Thanksgiving Trip to PI, Once Again

Our family went to Cebu, Philippines, again for Thanksgiving this year.  This is Tay's second Thanksgiving spent at Plantation Bay Resort, and as before, it was an all-around wonderful and relaxing trip.  Last Thanksgiving, we spent it with another family, the Lees, but this year, it was just the three of us.  Now that Tay is just around the corner from turning two, this trip was quite filled with adventure, and in her familiar surroundings, she was quite at home.  Even many of the staff at the resort recognized her; it was a pleasant reunion of sorts.  :)

 

We arrived late (around 2am) on the 22nd and got settled into our one-bedroom suite on the resort.  The next morning, we awoke to the warm sun shining through our window shades...what a wonderful way to wake up.  :)  We sauntered to breakfast at Kilimanjaro Cafe (as we did every morning during previous visits) and had a filling breakfast with delicious Pan de Sal (rolls) and sweet sweet mango.  This was the first trip that Tay actually started enjoying mangos...she never really cared for them before, but I think the taste is growing on her. 

 

Shortly following breakfast, we covered ourselves in sunscreen and made our way to the pool where we spent the rest of the morning until lunch time, which we ordered to the room before nap time.  After nap time, we were back in the water for many more hours of splashing around until the daylight grew dim and we headed to dinner.  This was pretty much our routine throughout the week we spent there, but we did venture off the resort for a trip to a Timex store and dinner at Cowrie Cove (located on Shangri La resort).  The dinner at Cowrie Cove was delicious and the grounds were beautiful (what we could see of it); since it was dark when we went, we talked about coming back to see the grounds during daytime, but we never did make another trip out because we wanted to enjoy as much time as we could with Tay in the water and sun. 

 

For four of the mornings, though, I went and did my skills and dives for my Open Water scuba certification.  Yes, I passed all of them without any troubles and got my certification, but I did have a casualty.  After the third open water dive, there were a lot of waves, so I lost my contact out of my left eye.  I also said hello to many tiny, invisible jelly fish...which my hands, face, and top of my ear didn't appreciate, but I think I'm immune to them now.  Also, during my mask removal skills training, I went under to remove my mask and replace it, but instead of removing just my mask, I also removed my regulator...why, I have no idea.  I think I might have been a little more nervous than I thought I was.  Anyhow, I just calmly replaced my regulator and proceeded to replace my mask, so all was well...my instructor just got a good chuckle.  The coolest things I did get to see on the dives were a small black & white striped sea snake, two lion fish and two stone fish...and of course many many little nemo's and dori's...:)

 

Anyhow, while I was gone during the dives (about 2 hours each), Tay got to spend a lot of time with Appa, which both enjoyed a great deal.  Tay totally was a daddy's girl the entire trip (almost to the point where I felt like I got my feelings hurt), but it really was sweet to see the two of them just loving on each other, kissing, and cuddling...I have a lot of pictures of it, too.  Jeff is the "fun" parent...Tay always wants him to take her down the slides and go splashing around with her.  I am the "sleep" parent, who makes sure her general needs are met.  Eh, I guess I can live with that...

 

This trip, we also went to the Char-B-Q they held on Galapagos beach and the Hawaiian Luau.  The Char-B-Q was pretty good; the scallops were absolutely delcious and so was the lamb, although they ran out pretty quickly.  Tay particularly enjoyed the grilled corn on the cob.  The show at the Hawaiian Luau was very impressive, but it started raining shortly after the show began, so we didn't stay for too long.  The food was ok, but not too impressive.  We did enjoy the curried shrimp, though...and the almond jello.  Tay mostly enjoyed the noodles and rice as well as the chicken stirfry. 

 

Before we left on our trip, I picked up a couple new books to take with us (as I was getting pretty tired of reading the same books over and over).  While we were in Cebu, we probably read those "couple" of books about a thousand times, so by the end of the week, Tay was reading them along with me as I read them to her.  It's so cute how she now finishes my sentences to each page and even adds the inflections I add to make the book more interesting.  She seems to be picking up the concept of "opposites" as well; like, up and down and wet and dry...big and little.

 

Now that we're back in Korea, she'll point at a large truck and say, "Wow!  Beeeg tuk" and then when a small car passes, she'll say, "leel cah" as she uses her thumb and forefinger to show "little."  She's no longer my little baby anymore...she's a full-grown toddler with a mind and opinions of her own.  Tay's always been an affection and loving child, but now, she's very decisively loving and sweet when she wants to be, and if she's upset with you, she'll even give you the cold shoulder or the pout.  But funny thing is, she'll give you the pout and then realize that she's pouting and giggle a little because that little lip protruding always makes us laugh (so she, in turn, also laughs). 

 

My, my...in a little over a week, Tay turns 21 months old.  It truly is amazing how quickly time flies.  Some days I wish I could rewind time to enjoy her younger days again, but more and more, I am so glad that she is who she is today!  I look forward to who she will be a month from now, a year from now...10 years from now...30 years from now...

Karaoke Queen

Last Friday evening, Tita Beth and JD had a going away party for Andrew who was headed back to the US after a short visit to Korea. There was great food, lots of people, and KARAOKE! Well, Tay and I were there for the celebrations and when the singing started, Tay decided she wanted in on the action. So, here's a little clip of her singing her heart out to Chiquitita, which is a song she has never heard before, but she seemed to be quite familiar with the concept of "karaoke."

Shingil Karaoke! from Seulgee Ryals on Vimeo.

Mind you, she sang like this from beginning to end, and at the end when the score came up, it was 82!!!!!!!! Who knew? Now we know what to ask for Christmas for her...a karaoke machine! I thought she was a "dancing queen"...now I think the karaoke bug has bitten her and she might be the next Karaoke Queen!

Welcome, 20 Months, with Attitude!

Well, I knew the easy-party couldn't last forever...

 

My funny Tay turned 20 months old and along with growing inches, she has also grown an attitude.  She very defiantly yells, "NO!" when we do something she doesn't want or she can't do something she wants.  She also has started taking possession of things she knows are not hers, yet she'll clutch them to her chest and yell, "MINE!" as she stamps her little feet.  Who knew the "terrible twos" would start at 20 months instead of actually 24 months!  The day she turned 20 months was when she had her first major meltdown because she wanted to spit out water from a cup and I wouldn't let her.  Her arms and legs were flailing and she arched her back and screamed and yelled as if I had taken away her favorite toy when I took away her sippy cup.  Well, I couldn't help but chuckle a little because I had never seen her get quite so worked up, but I was pretty irritated, too, because I was left with the mess of cleaning up this water she had spit on the living room floor.  Anyhow, I just got a rag and started cleaning it up after she calmed down a bit (I just held her, flailing and all...just worried a bit that I might drop her with all the arching), and she watched me wipe up a bit, and then came over to me and took a swat at my face and said, "no!"  I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!  I swear my blood pressure shot up at that instant, but I took a deep breath, grabbed her hand, and said sternly, "No hitting."  At which point, she swatted at me with the other hand.  ::sigh::  I had read so many articles that said children her age will resort to hitting to see what sort of response they will get or just simply because they don't know how to let out their frustration / anger.  So...I took another deep breath and walked away.  I've decided ignoring is going to be my first tactic or approach.  Jeff and I still have to have the "discipline" talk...so that we're both presenting a unified front against this new "attitude" Tay has developed. 

 

In other news, Tay still has her very sweet moments like tonight at choir practice, I was holding her as we were singing a song and she sang along with her pretty little voice, all the while smiling at the other choir members.  Then, she decided to go check out one of the guitar players, who let her sit on his knee and play the guitar along with him, so she sat there patiently through an entire song, just singing along and occasionally strumming.  Also, after her bath tonight as I was lying next to her to put her to sleep, I was humming a song and she rolled over, hugged my arm, said, "po-po" (which means, "kiss" in Korean), and then kissed my arm a half a dozen times...:)  It's just not possible to be upset with this child...even if I do get upset, it's so fleeting that I forget it when I blink.

 

Last weekend, our family participated in the 10K Walk for Hope for Breast Cancer Awareness on the Han River.  It didn't start out so well because Tay fell face-first on some leaves and got scratched up, but as the walk went on, we made great strides and finished the walk in less than two hours!  We were pretty happy about that!  It was the first of its kind for the military community here in Korea.  We had pink balloons and many of us wore pink (although I couldn't convince Jeff to wear any pink that morning).  Pictures coming soon...as soon as I find our camera.

 

Tay and I also got our H1N1 flu shots today.  That was a rather unpleasant experience for Tay because they didn't have any baby-sized needles, but she took it like a champ, cried a bit, but she was smiling on the way out, so it must have not been too traumatic for her.  Thank goodness. 

 

There's so much more to say about this climbing-falling-growing-giggling-big-little girl...just wish I could just capture it all in time...and keep it with me forever.

 

Love,

Rosa

 

 

"Good?"

My sweet Tay has really started applying her knowledge of words from her beautiful little mind.  Last night after her bath, I was combing her hair and she wanted to brush mine.  I gave her a brush, and she in turn asked me to "sit sit" in front of her.  I complied and after a few loving strokes of the brush through my hair, she tapped me on the shoulder and leaned over it.  I turned to see her smiling face and she then said, "Good?" with a little nod of her head...:)  I couldn't help but smile really big and say, "Neh, very good.  Thank you!" 

 

What a sweet, funny child. 

Where's Tita?

Yesterday, I met up with Tay, Beth, Andrew, and JD at the food court at lunch time.  We got our food and went to our table and then after putting Tay in the high chair, Beth went off to look for some napkins and wipe down the high chair tray.  I sat with Tay and we had a little chat.  She looked around with a little concern and said, "A-ta?"  (which is what she calls Tita Beth).  I repeated her question and said, "Where's Tita?" 

 

Tay's response, with a very concerned look on her face, "Poo-poo." 

 

Hehehe...:)

Vacation and then some...

Well, on the 17th of October, Tay and I finally got our bags packed and made our way to the airport that rainy morning.  Once we arrived, Tay was very good as she sat atop our bags on the cart and held on as we went to check in.  We did get to go to the "family service" line, which was much shorter, and we checked our bags.  We decided to go ahead and go through security before we had breakfast.  No issues with security or immigration, and we were in.  We decided to get another little cart for our backpacks, so Tay got to take another ride.  We spent some time wandering around the airport to burn some time because we had about two hours to kill...but we did stop for some noodle soup (udon). 

 

The flight from Incheon to Atlanta was a full flight, and Tay and I had an aisle seat in about the middle of the plane.  We had a nice Alabama couple sitting next to us who were just with a tour group to Asia, so it made for a relatively pleasant flight...except I had to keep Tay from kicking the gentleman next to me while she was sleeping.  Other than that, we walked all around the plane and spent a lot of time in the lavatories.  I would have to say the first half othe flight was good, but the second half, I started losing my patience with Tay's constant demands to go "poo-poo," which essentially meant she just wanted to go hang out in the lavatory.  Exhaustion and very tight quarters with a toddler is not an ideal situation...anyhow, we made it through that flight, and just barely made our connection in Atlanta to Tri-Cities (Bristol). 

 

What a wonderful reunion when we got off the plane in Tri-Cities as we came out of the gate and saw Jeff...standing at the ATM machine with his back to us!  :)  hehehe...we landed earlier than scheduled, so we surprised Jeff with a kiss on the cheek and Tay yelling, "APPA!"  Halmoni hadn't even arrived at the airport yet, so we went to get our bag and then we saw her drive up with a balloon in hand for Tay. 

 

Anyhow, enough of traveling news.  Moving on...

 

The trip to Bristol was good for Tay and me, but very very brief for Jeff as he arrived on the same day as us (Saturday) and had to leave on Monday morning.  In the short time he was there, we set up the sling box, went to Mass, ate at Cracker Barrel and went to the Hands On Museum in Johnson City.  That was actually quite fun, but it was really cold...and maybe still a little too advanced for Tay.  Plus, we were still extremely jetlagged, so I guess that didn't help.  After Jeff left for Alabama for his conference, Tay and I spent more time with my folks.  We visited Virginia High to see Heather teaching, but the power happened to go off right before we went over to visit, so I had to hang out in the hallway with Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Collins, Mr. Locke and a few others before I could actually go see Heather.  It was great to see her again, although we didn't have much time to catch up...maybe next time.  I also swung by to see Ms. Neal in the library, but it was pitch black in there so we didn't spend much time there either. 

 

Sarah and I played phone tag for about three days before we finally got together (Tay and I kept falling asleep at odd hours during the day!) on the next to last day I was in Bristol.  She drove over with her cute pregnant belly and we (Sarah, my mom, Tay and I) went shopping at TJ Maxx!  Fun for me; maybe not so fun for anyone else...ah well. 

 

Other than that, not much else exciting happened in Bristol for us; it was just good time spent with Halmoni, Harabuji, and Hhhan (whispered, as Tay would say) for Tay and me.  Oh, I must mention that three Halloween costumes were bought for cheap-cheap!  Duck, bee, and ladybug!  Very exciting.

 

As Friday rolled around, it was time for Tay and me to pack up and fly once more to Atlanta.  We said our said good-byes and left Bristol with the promise to return at Christmas.  :)  From there, we went to Atlanta, and made our connecting flight to Los Angeles...not the most pleasant flight, but we made it.  When we landed at the airport, guess who met us at the gate?  JEFF!  Right when we got off the plane, there he was!  What a wonderful reunion once again!  From there, we got our bags, got our rental car, and drove (in TERRIBLE TRAFFIC) to northern L.A. where our hotel, Fairfield Inn, was located.  Although we had planned on meeting up with my cousins Esther and Judy that evening, we decided that a nearly-3-hour drive from the airport was too much and we crashed for the night. 

 

Saturday morning, we called up the Kunz household and drove over to meet them.  Thankfully, Tay took a liking to them quickly so it was a pleasant morning.  We went to breakfast at Mimi's, which was absolutely DELICIOUS!  That afternoon, we went to watch a football game where Lindsay was cheering, and then we went back to watch some football before heading to dinner with some other relatives at Romano's Macaroni Grill.  Again, delicious food, but we were all so exhausted...I felt badly that we couldn't spend more time with them after they drove all the way up from south L.A.  It was nice to see my cousin Duk and his little boy Charles and my Aunt again.  Sadly, Tay slept through the entire meal and meeting.  Hopefully next time we visit, it can be more of an actual visit instead of a drive-by eating. 

 

The next morning, we decided to hit Mimi's again for breakfast (yes, it was THAT good).  Mmm...pumpkin spice muffin...blueberry cream cheese french toast...corned beef hash...belgium waffle...yum.  Jeff and I ordered a little bit of everything we wanted to try because we knew it was our last day to eat there!  Yes, oink oink.  Ahem.

 

After breakfast, we went to visit a pumpkin patch (Lombardo Ranch) to pick out a pumpkin and get some pictures of Tay at the patch!  It really was nice there, but it was so windy and dusty that we felt like we had to hurry out of there.  Tay also hurt her right wrist somehow, so we decided to go ahead and leave instead of taking the little train ride.  Then we were off to the Kunzes again and spent the rest of the day there playing and chatting.  We took Tay swimming in the neighborhood pool, but we didn't actually swim...we sat in the hot tub and took brief dips in the duck-poop infested pool.  Fun reason why we went to the jacuzzi in the first place - I tweaked something in my neck so I couldn't turn it in any direction...boooooo.  Strange how these things happen when you're on vacation, no?

 

The boys cooked up a delicious BBQ dinner with steaks, salmon, brats, and all accompaniments...then we had some awesome pies for dessert (chocolate being the absolute best - chocolate satin! - with the banana cream pie coming in at a close second).  Tay ran around the back yard just in her diaper (yes, it was that warm), and later that night, my cousins lit a fire in their "porta-fireplace" and we roasted marshmellows and hung out until dark...a wonderful end to a whirlwind visit.

 

That night, we headed back to the hotel to pack, bathe and sleep a bit before our early morning drive back to the airport.  I was definitely not looking forward to the flight back alone with Tay, but she was very good on the flight and we enjoyed sitting bulkhead aisle...although Tay continued to ask to go "poo-poo" so she could play in the lavatory...again.  The trip was only an hour shorter than our trip from Incheon to Atlanta, so we were still exhausted when we got to Incheon, but we still had an hour wait before Jeff was going to arrive, so we wandered around the airport a bit before we started waiting for him...

 

Well, all in all we made it safely home through the Seoul evening traffic and crashed for the night...until 2am the next morning...when we were wide awake and ready to go...ah, jetlag. 

 

I really want to thank everyone for their hospitality and entertainment while we visited this last trip!  Hope we can meet up again in the near future!

19 Months Old...

My not-quite-so-baby-anymore Baby has turned 19 months old. She is now closer to two than she is one. These days it seems that every time I blink another day goes by and my baby is growing more and more into this beautiful and independent girl who can do so much for herself and express herself. Just last night as we ate dinner, she was chattering away in her own language when suddenly, she began her chant of "hana, hana, hana" as she picked up the peas off her plate and put them in her other hand. I just watched her thinking, "how cute, she's counting her peas..." when she put all the peas back on her plate and started over. "Hana...dool.......set!" I sat there with my mouth open as the camera filmed on and she proceded to pop all the peas in her hand in her mouth. My "Baby" just counted to three! In Korean! Who knew all that talking to her and counting off for her stuck somewhere in her brain and suddenly it made its way out...

If anything I thought she might count in English because I tend to default to English on most things, but I do try and make an effort to talk to her in Korean as much as possible. I do want her to be able to speak Korean at least as well (if not better) than me. I had the benefit of learning from my parents and grandmother who were "professional" Korean speakers (I guess "native" would be the correct term) whereas I am merely a...1.5-generation speaker of Korean. Although I am comfortable communicating my needs and understanding mostly other's needs in Korean, I can't say I fully grasp the language like my parents or my grandmother. So, how will I be able to teach a language that I myself am still learning?

Well, here's how. Just using it. Non-stop. Clearly, her young mind is able to just pick up and utilize at the appropriate times what she hears...even if it is only every once in a while. It seems the most imortant thing is to never be silent around her...just keep up my chatter and listen to her responses, whether or not I understand her or she understands me. It's hilarious to me when I say something to her and she looks at me with a slightly cocked head and goes, "eh?" It means she didn't understand what I just said to her...so I repeat myself and she either acknowledges understanding or looks at me puzzled again. Adorable. I guess I do that as well when I don't understand her.

She's such a "mini-me"...maybe not in appearance, but definitely in action these days. She does everything I do and wants to do things herself as she watches me do things. For example, this morning, I was putting on my socks, so she goes to get her socks, sits down next to me, and proceeds struggling to put them on. I told her I'd put them on for her and she goes, "no, eee (me)." And continues to grunt and roll around as she tries to put her socks on. Then, she sits up, hands me the socks and says, "ock (sock) Umma (mom) ep (help)," with a frustrated look on her face. Poor thing. She also has been working hard at putting on her own pants. She can get her legs in OK, but frequently, she'll get both her legs in the same leg hole and she can't figure out what it doesn't seem right...but she knows it's not right. She'll take them back off and try putting them back on again. I got a video clip of that as well. She rolls all over the bed trying to put on her pants. Well, I just let her at it until she asks me for help because she'll get it eventually and she will be so proud of herself. She sure is persistent! I've been letting her practice with shorts because they're a bit easier than pants, but she is fairly successful with getting one leg all the way into the pant.

For the past week or so, Jeff has been in Okinawa conducting some training for his program. Since it has been just Tay and me, we have been staying busy by taking lots of walks and visiting some fields so we can chase around some birds, jog around a track, investigate some cones, and play with imaginary umbrellas and hats (leaves).

I also must mention that we spent Chuseok with our relatives; we went to our "keun-jip" for the breakfast ceremonial events and then we went to the gravesites of our great-grand parents and grandparents on the mountain for some more family time. Tay studied the adults and other children bowing very hard, and when we got to the mountain, she finaly gave it a go herself.

Her first attempt was a bust because she ended up on her belly, but her second and third attempts were much better and she had finally gotten the form...somewhat. :)

We also enjoyed spending some time with Malia, Jasimen, Aiden and Elijah at the Fall Festival after we watched the parade go by. Tay had fun picking up a lot of candy thrown by the parade marchers, but was really only interested in eating one of the Dum-Dums. We donated the rest to the other kids.

Tay also got to try her first chicken skewer, which she greatly enjoyed...it was almost as big as her, though, so I had to help her hold it. Then, she got it all over her shirt, so we had to change clothes after that. She also got some of Umma's chocolate ice cream...(she definitely knows that word: i-keam)! We decided to skip the fire works because we were both exhausted and needed to go to bed early, but as we laid down to sleep, we could hear the booming of the fireworks from our apartment. It didn't seem to phase Tay at all, though, because she drifted right off to sleep...zzz.

The next day, we ended up going to the 8am Mass and the 11:30 Mass to do some campaigning for the children's choir we're getting ready to start. After all that, Tay went down for a quick nap, and then we ventured out to the Children's Grand Park. My intent was to go see some animals, but we ended up not seeing any animals (except a few fish and some birds) because Tay was content running around the park. We did make a quick stop at the playground, but she wasn't too fond of all the sand getting in her shoes. Nor did she like being pushed around by the bigger kids on the playground equipment. (I wasn't too fond of that either and had to put an end to that nonsense - sometimes...::hmph::...the angry mom in me came out...only for a moment).

A nice old man came up and gave Tay a piece of candy, too, but it was this really strong ginseng candy, which she did not particularly care for, but she thanked him anyway...phew. :) On our way home, she was so exhausted she refused to walk and made me carry her the rest of the way...I WAS BEAT! Luckily, we made it back safely, washed up, and went to bed.

One more week to go before Tay and I head to the states where we'll finally meet up with Jeff again! Yay!!! Can't hardly wait...

Love,
Rosa