Anmyeon-do visit for great-grandmother's birthday

Being in Korea, we get to celebrate things we wouldn't usually get to while we are back home. Last week, we celebrated Choseok. This week, we had the opportunity to wish Elizabeth's great-grandmother a happy birthday. Anmyeon-do is about an hour away, which is a quick drive in Korea. There is never any traffic from here to there because we are going from one countryside to another country/oceanside.

Upon arrival, we helped harvest pepper leaves for the birthday meal. Here is Elizabeth helping in on the action. Her job was to pull off the open flowers from the greenery.

Visiting the ocean is a must while in Anmyeon-do, but don't forget to take your jacket, it gets a bit breezy out by the sea.

More teeth are growing in. First set of molars are about to POP!

What is this? A sea creature?

This is how I feel about starfish!

Daddy kangaroo protects the sleeping baby.

Our camera ran out of batteries after our ocean snapshots so we didn't get to take one with great-grandma. But it was a joyful celebration with six auntie and uncle families and us. We celebrated by having king crab, galbi, oysters, and a plethora of other seafood and side dishes. -S

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE DAVID

Happy happy birthday, happy happy birthday to you, Uncle David!

It has been many months since I saw you and I'm a lot bigger now. I'm trying to talk now, so when I see you again we can talk to each other. I will see you in April, but I hope you won't be too busy to play with me and talk to me.

Have an awesome birthday and eat lots of cake. (I LOVE cake!!)

Love,
Elizabeth

Friend "L" comes over to play

We've made a few great friends here in Korea. One family that lives in our apartment complex has a young daughter too. She came over to play for a few hours on Friday and Elizabeth showed her all her toys.  She went from room to room, holding her hand and faux playing with stuffed animals, musical instruments, balloons and blocks.  She was a great hostess. 

Elizabeth's new friend, L, is a great eater.  She eats all things you put in front of her mouth.  After watching L open her small mouth wide for every bite, Elizabeth got in on the action and decided that she was going to outeat her tonight.  Each kid had two full cups of applesauce, yogurt, rice, soup, banana crackers and a full cup of milk.  AMAZING! -S

Her very own kitchen

Everyone loves the kitchen. It's where a person receives nourishment and refreshment. It's where skilled hands make magic happen to feed the soul...and stomach. I believe everyone wishes to one day have their own. One where their imagination can make delicious creations. One where breakfast is dinner and dinner is breakfast. One that isn't their mom's (or dad's if dad does the cooking...equal opportunity you know). Well, the time has come and Elizabeth now has one to call her own. A place where she can cook up all kinds of imaginary dishes with plastic ingredients. Yum!!

Whenever we open the fridge, Elizabeth makes it a point to stand in front to push the light button and point at things she wants brought out, but won't eat. She likes to pull out pots, turn on the oven timer, and generally see what's going on when Mom and Dad are in the kitchen. So, what do we do? Naturally, we decide to get her a play kitchen. That way she can hopefully not hurt herself with the real stuff like her old man did when he was little. - T

Elizabeth is eagerly waiting for her kitchen. There are lots of pieces that need to be put together.

"This is taking too long. I'll just play inside the box."

The excitement is building. It's all over Elizabeth's face.

"Finally!!! I get to play with my kitchen."

Guess she needs to talk to somebody. Or maybe order something for delivery.

Happy Korean Thanksgiving (추석)

In honor of the 추석 holiday in Korea, Elizabeth made traditional rice cakes (떡) at school. She brought it home in a nice gift-wrapped box. The 떡 were all different sizes and shapes and were delicious. You could see the small toddler handprints on all of them from when they squeezed them into shape. Thank you daughter for the yummy snack. Good job! -S

18 Month Checkup

Doctor's visit do not get any easier as they get older. 18 month checkup at Osan Air Base Hospital. The pediatrian is a great Korean-American with lots of patience and advice. We spent a good 30 mins with him at the appointment and most of it was filled with his voice. All the other pediatirians we've been to, they ask us about our concerns and then it becomes a therapy session for the parents. With this doctor, he examined her and explained every single procedure and checkup while he was doing it. Then, he asked us some questions and then spent quality time giving good advice, instead of just saying, "Oh! That's normal," which is what every other doc usually says. -S

In the waiting room...waiting in my PJs.

Please do not put me down on this cold bed!

Daily Chore

Everyday after Elizabeth comes home from preschool, she waters her plants. It's her daily chore and if she catches you watering her plants, she'll get upset. Sometimes she waters Tim's XBOX too.

Elizabeth is wearing her school uniform below. She wears it once or twice a week when she goes on a field trip or does some other outdoor activity. It helps the teachers keep track of the kids. The school keeps a blog (they call it cafe in Korea) too. http://cafe.daum.net/Wiz-123 To find her class' photo blog, look for the purple box in the left column and click on the link 위즈아이.....재롱반. -S

Indoor play gym

Almost every day, we go to the playground and meet new friends and ride the slide. When it rains outside, we go to one of the many play gyms found in the shopping centers. Here we are at Home Plus near our home. Elizabeth loves ballons and there is a fun balloon room at this place. -S

Korean Concord Grapes

Out of the many things Elizabeth has tried eating, we're finding that she really likes Korean grapes, which are very similar to Concord grapes. The skin is thicker than regular red and white grapes and there are seeds, so we figured it would be hard for her, but she doesn't seem to have any problems spitting out the skin and picking out the seeds. We usually just pop the pulp in her mouth, but sometimes she'll grab a grape and pop it herself. She likes to share the grapes, too, by putting one in Mommy's mouth and in Daddy's mouth. She can be so thoughtful.

One time, Elizabeth went to pick grapes with her pre-school. She brought home one cluster of grapes and was so exited to eat them. It's too bad that Korean grapes are expensive. -T

Things to do at a Korean rest area (휴게소)

For a small nation, Korean has a great highway system to get you from any city to city in record time. In addition, to make traveling even easier, they have these great rest areas right on the Interstate filled with things to see and do every 30 mins or so. On the way back from Busan, we stopped by two different rest stops. The first one to relax and stretch out. The second one to pick up a few grocery items before heading home. Here is some footage from the first stop. -S

Haeundae Beach (해운대해수욕장)

Waiting in the hotel room to go to the beach.

Why does getting ready always take SO LONG?

Last day at Haeundae Beach. A storm is coming in, but the breeze is still very warm.

Now with the pants off...pictures with mommy.

Mommy, the sound of the waves crashing are too loud. I must cover my ears. -S

Busan City Tour

To find out all the worthwhile places to visit, you can get on the City Tour bus for 10,000 Won a day. There are two routes in Busan and we spent the afternoon exploring the South one. Haeundae Beach is on one of the stops, so we got to hop on right in front of our hotel. You can ride all day long and get off and on at any stop.

http://www.citytourbusan.com/citytour_2010/eng/


After telling Elizabeth to sit down five times, this is how she decided to respond to us. We definitely did not teach her this. Must have learned it at preschool. -S