Playing Designer in Korea: New OOSC Look

Over the last few weeks I haven't been exactly a regular post'r so thought I would dedicate a whole post to what I was doing instead of blogging... 

About a month ago I took on the Publicity/Webmaster board position for the Osan Officers' Spouses' Club. One of my first charges was to create a brochure and info card. But before I could do that it was really important to create a consistent foundation for the look and feel of all OOSC collateral moving forward. Because I'm not a designer these probably took entirely too long to create but overall I'm excited about the results and the coming year with OOSC!  

Back cover / Front Cover of the OOSC brochure

Inside Spread of the OOSC Brochure

Design Notes:

Colors: The blues and red derive from the OOSC logo/patch as well as the Korean flag and the yellow is an accent pop of color that visually draws the eye and distinguishes from the other red/blue materials on base. 

Photography: Many of the photos used are a bit more stylized / purposeful without much background. I used individual and group spouse photos as well as a few cultural photos as well. 

Logo: The OOSC logo and FB logo will be used on all materials moving forward for consistency.

Tagline: A tagline was created as a quick way to explain what OOSC 'is' - social. cultural. philanthropic.These also became the page titles for the brochure pages. 

Fonts: Two fonts have been used in consistent sizes throughout the brochure. 

Back Side / Front Side of the OOSC Info Card 

OOSC Cookbook Information Flyer (with login u/p marked out)

Throughout the summer I'll be working on implementing the new design across our other platforms including the OOSC website and Facebook page. 

Looking forward to a great year!

Splish! Splash!

This morning I was surfing and came across a post on the Osan Parents of Toddlers FB page about a trip to the Camp Humphreys' waterpark. Me and Cooper are always up for an adventure so in under two hours we were on a bus heading to Camp Humphreys for the day. 

Cooper wore his new surfboard swim trunks, his matching sailor hat and two layers of sunscreen (just to be sure). 

He was tentative of the water shooting up out of the ground but soon he got brave and had so much fun! 

And that warmed him up to start pointing out things all over the park he wanted to check out!

In the 1-2-3 ft pool he liked having me hold him on his tummy while he intuitively kicked his legs and paddled his hands. He's still getting the hang of the concept of water because he unknowingly dunked his face into the pool a couple of times - oops! 


I thought Cooper would like the little kiddie pool best but each time we visited he fussed to be held and then held onto my neck like he was hanging on for dear life. To a little two and a half footer it must have seemed like a landmine of water geysers. Although the dragon water slides were pretty cool! 

Pictured are the dragon slides plus 5 of the fleet of 20-30 Black Hawks flying nearby.

The next pool had an entire playground set under a foot and half of water - this turned out to be Cooper's favorite area. He enjoyed what probably seemed like a huge bathtub to him. He liked hanging out by the big slide and watching the big boys shoot out. He liked walking fast, while splashing from the shallow to deeper water. And he liked watching what our feet looked like under water. 


At the park there is also another larger playground set under deeper water with big slides, an Olympic size lap pool, a set of non-water playground equipment and all of the other amenities you would expect at a waterpark (like loads of sunning chairs and umbrellas, concessions and more). 

One of the big slides is pictured here plus more of the Black Hawk fleet

Along with our two new mommy friends and their toddlers we spent about 5 hours at the waterpark - lots of time in the water and lots of time hanging out under the shade of the umbrella. (That last part must be something he took from his daddy because if it was up to me I'd be sunning all day!)


It was such a fun day and after an accidental ride home* in a $20 taxi ride Cooper was completely wore out and hit the sack early. Worn out toddler = mission accomplished. 
*on account of another Korean language barrier communication mishap


There's a lot of splish splashing in mommy and Cooper's future this summer - that is if we can avoid the wayward taxi drivers. 

Mother's Day 2012

My second Mother's Day (okay, okay - weekend!) itinerary:

SATURDAY:

12-hour Seoul Zoo day. Super fun, exhausting and deserving of a whole separate post... coming soon.

SUNDAY:

Breakfast: Owen made homeade waffles - my all-time favorite breakfast. I had mine with bananas and peanut butter, Cooper takes his plain and daddy is a traditional butter and syrup kind of guy. Yum-o!

Morning: We attempted to call our moms on what would be the eve of Mother's Day for them but they weren't available. No worries - we found Trenton and Stacia and Granddad and Granboddy on Skype and had a great chat!

Lunch: Owen and Cooper had dinner plans so we ate a light lunch after Cooper woke up from his morning nap and then we headed into town to do a little shopping.

Early Afternoon: Owen and Cooper took my flower and pot shopping around Songtan. We bought 4 pots at the very first place and it was only 60,000 won (about $52). A great price and some lovely pots! 

We stopped at a couple of different flower stores but the last one was the goldmine. They had a wide variety of Asian-specific plants as well as the geranium-petunia-marigold type of mainstays and we purchased a little of each. We only spent another 60,000 won for enough flowers to fill the back of the Acadia... and our balcony. 

{pics coming}

Dinner: For dinner we went to a very traditional Korean eatery. Owen knew of it because he went there with some members of the Korean Air Force. 'Very traditional' sounds exciting but sometimes it's just hard. No high chair, no English, and often times you don't get exactly what you thought you were ordering. I ordered the bipimbop which is my favorite Korean dish but the recipe here was a bit different and it was actually a soup and the 'veggies' were seaweed and kimchi. It also came with seasoned raw meat that we grilled which I hadn't seen before. 

Owen got a very high-end cut of meat that was terrific. One of the traditional practices that carries over to even the most Western Korean restaurants is that of cooking your meat on the charcoal grill built into your table. As with every Korean meal it came with several side dishes in little bowls - various kimchis, salads and other things. We were full and Cooper was ready to go! 

Evening: It was just about Cooper's bedtime when we arrived home but they had one more present for mommy! They got me a custom-made purse out of a flight suit with pink lining and a patch with my name on it. Super cute and so thoughtful - I fell in love with this purse model a couple of months ago and daddy remembered! 

{pics coming}

Thank you to my boys for a wonderful Mother's Day! I love you both very, very much! 

Cooper-isms

Cooper turned 14 months old on March 22 and everyday is more fun than the last. I wanted to document a few Cooper-isms and new things he does at this age as I know it'll be just a fleeting moment soon. 

Playground: Most of the kids on the playground are much older - at least 2 so everyday he's been watching them learning what to do. Yesterday for the first time he 'got' how to climb up the stairs go down the slide and go back around to do it again. Such a toddler! 






Climbing: Even though he's been walking for months now we've somehow avoided climbing. Yesterday he started. We went to the playground and he just knew what to do (reference above video) then I found him IN his dresser drawer, climbing on top of the humidifier, using his shopping cart as a climbing tool and climbing on the couch. Oh, brother! 


Music: Music is in his blood on both sides of the family and we've made a point for him to listen to all kinds since we brought him home. He falls to sleep to lullabies every night. Every morning we turn up the radio and dance to whatever might be on. And at the first couple of notes to any tune he starts swaying to the music. I just enrolled him in music class that we start on Monday - we're very excited!


Wheels: Like any little boy he's obsessed with wheels. Cars, bikes, strollers, wagons... anything that goes round and round! Here he is playing with a wheel on the playground. 

Kissing my ou-wees. I can show him a hurt and ask for kisses and he'll give them to me on my hurt. 


Hugs: He'll make the hug sound with me. Mmm-mm!


Soccer: He loves kicking the ball around the house and kicking it back and forth with me and Owen. Here you can here him say "kick it."

Cabin fever: Cooper loves going outside and so does mommy so we spent quite a bit of time outdoors. If we go too long indoors though Cooper will now bring me my shoes and fuss to take him somewhere.  


Holding hands: We just started holding hands and he's doing great with it. We'll hold hands walking to the playground or to the car and it's much easier than holding him or toting around the stroller.


Highchair: He HATES the highchair almost as much as the car seat. If he had his way I'd feed him a bite and he could play while chewing, then he'd come back for more until he's full. He's a busy bee. It's kinda' exhausting at home ... and at restaurants.


Reading: Cooper loves being read to and now "reading" to himself. Since he was born we've read a book to him every night and it's always part of the toybox we have out. I now find him all of the time in his room reading a book to himself. And sometimes he'll bring me a book which means he wants me to read it to him - no matter what I'm doing I never say no - so we sit wherever we are, he climbs in my lap and as soon as the story is over he's off again. 

Cups: He cries to drink out of mom and dad's cups rather than his sippy. He loves drinking out of a glass but doesn't quite get gauging how much liquid is there so if we let him do it he'll just throw it back and get the drink everywhere. You'd think if we'd let him do this a few times he'd learn - but nope, he thinks the adrenaline rush of cold water in the face is hilarious. 


Sock Monkey-In-The-Box: One of Cooper's awesome daycare teachers in OK, Penny, gave Cooper this little toy. Cooper loves being scared so this is a favorite although he was getting frustrated that he couldn't make it pop up. He quickly figured out the trigger mechanism and bypassed the music turning wheel but once he figured it out it was magic! Here he is back in March figuring it out for the very first time! 

Carrying things to and fro in his shopping cart and on his ATV. Yesterday he was transporting around my shoes, a couch pillow, and his drink on his ATV. He'll also fill up his shopping cart with toys and shoes, and whatever else from his room and move them to the living room and dump.  

Frustration: He gets really mad when he can't figure something out or if something is in his way. It's so cute now but I'm sure one day it won't be so adorable. 


Words: He babbles all the time and sometimes he says actual words. Here's some to add to his list from about a month ago:


baby
down
yes
drink
vroom (when he's driving his cars around)
oh-oh!
kick it (when he's playing soccer)


Chalkboard: He loves his chalkboard wall. He favorite part is giving me the chalk and having me draw something and then he colors over it all the while talking up a storm. 


Small spaces: He loves small corners and spaces. I'll often find him reading or playing in the back corner of his closet, a certain inconspicuous corner in the living room or in the bottom of the pantry. He loves the bottom of the pantry so much that we decorated it with glow in the dark stars. Here he is with his blanket, drink, a toy and a book - all a little boy needs!

Pointing: He points at everything and says "that." It's super adorable now but when he can really talk I bet it might just start getting old.  


Flip-flops and toes: Now that Spring is here the moms all have their flip-flops on and pedis done. Cooper will spot sparkly shoes or painted toes across the playground and make a b-line to get a better look!


Flirt: Okay, I know everyone says there little guy is a flirt but seriously he gives this shy look that is irresistible. He will stare at a lady or another toddler until they make eye contact, then he'll smile and give that shy look again and then look away. It's so ridiculously cute. 


Love that precious baby boy! 

Lotte World - a visit to the world's largest indoor park

This Saturday we took our first solo family trip to Seoul. We decided to go to Lotte World which skirts a river lined with Seoul's blooming cherry blossoms. 


Lotte World is made up of the largest indoor park in the world, an outdoor park, a man-made island on a lake as well as a hotel, sports complex, a Korean folk museum, a shopping mall and a theatre. It is extremely large - here's the guide for just the park itself. 

Any adventure in a foreign country starts with actually getting to your destination. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Seoul and park which is pretty typical. But then it took another hour and a half to find the entrance to Lotte World which included walking in a maze across the entire complex. But we kept a positive spin on things by doing a bit of exploring along the way - we snapped this cool shot of a Korean brewery right below the Lotte Hotel. 

It's worth a note to say that we found what was the entrance right away but the security guard wouldn't let us go down the escalator but we couldn't communicate with each other to find out why. The language barrier sometimes is just too hard to overcome! 


We finally made it to the entrance, purchased tickets and we were finally ready to have some fun! 

 

On account of the rain it was packed! The ceiling caught our attention first - it was made up of an enormous skylight. And along the perimeter of the 5-story ceiling were monorails and simulated hot air balloons touring the facility. 

Below the ceiling was the largest ice rink we've ever seen. Around the ice rink there were 5 country-themed levels. 

Our very first stop was the Korean Folk Museum for some authentic Korean food. We didn't anticipate it taking so long to arrive so it was 2:30 by this time and we were famished. 

There were several restaurants and we chose based on the menu - here it is pretty customary for eateries (even at the mall food court) to display their menu using fake food which is great for us foreigners! They even had a display at the New York hot dog eatery.

The restaurant primarily had a traditional set-up where you sit on the floor but Cooper's not ready for that quite yet so we opted for a table. The meal was wonderful as always. 

Next we rode the carousel - the wait was about 30 minutes or so but Cooper was entertained by the carousel itself so it went pretty quickly. 

I was so excited about those hot air balloons but the wait was over 2 hours so we decided against it. The wait for the monorail was almost as long so we opted out of that ride as well. 

No worries - we visited the Italy, America, Germany, and Mexico-themed floors and had a lot of fun! 


It rained all. day. long. but we still wanted to take a peak at the Magic Island. So, we bundled up in our rain gear and headed outdoors. Most of the Island was shut down but we still got a taste enough to know that we wanted to come back. And it was worth it just to see the Cinderella-like castle! 

Soon after we strolled back indoors and caught a bit of a Korean stage show. It was a broadway-style montage of popular stories. Here's a video with Korean music and a little video of the performance and some of Cooper.

My favorite part of the show was the Wizard of Oz performance - there was a background image of the yellow brick road and Oz, what sounded like a Korean version of "follow the yellow brick road" and all of the characters you'd expect... well almost. There was Dorothy, Tin Man, the Lion, and Pinnochio! Ha! Only in Korea!

After one last shop for souvenirs we said goodbye to Lotte World for the day. Here are a few more pictures from our day:


No trip to a theme park is complete without trying on hats or ears of some sort. It was much like Disney here - I think every third person had on a pair! 

There were a lot of rides that we just admired from afar - like this great water ride that we watched from a couple floors above. To the left of this picture is a steep drop of the ride from a waterfall and there are roaring dinosaurs along the river as they float past. 

And these rollercoasters...

And we stopped at every little car or train we saw for Cooper to ride. 

Flower Market in Namdaemun, Seoul

A couple of weeks ago Cooper and I went with our friend Aimee* to a large flower market in  Namdaemun, Seoul. 

The complex is made up of several buildings each with it's own specialty of flowers, pottery and garden. The main building we visited was two stories  packed with vendors selling fresh cut flowers and various blooming branches. 

There were rows of gorgeous roses in every color and stage of bloom. It was difficult to not snap a photo of every beautiful rose display. The blue roses below were especially unique. 

The fragrance emanating from the lilies was intoxicating. 

There were so many orchid color variations that I've never seen before. 

And there were more exotic flowers like these blooming branches of cotton. What a welcome sight that took me back home in a moment! 

And booth after booth of various other flowers - if I could read Hangul then I'd know what these were...

They also sell faux flowers, garden decor, and baskets... 

Wrapping papers, containers and ribbon. 

The prices were as beautiful as the flowers and they're wrapped in Korean newspaper or large packing paper for the longer stems. This bunch of azaleas only cost about 5000 won or a little over $4 dollars. 

The flower market was a welcome retreat on another cold day too far into what should be Spring. I can't wait to visit the market again now that our household goods have arrived and we have a home to display flowers in - after all I don't think there's much that's better than fresh flowers at home. 

*Actually, Aimee's become a bit of a rockstar on the blog - we've had fun purse shopping, visiting E-mart and the stationery store in Songtan, furniture shopping and taking our boys to play at Little Bear (pics coming soon!). 

Our Household Goods Have Arrived!

Last week was a very busy week with our household goods arriving on Thursday, picking up our car on Friday, painting, Cooper's first week in hourly daycare and the family all getting sick. 

Household Goods

We received our temporary items a few weeks ago which was a nice holdover for the rest of our household goods but finally on Thursday we received the rest of our stuff (that didn't go to long-term storage). 

When you haven't seen what you own for over 2 months everything seems so new - it's like Christmas - but so comfortable too! In a very quick 2 hours the movers loaded 10,000 pounds of stuff into our house. Then, as movers do, they tried to duck out. Oh... no... now it was time for them to unpack! It's a great bonus to have them unpack some of the larger and more mundane items - like kitchen dish packs and bathroom items but boy they weren't happy about doing so. Actually, it was the very first time I've seen a Korean with a bit of an attitude - they are such a sweet culture. 

By noon they were gone and our house looked like it was picked straight out of an episode of Hoarders - with boxes to the ceilings, layers and layers of stuff, and only tiny walkways through the madness. Oh, where to start. I'm normally the methodical one that can breeze through tangles of information or stuff, but not today - not to worry, Owen picked up the slack and directed me step by step what to focus on. Kitchen first for me, Cooper's room for Owen. 

Daycare

By 3:30 I had finished the kitchen and couldn't stand being away from Cooper any longer so I headed to daycare to pick him up. 

This was a hard week for both Cooper and I - being apart for the first time in over two months. We knew we needed him to be in daycare for much of the day on Thursday so I put him in a couple hours each day to let him get the hang of it. He didn't. 

Short of family the people I trust most with Cooper is our daycare in Oklahoma City. But this isn't Oklahoma City and they don't know his likes, his dislikes, his ticks... When I arrived he was crying and looked awful. They said he hadn't really eaten or slept and he felt warm. As soon as we got home he went straight to sleep for several hours. When he woke he had a 102 degree fever. I not-so-silently cursed daycare. In all honestly he could have picked up daddy's cold but I couldn't help but be suspicious (now mommy also has the same cold - yuck!). In OKC, Penny, Shelby or Amanda would have picked up on Cooper's odd behavior and knew he was sick right away - oh, how I miss those girls!  


The Acadia
Our car arrived at almost the same time as our household goods so Owen spent part of Thursday morning taking his Korean driving test and getting his license. On Friday morning he picked up his driver's license, got a temporary tag for the Acadia and then hopped on a bus to the Army base in Seoul - Yongsan. We were initially planning to make a weekend of the little trip to Seoul but a sick baby trumps all plans! Next week I'll take my Korean driving test - wish me luck! 


Oh, and as it turned out it was a great day to get the car - after Cooper had gone to bed the Towers fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate - so glad we had a warm car to keep a sick baby warm in.


Painting
It was an ambitious week! We painted late into the evening on Tuesday and Wednesday before our HHG arrived - chalkboard wall in the kitchen, red wall in the dining room, chocolate chairrail in the living room, khaki stripes in the hallway and khaki in the bedroom. Of course we didn't want to cut it this close but getting paint here isn't as easy as heading to Lowe's - there is no Lowe's, no Home Depot, no yellow page listings for 'paint stores.' I'll soon dedicate a whole post to the before and afters and the process. Note: Special xoxo to Owen - he was really, really sick and exhausted from 10 hour workdays but he still hung in there we could finish the painting in time. Thanks honey!  


Our goal is to have the house completely 'put together' in two weeks. The clock is ticking.