Weekend Adventures

Keegan had to work this Saturday.  There are many reasons that Saturday working sucks for both of us, and one of them is that our usual playmates are often busy with their families and not available to entertain us.  So I try to be creative and do special things on Dada's working Saturdays.  Keegan had suggested months ago that Sophie would probably enjoy riding the bus from our apartment in Deokpo into town.  So around 11:00, we headed out from the apartment to the bus stop across the street.  Waiting for the bus was the hardest part.  Sophie did not like to stand inside the bus shelter where we were protected from the wind, preferring instead to sit on the sidewalk and wait.

Will the bus come soon?

At last the bus arrived and Sophie and I got on and found a seat.  Sophie was really excited to be on the bus.  She really liked watching the doors open and close and the people getting on and off.

Riding the bus!

Once we made it into town, we got off the bus and headed towards the playground at the foreigner's club.  As soon as we got close, Sophie started asking to see the chickens - I don't know how she remembers these things!  So we got a chance to look at the bunnies and the chickens that are kept penned up in a little park just inside the entrance to the DSME compound.

How we managed to complete this visit without finger nibbling I'll never know.

Then it was off to the playground, where we survived a brief meltdown at the swings to enjoy the rest of the fine playground activities.

A playground!  Let me at it!

Showing off her darn good climbing skills.

When we were all played out, we took a taxi back to our apartment after a fine morning.

Today we had another adventure!  Last weekend, Keegan bought a toddler bike seat for his shipyard bike, and this weekend we got a chance to try it out.  We didn't go very far, but we had a lot of fun.  Sophie loves wearing her "helmet hat."

At the Buddha Park in the middle of a fun ride.

When we got back to Deokpo Beach, Sophie had a grand old time throwing rocks into the water and playing on the apartment playground with her friend Daniel.  Mommy and Daddy had a grand old time soaking up the sun and Sophie's smiles.  I hope all of your weekends were as much fun as ours was!

Imagination

Sophie is talking more and more, so she's able to give us the tiniest peek into her busy little mind.  I was amazed at the park the other day by her active imagination.  We were sitting on a bench that looped around a tree trunk.  The bench was in poor repair (maintenance of public areas is not a strong point here), and there were several missing planks.  Where the planks were missing, you could see the double metal rails that supported the wooden slats of the bench.  Sophie was apparently reminded of train tracks, because she started saying "Choo choo!" and scooting around the "tracks" on her butt.  Being able to see the world through a child's eyes is priceless.

A less inspiring game that has taken hold today involves Sophie's favorite sidekick, Alex the dress-me monkey.  Today Alex was doing all sorts of things he wasn't supposed to do, such as sitting on the shelf beneath the TV (Sophie is, coincidentally, also not supposed to sit there) and climbing on Sophie's easel (Sophie is, coincidentally, also not supposed to climb there).  Every time Alex winds up in one of these forbidden places, Sophie says "No no Alex sit shelf!"  "No no Alex climb board!"  Then she looks at me expectantly so that I will also scold Alex and then thank him for getting down.  Nice to know that she's internalizing the things we tell her not to do.  Not so nice to spend most of the morning reprimanding a stuffed monkey.

Sophie also scolds Pepper frequently for climbing places he shouldn't and shushes him when he mews.  Keegan says it's a classic case of %*@& running downhill.  Now I've got to go scold Keegan for his potty mouth.  

A Trip to E-Mart

Last weekend we filled our Saturday by taking a trip to Tongyeong (just over the bridge from Geoje Island, on the mainland) to go to E-mart.  For those of you who have never been to a Korean discount department store, here's a firsthand account.

The store usually opens mid-morning, around 10, maybe 9 a.m. at the earliest.  This means there are two or three hours before noon, the witching hour when all activities in Korea become hopelessly mobbed.  Because the shopping carts have no fixed wheels, they become incredibly difficult to steer as they fill up, and navigating them through dense crowds of shoppers can be a challenge. We tried to get to E-mart early, but we were unsuccessful.  So we decided to try a special cart to entertain Sophie and hopefully escape cart steering problems:

Unfortunately, this cart was nearly impossible to steer, mostly because it now had toddler diving in and out of the car attachment repeatedly.  Still, we somehow managed to complete grocery shopping on the first floor of the store and make our way to the much more interesting second floor, where we purchased the best finds of the day:  the tea set for Sophie's Valentine's Day present, and a new shelf to hold the exponentially growing toy collection.

After we finished with our shopping spree, Keegan took Sophie to the play area while I paid for our purchases and took everything out to the car.  The play area was extensive, and Sophie had a blast, especially when she got to ride the train!

On the way back from the car, I noticed that the E-mart management has gone to great pains to make sure you really can do everything you could possibly want to do within their one-stop shopping experience.  For example:

You can buy a live pet!  Perhaps finding a dead pet would be more difficult...

You can participate in the Robot Club & Science Club!

You can start your courtship off right at the romantic Finance Cafe!

You can also eat lunch, which is what we did next.  We went downstairs to the large food court and got a huge lunch set.

After lunch, Sophie decided to commemorate our exciting trip to the department store with a few self portraits.  Here's her finest work:

We look forward to wiling away more hours at E-mart in the future, but hopefully not too soon....we need time for our wallets to recover.

Happy Valentine's Day

I had a lot of fun making Valentine's Day special for Sophie this year.

Last week, we made Valentine's Day sugar cookies:

Cutting out heart-shaped cookies with Mommy

Adding sprinkles with Daddy's guidance

Trying out the finished product always leads to smiles.

Proud of our baking exploits

On Valentine's Day, we gave Sophie a new tea set, and she got a new book, Snuggle Puppy, and a corresponding stuffed puppy from Grandma and Grandpa.  All of these gifts were big hits:

Giving Snuggle Puppy a kiss.  She doesn't know how to purse her lips, but she does make a smacking sound.

Stirring her tea

Happy Valentine's Day to all the friends and family who are in our hearts.

Hawaii, Part 2

The weather was much nicer during our second week in Hawaii, so we were able to do more fun things outside.  One day we went north to Waimea to visit Aletta, the mother of Keegan's best friend from childhood, Bruce.  We had a nice breakfast at Starbuck's in Waimea and then went to the Spencer Beach Park on the west side of the island.

Spencer Beach Park

It was a gorgeous beach, and the weather was warm and sunny, but boy was it windy!  We got sandblasted on the beach but enjoyed snorkeling in the water.  There were a lot of fish and some coral and sea urchins.

Before we went to Hawaii, Sue had discovered that there was a very nice community pool in Pahoa, so we headed there one morning to swim a few laps.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy and drizzly, and the pool was unheated, so we were pretty chilly.  After we dried off and warmed up, we headed into Hilo to check out the shopping mall and see if we could find a place there for Sophie to play.  We had a great time!  We ate lunch at the Maui Taco Company, which was fantastic, and then Sophie had a chance to play in a big playground with all kinds of inflatable slides and bouncing areas.  Keegan and I did a little shopping, and when we were almost finished Sophie and I took a ride on the mall train.  Sophie was thrilled.

Riding on the train at the Hilo mall

As we spent more time with the grandparents, Sophie got more and more comfortable, and we knew that she was ready to stay on her own with them so Keegan and I could have some time to ourselves.  Our first outing was to check out the lava fields near Kalapana.  We hoped that we might be able to walk over the solidified lava out to the hot, still flowing lava from Kilauea.  When we got there, though, we found out that we would have to hire a guide to take us across the lava fields, much of which is private property.  We were disappointed, but we made plans to return another day for a guided walk.  And we made up for the disappointment by visiting the old black sand beach at Kaimu, which was beautiful, especially with the dramatic sunset that evening.  We had a lot of fun taking silhouette pictures in front of the setting sun.

Beautiful sunset at the old Kaimu Beach

Later in the week Keegan, Dad, Steve, and I were able to take the lava hike.  It was definitely a difficult walk over rolling, uneven and sharp lava outcroppings with our guide, who set a blistering pace.  The payoff was pretty amazing, though.

With Steve overlooking hot lava flowing into the ocean

Not only did we see red hot lave pouring over a cliff and into the ocean, but we also walked over scorching hot lava that had solidified only the day before.  We could even see red hot rocks glowing through cracks in the cooler lava on the surface.  I was happy to leave the hot area, where I could hear the lava cracking and popping.  The walk back was pretty arduous, and  when we finished all of us realized that the soles of our shoes showed the wear from miles shuffling over rough lava rocks.  My dad published a much more detailed account of our hike on his blog.

We also had a chance to do a much, much easier walk to see Akaka Falls, a tall waterfall cascading into lush green rainforest.

Akaka Falls

We saw some amazing bamboo and huge, prehistoric looking banyan trees.  One the way home, we stopped at the Hilo zoo again and gave Sophie a chance to play on their fantastic playground.

By this time, our trip was winding down, but we still had a lot more fun to cram in.  Keegan and his parents discovered an amazing hot pond, accessible only by Jeep.  It was toasty warm and a great place for snorkeling and swimming.

Keegan ready to swim at the tidal pool

We spent a relaxing morning there while my mom and dad enjoyed some time with their granddaughter.  Keegan and I had a chance to go out for dinner at a great little restaurant in Pahoa called Kaleo's.  We tried poke, a Hawaiian sushi salad with fresh avocado and raw tuna.  We had fresh fish and tropical cocktails and a bottle of wine and dessert.  There was live music and even a hula performance by one of the waitresses.  When we left, our waitress told us "You guys came to enjoy.  I like that."  And she was right!

Mom, Dad, Keegan and I heard about a New Year's Day Fun Run in Hilo, so the first day of 2012 saw us suited up in our running gear, ready to push Sophie in her stroller for a 5k run.  Keegan darted ahead of all of us with the stroller, and we all followed on a nice course along the bay.  After we finished, we walked out to Coconut Island to wade in the cool water, and then we spent the late morning/afternoon at the Richardson Beach Park.  It was a relaxing, fun way to end our trip.

Starting the new year right at Coconut Island

Runners and one rider after the New Year's 5k in Hilo

I hope we'll have a chance to visit Hawaii again when Sophie is a bit older - I think there is still a ton left to see and do.