Friday, January 04, 2008

Winter Break Catch-up (Part 2)
After gorging, exploring Atlanta, and some basic catch-up with friends, it was time to celebrate Christmas!
With the Christmas decorations and piles of presents under the tree, it really felt festive around the house. It was the 1st year that all the kids really understood what the presents meant. Nate actually thought it was his birthday (again). He kept saying "My birthday party" and even opened a few presents the day before "by accident." We taped them back up and put them back under the tree...it must have been torture for them to walk past the gifts everyday! Christmas Eve, we went to Church for the Service. JT had a mini-pageant which was really quite adorable. Afterward, we went home to wait for Santa.
The next morning was pure chaos! JT was up and running around waking everyone up so that we could open presents...needless to say, we were all not looking our best for the pictures! It was fun though. After spending a cozy Christmas Morning with the family, some family friends came over for more all-day gorging and gossip. It was a great day!
The 26th is my birthday, so Christmas Evening, Daniel and I left the kids with my parents and headed out to meet our good friends, Sang and Hannah for some drinks. We stayed out and sang our brains out at a Kareoke place. They sang me Happy Birthday at 12 am :) I loved it! On my Birthday, we bravely headed out to get some shopping done...but it wasn't crowded at all. That evening, we had my birthday dinner at a steakhouse and cut a yummy cake there. Afterwards, Daniel drove me downtown to see if we could catch the fake snowfall at the Christmas tree there. We missed it, but it was really nice hanging out with just my husband. We walked around and it felt like a date. Enjoy the pictures, below...



After a busy Christmas, our family (meaning my parents, my family, and my sis's family) packed up our things and headed out to Philadelphia. It was my Grandparent's Golden Anniversary and the whole clan wanted to get together to celebrate. It was hectic flying with 2 toddlers and a preschooler! It was a short trip but it was worth it to see everyone together again. We have visited back and forth but it has been years since everyone was together at the same time and it was the first time we've all been together since my sister had her baby. It was pretty awesome! There are some pics below but I am sure other people have better pictures.

After a difficult flight home...(very difficult, ask my poor sister and Bro-in-law)...it was New Year's Eve! We made it home in time for the count down. Danny and I watched the Times Square Ball Drop and had our Traditional midnight kiss. We took a pic of ourselves since my parents had my kids, but I will spare you that particular picture. It is not very flattering. Anyway, Happy 2008!! New Year's Day was fun and relaxing. We had our traditional Korean New Years food and some close family friends came over for more food and gossip. The kids got New Years money for bowing to the adults and Kaylee even wore her traditional Korean dress which was too cute. I wish I had the pictures, but I don't...poop.

The only down side to that day was that I spent a good part of it packing bags for Daniel and that he was pretty sick. He had a flight out early the next morning so we were really worried. He was sick all that day and night and when I dropped him off at the airport the next morning...my heart was aching because he was having to go by himself. I really regret not going with him! It was a lonely and sad ride back from the airport. I have another month without him and it is going to be much tougher than I thought. The past few days, I have busied myself with the kids and meeting friends but I still miss my husband. The kids miss him so much, too. Danny, please take care of yourself!! WE LOVE YOU!! And to all our friends who are still in or have just returned to SXM...we miss you all and can't wait to see you again!! But until we return, we will enjoy all the fast service, good food, and megastores enough for all of you...HAHA! Love to you all...

Merry Christmas & Happy 2008!!

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Ok...I have not been very good about the updates lately, but in my defense, I have to say that I have been busy getting fat. I don't think I thought about food this much even when I was pregnant! But take away something and you know you're going to want it bad. It only took 3 weeks, but I have successfully checked off all the foods I wanted to eat while in the States...so now it's time to get back to a normal life. Let's start with a long-winded backlog...it'll probably take a few posts...sorry in advance!

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The last few weeks in St Maarten were very stressful and busy. I was busy Christmas shopping, getting some last-minute time with friends, and preparing the house for a few weeks of emptiness. Daniel was, of course, busy studying. We had somewhat of a fiasco right before finals, to put it mildly (most of our sxm friends will know what i'm talking about). One of Daniel's professor's decided to make life difficult and I think it was the hardest week of Daniel's life. I felt so horrible for him...but it was a life-lesson, for sure. At the very least, it was a crash-course in "Supportive Spouse 101" for me! He made it through finals successfully and in one piece, despite all the drama. My respect for him is at an all-time high! I married a genius pretending to be an airhead :) Finally, we made our long-awaited trip to the good 'ole US of A.

One of the 1st things we did in Atlanta? Cut Daniel and JT's hair!! Why? Well, look for yourself...this is what JT looked like before we left SXM...

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Daniel's hair was worse but the pics are just too painful to post, so I'll spare everyone.

In Atlanta, we got busy eating all the food we missed in St Maarten and going to all the places we missed while we were away. We went to every playground near the house, the children's museum, the Georgia Aquarium, Target, bookstores, the mall, Korean bakeries, on and on. If I really wanted to...I could bombard you with about a 1000 pictures but I'm too nice. Here are a few choice pics to sum up our 1st few weeks...