First, Tay got her very first haircut ever! I can't remember for the life of me exactly what day (I'm pretty sure it was the 22nd), but I made an appointment for her and me at the salon I normally go with the lady who normally cuts my hair. We talked it up for the next day, so she was quite excited about the event, telling everyone she met that she was going to get a haircut...and mommy, too. On the day of our appointment, I picked her up after work, and we drove to the salon. Daddy met us outside the salon, but he didn't bring a camera, so we don't have very good pictures from the event (only a couple taken with Jeff's cell phone), but at least we did capture the event for posterity. I asked her if she wanted to go first or if she wanted me to go first, and she quickly replied, "Mommy first." So she watched me sit in the chair, put on my robe, and get trimmed up. Of course, I smiled and chatted with her the whole time as she sat with Appa, assuring her that it was a fun experience to get a haircut, so she would feel calm and ready. Well, was she ready? As J finished up my hair, she placed a large cushion on the chair next to mine in preparation for Tay's hair cut, and it was like Tay knew it was for her because she came running up to that chair saying, "My turn! My turn!" She climbed right up and sat down facing the mirror and got a serious look on her face as J placed the robe around her and tied it behind her neck. She sat perfectly still, maintaining the stern look on her face with her mouth slightly open, as the lady began clipping her pretty little curls. She did have a moment of smiling when J said she had really lovely hair...This past Friday, Army Community Services held a Family Game Night at Collier Field House for all the community members on Yongsan. We decided to take her for a change of pace to start off our weekend, not really knowing what to expect. We invited the Cortezes along, for some familiar faces. The event was a huge hit with the kids! They had a huge toddler zone with plenty of playdough, stamps, puzzles, instruments, crayons and paper for the kids to go from station to station and get a kick out of playing with and around a bunch of other kids...it was like a huge playdate for the tots. They also had games for the bigger kids and adults like Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Hungry Hungry Hippos, etc., so we let Tay have a hand at the Hungry Hippos, fishing, Tangegrams, and even Twister! She was hilarious, but mostly just wanted to spin the dial...:) We all left with a free game (Identic was what we got - choices were limited) and some free playdough. She particularly enjoyed running all over the place and seeing all the little babies there...she also got to enjoy her first hot dog and had some pop corn and juice to close out the evening. All in all, quite a successful event.
Saturday, we had planned a special breakfast as a new-to-us restaurant called the Flying Pan, but realized they didn't open until 10am...and we were up at 6:30, so that plan was a bust...so we just had homemade breakfast and opted to go to the 63 Building to visit their aquarium and the Sky Art museum. The place was packed when we got there, but we got decent parking and we made our way to get tickets. The aquarium was surprisingly large...I don't remember it being so large from going there when I was little, but it was definitely much nicer than I remember it. Tay seemed to really enjoy herself...she got a kick out of the penguins and the huge sea turtle, as well as the very active otters that were running around and then hiding in their cave. Jeff got a kick out of the dead-skin-eating fish tank where you could stick your fingers in and have them nibble at your fingertips. No, thank you, for me. Another odd event they had at the aquarium was a synchronized swimming performance by one lovely swimmer who jumped into a tank full of a variety of fish (to include a few sharks) and beautifully swam/danced to two songs...it was nice, but definitely very very strange. Yes, she did kick the fish a couple times, but most of them knew to stay away from the tiny space in which she was swimming. One larger shark and one of the larger fish kept swimming around the fish tank throughout the performance, but the rest of the fish awkwardly watched the show from one side or the other trying to swim to the other side and then turning back for fear of getting swatted or kicked. Again, it was well executed, but definitely very strange. Tay sat on my lap during the entire two-song performance, and seemed to enjoy it, but I think if it had gone to a third song, we probably would have gotten up and continued on with the aquarium. After we finished looking through the aquarium, we made our way to the Sky Art display on the 60th floor of the 63 Building. The elevator ride was surprisingly smooth, and Tay seemed to enjoy the view. When we got to the top, she was most interested in finding ice cream (we had talked about ice cream earlier as we left the aquarium), so we made our way through the art exhibit quickly and found ourselves some Dippin' Dots to share. After that, we made our way downstairs for a quick bite to eat (for me) and then we left the building to get some real food at the Flying Pan restaurant.
Tay ended up falling asleep in the car on the way to the Flying Pan and actually slept through the entire meal and more after we got home, but back to the meal. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I ordered the Grilled Banana French Toast and Jeff had the Flying Pan Breakfast...and we both could have licked our plates clean (although we did not). The french toast was light and fluffy and in huge portions with just enough egg that it was moist, but not soggy. The grilled bananas were perfection and not mushy or covered with syrup. They served it with ricotta and fresh whipped cream...absolutely DELICIOUS. Jeff's meal was more complicated, so I won't describe it all here, but I tried a couple bites of the pesto toast and the mushrooms and it was DELICIOUS. I might even order it next time we go. Which I hope will be very soon. The space is very small, but their customer turnover it pretty quick, too, surprisingly. We didn't have to wait but two or three minutes, and there was never an empty seat in the room, but there were always customers coming in. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting or living in Korea - Itaewon, up the alley by Hamilton Hotel and Hard Rock. Yes, it was a very late lunch time that we went (around 2pm), but it was still packed then...I wouldn't even know when to recommend going there, honestly...but just go. I think they're open until 10pm.
Last, but not least, on Sunday we had breakfast with the Cortezes after church, and then after browsing arond the PX a bit, we went home. After some laziness and a nap at home, we decided to take Tay to her first big movie theater to see The Princess and the Frog, since it was showing at the on-post theater (and it's free!). I figured she'd last maybe 15 minutes to 30 minutes in there since she never really paid much attention to television shows, and she had never really watched a movie through at home either. We got her some pop corn and some Raisinets with water and milk and sat down at the very front (because I didn't bring a cushion for her to sit on so she could see over the seat). She didn't want to sit in her own seat, though, because the seat flipping up was bothering her, so she ended up sitting on my lap as the movie started. As soon as the Disney castle came up, she turned and said to me, "Ooo...princess house!" That made me smile that she was excited about that, and made me a little more hopeful for the movie. As the movie started and the sound got a little louder, she was a little antsy, but she settled down as the movie continued. Surprisingly enough, she got really into the story line of the movie, yelling at the screen to "RUUUUN! RUUUUN!" when the frogs were being chased by the bad guys and then almost going to tears and yelling, "Noooo! Noooo!" when some other bad guys caught the frog and took him away. I was a little nervous that she'd be too scared of some of the parts of the movie, but she just tensed up and cuddled in a little closer to me during the scary parts and told me, "Scary," but made no move to leave. She did get a little scared of the gators, but eventually, she called the main gator a "dinosaur" and liked that he played music. At almost an hour and a half into the movie, she turned to me and said, "Umma, go home." And then she turned to the screen and said, "Bye bye, froggy!" so Jeff and I turned to each other, shrugged and picked up our stuff and left. I guess she was done with the movies for the day. :)
All in all, the past two weeks have been fun-filled and interesting for all parties involved. :) New experiences and fun...
Now begins Holy Week filled with exciting Easter events and lots of church...here's to a good week...
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