Bruno's paintings

Just a quick entry of our new Bruno paintings-



This one is in our living room.
















This Tuscany scene is in the hallway to the bedroom.
















This country scene is in our second bedroom.
















This Florence scene is in our bedroom near the closet. We look at this one when we wake up in the morning.
















This awesome Ponte Vecchio is over our bed.

A bike ride up the river

Our first weekend back in Korea, we decided to get the bikes out for a ride down the river. We really enjoyed ourselves and hope to begin biking to work in the morning. That was something I did for several years back in Seattle. It's really a great way to wake up in the morning.


Here we are just taking off from our building. E-Mart is on the left (stay away!!!). Jess, Hugo, and Susan joined us, too.
















This is the path near Jeongja. Look at the endless buildings! It's getting darker; here comes the monsoon.



















Along the way, there are public wading pools. Look at the insanity!
















There must be a hundred kids in there.

















There was a festival going on towards Yatap. I believe it was a Independance Day celebration. This is Jess and Jen taking a breather. Exciting news---Hugo and Jess are engaged! And, Jess asked Jen to be a bridesmaid. She is really really excited! They decided to do a destination wedding somewhere on the beach. Can't wait to go.















This is the mainstage. We listened to the orchestra warm up.
















It's cool that they built the stage over the river.















It was dark by the time we got back to our street. This is looking up the road. Our building is on the right about a block up the road.

















Well, school/work is going well so far. It's only been a week, so not much to report from there...yet.

Have a good week!

Summer 2007...what an awesome time!

Dang...what an awsome summer!

Well, we have been back in Seoul for about a week and school has begun already. This is a good thing because it's time to get back to work and back to traveling Asia.

This blog entry is a bit jumbled up chronologically with pictures but the basic formula is that the top is the more recent. Also, the spacing is a bit messed up for some reason, so just keep scrolling down for more pictures.

Here's Dave at the top of the St. Aloyious bell tower. Dave helped to restore the bell and housing. He had special privledges to allow us to climb up the campanile with him. In fact, he even ran the bell for us at the top. It was so loud I think I can still here it. Sure beats the tape-recording they used for the past couple of decades.

















Jennifer and Maria coming back down from the top.



















Dave and Maria toasting on their deck. (Happy 30th!)














A view of the Olson's pad. Such a beautiful place.



















At the Olson's looking out over the valley.

Our two favorite 5 year old boys! Conor and Vincent wearing their Korea soccer jerseys.

Jen hitting the winning shot. We played tennis a few times this summer and had a blast. Mom is really good!














Pete Sampras and John McEnroe.

Our good friends Brendan and Tracy got married this summer. It was awesome to them and all our friends. Congrats!














3 charming and beautiful ladies at the wedding. Sara Schreck, Jen, and Murphy Schreck.

Cute Seamus out at the cabin at Spirit Lake.



















Mom and Dad's 40 th wedding anniversary! Congrats! What an achievement!





























I got up on one ski for the first time. It was more fun than I thought! Everyone tried it and I was proud of Jen for getting up for the first time, too.












The wonderful and beautiful Krembs ladies. Annie, Ann, Mom and Jen out for their spa day in Coeur d'Alene.














Charlie all dressed up in his Adidas gear.














Relaxing out on Priest Lake. Erica's boss let us stay at his place. It was awesome!














Jen on the beach at Priest Lake.














What a view!














Jamie's suprise party for graduating from Dental Hygiene School. Surprise!














We had a blast in Walla Walla with Ryan, Murphy and Cam.



















Va Piano vineyard in Walla Walla. They produce the Bruno Blend.

















We had a ping pong tournament. Schreck is pretty good.

Inside Schreck's house.

We went on an awesome hike with Mom and Dad up at Mount Rainier.














Mom and Dad are really good hikers. I was so impressed with Mom's hiking.



















Here they go across the snowy ridge.














Mt. Rainier!



















The lodge at Sunrise. Looks like the Alps.














Nice view.




























Pa, Me, and Ma














Jen, Mom and Dad














Dad and I surveying the land.














Jamie and Jen at Green Lake.














Jen and Erin at Sip, where Erin is a chef and pastry artist. She is very talented.














Sylwia, Jen, Zoe and Kristen at Zoe and Chris's house. The fellas had an intense croquet match in the back yard while the ladies chatted on the swing.














Kristen and her cute toddler Matilda.














Beautiful sunset at Mom and Dad's house on Mercer Island.

















Fr. Bruno showing us his recent paintings. It was great to see him. A funny story of how we found him-Jen and I went out for dinner in Seattle for our 2 year anniversary and Mom and Dad surprised us with a bottle of wine at the restaurant. We had a wonderful meal and decided to go out for a nightcap in Pioneer Square. Well we never made it to a lounge because we thought Seattle was far scarier at night than anywhere we visited in Asia so far. So, we decided to stop at a new wine shop on Mercer Isalnd. We were looking around the shop when all of a sudden we saw Bruno's Blend. We were so excited that the shope keeper thought something was wrong. We told him that he married us and he said "oh, well that's his painting on the wall." Sure enough. So the next morning we emailed him to see where he was and he emailed back saying that he was going to be in Seattle that night. We knew the time of his flight so we just took a chance of meeting him at the airport and luck was with us. The rest is in the pictures.















Jen checking out the paintings with a glass of Brunos Blend.














Bruno didn't mind walking on his paintings.














Dad and Bruno cooking. Bruno cooked us up an awesome meal of Amatriciana.














The Brunz















July 4th we had a little party. Here are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, Avery O'Donnell.














Conor and Seamus hanging out.



















This was when we first found Bruno's Blend.















A proud and happy mother, Tam with her baby girl Avery.



















Jen holding Avery, Tam, Brian and Andrea.














Avery taking a snooze.



















Zoe with her boy Max. He is a cute kid. Zoe sent us a hilarious video of Max playing the drums.



















MAX!




















Baker Lake. We had a great time camping with Carrie and Mark Borda. We are going to try to make it a yearly trip.















Me and the Bordissimo hanging out at Base Camp.















This view of Mt. Baker was just steps from out campsite.



















Our first meeting of Avery.



















Auntie Jen holding Avery.














Here's a moose outside the Olson's front door! I couldn't believe my eyes.















This is Manito Park in Spokane.

































Here we are setting up camp in the rain. It was a mad dash to get the tarp up.














It took the four of us quite some time to figure out the tarp. But it saved the trip.

















Ok, back to life in Seoul. We have a hearty travel schedule already planned out.

Sept.-Philippines
Oct.-Jen's parents visit
Nov.-Beijing with Cork
Dec.-Europe


Until next time...