Tag Archives: Travel

08/9/10
DSC_0474.jpg

BlogHer

Where to even start with BlogHer…(and sorry about all the pictures I had a great time)

Well to begin with I had the time of my life! I felt like I was at a slumber party with all my best buds and all we did was have fun!

When I arrived on Thursday I went straight to lunch with some of the girls from Grown In My Heart – Judy, Michelle and Marcie! I knew I was going to have fun when I did something totally out of character for me, I ordered a drink with lunch! On the walk back to the hotel I took these pictures:

DSC_0447

DSC_0455

DSC_0458

DSC_0460

DSC_0456

(Two of the girls on the way back to hotel!)

Then after we all got checked in and caught up we got ready and went to the party where we started to meet up with the others from the site as well as my other girls I was meeting there!

DSC_0466

Claudia and Marcie

DSC_0467

Tonggu Momma (she does not show her face on her blog so I am not showing it here though I have some beautiful pictures of her) and Michelle

DSC_0471

Judy

Then we the party got too loud for us to talk effectively we moved to Marcie and Judy’s room where we ordered pizza and had all of the writers who were at BlogHer in ONE place:

DSC_0474

Christine, Marcie, Me (in the upper back) Claudia, Judy, Michelle and Kristen hiding in the back – Tonggu Momma was taking the pictures!

DSC_0475

As you can tell we had a great time!

Well it was midnight when we sauntered two doors down and Claudia, Tonggu Momma and I decided to stay up until the wee hours chatting and enjoying being in one place and just sharing thoughts and ideas and enjoying our company! But apparently we stayed up way too late as we overslept and almost missed breakfast!

After breakfast I was off for new adventures and that is where I met all of these wonderful fun characters and people:

DSC_0477

Mrs. Potato Head

DSC_0480

The Toy Guys and I

DSC_0483

Dora

DSC_0485

Ronald McDonald

DSC_0494

The Jimmy Dean Sausage Sun

DSC_0497

Pillsbury Dough Boy

DSC_0506

Padma from Top Chef

And after all that fun of running around and talking to all kinds of fun people and meeting so many new people I realized at about 3 pm I had not actually eaten a meal just been snacking on the hand outs I had been given! I saw Cheryl and she was headed to lunch with Shellie and asked me to join and I could not have had more fun! We laughed and joked and I ate a little bit of heaven!

See:

DSC_0499

Red Velvet Moon cakes (good thing I am not a food photographer huh)

For some reason that I cannot explain I didn’t take a single picture as we partied Friday night away. I am not sure why I did that. But we partied with wine and cupcakes and got to make our own wine glasses! I hung out with Cheryl and Michele (not the same Michelle mentioned above) and then relaxed for a bit! Oh yeah and during the day I managed to be interviewed for a couple of videos you can find those here and here and here!!!

Once again we stayed up way too late talking Claudia, Tonggu Momma and I but we really were having fun or at least I was!

Then Saturday morning I had the party I wanted to go to the Scholastic party! I was so excited we were met by one of the characters from the Magic School Bus series and then were taken to the site on School Buses that was so much fun! See:

DSC_0507

DSC_0509

Once we arrived we saw these amazing things inside of the site:

DSC_0511

DSC_0512

DSC_0513

Then we were led up to this amazing view and a wonderful presentation:

DSC_0515

DSC_0519

It was almost noon when I arrived back to the hotel for our Birds of a Feather lunch for adoption bloggers and professionals where we had a great time getting to know people who were in various stages of adoption, adoptees and even my buddies all over again! Sorry I didn’t take a single picture there!

Then after lunch I ended up taking a nap that almost made me miss dinner with the girls from Grown in My Heart…but they waited it out for me and we went out to the most amazing dinner EVER! We talked and brainstormed and let’s just say there are some amazing things coming in our future!

Then after a lot of coaxing for Tonggu Momma and I we went on the New York subway system for the first time, thanks Claudia that was an adventure!

DSC_0524

After that subway ride we were back to the hotel to get ready for a few more parties! Ok it is beginning to sound like all I did was party huh?

But on our ride back up to the room in the elevator we found these…we wondered aloud but left them where we found them:

DSC_0526

After some party prep:

DSC_0532

We were finally all ready:

DSC_0530

Claudia and Tonggu Momma

DSC_0546

Judy and Marcie

And then we went and partied the night away:

DSC_0547

Me, Judy, Tonggu Momma, Marcie, Michelle and Claudia making kissy faces at the camera

DSC_0569

And so you don’t think I didn’t party with anyone else…Michele and Cheryl and I partied as well!

By Sunday morning we were tired BUT Tonggu Momma and Claudia and I decided to go to Top of the Rock (top of Rockefeller Center) before we all went home where I got these shots:

DSC_0619

DSC_0622

and my last shot from New York:

DSC_0583

Thanks for bearing with me and for looking at all of my pictures! If you were at BlogHer with me thanks for having a great time with me and for hanging out me, if you were not come and party with us in San Diego, CA next year it will be a lot of fun!

06/21/10

M-I-C-K-E-Y

So Aaron and I have been planning and trying to figure out the kids first trip to either Disneyland or Disney World. We think at their age and their height/weight that Disneyland would be better for the money! (Remember Little Man could really wear size 12 months shorts….poor kid walks out of his 18 month size pants if we are not careful, skinny kids I have, not to mention we are barely 36 inches tall…)

So anyway, since we will be in CA and we know we will be seeing Aaron’s sister as well we are planning to do a lot of fun things – Disney (for 3 days at least included in that time meeting the princess, go to the boutique, meet the Mickey and the gang etc…), Sea World, the SD Zoo, possibly Lego Land and just lounge by the pool! Mommy will be meeting a friend of hers as well. See a busy week or so and we will stay on Disney property!

So I need suggestions of things to do, places to go etc… My kids are NOT picky eaters and hopefully by then will be all set! Also if anyone knows of a great Korean restaurant in any of the places we will be even better!

Yesterday though the kids were getting in the mood. Aunt Amy sent them these hats for their first Christmas (more for mommy then than them) and they saw them in the playroom hanging on the hooks and wanted to wear them. So this is what came down the steps at me:

DSC_0131

Think they are ready?

10/1/09

One year ago….

(Little Princess’ First Picture – she was 4.5 months old)

(Little Man’s First Picture – he was 4.5 months as well!)

Has it really been a year since we received that e-mail that changed our lives? We had accepted the twins referral back in April unofficially, officially in early July and then waited….and waited. We would sign whatever they sent us and worried that the day would never come that we would be allowed to go to South Korea and pick them up. September 30, 2008 I got an e-mail that I could not believe at all….when you are ready, they are ready. There were a few e-mails back and forth as I could not believe this was really happening and a ton of tears. The day we had been waiting for had finally came.

It would take a week to get everything in place to leave. I remember the mess with getting the plane tickets and wrapping everything up at work to be gone for what was supposed to be three months, setting up our stay at the Guest House and the nerves, oh the nerves. There were so many what ifs. I remember agonizing over what to pack for our two babies (we had NO clothes that actually fit when we got there – they were so much smaller than we imagined)

Had you asked me a year ago what today would look like I would have never answered that it would consist of a love note from my husband when I woke up, a diaper that had exploded EVERYWHERE, and dancing with my kids after Playhouse Disney was over with no sign of legal work anywhere.

So bear with me over the next week or so (it may end up lasting part of the month as we look back at the last year) and today as you can tell I am going to post all the pictures we received of the twins before we traveled! And if I have a post from a year ago that talks about what I am talking about on that day I will link it and the words it is linked to are bold and underlined)

(In the red chair – they are 7 months old here and this is my favorite picture from before they came home!)

(More red chair – they are 10 months old here)

(And the last picture we received – they were 13 months old here)

10/12/08

Family Day – October 12, 2008

I am not sure that I ever believed anyone when they said this day and this day alone would make you feel every emotion in the book and I mean everyone. It started out full of excitement and ended with exhaustion. The foster mother made us breakfast, Korean style and I was in heaven and my husband well he was not so sure but he tried it and liked it! Then came the most heart wrenching part of the day – the blessing ceremony and saying good bye to the foster parents, I cried soooooo hard. The foster mom was crying and I was crying and Aaron was crying and you could tell foster dad was trying hard not to cry. The foster mom said she has been fostering for 10 years and has never been so close to a baby (though she meant babies). She said these two got into her heart. I cried harder. I thought someone was going to come and stomp on my heart it was horrible. Then came the time for Little Man and Little Diva to start grieving and wow did they grieve. I was prepared for it but that tore at your heart even more. We soon learned that Little Diva is 100% no doubt about it a Daddy’s girl – only daddy can stop the tears, only daddy can change her diaper, ONLY DADDY. She has even said dada a few times and it seems appropriate but we are not sure. Little Man does prefer me but likes his daddy time as well – Little Diva screams bloody murder when Aaron does anything with Little Man she can see, talk about jealous. We tried some baby food and Little Man LOVED the vegetables and rice but was not sure about the fruit even though he ate it. Little Diva well she tried it and would eat it but not as good as Little Man. Daddy let her have the spoon and that was it green baby food everywhere! We laughed, we played, we cried and we bonded. By no means are we attached, but at least we have started. It is currently EARLY in the morning and Little Diva thinks it is play time, she is in the hallway playing with Daddy. Little Man is sleeping right next to me so his sister does not wake him up! We cannot wait to see everyone! We love you all and we are ready to touch down in Chicago on Monday morning! Illinois here we come…for those wondering we will be home sometime Monday. (Grandma and Papa we will call you at work when we are not too far away from home.) So I leave you with some pictures from our day (This is nowhere near all of the pictures, I will be putting all these pictures and the ones from the trip on flickr when we get home):

10/11/08

More Things I learned in Korea…

1.     That sidewalks are not just for pedestrians. Here you can be followed by cars, motorcycles and bikes. They even park on the sidewalk if nothing else is available.

2.     You really can do anything in 2+ inch heels. I have seen it all. These women are amazing, and it does not even look like it hurts. I would have fallen on my face LONG ago and never been able to get up. Heels are worn with everything from jeans to fancy attire here and we even saw people at the zoo in heels (and that was NOT a place I would have worn heels).

3.     You can be adictted to water. Yep – I am adicted to this peach flavored water. It is AMAZING. I have begun looking for it over pepsi (which is hard to find here) fortunatly the peach water is easy to find but I bet I will never see it in the states. It is better than any flavored water I have ever had.

4.     Diet Pepsi does not exist in South Korea at least. It is a VERY good thing mom brought some with her as we have NEVER seen a bottle of Diet or even Lite Pepsi over here. They have Lite Coke which mom says is NOTHING like Diet Coke at home, I wouldn’t know I don’t like either.

5.     Kids here are VERY trusting and they love to try to talk English. They always say hello and where are you from. They become very excited when they hear USA and if they see a camera want their picture taken. They then hold their fingers in a peace sign and say “cheese.” It is so cute! We cannot help but oblige them!

and

6.     I could not love this country more. It is a mix of traditional and modern, old and new. While drastically different from home in some ways it feels like home in others. And most importantly they trust Aaron and I to raise two of their most precious commodities – children. I hope that we succeed and that we can make our children understand what Korea was, is and will be and that no matter what they do they will always be Korean and American. How they choose to mix the two is up to them.

10/11/08

Friday and Saturday

On Friday I really wanted to go to a spa/public bath but Mom didn’t want to go and I was not brave enough to try it on my own. So we went shopping! Hahaha! We went to Dongdaemun Market. The guide book called this shopping area “massive” but I am not sure that word is big enough to describe it. The first building we went in was all fabrics and textiles. They were so beautiful and if I could have figured out how to get it home we would be the proud owners of a traditional Korean bedding set (actually I would have begged for two - Little Man and Little Diva each have to have one :) ), but bag space was running low as a matter of fact we had to buy a new suitcase just to get everything home (and we brought one whole suitcase of gifts that was empty before). We did manage to find Aaron’s hanbok for family pictures. Now the whole family will have one! We also found more stuff for the Little Man and Little Diva - 95% of what we have bought has been for Little Man and Little Diva, gifts for future Family Days! Wait until you see some of the clothes and shoes we have bought and I wish you could see some of the things we have left here. Sowe wandered through buildings of clothes, actual shopping malls, streets filled with vendors selling everything from shoes to pets….we saw pets, shoes, hats, books, clothing, towels and so much more. All along this beautiful stream. It was great! We shopped from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and even ate more traditional Korean food for lunch! I am obsessed with bibimbap, this great all in one bowl rice, vegetables and meat meal (even mom likes it). Aaron has become obsessed with kimchi stew - I think it is very spicy but he likes it so much he wants me to make it at home. Please wish me luck even though the younger Dr. Kim says it is very easy. All in all it was a great day!

We had to be back at the Guesthouse by five p.m. so that we could meet with the social worker to sign off on the last of the paperwork (I think I have signed my name over here more than I do at work, and that is a lot). She also gave us our travel bag FILLED with diapers, formula, two carriers, pacifiers (even though we have been told they do not take pacifiers) and a necklace of the Korean flag with their Korean names and birth dates inscribed on them as a gift. We received the last of the medical information some just update that day and tons of well wishes. We had already received their passports and visas. I was crying again.

When we were done I went to find my mom and she was in holding the babies. She held the cutest little girl for a couple of hours and I held an adorable little boy. We just talked to them and held them and loved on them. I seriously thought my mom was going to take that little girl home. I think she wanted to and would have if she could have figured it out. I wish there was a way to help the baby nursery more, they all seem very tired and very much all about the babies. Mom said when she was there they brought in a brand new baby boy and that the head nurse (who actually speaks amazing English) told her that the number of babies in the baby nursery has doubled in the last few years. Maybe after being here I can do a fundraiser for the babies and special needs children of Eastern….there has to be something I can do.

We then had supper at Pizza Hut, one of the few American restaurants that I have found is very similar to home except NO breadsticks. But the original pan pizza was VERY good. I have been trying to compromise with mom and Aaron and one meal be Korean and one American and that seems to work.

On Saturday we had planned to go to the zoo and Seoul Grand Park. So we got up and ate breakfast and left for  the park. Initially there were very few people out but as we got closer more and more people we out and the subway cars were packed with people. When we got to the place we bought tram tickets and the tram took you to either a museum, the zoo or Seoul Land amusement park (which was nicer than I expected). We got off at the zoo and prepared to walk around to see the animals. There were a lot of animals, so many that I took over 600 pictures. We had also bought tickets to see the dolphin show at 1:30 p.m. so while we walked around the zoo and looked at animals, we also snacked on food. I had this Korean sushi style food you see everywhere here and mom and Aaron chose more American style fair. The zoo was big and full of hills and stairs. My favorite part was the nursery where they had baby cubs and monkeys playing (I will let everyone know when I have the pictures uploaded to flickr – probably not until I get back home the connection here is hit or miss). We then we to the Dolphin show – I LOVED it even though I could not understand one word of what was being said. It was 100% in Korean well except the music it was all in English – does anyone remember Mambo #5? That was one of the songs! But the show was absolutely amazing! I got some great pictures of that and for the first time the whole trip wished I had the camcorder.

After the dolphin show, we left the zoo and went to another market. Mom was still looking for a few things and she had really got the hang of bartering. So we went to Namdaemun Market. Oh my gosh talk about huge, there were stalls with people every where and real deals in some of the stalls. We got Aaron some dress shirts for no more than $5 each and some dress pants for the same. I think the belts he bought were about $5 each as well, he bought there when I was not there. It was about this time I decided that I really wanted a traditional Korean style baby carrier and we had only seen those one place, fortunately Mom wanted McDonald’s for supper (another place that tastes like home) and the store I had seen them at was across the street from the McDonalds. We went and I bought a traditional Korean style carrier and then we went and had dinner. We also bought some fruit as at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday we would be receiving Little Man and Little Diva for good and we would still need to eat on Sunday and since the guesthouse provides eggs, bread, butter and juice we thought at least one meal we could cook ourselves.

After we got back to the guesthouse I sent Aaron out to get some juice for Little Man and Little Diva and something for me to drink besides plain water. I then prepared everything for Sunday – our first family day! I type this now having had almost 10 hours of sleep in one night! More on Family day later….

By the way thanks for reading the boring posts a.k.a the ones without pictures or mention of Little Man and Little Diva - I am writing these posts for them someday to know what we did while we were in Korea. I know that it could mean a lot to them and maybe someday when we come back it will mean even more. So thanks! I will do my best to post some pictures on Sunday if they take a nap…otherwise it will have to wait until we get home.

10/9/08

Things I Have Learned in Korea…

1.            That there are TONS of mosquitoes here and they bite and it hurts. And if you see in your room what appears to be an air freshener DO NOT unplug it to plug in something else as it is really mosquito repellant and is VERY necessary.

2.            Apparently after October 1st no one here uses air conditioning and it is actually taken out of the rooms, thus necessitating the opening of the windows and then #1 happens and mosquito spray is necessary as well as something for the itch of the bites.

3.            You can put two people and a television on a motorcycle. You heard me right – last night we were at the iPark mall (see #4) and when we were leaving there was a man and a woman and she was holding TV all on the motorcycle! Oh yeah and she had a skirt and heels on!

4.            That you really can find any electronic item on the plant in one store – the iPark mall. Five city blocks, seven stories up and every electronic item on the planet. I wish I had taken my camera because no one is going to believe me about this store, it was HUGE and absolutely crazy.

5.            You never have to say excuse me here. There are so many people that everyone bumps into everyone and no one thinks anything of it.

6.            You can get a better deal by just walking away – at least with the street vendors. Walk away and they will try to get you to buy it cheaper.

I am sure there are more and I will edit this as necessary!

(I have been sleeping MUCH better but not perfectly. Thank you for your concern! And Stacy - Little Man is two minutes older than Little Diva - so she has to keep up!!!)

10/9/08

Thursday…

Thursday was a bit surreal. First we all went down and tried to help in the baby nursery. All of those babies and they were so little. We later learned that there were 65 babies in the baby nursery and that they stayed there until the baby is about a month to a month and a half old. The babies were either sleeping, eating or crying. They were everywhere and it just amazed me. I wanted to help (so did mom and Aaron) but they said come back later, so we are going to try again tonight. I could not take any pictures in the baby nursery. About half of the babies we saw will be adopted domestically and the other half either in the US or Australia.

After that we met with the Dr.’s Kim. The younger Dr. Kim is the older Dr. Kim’s daughter or so we have been told I am not 100% sure about that. We met with the younger Dr. Kim first and were immediately thanked for adopting Little Diva because she has some medical problems (that has become the norm – we have been thanked for adopting her). She then talked to us about South Korea and the history of adoption in South Korea, which was interesting. We talked about some things that are all Korean like spas and various shopping areas. It was very nice. She gave us a gift and invited us to lunch! We then met with the elder Dr. Kim who showed us a video of all of Eastern’s things that they run such as a school for the handicapped, an orphanage and an unwed mother’s home. We gave him our donation to Eastern and left to go to lunch. I was then asked for the first time about being an attorney – that was interesting.

Lunch was amazing! We at with the younger Dr. Kim, Jan (who I have talked about in prior posts) and a family on a homeland tour from Australia. The food was so good I ate every bit of it. We had traditional Korean food and fresh fruit – oh wow it was amazing! The conversation was so nice and we enjoyed everything! So much so we almost forgot about what time it was and had only minutes to prepare for our next visit with the babies, which for me was probably a good thing. I was so worried about this visit after the last one.

Our second meeting was a dream compared to the first! When I went down to get the social worker I saw the foster mother, who is the most amazing woman but more on that later. She told the social worker where we were going and led me to the babies and the foster father. I immediately picked up Little Man and Aaron picked up Little Diva and we led the way to our guesthouse room. Little Man was ok with me until the elevator doors shut and then he was not so sure. He was passed around until we got back to the room where the foster mom got out a bottle and I gave it to him and got him to smile but he was so funny because while we were playing/eating he had to watch his sister at all times and she was EVERYWHERE. She tried to get in the bathroom and get into the toilet but foster dad stopped her and she pulled up to standing on the bed so that she could get to the social worker’s paperwork. She let me read her a few books, play with her and everything else. As soon as Little Man saw that she was ok with playing with us he joined in! We had so much fun – I really enjoyed the time and spent less time wondering if I had done the right thing. The foster mother gave us back some of the things we had sent, and the photo albums – wait until you see those pictures (but they have to be scanned in). I made sure that everyone understood that I wanted some pictures of the foster family for Little Man and Little Diva when they got older. So the foster mom had brought her camera and everyone took pictures. The foster mom is amazing! She has been to the US 8 times to help with culture camps and the like. She has went to several agencies to meet people as well. The foster father is so not typical of his generation, he was laughing and playing with the babies! I wish I could take them home with me too! I just absolutely LOVED them!

We then went shopping again – I really am trying to get some things for Little Man and Little Diva and poor Little Man is on the losing end so I have to find some more things for him.

10/8/08

Wednesday

It is the latest I have slept yet in Korea…but still pretty early. I am sitting in the kitchen having my morning toast, orange juice and water. Can I just say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE this bread. It is from a bakery down the street and can we just say if I could figure out how to take home a few loafs they would be coming home with me and NO ONE at home would be getting any.

So Wednesday in Seoul was well interesting. We left at 9 a.m. to go on a bus tour of the city. We took the Subway to the first stop, got tickets to get on and off wherever we liked on the tour and set off! We rode past Deoksugung palace, Namdaemun Market, Seoul Station, the U.S.O. and Yongsan Station. We got off at the National Museum of Korea where it must have been school visit day as there were tons of kids there and they LOVED us. The kids always said hello and how are you in English and then smiled as if they had broke some secret code! Then they wanted you to take their picture! It was so cute and we ate it all up! In the museum shop we saw all of these adorable children looking for something to buy! It was fun and we learned a little about Korea’s history. We left there and got back on the bus. We then rode past the War Memorial of Korea, the U.S. Army Yongsan Base, Itaewon (where we had shopped on Tuesday), the Crown Hotel, and Myeongdong. The next stop we got off at was the Namsangol Traditional Korean Village. That was fun! They recreated a traditional village in the middle of Seoul it was even dirt paths and kimchi pots! (Which on a side note is just like a much bigger version of Chicago – it is VERY industrialized here and feels like home just with everything in a different language!) When we got back on the bus I fell asleep while we went past the Sofitel Ambassador Hotel, National Theater, NSeoul Tower, the Hyatt Hotel, the Shilla Hotel, the Dongdaemun Market, Daehangno, and the Changgyeonggung Palace. We got off at Insadong, where we spent hours exploring the shops and trying to find things to take home to give to Little Man and Little Diva when they got older. The best part of Insadong was Aaron and Mom agreed to have a traditional Korean meal with me. I ordered and they said they would TRY to eat it. I was VERY afraid that I would be eating all of the food by myself. And when I realized that on the table was only chopsticks and spoons I started laughing – neither of them can use chopsticks. I managed to get them forks and the food started coming! First was cold food – salads and cold fish. I was amazed when Mom and Aaron dug in after some prodding on my part – after that they tried so many things I have to give them major points! We probably had more than 40 dishes total on the table at different times and some were VERY good and some were well VERY spicy. A few Aaron even asked me to try to make at home. He was so out of his comfort zone and he just tried everything! He loved things I would have said he would never have loved and tried things without me telling him what they were! I could not believe it! I was over the moon happy! Neither of them went away hungry and they both said it was not as bad as they thought it would be. (Today we get to have another traditional Korean meal for lunch – more on that later!) After a few hours at Insadong we went back to the bus stop and finished out the tour by going to the National Folk Museum and Gyeongbokgung Palace! We then had some more Cold Stone and hung out and waited for the night tour of the city on the same bus line! It was really cool to see Seoul all lit up at night but I could not get a good picture to save my life, I knew I should have tried that out more at home before we left. I was trying NOT to use the flash and I could not get the shutter speed to increase fast enough to get a clear picture. Then we came back and helped the 74 year old night guard with his English and went to bed!

It is now Thursday and today is going to be another GREAT day…first my mom and I are going to go downstairs and rock the babies in the baby nursery, then we have a traditional Korean lunch with the Dr.s Kim, and then a meeting with Little Man and Little Diva again and then we are doing some more shopping. We have been buying things to take home for Little Man and Little Diva and we have yet to get anything for other people. So tonight before I go to sleep I will TRY to update with picture of us and them again (and I will try to get a family photo but that depends on their moods). And for those who have been asking we are doing the public bath/spa thing on Friday – we think, wish us luck! Sorry for the boring post today! Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

10/7/08

Our first meeting

Ok so I wrote this post once and apparently God’s hand was in it because I was REALLY tired, really upset and just not in the right place – and it was not here when I checked. So I get to rewrite the post now!

As you are all aware I had not slept the night before…not one iota. Aaron on the other hand had slept like a log and my poor mother well she slept more than me but I am not sure how much. (On a side note for those of you adopting from Korea and planning to stay at the guesthouse – the best time to explore is 3 a.m. there is no one to stop you :) ) About 7 a.m. mom finally got up and we went to the kitchen at the guesthouse and I made us some breakfast. Shortly Jan from Dillon Southwest (in Tulsa) came in. Mom and  I talked to her for more than an hour, turns out she herself is adopted from Korea and has adopted and bio siblings! It was such a great conversation and a wonderful way to distract me for a bit. At 8 a.m. we went back to our room and Aaron was finally awake – so we all started getting ready. I had prepared all of the gifts the night before so it was just us. I went all out and even wore my contacts and some make-up (yes those who know me in real life I really do own those things). Aaron was ready in less than 10 minutes, he had his tie and everything on. We found Law and Order SVU on in englishand while mom and I got ready he watched that (so did we the room is set up that way). When everyone was finally ready (can I just say that I hate that not all plugs are alike BUT love that they have one outlet that is like US outlets in the room) we went down and tried to pay for our room – but we could not until we completed all the paperwork. We bowed at every person we met and they bowed back but there are a lot of people to bow at here. After lots of charades with a few different people we were able to find the right room to be in, we met the one person who speaks perfect english. But we were only meeting her to fill out some paperwork – the forms to escort Little Man and Little Diva home and to stay at the guesthouse. We also got all the paperwork for immigration and their passports complete with visa issued September 29th! We had 15 minutes until we got to meet them and were told to stay in this tiny room with no toys and we would meet them there. That 15 minutes seemed like an eternity but fortunately when the social worker arrived she said follow me to your babies (actually she said baby but every one did at first and then had to correct themselves). We got to the room before they did and they walked in so fast after us that I almost forgot to take my shoes off. I started crying, I mean crying when they came in. They were so much bigger than I had pictured in my head and Little Diva has a cold. The foster mother tried immediatelyto get both Little Man and Little Diva to understand Aaron and I were mommy and daddy but they would have NONE of it. Little Diva let me hold her for a few minutes while Aaron asked some questions of the foster mom through the interpreter. But as soon as Little Man was on the foster mom’s lap Little Diva was miffed she was not there and immediately started to scream. The foster mom had brought a close friend along and she tried to get Little Diva to settle down but she would have NONE of it she wanted her foster mom. Foster mom whips out a bottle and Little Diva’s eyes got really big, she was HUNGRY and tired we would learn – it was nap time. So that explains why Little Man is SCREAMING while Aaron holds him. We then mimicthe foster mom and try to feed them their bottles while rubbing their faces, at first Little Diva only let my mom or the foster mom but in the end I was able to give her the rest of her bottle (as well as the rest of her brother’s who had fallen asleep while eating it on Aaron’s lap). Aaron did so well with Little Man and we just left him there on Aaron’s lap while the foster mom told us that Little Man LOVES to pull Little Diva’s hair and climb on her back! Also, that they get VERY jealous of each other. Little Diva then started to play after foster mom showed us how to make her giggle – her laugh was melodious and MUCH better than screaming. I was desperate to see her crawl and so I started to show her some toys. She was crawling everywhere and was so active! While I was playing foster mom gave instructions for her medicine. We were playing so well when Little Diva FINALLY noticed Aaron was there. She wanted his tie and didn’t care if she had to go through Little Man to get it. Try as he might Aaron could not keep Little Diva from waking Little Man – she was more or less beating on him. Little Man took ONE look at Aaron and screamed bloody murder – he could not be calmed down by anyone not even foster mom but who can blame him his sister just beat him up and woke him up and she was laughing about it (you should have seen her smile like she was so proud of herself). It was about time for the meeting to end and so we had to give the gifts but before I let her go I got Little Diva to laugh for me at my face! I didn’t want to give her back – I wanted to say she is mine give her back I actually made her laugh…WAIT. But I couldn’t – we get to see them again on Thursday and pick them up Sunday morning where they will be ours for good. On Thursday they are coming to our room in the guesthouse because the play room is not available. They left and I cried some more. Aaron had tried every trick in the book to get some attention from them and what really worked was his tie (Uncle Phil maybe she is telling us that she is choosing Illinois already and you don’t have to worry about her going to Iowa or Michigan!) And what worked for me was just letting go….and letting them say. When we got back to the room we were still on a high and so we went through all the stuff I brought for them (don’t tell my husband but I think I am a little OVER packed for them but hey I am prepared for everything!) and just talked about their little personalities. I loved it.

On a side note – my husband and my mom are not helping in my desire to eat Korean food…we have only eaten American style (think outback steak house and McDonalds) so far BUT I have been promised a real Korean meal tomorrow (and I know on Thursday at lunch we will get one). We also went shopping after the first meeting and wait until you all see some of the things we bought them. Remind me after I get home to tell you a story about my mom and one of the gifts she got to take home to someone - I have been told I cannot ruin it yet. Also, lemonade here is NOT like lemonade back home – do not think that and order a large one and then not be able to drink it at all! Also, we managed to find a Cold Stone for those who know me in real life my first international one (and yes you can laugh at me!) Tomorrow we are going on a historical tour, so be prepared I will have a TON of pictures and things to say I am sure.

I promise to try to take more pictures on Thursday – but as Aaron says for once the camera was not what I was concerned with! For those who commented on Aaron’s tie – it was a compromise, he wanted to bring his Norfolk Terrier tie but I didn’t think it appropriateto bring that tie to a country where it was not long ago dog was well more for dinner than a pet. Also, we have it on good authority that Little Man and Little Diva LOVE to play with other children so maybe in a month or so we have our first play dates (once they are all settled in at home)? E-mail me if you want in!