the END of the Semester but the BEGINNING of School

What a bittersweet day! Daniel took his last test of the semester today. We have him for 2 whole weeks!! It is such a great feeling to get my husband back!! But, JT started his 1st day of school so we will be seeing less of him. I guess you can't have it all!

JT's 1st day of school was harder for me than it was for him. He never shed a tear but I cried multiple times. I cried last night after he went to bed, I cried this morning when he followed the teacher to the room, I cried when I came home to a quiet house, and I cried this afternoon when I stalked him during recess (I know...I'm unstable) and saw him look nervous. Apparently, he had a wonderful day so I had nothing to worry about! Doesn't he look handsome in his uniform?! Enjoy the short montage....in case you can't tell...I was feeling nostalgic...

The Finish Line is in Sight...

The semester is almost over which means we will get our Daddy back for two whole weeks! But until then, we are still on our own. We have been trying our best to keep busy to pass the time. Here are some pictures of the past couple weeks...

This morning, our friend, Chanak took JT skimboarding. It took lots and lots of practice and falling...(and patience from Chanak) but he kind of got the hang of it towards the end.

Thanks for an awesome lesson!! He had a blast!

I know, I know...Time for an update...

By now, you must have figured out that I haven't been in a blogging mood...surely, you know that! Life has been chugging along on the island the past couple months, but backlogging would take ages and I'm just too lazy for that! So, here are a few blog-worthy pictures from the past week.

Our Pal, George...

Yes, that is a monkey! It is our pal, George. He is our very good friend that comes to visit us when the kids are feeling particularly sad or lonely. Most of the time, he thinks of clever ways to amuse them and make them feel better. He is just like part of the family...

Well...actually, no. There are monkeys in St Maarten and we have heard lots of people tell stories about monkey encounters, but this is the first time we have actually seen one. We were at the playground with some friends when all of a sudden, a monkey decided to take a stroll across the playground (...maybe to amuse the kids?!) Well, I sprinted for my camera so I could document our first meeting...but that sucker moves pretty fast! Meanwhile, the kids were all in awe and I was a tad afraid one of the kids might actually attempt to touch him...he was pretty big! Not to mention, wild. Note to self...remind JT & Nate that wild animals are dangerous and can bite when frightened...

As you can see from the picture above, he was about the size of a medium dog. (That is JT in the picture) And you can also see that the kids weren't too shy about getting close to him. Once they started to mob him, he high-tailed it outta there.

One last parting 'bum' shot. Bye George! Come visit us again! I think the next time we visit the park, I'll pack some bananas...

Happy Anniversary! Daniel & I have been together 7 years since these pictures were taken. I cannot believe it!

Our Korean Wedding was so cool :)

The picture above was taken right before we were married. I can't believe how much younger we look! Since then, we have had 2 kids and we have changed so much!

This past week was our anniversary but Daniel was busy with school and my sister was visiting, so we had a mini-party with the family that day. We had a yummy cake from Sarafina's :)Last night, Daniel took me out to a romantic restaurant, Mario's Bistro on the French side of the island, to celebrate. (Thank you Sam & Diane, for babysitting!) It was nice to get dressed up and get away, just the two of us. We spent a lot of the time watching the HUGE fish swimming next to us in the channel that connects the ocean to the lagoon. We talked about random things, snapped pictures of each other, and stared at each other a lot, too. Haha. We had an awesome time! The food was yummy, I highly recommend it!I really lucked out in the marriage department...for the past 7 years, I have always felt loved and special. Daniel is the best husband and a phenomenal father. I really don't know how I got to be so blessed. And during the past 11 years that we have been together, we have grown together so much! When we started dating, we were just 2 clueless kids...and now...we are still clueless, but no longer kids, and have gotten to a comfortable place where we know we can depend on each other, no matter what. Here's to many, many more years of wedded bliss and to growing old and cranky together! I love my husband!

The (Mis)Adventures of Nate

It seems that two is the age when kids are trouble-magnets. No matter how hard a mom tries to keep her eyes on the little boogers, they somehow manage to get into some kind of mischief. If I wanted to write a book about my mischievous Nate, I probably could. For instance, right now, my dear little boy is missing an entire nail (it fell out after he tried to climb up my entertainment center, fell, and knocked over a chair onto his finger). Another example, the other day, some toys that I had put away on the very top shelf of his closet...miraculously appeared in the living room. When I went to investigate, I found Nate had climbed (like a monkey) up the metal shelving unit that houses toys in his closet, and was dangling from the pole that you hang clothes on, and teetering (leaning backwards!!) at the very top of his closet. I have to use a step stool to reach that shelf so I was very disturbed that he would even think to climb up there! Mommy was unhappy but couldn't stop laughing for some reason.

Anyway, most of the time when he is naughty, I am too frazzled to take pictures...but here are some recent Nate-esque things that I was able to document.

The Abstract Self-Portrait

Sometimes, Nate gets happy with a marker and pen and draws on the wall or the table...or the sofa...or if he is afraid of getting in trouble, underneath or behind the sofa. This isn't a HUGE deal, because most times I can wash it off just fine although I am still very unhappy about it. We are still working on that issue, everyday.

But, when you tell a child to "Draw yourself" you definitely don't expect to see....THIS!
He certainly took me VERY literally. It took a few days and some good scrubbing to get that masterpiece off of him. Fun, fun, fun! Still couldn't help laughing. haha.

The Haircut I didn't pay for...


This one is sort of a toss-up on whose fault it is. So, I will give you a play-by-play. I was putting away laundry in the boys room and the boys were 'drawing' in the living room. When I walked out to the living room, I noticed suspicious behavior but that is pretty normal. I didn't think much of it until...I saw this...

"Ahhhh!!! Oh no!! Please, No!!" That's what I was screaming inside my head. Then, I was thinking, "Ok, it's not curly, so it's not JT...Oh no! Nate must have chopped his own hair off!!" At this point, I'm afraid to look, but I force myself to look over at the boys. This is what I saw.


Yes, half his hair is missing in the front and half is missing in the back!!

Adding two and two together, I started interrogating JT.
Calmly, "JT, did you cut your brother's hair?"
Matter-of-fact answer: "Yes, Mommy."
Not so calmly, "WHY would you do that?!!"
Still very matter-of-fact: "Nate handed me scissors and said he wanted short hair. He was hot."
In the background, I hear Nate saying, "It's too HOT, Mama! Too Hot!"
What can I do? I was torn between hysterical laughter and manic rage. I chose to laugh and grab my camera.

Isn't JT the absolute sweetest and most considerate brother?! Little booger!
Well, if Nate wasn't Nate, I would say JT probably forced a haircut on his brother, but well...he's Nate. This whole episode sounds very Nate-like. If he hadn't wanted a hair-cut, JT would never have gotten those scissors anywhere near his head. This I know for sure. At some point, Nate consented to have his hair cut, but I'm still trying to figure out whose idea it was in the firstplace. I guess I'll never know for sure. I tried my best to even his hair out and now he has a very attractive bowl-cut look in the back and a Jim Carrey 'Dumb and Dumber' look in the front.
I'm just absolutely thrilled!

Hangin' out in Atlanta I know, I know! I've been extremely lazy about blogging...I get it. If I tried to backlog everything, it would take forever, so I'm just going to recap our visit to Atlanta over the last break and let the last couple of months go.

The semester ended in the middle of April so we had a couple of weeks to spend in Atlanta and it was really great. It was paradise having Daniel around after 4 months of never seeing him. The boys got lots of quality Dad-time and I had a husband again! We basically, hung out with the family, saw friends, and tried our best to eat as much as we could before we came back. Daniel insisted on having Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast almost every morning...the kids and I do not need to see a donut for a very long time, but Daniel misses them already.

JT had a list of things that he wanted to do in Atlanta, so we tried our best to do as many of those as possible. Most of the time, we had our favorite little girl, the boys' cousin/my niece, Kaylee with us.

We spent a lot of time outside...a few playgrounds that we like...


Went cosmic bowling...twice!


Went to the Children's Museum

Had some fun playdates...these are our best buddies, Spencer and Claire

Had a sleepover..

and did lots of other fun things we can't do in St Maarten.
And, on the last day, we asked JT what he wanted to do and he wanted to go on a date with his girlfriend. So, my mom (JT's slave) drove across town to pick her up and bring her over. JT's girlfriend showed up in a pink dress with a crown on because she wanted to look pretty for their date. Too cute. We took the kids to one of my least favorite places ever, Chuck E. Cheese, where the two lovebirds took off without a second glance in our direction. That left Daniel and I to take turns chasing Nate and my brother-in-law, Johnny, and my sis to chase Kaylee. All in all, it was pretty fun. We had pizza and played some games and caught glimpses of JT walking around holding hands with his gal.

Alas, this story is not just a love story, it has some tragedy also. The tickets that they had been saving all day for cotton candy and toys was stolen about 5 minutes before we wanted to cash them in! The kids were absolutely devastated. We all were...because it was a lot of tickets! If the thief is reading this, I want you to know that you should be very very very very ashamed! Luckily, you can purchase the prizes with money, (1 cent per ticket) so I was able to get them their cotton candy and told them each to pick out a small prize. It wasn't the same, but it was better than nothing and most times, cotton candy can make kids feel happy again. It did.

We moved onto Grandma's house, where JT played 'house' for the first time ever, I think. He vacuumed and responded to "Honey" while she cooked dinner for him and fed the baby (Nate). I was doubled over laughing, it was so funny. He is going to make a fine husband someday! haha. When it was time to say goodbye, it was a very sad and heart-breaking farewell. Ah, young love! What a great way to end our spring break!

Cookie's Escape...and Return

For those of you that don't know...the Oh family adopted a couple of hermit crabs. We found one, whom JT named Cookie, half drowning in our pool soon after we moved here, so we "rescued" him. And the other one, we found at the playground, whom Nate named Elmo, so we "rescued" him, also. They live in a tupperware container filled with sand in our living room and live off of fruit loops, teeny pieces of fruit, and Daniel's protein powder. They get to come out and "play" with the boys in the living room for exercise once in a while, but for the most part, are given their space. All in all, a happy hermit crab existence.
Now, the next part remains a mystery because there is only one witness, Elmo, and he doesn't speak. Sometime during the night, Cookie escaped. Nobody knows how he managed it. Forensic evidence shows that it is possible he might have climbed up some rocks placed too close to the walls of the tupperware, but we cannot be certain. All we know is that he was there during the day, and the next morning...he was gone! Naturally, our family was very upset. The boys were frantic. We turned the house upside-down looking for him. We moved the sofas and started a detailed search of the house. Daniel and I were crawling around looking for him everywhere...we searched every nook and cranny but couldn't find the little guy! Yes, it was tragic, but we called off the search and gave him up for dead. I was just hoping that I would find the little lifeless shell before he started to stink.

Then, the miracle happened. A couple of days later, Daniel went to close our patio doors before going to bed and noticed a little shell outside on the terrace. When he went outside to examine it, he found a scared and most likely, very hungry, Cookie sitting outside. Back in the safety of his tupperware container, he ate and drank all he could before passing out. In the morning, JT and Nate saw that their pet was safe and everyone was very very happy and relieved. It was a touching reunion.

We are not sure how he got outside, maybe the screen door wasn't shut properly and Cookie took his chance at freedom. All we know is that, it is a miracle that he didn't plummet to his death since we are 5 floors up! Some of our faithful readers will remember that not too long ago, we lost a sand crab to that terrible fate. The memory stays with us even to this day. The important thing is that our brave little Cookie managed to survive two days out on the patio by himself, but he is safe and back with us again! A very happy ending.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Yohoho...!!

Don't ask...it's not Halloween. They just like pretending to be pirates and it doesn't help that boats that look like this...pass by our window everyday. It wouldn't be that bad if they kept it in the house but when I have to walk to the park with the boys looking like this....um. Well, let's just say, at least I'm not a shy person and neither are my kids!

Last weekend was the 28th annual Heineken Regatta where sailboats race around the island for three days. Lucky for us, we have an awesome view from our house...we can see where they start off in the horizon and they pass right by en route. The boys and I really enjoyed watching them go by... JT took something like 200 pictures with 'his' camera. Here are several that I took.

The regatta also hosts parties and concerts all around the island so it is one big island-wide party for an entire weekend. Sounds like fun until you take into account that both drawbridges were up more than down and there were a gazillion people on the island!! The boys and I didn't even dare venture to the grocery store. But, the view was worth it....Gorgeous! The pictures don't do the scene any justice...you just have to see it yourself!

JT's Triathlon

(Feb 24th 2008)

Flex, Ironman, flex!! Number 18 Rules!! That is his 'mean' competitive face, by the way...JT has always had an interest in sports and exercise...so I signed him up for a kids triathlon just to show him what it is like, you know, for exposure. I figured, he'd like it or hate it, and then, we'd know. I was a little worried that he would be upset if he didn't do well since he is extremely competitive. Well...his age group, the youngest one, went last so that they could see the older kids do it. Everything was the same for each group except the number of laps that the kids had to complete. As he watched group after group, he started to get really excited and couldn't wait until it was his turn.

And....They're Off!! The first leg of the race was a dash into the ocean and a swim out and around a buoy and back. JT's group had to have a parent with them at all times, so guess which lucky parent went into the cold water with JT? Well, let's just say, Daniel didn't even pack a suit...and that there won't be any more pics posted on this leg of the race...

~~Go, Baby, Go~~

After the swim, the kids put on shoes and helmets and took off on their bikes. By the time, JT had hopped on his bike, there were kids already biking but there were also kids still swimming so we were pretty much right in the middle. The bike trail is a dirt road so a lot of the kids were falling or getting stuck. Daniel ran beside him and they passed a couple kids on this leg...haha.

~~The Final Leg~~

Throw your bike down and run a lap of another course before sprinting to the finish. This trail was also off-road so we didn't see them for most of it. Here, they have finished the lap and are closing in on the finish...

~~The Dash to the Finish Line~~

I know he's only five, but I swear he kicked it up a notch when he saw the tape....JT crossed the finish line happy and tired. We think he placed fourth, but we're not sure. (They didn't rank the little ones) He was just happy to get his goody bag and some juice.

~~Worn out but happy with his finish~~

Any comments, JT?

"Yes...I want to do it again next year!"

Back in St Maarten & Happy Valentine's Day!

We are back on the island and it is BEAUTIFUL!! I forgot how amazingly gorgeous it is here. The weather is awesome...no A/C needed and no yucky swarms of bugs. We are happy with the island right now. The picture above is the boys on the beach in front of the house...Cupecoy.
Daniel is very happy to have us back and the kids are so happy to be with their daddy again. They flew out of the baggage claim area and straight into his arms. I think it took Daniel a few minutes to even notice me, he was hugging them so tight! Of course, it could have been that I was hiding behind a stroller loaded with little carry-on bags and two huge 50 lb bags...that could have been it! It is good to be 'home' and it feels strange that I feel that way, but that's how I feel. I missed my husband more than I ever thought was possible and I missed my friends here. It's been fun catching up with everyone and it has been hectic trying to settle down to island-life again.

Two days after we arrived, Daniel took me out to a Valentine's Day Dinner at a really nice restaurant, Temptations. We were celebrating a day early but it was romantic and nice to be alone together after a month apart. We had an awesome time reconnecting and it's always nice to dress up. Thank you to Chanak for babysitting for us!

On Valentine's Day, we went to a party at our friend Hallie's house. We saw a bunch of our friends there and JT & Nate had a chance to play with their buddies. The kids exchanged valentines and the adults talked and ate some yummy food. It was a great party!

This is a picture we took when we had lunch with friends at a restaurant in Phillipsburg called Chesterfields. It was right on the water so it was really gorgeous. We have had a few lunches and dinners with friends but I have been bad with the picture-taking, as always.