Mother's Day in Osan

I asked Carol what she wanted to do for Mother's Day and she said she wanted to go to Osan.  So we went to Osan.  Good call Mama!  We had a ball.  The city is actually called Songtan and is maybe 45 minutes from Seoul.  When we say Osan, we mean Osan Air Force Base and the surrounding shopping district right outside the front gate.  The shopping is incredible in Osan.  You can get custom made clothing at very affordable prices from skilled artisans.  I'm a big fan of the sports jerseys.  We've gotten some artwork for friends and family from Osan.  The haggling is fun too.     

Here's Jake chowing down at a rest stop on the way to Osan.  The highway rest stops are no joke in Korea.  Lots of things to eat, playgrounds, vendors, etc.  In the foreground is a yolky egg with some seaweed on it.  Jake says he only likes the white part of the egg.  Any self respecting Cruz likes ALL parts of the egg.  I stuffed some of this egg - yolk, seaweed and all -  down Jake's pie hole and he loved it.  Told you!  CJ, that's another story.

Here's Carol enjoying some bibimbap minus the egg on top.  Jake took care of the egg.  I've mentioned this before about Carol's hair.  For the uninitiated, every now and then, Carol straightens out her curly locks.  I come home from work and see this straight-haired stranger sitting in my living room.  I feel like I'm cheating.

Like I said, the rest stops here are no joke.  They even have cribs for your baby to take a nap.  I was eyeballing this crib myself.  Carol still hasn't gotten her driver's license so I'm stuck doing all the driving.  This is not a good thing especially considering the fact that I'm a notoriously sleepy driver.  I've been pulled over before because of my sleepy driving.  

This is the standard water arrangement at the rest stops and for many eating establishments throughout Korea.  The steel cups are kept in the ultraviolet cleaning machine thing on the right.  Most places won't even take a drink order for you.  They assume you will drink water.  If you want a soda, you'll usually have to seek out the server and ask.

Here's the other woman, I mean Carol, in our room in Osan.

You can get lots of quality knock-off stuff in Osan.  This is Jake using the bathroom in the back room of a knock-off purse place.  You've got your main store with the legal stuff, then there's the back room full of the fake stuff.  Notice the Coach purses in the background wrapped in plastic to protect them against pee splatters.  I'm certain that if the owners would've caught me taking this picture, they would've taken me to the other back room and given me a couple of knuckle sandwiches.

One of our favorite things to do in Osan is eat at the Chili's on base.  We actually ate there twice during this short trip.  It's like a slice of home.  I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs...

Here's CJ after I demolished him in a game while waiting for our food at Chili's.  It's good for him to learn defeat.  I'm not one of these parents that lets his kids win at everything so they can feel good about themselves.  I think it's good for him to take his big old head and lay it on his big old pillow and cry out some big old tears every now and then.  They've got to learn to deal with adversity, right?

Speaking of adversity, here we are returning to the scene of the crime.  The last time the family went to Osan, Jake had a bad fall across the street from Chili's.  It was not a good day.  We're recreating the scene from a couple of months ago.  Jake actually had two falls that first Osan weekend.  We ended up taking him to the emergency room and everything.  This trip was much better.

Jake was acting up pretty bad at the PX so he had to go stand still against the wall.  I caught him red-handed eating his Fruit Loop necklace during his punishment time.

So what's so special about this picture?  Nothing much except for the fact that CJ is peeing in a bottle.  This was on the ride back home and he really had to go.  The rest stops are great but sometimes they're few and far between.

One of the best things about these road trips is the time spent in the car yapping with each other.  Carol said this was the best Mother's Day ever.  She found a nice case for her new iPod at the exchange, stumbled upon a nice dress that fit perfectly, went into the back room of a place and got a nice "class A" purse and ate at Chili's twice.  And the best part was that Jake didn't even crack his skull this trip.  Until next time -- C2