Day of Days

The day we have been looking forward to for several months finally arrived today. Our great friends from TCIS (in Korea) had a short layover in Seattle, and we were able to pick them up and show them a bit of our lives.
Mike, Jaci and their son Jacob were a great blessing to us today...so thanks guys for thinking of us when you made your arrangements to return to your home.
We appreciate being part of your very long day.

The Brownloween Family
Micah and Jacob give knuckles
Mommies and Sons

Little Jacob sleeps "Aggie Ipuda"

Sanga Chuka Hamnida

My dad and I celebrated our birthday together by getting back to my Korean roots. We found a local Korean BBQ place and ate way too much meat. We then headed back to my place and had ice cream cake and presents.
I am way too blessed to have a family that is willing to give me stuff even after a year of annoying them.
Thanks to those who helped me celebrate and those who sent messages from afar.

Jim

Nothing better than meat on a Korean BBQ

Micah wanted nothing to do with the Chap Jae, but would eat some rice


Me (looking particularly scary) and Dad ready to cut the cake

Air Show

Julie and I recently took Micah to an Air Show at McChord Air Force Base. Micah is in that "love everything that makes lot of noise" stage and this of course includes airplanes. As a result, he was in heaven. Here are some pics of what we saw.


Micah disassembles the hydraulic lines to the wheel assembly.

Julie and Micah take a seat inside the C-17
Micah is fascinated by the engine
A World War II era bomber
Inside the massive cargo area of a C-17


An elite Air Force parachute team jumped from a very fast moving plane and gave quite a show.

Summer Fun

Our days have been filled with lots of summer fun. Swimming, playing at the beach, fixing our money pit of a car and BBQs. We have not planned any trips because of the recent spike in gas prices. Our state has among the highest prices in the nation because of a huge tax.
Micah continues to grow in his fascination with water. He will wade into salt water that is not more than 45 degrees, but somehow won't play in the sprinkler or at our local spray park.
4th of July was great. Our city has a "Freedom Festival" along the water front with lots of food and entertainment. Micah was particularly interested in the display of fire trucks, while I was particularly interested in the display of Indian food.
Along with the festival was the presence of the "Tall Ships". Many of these ships have been used in movies like Pirate of the Carribean, so it was really fun to get a view (not too close because it cost $10)of them.
Julie and I are most looking forward to the visit of some good friends from Korea. They will be flying in to Seattle for a layover on their way back to school. We can't wait to see them and their son, who is a giant of a man at 10 months.
Hope you all are having a great summer as well and taking the time to enjoy good weather, friends and family.
Here are some pics from our recent "adventures" around the city.
My gorgeous wife and I at a wedding.
Micah feeds the "bawk bawk" at a local farm
I am ready for a sea adventure
Micah can't wait till the obligatory fire house field trip
A happy Family with really tall ships in the background
Micah running from the water at the spray park

Fathers and sons

I could pontificate on the sentimental relationships between fathers and sons, but that is something I know little about. I can, however, tell you what a sweet moment I witnessed between Micah and Jim on Father's Day. Our busy little boy rarely takes time out of his day to cuddle with either of us. He'll kiss his vaccum goodnight 5x's but he won't snuggle with us for more than a nano-second. But on this particular special Sunday, Micah rested on his daddy's shoulder for more than 10 minutes. At first we were worried that he was sick, but after checking his forehead, we realized that he was giving his daddy the best Father's Day gift a child could give: love.

After a yummy BBQ dinner, we (Jim's family)challenged each other to a competitive game of bowling. I wish I could say that we all played an amazing game and were scouted by the American Olympic Bowling team, but I can not. In fact, my game was more than embarrassing. My teammembers tried to console me by telling me that I beat Obama's bowling score; I guess that's not saying much. Appropriately, Jim's dad conquered all! The only thing missing from the day was my dad. Happy belated father's day to all the dads who read our blog!

Micah's Mission

Over the past few months, Julie has been taking Micah to a local nursing home to visit the patients. Micah is slowly getting used to each of the inhabitants and is willing to sit on their laps and smile, which of is a big hit with the Ladies.
The patients love to watch Micah play so they pulled out some games and balls for him last week. We consider these trips to be Micah's first mission. We are grateful that he is able to provide joy for this group of adults.
Micah and his mom are also participating in a yoga class at church. Micah has learned to stretch and bend himself into many different positions. Recently, to the delight of his auntie Jen, he learned to sommersault. In this video, he needed a bit of help though

Big-Time Update

Our computer got a nasty virus, so the we have been in the 1950's for a while (no T.V. or computer/internet). Here are some pictures that get you up-to-date on the lives of the Brownlees
Micah enjoys the tram just as much as the horses at our Mother's Day trip to the Horse Racing Track

Moms with their children on Mother's Day

Uncle Jeremy and Auntie Rene have a pond in their back yard with fish to feed

Uncle Josh and his girlfriend Avery

Micah's first trip to the zoo

Micah was a big hit at the Tacoma tradition of the Daffodil Parade. These are the princesses from local High Schools. ignore the creepy guy with the beard

Micah and Mommy get a massage

Grandpa wears a pair of Micah's shorts on his head. Micah thought this was really funny

Micah participates in his first egg hunt. He found every one of his two eggs.

Easter Weekend

Julie's dad and his wife made a trip up for the weekend. We spent Saturday hanging at the beach on one of the few beautiful days we have had lately. Mom has finely relented in allowing Micah some ice cream under the guise of much needed weight gain. As such, Micah must learn the finer points of eating from a cone, including small licks to make the cone last as long as possible.

Hope everybody's Easter is full of the joy that can only come from knowing Christ has risen indeed.

Beach Combing

Not the Red Sea, but our little slice of the Pacific is good enough. The weather got nice enough during winter (a rarity in the Pacific NW) for Micah, Julie and I to go to Owen's Beach on Puget Sound. You can clearly see by our atire that nice in the PNW is not quite like nice in other parts of the Pacific Rim. We did se a guy swimming though with a water temp. of about 40 Fahrenheit, I guess he figured he needed to get in his swimming when it was sunny.
Micah is getting braver about heading toward the water and evey took a wave over the shoes. Additionally, we are trying to get him to throw rocks into the ocean, but every effort just ended up with him licking the dirt off of it.

Dedicated to D.C.

At the risk of being labeled as a "flag waver" by our friend Chris Duester, Julie and I visited our nation's capitol during the past week. Bush was gone to Africa, so our 24 hour protest vigil of the Iraq war, lack of universal health care and No Child Left Behind Act fell on deaf ears. We did meet some very nice conscientious objectors and are now full fledged members of....well I can't say on this blog as I am sure my posts are now being monitored due to that little scrap with the Secret Service.
Besides the White House, we visited free monuments, free museums and the free zoo.
We also took this opportunity to leave Micah for our first overnight trip. He was a champ and didn't even realize we were gone. On the other end of the country, Micah's mother and I noticed every small child and wondered what Micah was doing at that very moment. We missed him but do have to note that traveling is so much more serene without a small one to feed, change, entertain etc...

Just before we left for D.C., we finally had Micah dedicated. Unfortunately, the pictures did not come out, but many family and friends joined at First Pres. which was a blessing for us. Most of all we were excited to finally verbalize our commitment to raising Micah in the knowledge of the Lord.

He has shown the O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of thee....Micah 6:8

Here are some pics of our trip. Viva la USA

Chico Visit

Micah and I traveled to Chico, California this past weekend to visit my sister and her husband. We enjoyed playing in the warm, sunny weather, and Micah was especially excited to love on his Aunty Jenny and her dog, Spey. Jenny teaches gymnastics and supervises a toddler gym, so Micah and I joined her at the gym for a morning of jumping in the ball pit and walking on the balance beam. Jen and Taylor pampered both of us, and Taylor, who is a professional photographer, took "journalistic" photos of Micah one day at the park. Thank you Uncle Taylor for your amazing gift of photography!

This was my first flight without my husband, and although Micah was amazing, I vowed I'd never go alone again. Juggling a toddler, stroller and carry on luggage was more difficult than I imagined. Thankfully, I was blessed to be squeezed in a seat in between two very understanding and helpful passengers. Micah loved watching the "rucks" load and unload from the airplane window and was truly an angel during the all of the flights.

Enjoy the pictures of Micah (15 months):

Gentle Reminders

Sometimes I find myself a bit disappointed by the fact that Julie and I were unable to find a house this summer (at least one that we could afford). I look around our 900 sq ft. apartment and wonder when....if we will be in a home. The checks Julie and I bring home are enough to live on, but the math just does not seem to work out in order to buy a home.
The dark days of winter are upon us, which usually are difficult for me to meander through, but just the other day, as I sat at our dining room table, the blessing poured to me in the form of a sunrise. Here is the view I saw out of my apt. window.
May God remind you daily that your needs are taken care of the disappointments of the day can be washed away with the next mornings sunrise.