept me from crying so as not to embarrass her and really alter the memory of Mommy's visit at school. I hope she never forgets. I still remember how proud I was when my mom, a dental hygienist, visited my classroom with an oversized mouth and toothbrush and showed us "little circles" while everyone gathered around.

"Welcome to Deer Class Mrs. Brye"