First Play in Snow

We have had many flurries so far, but this is the first snow that has left a small trace on the ground to play with.  The last time Elizabeth saw snow was in Colorado at 12 months and most likely she doesn't remember that far back, so in her mind, snow is something new.  

While in the apartment, I kept taking her to the window and pointing out the white layer on the ground and calling out "snow", so she knew its name, but it took her about an hour to warm up to touching it and stomping it.  While outside, Elizabeth wanted to play a bit on the playground so we spent a bit of time there too. -S

 

An ever-changing pallet

It's always a guessing game to figure out what a little kid likes...other than candy...and soda. At first, avocados were popular with Elizabeth. She also went on a streak with cereal and milk. Her latest likings are corn on the cob and cupcakes and I must emphasize on the cupcakes. What'll be next? Broccoli? -T

Thanksgiving with new friends

We met two families out here that we've become friends with. One of the families lives in our complex and the other not too far away in a nearby apartment. Both have kids right around Elizabeth's age, so they all play together. For Thanksgiving, we all got together for the annual turkey feast. It was a good time to get to know the parents and for the kids to play and burn off some energy. One thing we were thankful for was to have people to share the Thanksgiving meal with. -T

"Can I Drive?"

E-mart is one of the big stores here in Korea. It's basically the Super Walmart of Korea. Depending on the layout, they can have two or three floors with an additional one or more floors for parking. The bottom floor is almost always the grocery area. The neat thing is that they have shopping carts with those plastic "Flintstones" cars attached. Kids can get in and out of the car and pretend like they're driving as someone pushes the cart around the store. Elizabeth loves to ride in these and has fun getting in and out of the car. Sometimes she pulls a Dukes of Hazard move and crawls out of the non-door side of the car. One time, we happened to have our camera so we took some shots as she played in the car(t). -T

Dinner with Great Auntie from Denver

We only got to share a short meal together but it was still good to see Elizabeth's Great Aunt, visiting from Denver.  Rosa, James and Great Auntie came down from Seoul by bus to see Elizabeth and we all enjoyed a delicious meal at an oyster specialty restaurant right in front of our apartment.  Elizabeth now say "Halmi, Halmi" (shortened grandma in Korean) very well and it was nice that she could say it to someone in person.  

After the dinner, I gave her the credit card and told her to go up and pay and sure enough she went up to the front desk and handed the card to the owners.  She came back with the receipt and a bunch of candy stuffed in her pockets.  It's nice that she can do favors now! -S

My New Bed

Before moving to Korea, we were thinking about getting a toddler bed to bring with us. We ended up bringing the crib and one of those barriers that can be attached to a toddler bed to keep kids from falling out. Once we arrived and got settled, we hoped that Elizabeth would be able to sleep in her own crib in her own room. That didn't happen. Since she didn't like sleeping in her crib, we decided to take the front off and put the barrier on. This left a small gap that was just big enough for the kiddo to climb in and out. She did ok for awhile, but ended up coming to our room sleep in our bed.

At the BX on base, Sana saw a toddler bed frame similar to the one that we were looking at before. She bought one and we set it up. Luckily, it was meant for crib-size mattresses, so we didn't have to get a different one.

The first night Elizabeth went to sleep like usual (which is her falling asleep in our bed and then being moved to hers), but ended up rolling off her toddler bed. She wasn't hurt because of the foam pad we had put on the floor next to the bed, but she didn't want to sleep there by herself anymore. The next night, we decided to move the bed into our room so that she could get comfortable with it.

So far, it seems to be working pretty well. I still have to move Elizabeth from our bed to hers, but she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night wanting to sleep with us. Plus, she probably likes the fact that the "bars" are gone that makes cribs somewhat like a prison cell. We'll eventually move her back to her room...we just don't know when. -T

Costco...a piece of home

"Do you like my bag? It's from Costco."

Costco has made its way over the bigger pond to this side of the world. Therefore, we had to visit and see what it was like. There really wasn't much different except that a lot of the products were obviously Korean, like the bulk rice and sesame seeds. I wouldn't be surprised if there was bulk 고추장 (pepper paste). There were Japanese and Chinese products, too. Also, like every Costco, samples were everywhere. There was one station that was sampling packages of a 삼개탕-ish soup (Korean style chicken soup). The three of us tried it and thought it was good. Elizabeth asked for more. I went to get a couple more sample cups. She slurped them down and wanted more. I think she went through about 12 of the samples. We were sold, so of course we bought a box.

At the food court, they sold the usual pizzas and hotdogs. They also had chicken bakes and beef bakes, which I'm sure was 불고기 (bulgogi). The beef bake was so good that we got 6 more to bring home. It also helped that Elizabeth liked it too, which is a good thing as any parent would agree. One weird thing to note was that everybody around us had plates of this saucy concoction that we couldn't find on the menu. It turned out that they were taking piles of the diced onion condiment and mixing them with ketchup and mustard. Once we realized what it was, there no longer was a desire to try that "side dish". -T

Puppy Love

We may have a future doctor in the house, an animal doctor that is.  Elizabeth is not afraid of any pets.  When she sees dogs on the street, she yells "Mong! Mong!", which means doggy in Korea.  She can spot a dog hundreds of yards away.  Sometimes when we're in the car, she yells out "Mong! Mong!" and sure enough, in the distance is somebody's dog running around. 

This is Soju, Auntie Rosa and Uncle James' dog.  When we went to see them at their new apartment, Soju embraced Elizabeth and Elizabeth just gave her puppy love right back.  Other kids cry and run away from dogs, Elizabeth just says "No! No!" or "Come down!" when he bothers her.  She's not scared of him at all, in fact they spent a good portion of the evening sitting on the couch together and watching Finding Nemo. -S

Suwon with Granddad

While Elizabeth's Granddad was here, we made a trip up to Suwon to visit the old fortress located within the city. It was a pretty windy and chilly day, but it was still fun. We went up on top of one of the gates to look out at the city. We also went to the military training area, which was also a small palace for the royalty. Elizabeth got to see the old Korean way of life, although she probably won't remember much of it. -T

"I don't want to stand in front of this thing."

These guys are scary. They get to carry swords.

Elizabeth is walking with her Granddad to see one of the king's rooms.