concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh

New York City. We love you. Yesterday we took the official Newburgh/New York City North KOA Big Apple Tour. We left the campground at 7:30 AM and returned around 7:30 PM. It was a great day! 

After one episode of Bones and a quick nap, we drove through the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City. So our first stop was the Statue of Liberty. We took a ferry out to "Liberty Island" and walked around at the base of the Statue of Liberty. It was really cool reading about the construction of the statue and what was going on during that time period. Then we got back on the ferry which stopped at Ellis Island but we didn't have time to get off. But, after reading about it we really want to go back there. 

After a break for lunch our tour guide drove us around the city and shared different facts with us. I usually hate tours but this was really cool. He told us some really random things about the city that you wouldn't know visiting by yourself. 

Then we visited the Empire State Building. I couldn't help thinking about two of my favorite movies. Here's a tribute.

there we go....

first try

The view

Scared?

I'm high in the sky.

                                                         

 Then we went to Times Square. Bought a $3 hot dog that we were warned not to eat (something about violent diarrhea?? but we risked it. so far so good...) and got back on the bus to go home.

See you soon, NYC!

Emily's side of the story

So, you might be asking yourself. What took so long to post about my birthday? Well, we wanted to wait till it was funny...and then we got busy. So, yes, El Bracero was an interesting experience and yes I was very disappointed. But, a few days afterwards I can say its pretty funny. And the thing is, Jin was just being his adventurous self, something that I really love about him. When we sat down at the booth we were both just kind of looking at each other and Jin goes, "This is us, right?". At the time it made me really mad, but its true. Of course we tried El Bracero in Poughkeepsie, NY. That is what this time in our lives is all about, trying new things. And when you try new things sometimes you get El Bracero. But we got to go to Kobe hibachi steakhouse last night for birthday dinner part two. It was so yummy and totally made up for any disappointment from Thursday. So, its a great story and I'm 23.

Ok now for some more life updates. Jin and I have been working at the Newburgh/NYC North KOA for two weeks now and we love it! Here is what a typical week day looks like:

We wake up and eat breakfast and get ready for the day! Activities start at 10.

10:00 AM Flippy Floppy Soccer (giant soccer ball)
11:30 AM Whacky Mini Golf Tournament
Lunch break
2:00 PM Boondoggle (if you don't know what this is look it up, thank you Estes Park YMCA camp for teaching me this invaluable skill)
4:00 PM Firetruck Ride (the KOA has an old firetruck that we take kids on and drive them around the campground, we do this every day at 4:00)
5:00 PM Trivia night

In between these activities we are planning the schedule and coming up with ideas for the weekend or next week. The weekends are completely different. Each weekend has a theme and we plan activities around that. The KOA is packed and so things get a little crazy.

But during the week we are usually done by about 6, just in time for dinner and relaxing for the evening. Then we always watch one episode of Bones before we go to bed. Seriously, every night. We are what you would call addicted.

So this past weekend was Christmas in July. We decorated the campground for Christmas and even invited Santa Clause down from the North Pole. It was above 90 degrees the entire weekend but tons of fun!!

Ok and Food Challenge update: we are going to the store tonight...AFTER we eat our last dinner of spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, and canned corn. Yum. We decided to go tonight because we are going to New York City tomorrow and will be too exhausted when we get home. So we are kind of cheating but not really. I'm ready for some protein.

-Emily

El Bracero

If you didn't know, Emily just celebrated her 23rd birthday.  If you just realized this you should send her a text to wish her a happy belated birthday, she would very much appreciate it.  This was Emily's first birthday celebration as a married woman.  A celebration that would have to take place without her parents, her siblings, or her friends.  Only me.  Therefore, I knew this and I wanted to do a good job at being a man.  In order to be a good man, according to "God's Gift to Women" by Eric Ludy, you have to be in charge.  You have to plan out the evening without telling her anything.  You got to blindfold her and move her from place to place in a romantic way so that she feels like (and knows) you put a lot of thought into it.  So, that is what I decided to do (minus the blindfold).

Disclaimer: I truly had the best intentions.

So, one thing Emily and I both really enjoy is Tex-Mex.  I used to think that Mexican food tasted the same from North Carolina to Texas, but that was soon erased as we made trip after trip to Chuy's, my Mexican heaven (it's a restaurant if you haven't heard of it, not really heaven).  Since Emily and I both enjoy eating Tex-Mex, I thought that it would be a good idea to find a great authentic Mexican restaurant around here for us to share some romantic tortilla chips over.

Yelp did a fine job of finding a 4.5 star reviewed restaurant in a little, quaint town of Poughkeepsie, New York (http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-bracero-mexican-restrnt-inc-poughkeepsie).  I ignored the only one $ sign stating the price and figured this place was a very nice, clean, authentic, beautiful, wonderful place to take my wife of 3 weeks for her birthday dinner, but boy was I wrong.

Poughkeepsie is about 30 minutes from the KOA, crossing over the Hudson River and through many small upstate New York towns.  The best part of the night and I believe Emily would agree on this, was probably the scenic drive to the infamous "El Bracero."  Arriving at the restaurant, the first signs of turning back was it was sandwiched in between a Dollar General and the Salvation Army.  Don't get me wrong, I love those places, but it was the sign of what was to come.  As we entered, we were greeted by loud Mexican music blaring, angry stares by 15 hispanic men, and no smile from our hostess.

 We sat down in the corner as we were given menus taped together with the description of bracero on the cover (if you were interested: a Mexican laborer permitted to enter the United States and work for a limited period of time, especially in agriculture).  This was not the best start to a romantic birthday dinner.  I'm going to skip the deets, but here is what went wrong: expectations.  Emily expected a nice, clean restaurant.  I gave her "El Bracero." Very good, decent, appropriate expectations for your birthday dinner.  But I wanted to do something adventurous and different and it was a terrible idea. I don't have any words to defend myself in this, just that I had the best intentions.  After dinner, we ended up getting some ice cream at Mary Jane's Dairy Bar and Emily accidentally dropped half of her ice cream in the trash can.  It was a tough night for us both.

Moral of the story: If you want to be romantic, go somewhere that is safe.  Go to Olive Garden.  Go to the Cheesecake Factory.  Go to Maggiano's   Don't use yelp as a reference.  Don't choose El Bracero.  Don't ask me for advice.

But, to make it all better, we went to Kobe's Hibachi and Sushi Restaurant yesterday and it was delicious. YUM!

-Jin

Food Challenge

So to add to the last post, Jin and I have set ourselves up with a little "Food Challenge." Think Food Network. Here's how it works: we went to the grocery store last Monday night and bought as much food as we thought we would need  for a while. But, this being the first time we ever really grocery shopped together, we probably didn't do the best job. Well now its the next Wednesday and we have decided to make ourselves finish everything we have before we go to the store again. Our goal is Tuesday. Disclaimer: we bought some more bread on Monday. But besides that we haven't been back the store. Here's what we had for dinner last night: Beef stew casserole. My mother is probably gagging right now. (remember the tater tot casserole???) Anyway, I used this can of Campbell's beef stew that was left in our kitchen from the guy who was here before us (As in before we got here, not last year) along with some rice and ground turkey and mozzarella cheese. Jin said he liked it and even had it for lunch today but one serving was enough for me. I will spare you a picture. It actually looks grosser than it tastes, it wasn't that bad but it looked disgusting. 

So, tonight as we were clocking out the girls that work at the registration desk invited us to order pizza with them. I admit that in that moment I was ready to give up on the food challenge altogether but Jin stayed strong. We came home and actually had a lovely dinner. Frozen steak (Mike leftover) grilled on the open fire with spaghetti, and broccoli. It was actually delicious. 

So here's what we have left....can we make it? You decide.

1. Pesto sauce
2. 1/4 box of Spaghetti noodles
3. 1 1/2 jars of spaghetti sauce
4. 3/4 a jar of salsa
5. some ham slices (also leftover from the guy before us, his name is Mike)
6. 3 slices of colby jack cheese
7. american cheese (Mike leftover)
8. 1 Orange that Jin forgot he bought and was waiting for me to eat
9. Butter
10. 1/2 a quart of 2% milk
11. 1 box of Lucky Charms (my mother will also gag over our choice of sugar cereal)
12. 9 chewy bars
13. 1 box of Mac and Cheese (Mike leftover)
14. 1 1/2 package of Shake and Bake Chicken seasoning (notice we don't have any chicken left)
15. Olive oil
16. 2 cans of corn (Mike leftover)
17. 3 cans of green beans (Mike leftover)
18. 1 lean cuisine
19. 14 fruit snack pouches (100% vitamin C!!)
20. 1/4 a package of oreos
21. 1 more chunky soup
22. 4 Ramen noodles
23. Potato chips (1/2 a bag)
24. Tortilla chips (1/2 a bag)
25. 1 loaf of White bread (sorry Mom again, it was only $1)

Now, 25 items this may look like a lot but its not. Especially with our only meat being sliced ham that doesn't expire until 2013. Who knows what tomorrow dinner looks like but its all part of the adventure. 

-Emily

Banquet Meals

My professional husband evaluation: Men and women are different.  Different people are different. I'm different from Emily. How did I come with that profound conclusion you may be asking yourself.  Well, let me tell you.

Well like Emily recently posted, we both deal with situations differently  Whenever Emily has an excessive amount of mosquito bites, she will take a great deal of effort to heal herself and work towards healthiness.  While I on the other hand will throw away any kind of advice to not scratch them and itch away till the blood reigns king (graphic).  I will never put any kind of bug spray on myself.  I will not buy Benedryl.  I will not put anti-itch cream on it.  That's not how I roll.  This could also be could because I am very cheap.  Stingy.  Frugal.  Economically savvy.  Whatever you want to call it.  This leads me to another way Emily and I are very different.

Banquet meals.  Yes, banquet meals.  Shall I say it again? Banquet meals.  If you don't know what banquet meals are, then you are probably more like Emily than I am in this area.  Banquet meals can be purchased at Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Walmart and even at your local Dollar Tree (yes, the dollar tree.) I prefer to buy them at Walmart because they are 88 cents there.  They are a decently satisfying microwavable meal that will keep the money in your pocket while killing you in the process, and I love them.  Yes, I love them so much that I spent all summer eating them for lunch and dinner.  I didn't eat them for breakfast because I didn't eat breakfast.  If I happened to eat breakfast, it was filled with banquet deliciousness.  But for some reason, Emily doesn't like me eating banquet meals.  Even more so, she doesn't like eating them.  This leads us to difference number dos.  Emily and I have very different eating habits.  I would love to spend our marriage eating banquet meals, easy mac, totino's pizza and little microwavable chimichangas.  While, Emily on the other hand would prefer to buy fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and your occasional Smart Choice frozen meals.  This has led to a great dilemma in the Lee family.  But of course, no banquet meals are found in our camper's freezer.  No Totino's pizzas are present here.  None of my favorite chimichangas are heating in the microwave.  The reason for this is not because I have given up these great foods to satisfy Emily.  It is because I want to grow old.  I don't want to die at 35 from a heart attack.  I don't like high cholesterol.  I want to have children and see them go to college and get married.  I want to be married to Emily for 60+ years.  And I know banquet meals will stand in my way.

So, what I am trying to say is Emily and I are different. And its a great thing.  It's a life saving thing.  Without our differences, who knows where I'll be.  I love my wife.  Cheese.

-Jin

The mosquito incident

Before I tell the mosquito incident, I want to make one disclaimer. Jin is a wonderful husband for more than two reasons. But I will say that he is doing the dishes right now as I type this :) Since we got here, he has done the dishes for every single meal. And he cleaned the hair out of the shower drain with a coat hanger.

Ok back to the mosquitoes.So Saturday nights we show a movie here at the KOA, we have a huge blow up screen and everyone sets up chairs in the field and watches a movie under the stars. Its lots of fun. This past saturday (the first time we have done this...) I came after getting off at the jumping pillow. We sat behind the screen and watched Cars backwards and ate dinner. After about 30 minutes I started getting very itchy around my ankles. I went home to get the bug spray and after thoroughly coating my legs and everything and everyone within reach, I thought I was ok. The next morning I woke up with about 35 huge red welts on the back of both of my legs. It was disgusting. Well, I always like to make a big deal about any injury/medical issue that I have. I want you to look at it and talk to me about it. Tell me that its getting better. Tell me how bad it is. Just make a big deal about it. Some call it hypochondria.

"Jin, I just want you to look at my legs. Look how terrible that is."

"Ok, will you look at my legs. They itch SOO bad."

"Hold on, I have to put more hydrocortisone cream on my legs before we go."

"Do you think my mosquito bites are getting better?"

You get the idea. Now this is perfectly normal for me. Maybe its growing up as a doctors kid. My dad was always ready with a diagnosis for my latest problem.

Jin, on the other hand, doesn't feel the need to discuss every bodily injury at length the way I do. I could tell he was getting a little sick of my ranting but I kept on going. On Sunday I stopped every KOA employee I saw and asked them if they thought it was chiggers or mosquitoes. Even campers were giving me advice. Jin listened to my whining patiently but without much comment. I also wanted to buy every kind of itch medicine they sold at Walmart and the KOA store. "Just in case its chiggers too..."  Finally, Jin had had it and looked up chiggers on the internet. He informed me that it was not chiggers and that my explanation that "Chiggers burrow inside your skin and live there" was in fact, false. He told me that they were just mosquito bites. You can probably guess where this is going. This is one situation where we fed right into the old marriage stereotype. Men are practical and women are emotional. By looking up chiggers on the internet, Jin was sympathizing with me and trying to help me. But I just wanted him to say, "I'm sorry I know that is very painful and uncomfortable. I hope you feel better." Don't tell me I'm wrong...even if I am so very obviously wrong. So, after seeing how ridiculous we were being, we both apologized and went to Wal Mart to buy benedryl.

-Emily

Squiggly

I'm pretty new at this blogging thing.  If you checked my profile you might have seen that I created another blog at one point in my life called "Second Life."  In the header it describes why I call it that, but I don't think it really makes sense.  

Really my main point is, Emily and I have made a deal.  We cannot say anything critical or negative about one another's posts.  Only positive feedback is allowed.  This is actually mainly for me, because Emily is much better at blogging than I am, so I am very insecure in my blogging ability.  I am a newb blogger and I'll admit it.  Newb should not have red squiggly lines underneath it.  It is a word.  Squiggly's a word.  I don't think you should blog about squiggly being a word, but I just did.  

So, as most of you probably know, Emily and I have been married for 2 weeks, 3 days and 3 hours.  We have traveled the seas from place to place and have landed in a cozy little camper an hour from New York City.  I have to say, being married has been an amazing thing thus far. It's the best thing that's happened to me.  It's like if I was Jordan Hill's brother and won the world championship in Pokemon in Hawaii....but better (I think only 3 or 4 people will get this reference and they may never read this so I should probably take out this inside joke, but I won't and Emily can't say anything negative about this because of the pact explained above).  But anyways, I would like to offer you words of wisdom I have learned from being a professional husband (2 weeks plus certifies you as a professional according to wikipedia).  5 tips to being a great husband:

1) Wash the dishes as often as possible.

2) Shower daily. 

Okay, I just got stuck at 2.  Does that make me a bad husband? Naw. That is all for now, hopefully I will finish this list.

Disclaimer: If you don't like my sense of humor, just read Emily's posts.  

God Speed to All

-Jin

From Dallas to Mexico to North Carolina to New York

So, who are we? Jin and Emily Lee. The LEE family. We just got married and moved across the country to work with Summershine, a Christian resort staffing ministry. What does that mean? We are living in an RV on a campground planning activities for families while sharing who God is with them. We've been here for about a week and we are exhausted but happy :)

But...to back up a little bit. Our story is a bit of a crazy one. It all began in a little town called Seoul, Korea. Jin Lee was born. Fast forward 20ish years to Santa Cruz, California. We met on a Campus Crusade for Christ summer project there in California and a few months later began dating long distance (North Carolina to Texas...are you keeping track of all these states??) 2 years later Jin moved to Texas and on July 1, 2011 we became Jin and Emily Lee. 

So here we are. This past week at the campground has been quite exciting. We moved in to our new home, unpacked and started work. Here are a few pics so you can "watch the movie" of our lives. More like a slideshow really. 

Before our first day of work. Free pancakes!

Our kitchen.

Our living room/dining room. Besides the 1980's upholstery its great!

I also work at the "Jumping Pillow"...craziness

Our sweet new friend Noah. He is like a mini-Jin, no joke. 

Ok more to come soon!!