The Fowler Family Blog

It’s so hard to believe that one year has already gone by!  We are still amazed at how quickly it happened!

It helped that we took several vacations mid year and got to see our family and friends. 

Japan in October was fabulous and Tokyo ranks up there on our list of favorite cities!  Australia in February was beyond fabulous!  Fortunately from here the flight was “only” 9 hours, but much better than going from the States.

South Carolina in March was absolutely perfect.  Getting to see Garlow, Camp Pendleton buddies (The Palmers, Feit/Jensen, Cormac and the Sanchacks among others was great!)

Getting to spend time with our parents, my grandma, Aunts and Uncle, Tom, Christine and Ella and seeing Jeremy and Sara and their kiddos along with Melvin was perfect! 

Our year in review…

We dealt with our fertility issues as soon as we arrived here with the help of Ms. Cho, Ryan’s Office Manager.  We were so fortunate to find a great clinic and a great Dr. that was able to assist us with getting pregnant.  We only have a few weeks to go until we get to meet Cormac!

Ryan has learned a tremendous amount this year being the Officer In Charge.  He’s mananged a staff of 6 people, dealt with being “stuck in the middle of nowhere” and he has been commuting to work on his bicycle for a year!  I think his biggest challenge is being everyone’s Dr. and having a limited number of friends here (due to his Rank and not being allowed to hang out with too many people on base).   He’s in the best shape of his life with daily and sometimes multi daily workouts and is beginning to train for a 1/2 marathon in September and another 1/2 marathon in November.  He misses his road bike and would love to get to ride his moutain bike more often.   

I worked for EOS for 9 months, which was a bit challenging considering that I was a contractor and didn’t feel like I received much support, but it was nice to still be “in contact” with the outside world.  I also taught English on the Korean Navy Base and subsitute taught, which was a lot of fun. 

I’ve been fortunate to make some great friends that I believe will be friends for life.  Kim, in particular has been a strong support system for me this year.  Ella, Tammie, Jill and Jamie are also great.  We all still can’t believe that we ended up in such a place, but we’re all just making the best of it.  

Duke has also enjoyed his year here, although he misses some of his buds back in California, dog beach and the dog park.  He also misses his weekly trips to Petco, but for the most part, he has adjusted really well.  He loves the jogging trail here and very rarely has to be put on a leash.  Recently some new puppies were born and they became fast friends.    

After pleasing his second satisfied customer, Ryan is becoming the healer of bikes as well as people on this base!  His dream of one day opening a bike shop and repair business is one step closer to becoming a reality.

And along the same lines, Ryan has been commuting on his bike for a YEAR now!  I am so impressed by him!  He sets such a great example to the others on base!

Several kids have asked if they can start “training” for the marathon with him too.  How sweet!

In blind taste tests (since Duke can’t officially read), Choosy Duke Dogs Choose Jif…

As you can see Duke has a penchant for Peanut Butter…

Our security was patrolling the neighborhood at 2 am and apparently fell asleep at the wheel.  When he woke up he pressed the gas pedal rather than the brake!  He hit the light pole, the SUV next to my car (turning it 1/2 way around) and the lightpole fell on my car shattering the window, and denting the roof…  Fortunately no one was hurt, but I am freaking out a bit about getting it fixed before the baby comes! 

Everybody was joking that when they heard the sirens they thought it was an ambulance and I was in LABOR! 

We had such a wonderful time having them as houseguests and we think they had a great time too.  If you haven’t already read it, you can see their perspective on their blog.  The link is located on the right side of our blog located under Blog Roll.  We miss them already!

Trish and Nora were SO helpful while they were here.  They cooked several times and Trish even created artwork for Cormac’s room and hung curtains!  She was quite handy! 

Yesterday for lunch I said, ”I want pancakes, Nora, can you make us pancakes?”…  This was a resounding them while they were here. 

We are looking forward to having my mom and dad and Ryan’s mom and dad come when the baby is born!  If anyone else wants to visit, you are more than welcome!

From Trish and Nora’s blog, you will see, in Korea you will be treated like a celebrity… 

I was contemplating creating a food blog since I love cooking, but instead decided that I would just add it here.  I made these the other night and they were delicious.  Recipe courtesy of Cydney Palmer (thank you so much!)

1 pound ground chicken or turkey

1 teaspoon sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups mushrooms, chopped

3 cups shredded napa cabbage

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or reg)

1- 8oz. can water chestnuts, chopped and drained

1-2 green onions, minced

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 head of boston lettuce leaves( or which ever you prefer)

Heat 1 t. sesame oil in a large skillet on med. add garlic and cook 2 min. add mushrooms and chicken, cook for about 8 min. stirring occasionally. add

shredded cabbage, salt crushed red pepper flakes and water chestnuts, cook 5

min. or until cabbage wilts. add onions, oyster sauce, soy and cilantro.  stir

well...serve!

3 tablespoons per lettuce cup- 3 cups to a serving.

YUM!

While it’s not a direct result of him being a fabulous Dr. and leader, it still reflects well upon him when one of his staff members re-enlists.  His staff raves about how great he is to work with and his patients love him…  Well, at least most of them do… 

Here is a great picture of Laknesha’s re-enlistment ceremony in front of the clinic.

Ryan looks so handsome in his white uniform!

My neighbor Jamie (you might remember her as the uber talented invitation creator), and I decided to do a maternity photo shoot.  The weather has been yucky lately and we wanted to shoot outside with natural light, so today was the best day for it.  It was quite hot and it only lasted a few minutes, but she got some awesome pictures!  I hope you like them.

He was moving all around and you can see one of his body parts sticking out where I am pointing!

I’ll be 33 weeks tomorrow.  Wow!  It’s getting so close!  Our appointment went great today.  He’s measuring just a little ahead (which Ryan reminded me measuring is subjective and not to get my hopes up thinking I am going to go into labor earlier)…  Cormac is still definitely a BOY!  We could see him in all of his glory! 

We also got to tour Labor and Delivery and met the Head L&D nurse.  She was very sweet!

We go back on the 18th for a Non-Stress test.

And Great News!  Ryan got his leave paperwork approved, so he’ll be able to take 21 days off around when the baby is born.  Sept 3rd- 24th!  Perfect for visitors too!  Woo hoo!