Mother's Day Tea

Jessica's Kindergarten class had a Mother's Day Tea for us. The children gave us flower bracelets, Mom booklets, iced tea and cookies. My Mom booklet said I was 3 feet tall and 50 pounds. Some of my favorites (according to Jessica) were the color red, bulgogi, Ring in a Fire (Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire"), dogs and American Idol. She said in the afternoon my mom "les me play." In the morning my mom "She hugs me." In the night time my mom "wrx on the kuptr." (also known as works on the computer). My mom just loves to "Run, " and she even drew a picture of me with Garrett in a jogging stroller. So cute and so thoughtful!
Jessica trying to get Garrett to sit still for a quick photo.

A perfect example of Garrett's fit throwing capability.

Our friends Lucy and Alex Yi

Some of the moms - Michael's mom, me, Melissa, Nancy and Lucy

Garrett's sports gear

Garrett's favorite past time is to gather any and all sports gear in the house and put it on. Shoes, cleats, helmets, baseball mits, reflective vests, scooters, bats, balls, golf clubs...

It looks like his foot is on backwards in this photo, but don't worry it's not. Carson's crocs are so big for him that his tiny foot fits in the heel, therefore, he can wear them forward or backward.

The bike helmet is tough for him to buckle.

He's still battling the helmet strap.

Korea Floritopia 2009

The kids and I ventured to Taean-gun in Chungcheongnam-do Province for an International flower festival. Korea Floritopia was beautiful, don't get me wrong, however, the number of people far surpassed the number of flowers we saw. :) You can see the sea of people in our flower shots. We did find a somewhat empty spot on the beach and that was the kids' favorite part of the trip.
The exhibit halls were so crowded we didn't even attempt to stand in line.

The Outdoor Theme Garden was gorgeous. Jessica and I are posing on the back side of the tulip garden.

Tulips...so beautiful!

Sungryemun Gate (in the background) was a Korean temple covered in flowers.

The Flower Culture Experience was a line we were willing to conquer. Standing in line in Korea is very different than in the U.S., getting bumped, jostled, pushed or ran over is all very normal and won't even get a response from the culprit. We decided to play the "we're Americans and we're not sure where to go" card for this exhibit. We walked in with a class of young Korean students. I'm sure we didn't stand out at all in that crowd. :) It worked, we got in within 3 minutes of standing in line. Carson decorated a mask and Jessica decorated a mirror with floam. This craft was very similar to the floam necklace making at the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. Must be a Korean thing?

Jessica loved collecting sea shells and playing in the sand.

Taean beach is located on the west coast of South Korea on the Yellow Sea. It is part of the Taean Haean Maritime National Park.

After we moved away from the mob of Korean high school students the kids enjoyed playing and not being touched or photographed for an entire 30 minutes. Yes, Carson is still wearing his mask. He thought it might deter some of the gawkers, but I think it actually drew more attention to him.

Lotus Lantern Festival

Carson, Jessica and I went to the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul a few weeks ago. The festival is to celebrate Buddha's birthday. The festivities were incredible, incredibly crowded, but very fun. They had craft after craft for children to make. Jess and Carson are showing off the necklaces they made.
Making necklaces with foam, a little random, but it's Korea, right?

The lanterns hanging above the kids are the lotus lanterns. They are making their own beautiful, paper lotus lanterns. They turned out so good.

Now they are making earrings with dried flower decorations. Jessica gave a pair to her teacher, Mrs. Hoffman and Carson gave his pair to me for Mother's Day. So sweet!

The highlight for both kids was the face painting, of course. We stood in line for quite awhile and it was a chilly evening. Jessica is getting a lotus painted on her cheek.

Carson with his beautiful Korean artist and the lightning bolt on his face

Group photo - We went with our friends Tracy, Carmen and Vince and some of their friends.

This is the entrance of a Buddhist Temple that was decorated with so many lotus lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Posing with the tiger lanterns

The parade was also amazing. I couldn't see very well. I kept getting pushed to the back. The kids had the best seat in the house, front row, sitting on the ground in front of everyone. See the Starbucks on the 2nd floor across the street? That's where I'll be watching next year, with my Mocha in hand.

Beautiful lotus float

The dragon float was really cool. It was a moving, fire-breathing dragon with sound effects. Jessica took this photo for us from my shoulders.

Pinewood Derby

Carson won 3rd place in the Yongsan Cub Scout Pinewood Derby with his Batmobile.

Carson with his 3rd place medal. Now he gets to race his Batmobile in the District Pinewood Derby on May 16th.


Carson during the car weigh-in's

The Batmobile is in the front row by the white and blue car. We also liked the Army tank design.

Carson with his friend Adam - Adam had a Star Wars car.

The Batmobile at the starting gate

Look at that car go!

Yongsan Braves

Jessica is playing 5-6 year old t-ball this spring. Her team is the Braves and her coach is Ms. Jennifer.
Our little slugger, taking aim...
hit...

there goes the ball...
there goes Jessica!
She's coming around to 3rd.

Jessica with her piggies and a smile on her face going into the field.

She's learning good sportsmanship too. This looks like a small town t-ball game until you see the Seoul skyscrapers in the background.

Go Braves! Good job #7!

Easter 2009

Carson has been battling some stomach issues this spring and the eve of Easter he had another bout. Therefore our Easter plans were altered and we spent the day helping Carsy feel better. Here's the kids showing their Easter treats.

Garrett saying, "Look at this cool toothbrush!" He really does love is Pooh toothbrush and he uses it every chance he can get. I find it on the bathroom floor, on the patio, in a shoe drawer, in the couch, on the kitchen floor. If you're noticing the trend, yes, it's on the floor and then in the dishwasher a lot!

Garrett asking mommy what she's eating. I snuck a chocolate egg.Garrett is now enjoying his own chocolate egg. He even had brown drool.

We had the Easter Egg Hunt on our small patio. Garrett caught on quickly by watching the big kids and he even thought it was fun. He did have to carry his own bucket and golf club.
He still has the golf club. He wouldn't put the club down. He is a sports fanatic, he's way more interested in sports apparel and gear than either Carson or Jess.