New York -Part 2

The catalyst to going to New York was visiting with Mi Yeon...but we also got the added bonus of staying with our family too. As regular readers know, we visited Dave's family there last December. They are great hosts that always have lots o' fun stuff planned. This visit was no different.

First up was visiting an aquarium in Riverhead, NY:

Feeding and petting stingrays:








The butterfly and bird room:



See the bird on Dave's hand?

Strolling the grounds:

Next up was visiting an apple orchard:



Lest you think Gabe is all fun and smiles:





My cute husband:

A Special Reunion

This past September, we hopped a plane to NYC because Gabe's foster sister, Mi Yeon, was visiting from Seoul. Mi Yeon's mother was the wonderful woman who took care of Gabe from the time he was 6weeks old until he came home at 9 1/2 mos. Mi Yeon and her family took wonderful loving care of him and we couldn't wait to see her again!

We spent the morning together at the Bronx Zoo. When we first met up with her, Gabe was predictably very shy and buried his head into my shoulder. He doesn't warm to new people easily anyway and I think the added pressure that this was a very important person, made him even more shy. Mi Yeon was such a good sport, even though I knew all she wanted to do was pick him up and squeeze as hard as she could. We started to look at some animals and that helped him warm up. Mi Yeon is smart and good with kids so she started to play hide and seek with rocks...that game speaks no language. The two of them ended up spending a lot of time hanging out under a tree playing with rocks and acorns. Whenever I mention Mi Yeon or see a picture of her now, he always says "we played with acorns." We really didn't care if we saw one animal, all she (and Dave and I) wanted was for her to just BE with him. I was so proud that he warmed up and really had fun with her.

Before we made the trip, we talked a lot about who Mi Yeon is and what the visit was about. I'm so glad we prepared him that Mi Yeon would be going back to Korea and the 3 of us were going back to Chicago. Towards the end of the day he kept saying "Mi Yeon, back to Korea." He wasn't saying it in an anxious way but a reassuring way. Around 2pm, Dave wisely said that he was going to fall asleep and she should start to say good bye to him. We headed to the exit, exchanged some gifts and had a very teary goodbye.

The take away feeling for Dave and I was the undeniable, unrelenting, true love that she has for our son. I can't fully describe the overwhelming sense of pride, luck and love that we felt that so many people love our son and will always be in his life. In all my years, I will never adequately be able to thank Mi Yeon and her family for giving our son the great start in life that he will reap the benefits of his entire life. We are so blessed to have them in our lives and as our family in Korea. We can't wait to for Gabe to be reunited with Mrs Park (his foster mother) when we travel back to Korea to bring Levi home!

A Rockin' Good Time!

On 11-11-11, we celebrated Gabe's third birthday with the very appropriate theme of Rock n' Roll.

The guest of honor getting his groove on before the party:


My friend Christine did the awesome graphics:


As the guests arrived they got a 'backstage pass' to get the party started:

There were stations set up where they could 1)get their "Rockstar Look" 2) "Rock On" with a tattoo or 3) "Watch a Jam Session"




Rockstar Accessories:


Jam Session Accessories:


Some Rock Stars:





Cupcake time!:








After the party, some family stuck around to open gifts.

Grandma gave a card with a cheetos taped to the inside to match the picture on the outside:

My little cleaning helper:

Playing with the loot with Aunt Bari later that night:

Happy Happy Day!

Overall it was a fun little party. Gabe seemed to have a blast with all his friends at his home on his turf, doing his favorite activity. The party goers seemed to have fun too. Some of the reports from their moms since include: insisting on wearing the backstage pass to church, sleeping with the guitar, turning every song into a rock song, saying 'rock on', older brothers stealing the guitars, glasses and passes from the younger siblings that did attend.
Happy Birthday to my little RockStar!!