the summer uniform

In honor of our last night of summer in America I had to post a picture of my dad in his "summer uniform."

For those of you who don't know, my dad is an airline pilot so he always wears a standard uniform to work and it always looks the same every day he works. Well, this summer my brother, James, noticed that my dad seemed to adopt another sort of uniform...his "summer uniform." James observed that when my dad took off his pilot garb he always seemed to put on the same type of clothing for his casual wear: cargo shorts, a white t-shirt, and a hat. The man likes consistency! Tom and I went through some of our clothes this summer and Tom decided to get rid of a handful of t-shirts. We tried to give them to my dad but he said "they're a bit colorful...they're not white." There is no getting this man away from his uniform!

My dad is a good sport (hopefully he's laughing about this post...although he'll probably read it and say," Oh brother..." or he'll sigh and shake his head). So here's to a great dad and a great summer!

goodbye america

We are headed off to Korea tomorrow morning. Our flight leaves Kansas City, MO at 5:30am (yikes) so this is our last night in the states.

We left Columbia today and have spent the afternoon/evening in Kansas City visiting family. It's been a fast summer! I can't believe summer has come and gone already. We had a great time seeing the people we love. We plan on returning around Christmas time, so until then...see you later!

my favorite animal

This is Hank Meyer, as many of you know. He lives with my parents, so I guess he's now Hank Meyer Robertson. He's cute and cuddly (and likes to take naps with my dad). Here are some pictures of him this summer.

A Summer Project

One of the things I always enjoy doing is little summer projects. Well, this week I was presented with an opportunity to help Mike put a new screen door on the door leading out to the garage. This was most enjoyable but (as always) took a little longer than expected. If you ever find yourself buying a new screen door that advertises installation in "6 easy steps" do not believe it. Because I guarantee that each "easy step" will have like 6 or 8 substeps that each require you to drill like 10 holes and screw in like 15 screws and have superhuman English and diagram interpretation skills. It wasn't really as bad as I am making it out to be but it also wasn't "6 easy steps". In the end Jerre and Mike ended up with a snazzy new screen door and I got to partake in a little handy work.Of course the tall guy has to repaint the door frame.The "6 easy steps" directions.The finished product.

parents

This week we are in Columbia and as a result I've gotten to spend some time with my parents. We went out to Flat Branch, which is a microbrewery in Columbia that has become a staple in our life. It's been great to spend time with the folks this summer.

In case you are wondering, my shirt says paper, rock, scissors in Korean.

friends!

We went to Kansas City for a wedding and in the process we got to hang out with some great friends. Directly below is my friend, Hattie. We led Young Life together in Jeff City and she and her husband, Daniel, went to high school with Tom. She's great!

This is my friend Melissa...another Young Life leader friend from my past.
Lauren! She was one of my roommates in college. She has been living in Boston doing Americorps for this past year.
Back in Columbia we went to Shakespeare's Pizza with Chelsey and Brandon. Chelsey and Brandon are great friends of ours that got married while we were in Korea. This was the first time we all got to hang out as married friends.
A week from tomorrow we leave for Korea!

the better bonnie

Meet my Grandma, Bonnie Johnson. You can call her Grandma, everyone does.

My Grandma rocks. She is 94 and she is my kind of lady...she loves adventure, fishing, traveling, and animals. She still lives on her own, drives a truck, and now also lives with the Obama family. Let me explain...Please meet Twister.

Twister is a wild cat that had been hanging around my Grandma's house. As long as I can remember my Grandma has befriended animals. I have a very distinct picture in my head of my Grandma feeding a hydrox cookie (you know, the wanna be oreo's) to a squirrel. The squirrel would take it directly from my Grandma's hands.

So this cat, seen above, started wandering around my Grandma a lot (probably because she was feeding it) and, of course, when it got cold my Grandma had to let the cat come inside her house. And to put a "twist" on this new cat relationship, the stray was pregnant. My Grandma had actually witnessed the stray (now named Twister) lose a litter of kittens before, so when Twister was pregnant again my Grandma made it her mission to be the protector of the kittens...and a good protector she has been! Twister had three kittens and my Grandma named them Barack, Michelle, and Obama. They're pretty cute!

Twister is still a bit skiddish, I mean she has been a wild cat for a while, but she loves my Grandma. They make quite the pair.

It was great to see my Grandma during our break. She really is a fascinating lady and full of a lot of love. She's lived through so much; the Great Depression, WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam, etc. When she grew up she did not have electricity, running water, and heating/air con. It is absolutely amazing to think of all the things she has witnessed in her 94 years of life. She's a cool lady! I hope I can live up to the name.

anniversary

Tom and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary this summer. In honor of a great three years we went to Les Bourgeois, a local winery on the Missouri River. It was so beautiful because it captured so much of what I love about the Midwest: the outdoors, great trees, and awesome views. It was a perfect place to celebrate!

Family Custard Night

One night when James was in town we decided to take a family trip to Andy's a frozen custard shop. It was a full car and quite an adventure.

Jill Meyer becomes Jill Cervantes

This past weekend we went to Chicago for Jill's (Tom's sister) wedding. It was such a fun and beautiful wedding! And most importantly, we are so happy for Jill and Eli.

Here's a picture of Tom and I the night of the rehearsal dinner.


Tom and I at the church on the wedding day. It was such a pretty place! Tom was an usher...he sure was handsome in that tux!
Jill and Eli become husband and wife...
One of the coolest parts of the wedding was the surprise Mariachi band. Jill, along with some of Eli's friends, found a great Mariachi band to play as Jill and Eli walked out of the church and during the cocktail party before dinner at the reception. It really was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Tom and his grandma at the reception.
2 weddings down, one more to go this summer. I love weddings and this wedding was especially fun because Jill and Eli are such a great couple and we got to spend so much time with family.

the best ice cream in the world...yes, the whole world.

Moose Tracks. Central Dairy. Jefferson City, Missouri.
1 scoop (which is really like 3 scoops) is $1.75.

highlights of summer

We have done a horrible job staying on top of the blog this summer, so I thought I'd do a quick roundup of the highlights of the past few weeks.

This is the first picture we took while back in America. Tom's dad surprised us with a "Welcome home" cookie cake! We actually ended up taking the cake all the way to Dallas with us because didn't have time to eat it in KC.

We went to Dallas for our friend Isaac's wedding. While in Dallas we went to the 6th Floor Museum which covers the JFK assassination. The "X" on the street is where he got shot. Creepy.

Isaac and Becky had their reception at the American Airlines Museum. It was a great time. Isaac taught with Tom and I in Korea. He is moving to Thailand now to teach with his wife. We'll miss him in Korea.



After Dallas we made it back to Missouri, went to Royals baseball game, and went to the Lake of the Ozarks with friends for the 4th of July. At the lake we "coved out" and went to a winery with our closest friends.

When in Nepal I got my friends Sherpa hats. I think they looked pretty cool!I also got my hair did. Getting your hair cut at home is one of those things you really value after you've lived in a foreign country.
Tom, Mary Kate, Adam, and I also went camping. MK and I would camp and sleep outside all the time in college and this was the first time we got to go as a group with our husbands.

We still have a few weeks left and so far being at home has been refreshing and fun.

Vietnam

After leaving Beijing we flew to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). We got in at 2 AM and had a connecting flight at 6AM at the domestic terminal which didn't open until 5AM. As you can calculate we had to sit there for 3 hours and guard our bags.

Our connecting flight took us to Nha Trang, a city northwest of Saigon on the beach. The first night we were there we stayed in Nha Trang at a hotel that cost us $12. It came with some crappy pillows, a mini-fridge, satellite TV, and my favorite amenity, included breakfast. The next day we took an hour cab ride to our next location. It was the White Sand Resort on Doc Let Beach. The beach was amazing as you can see below. We spent the next 3 days relaxing on the beach and by the pool. It was fantastic.
After our stay at the resort we flew back to Saigon for a couple days to conclude our trip. The first thing that we noticed is that a lot of people in Saigon ride scooters. A LOT! I'm talking families of 4 on one scooter. Guys carrying panes of glass on a scooter. People making deliveries of like 10 boxes on their scooters.
Our second day there we went on a day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These are some tunnels that the North Vietnamese dug to conceal themselves from the American troops. There was a lot of propaganda on this trip. There was a mural of American soldiers being killed by booby traps as well as a video that described many of the "American Killer Hero" awards given by the North.
The tunnels were very small. Uncomfortably small. Freakishly small. A bat flew by Bonnie's head. It freaked her out.
Or third and last day in Saigon we went to the Vietnam War Remnants Museum. Again there was a lot of propaganda. Some pictures below.

To close out the last day there Bonnie got a pedicure for $6 by 3 very nice Vietnamese ladies. We also did a little shopping.
Well, that concludes our travels of Asia. America has been good to us the past few weeks.

Beijing

After checking out some of Korea with Adam and Mary Kate we headed to Beijing. Our first day there we went to see the Forbidden City where some of the emperors lived. It was huge. We came to find out that a lot of Beijing was like that. Huge. That night we went to see Olympic Park which is where the Bird's Nest and the Aquatics Cube are located.
The next day we went to see the Summer Palace which is a big park / temple that served as a summer residence for some of the old emperors. That evening we went to see a Chinese acrobatics show which was pretty cool as well.
The third day we were there it was time for my personal highlight of the trip. Hiking the Great Wall. We hiked along the top the Great Wall for about 5 miles. It was amazing and breathtaking.
Our fourth day we did a little shopping. Bonnie bought a Columbia winter coat with a zip in/out fleece liner for $26 and I bought a Gortex North Face raincoat for $25. Gotta love China when it comes to shopping. That night we went out for a Peking Duck dinner. I thought it was pretty good.
Our last day we visited the Temple of Heaven Park. This was a place were a lot of locals go to exercise, do yoga, and all sorts of random things in the morning. That night we headed out for Vietnam and Adam and MK left for Shanghai. Some sights and sounds of Temple of Heaven Park:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNztW-2U0pE