Happy Birthday O!

Happy Birthday, sweet O!  I can't believe that you are actually three....ok, so you are already four in Korean as you reminded me earlier, but still, three in American age seems so grown up.  You have had such a big year and have changed so much.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.  

I love the person you are turning into.  I love that you actually like looking at daddy's AP biology book and that you know what the tobacco mosaic virus is.  I love that you wanted to know why we were sick and now know what E. coli is, and that you like to just call it by it's last name - just coli.  

 

I love that your hair is still curly when it gets long, and that you look wild when you get up and it's sticking up all over the place.  

I love that after watching the Olympics, you have a mild obsession with flags and countries and actually know what the flags of Nepal, Sweden and Jamaica look like.  I love that you know that I can get talked into looking up almost anything for you on the computer - including the history of the Korean, Japanese and American flags. 

I love that you have such a wonderful imagination.  We have been to almost every planet in your rocket ship and we've played almost every sport imaginable for pretend in our living room - including beer pong (thanks Aunt Shannon...that wii game has been very informative!).  

 

I love that you love to bake - you are a great chef and  you are right, real chefs get messy.  I just wish that I had more pictures of you baking - but our hands are usually too dirty to get to a camera.  

 

I love that you love music...you play a mean air guitar, as well as air violin, air chello, air drums, and air gong.  I love that you enjoy all kinds of music, and that you are such a good singer.  You know more of the lyrics to songs than I do now.  

 

I love that you love art and color...and food coloring and glitter and markers and glue and tape and shaving cream...all together. 

 

I love your curiosity about everything..."why because" was a new phrase this year and a well used one.  

 

I love your memory.  So often, our conversations will start "remember when..."  You remember that poppop introduced you to pears, that we would eat cereal out of the bowl that you got to pick in tata's kitchen, that we husked corn with nana out on the porch, that we got to eat pizza and corn while sitting outside at grammy and grampy's, we picked strawberries and green beans and blueberries at the farm, and that we roasted marshmallows with Uncle Rick"  I also love your love of food...and corn.  You will often tell me that we can make certain recipes since we have the ingredients "in the pantry" and that we can look up how do it on the computer. 

 

 

 

I love that "you don't like hiking, you like running."

 

I secretly love that you are a "momma's boy," especially when you are tired or not feeling well.  I love your hugs and kisses and snuggles and laying next to you as you fall asleep.  

I love that you think I can make anything for you with my sewing machine, yarn, or a cardboard box and some "stuff out of recycling."  

I love that you know the names of the different golf clubs and that a shuttlecock is a shuttlecock.  (Koreans love their badminton.)

 

I love when you ask about what you were like as a baby. 

 

I love your love of reading.  

I love that you "type"messages on the computer and that you have been known to tell me that you are "checking your email."

 

I love that you are "such a boy" sometimes with the boxing and the cars and the wrestling with daddy, but that you are also sensitive and caring and concerned when others are sad.

 

I love that we know way more about professional bowling and trick bowling than I ever thought possible and that you do too.  Bowling has been an obsession this year that only recently seems to have waned slightly.  We'll see if it continues in the next year.  

 

I love you more than you will ever know.  I can't wait to see what this year brings.  Happy Birthday!

 

 
 

 

  

Vacation, part 2

After lunch, we headed to Seokguram Grotto, built by the same person who built Bulguksa Temple.  It was approximately 30 minutes away from the temple, and from the parking lot it is 1/2 km walk up a winding mountain path.  Once you get to the temple, you walk up a stone path to the grotto - which is a large dome built into the edge of the mountain side, once open so the Buddha faced outwards toward the sun.  There is a now a building covering the opening of the dome, and glass covers the Buddha to protect it from tourists.  The statue is absolutely gorgeous.  It is, according to all sources, a classic example of Silla art. (Silla being one of the three kingdoms of Korea, from approx. 50 B.C.E to almost 700 C.E.)  Legend has it that in the center of the Buddha's forehead there once was a diamond which perfectly reflected the sunlight during the soltice as it came int through the center of the dome.  There is another jewel in the third eye now.   We were not allowed to take photos anywhere inside the grotto, so the only photos I have are from the walk to and from the grotto and the views from the top.  The following photo is from http://www.visitkorea.or.kr.  

The new building that you enter in order to go "inside the dome" to see the Buddha.  

 

On the way home, O. fell asleep and we were all so stuffed from dinner that we ended up playing the traditional Korean game yut, drinking soju, and snacking on peanuts and fruit.  

 

The next morning, a trip to the Gyeongju National Museum, then off to the coast, complete with trip to seaport town, amazing king crab for lunch, and lots of playing on the actual beach.  Lots of pretty sea glass for me to pick up - which G. just did not understand.  He kept telling me that it was just soju bottles and making fun of me for cleaning up trash on the beach.  Now I guess I have to do something with the sea glass just to show him that I picked it up for a reason. 

 

 

We got to help "park" a boat coming in to dock... 

 
 
shop for a very fresh lunch...

walk around the local market while we wait for our seafood to be cooked...

 

come back to already cut apart amazing king crab...yummy!!!....

along with many other lovely side dishes (some like the oysters, lovely, others like the orange squishy, chewy things - not so lovely)...

and a spicy fish stew to end the meal...only in Korea is this the end of the meal...

then off to the beach, very rocky because of all the mountains close by...

he could have spent all day here, throwing rocks into the waves, digging holes, and looking for shells...

then back to the house for pork barbeque, complete with introducing the Koreans to the wonders of roasted marshmallows and make-shift s'mores.  So funny, they had seen people in movies roasting marshmallows over campfires, but couldn't  understand why anyone would want to do that since they don't especially like the taste of marshmallows.  At least they didn't until we got them brown and caramelized and gooey and wonderful. Then they understood.  And ate almost the whole bag.  

More trip tomorrow.