stuff people say to transracial families...really.

While we found ourselves chuckling at this video, we thankfully haven't experienced a lot of this..yet. In general, I am very comfortable answering our friend's questions about our adoption. Obviously, it is very different talking with people we know and trust versus a random bystander at the grocery store. I know this will morph as Haneul grows older and we will need reevaluate what we share. It is after all, her story. I found this blog post, written by one of the cast members of this video on asking questions, and wanted to share along with this video. Overall great lesson-focus on the family instead of the child.

dinosaurs!

My dad joined us to take the kids to "Discover the Dinosaurs" at the TCC. At first Haneul was afraid of them...but after awhile she realized they weren't going to attack her and she was content keeping her distance. Beniah however loved looking at all the different dinosaurs and enjoyed learning lots of facts! His big take away: dinosaurs with flat teeth eat plants and dinosaurs with sharp teeth eat meat!

Papa and the grandkids

I love his expression!

checking out some teeth

Digging for bones

"roar!" her best dinosaur impression

coming out of the maze together!

stuck

more mother teresas

adventures in arizona: tucson botanical gardens & butterfly magic

In February we took short morning trip to the Tucson Botanical Garden to check out Butterfly Magic. The botanical gardens has been on my list of things to do for awhile, so when our friend Becky asked if we'd like to join them I jumped at the chance. It was a very chilly day, but the butterflies had it made in their warm greenhouse made complete with ponds and beautiful tropical flowers.

It took the kids a while to find to butterflies as they flew about, but once they spotted them they had fun looking at them with magnifying glasses.

A volunteer points out a butterfly to the kids.

This butterfly landed on Becky and couldn't quite let go of her sweater! A volunteer had to come assist  it!

"Show me your magnifying glasses"

I think we'll take a trip back to the gardens during the spring. The butterfly magic part was fun, but the rest of the gardens was essentially all winterized. I imagine its very beautiful when everything is in bloom. April is the last month of Butterfly Magic so I'd head over to check out the beautiful butterflies!

Video Update: Roller Skating & Being Two

I took Beniah on a mommy date on Monday night. He wanted to go bowling, but we convinced him to try something new since he has been bowling a number of times. He has shown some interest in ice skating because we watched some hockey-based race on tv recently so I settled on roller skating (I can't ice skate). I used to go roller skating every week when I was in elementary school. Walking into that skating rink brought me back in time.

Showing off using his brake

Watching the fast skaters in the big rink

We laced up his skates, stood him up, and then I realized, skating is pretty hard! I was worried he would be disappointed and of course I always want my mommy dates to be fun (Dave got to take him to a monster truck rally..... but, of course, we are not keeping score) so I helped him onto his feet and we took our time. After about an hour gaining some confidence on the carpet, he wanted to try the beginner area. That floor is super slippery, but he kept at it and soon asked if he could go without me holding his hand. He was a trooper and kept trying and trying.

At the end of the video, he fell pretty hard and hit his face. Of course the only video I recorded he hurt himself at the end! But the important thing to note is, after taking a minute to recoop in my arms, he decided to go back-alone.

Haneul is definately two. She wants to do everything on her own and one of her favorite words is no. Exhibit A.

She walked off and asked Daddy for help. I guess he wasn't offering so she didn't have to say no. :)

Lunar New Year Party

While I knew growing up that my family was Korean American, it wasn't until I lived overseas in Korea that I began to actually take on some of the culture. Thanks to my mom, we ate lots of delicious Korean food (that my husband still thinks is the best...no matter how hard I try), but outside of eating "weird" things like dried squid and going to Korean church, my upbringing didn't seem much different than my other American friends.

I remember my first Lunar New Year in Korea. I was in sixth grade and we traveled to Kangnun to visit my mother's family. My grandmother and most of my mother's siblings still live in the oceanside city she grew up in and we had made the four hour bus ride to see them often during our first year in Korea. But this weekend was special. It felt almost like Christmas because all the businesses were closed and everyone was home visiting family. I remember walking around and seeing everyone dressed in their hanboks, commenting on how much all the kids had grown and how beautiful everyone looked.

After we ate delicious food it was time for the traditional new year bows. All the children lined up to bow to the elder members of the family, starting with my grandmother. My brother and I picked up quickly how to bow and how to wait patiently as our elders wished us blessings in the new year. As all teenagers do, we especially liked the part when they blessed us with money. But our family picked up quickly that we weren't exactly sure what we were saying. So they had my brother and I bow alone. We both started strong "Sae hae bok..." knelt down to bow and finished with mumble, mumble, mumble. Our entire family burst into laughter-we had been set up! :) 

This year to honor the Lunar New Year we gathered with other Korean American adoptive families to enjoy some Korean food and traditional bowing. It was fun to see all the kids dressed in their hanboks running around together. It was also great to talk with other adoptive parents and share experiences-both painful and joyful. I am grateful for the internet as I found both Becky and Christy through their adoption blogs-how fun that they both live so close!

I loved this wall decoration: "Family" 

Meet Joshua, son of Becky.

I love the details on hanboks, so pretty! Here is a close up of Joshua's

Miss Haneul

All the kiddos. Seems like the bottom row was more interested in taking a photo..

 Two of Christy's boys.

Joshua and Lucas

Christy's daughter

Gabby, big sister to Lucas

Bowing to Mommy and Daddy

Beniah was super excited about receiving his dollar-I think hes already decided he will purchase a new Hot Wheels car. :) Its the little things in life.