a birthday, belated

Some of you may have been wondering how SP1's birthday celebration went last month. Let me assure you, the ascendancy to the age of three was celebrated with due diligence. There was, of course, a birthday week, which began on St. Patrick's Day this year...because it seemed right.

He got a Frisbee on the first day, which in hindsight, was probably not the most brilliant gift to bestow upon someone newly three (feel free to learn from our mistakes).

As our family tradition dictates, the birthday prince/king (there are no princesses as we have no girls save me, and no one bakes cakes for me, really) gets to choose his cake. SP1 said he wanted a "strawberry cake." Which really, could be anything. I took it literally and made him, well, a strawberry cake.

It was Ina Garten's Country Strawberry cake, which really, is a glorified strawberry shortcake; but, there you are.

We had two parties on his actual birthday. First there was the celebration at school.

Eighteen goodie bags--it isn't for the faint of heart--that's the parents' perspective, of course. But it was pretty fun. The kid liked it, so really, that is what matters most.

We also had a few friends over to celebrate at home. It was pretty low key, as low key as we get, I guess.

The Pup's favorite present was the yoga mat he asked us for a month before his birthday. No, seriously.

He said he wanted a yoga mat for his birthday. A blue one.

And then we wrapped up the celebration the day after by writing thank you notes.

The whole celebration was a nice way to welcome in the big three, I think.

carpe diem

I kept meaning to post about the Florida part of our Spring Break trip and never got around to it. The Florida part of our trip was a pit stop to see my dad in Pensacola followed by a quick trip to Disney World. Little did I know at the time that it would be the last time I would see my dad. He passed away on April 3rd. It was really nice that he got a chance to meet his newest grandson (SP2) before his passing.

SP1 also had fun spending time with him during Spring Break. My dad was quite the Tickle Monster.

After spending some time with my dad, we went down to Orlando for a day at the Magic Kingdom, it was just a taste really.

We have plans to go back before the end of the year. There are lots of pictures of our visit to Pensacola as well as Orlando in flickr, of course.

on the road again

The real inaugural trip for our mini-van, aka Rocket, aka the Bus, aka the Mom-mobile was a trip to southern climes involving grandparents, a childhood friend and her kids and a mouse.

For the sake of sanity, I am breaking this into two posts. Our first destination was Suwanee, Georgia, because that is where my mom lives.

She was glad to see me and everything, but really, it was all about the pups.

She (my mom, aka Halmoni-grandmother in Korean) bought a house and it had a swing set in the back.

There were also rings, because every parent loves it when their kids expose themselves to hazardous playground equipment. Luckily, my mom's husband was on safety watch.

It was a big yard perfect for running around; or, playing golf with your Hadabogee (grandfather in Korean).

We also had a chance to meet up with a childhood friend I have always thought of as a sister.

It was great getting our kids together. It's like they were old friends.

We took them to the aquarium--the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta...I think it's the biggest in the the world? I have no idea, it was large. As you can imagine, there were fish.

The kids were very impressed with the marine life.

They had a ton of fun. There was great debate over whether the jellyfish swim up and down or down and up and in and out. Right. They were pretty much saying the same thing, but whatever.

It was a good family thing to do (SP2.0 is sleeping--out of the shot. You snooze, you lose in this family--also, this is, quite possibly, the cheesiest "cheese" face that SP1.0 has).

Then we said goodbye to my mom and packed up for more adventures further south.

The bits I left out: we drove two vehicles because we were taking my old Subaru to my dad. One of us got a speeding ticket in North Carolina...for speeding (guess who it was!). We stopped in Harrisburg, PA for 6 hours sleep on the way down.

More photos in flickr, naturally.

with the threat of snow comes adventure

Last weekend we decided to go on a little adventure to Worcester, Massachusetts to get an EZ pass thing-a-ma-bob for our spring break travels. No pictures, because, well, it was Worcester. But then, sort of on a whim, we decided to go to the Connecticut Home Show in Hartford, Connecticut. It was fun. We looked at little houses.

Seal Pup 1.0 met a Lego Boy just his size...

We checked out sprinkler systems (which we had no intention of buying, but the demo was fun).

And we did it all in style in our new Seal Mobile, a fun mini-van that SP1.0 has dubbed "Rocket" (yes, like the Rocket of Little Einsteins fame); but, the name is entirely subject to change, he also tossed out names like, "Mini-van, Table and Toothbrush." No, I don't know either.

After our adventures on Saturday, the northeast was slammed with snow the following Sunday. We got our biggest snowfall all season; I think we received about 8-10 inches of snow. It may not seem like much to midwesterners; but, it was enough for a snow day the following Monday.

So we all got cozy at home and celebrated a 3 day weekend.

There are a couple more pictures in flickr (surprise!!). We are heading out for the "Seals Go South Tour of 2009" this weekend, so we will have some fun adventures to share, I am sure. If I have an interneat connection I will try to do incremental updates, as a final post to sum up the whole trip would be a little crazy-making. Stay warm and smile!

ohai! we r n ur computr

Okay, it's been a month. I didn't feel as though there was anything interesting to report on our end; but, when people you work with tell you to update your family website, well, clearly something is wrong. So here are the things we have been up to since I last posted. Firstly, bonding.

We celebrated Papa Seals' birthday. It was low-key, just like he likes it.

There was cake. A very fancy one from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Cakes book.

We took a road trip to a Whole Foods in Glastonbury, CT, because there isn't one more local to us.

If we didn't have to use so much gas to get there, I would say it was rather green of us; but, no.

The first week of February saw me returning to work after my 2 month vacation maternity leave. I could have taken longer but we were already paying for daycare and I needed the structure that work provides...also, I missed the books.

There were a few snow storms in our neck of the woods. We watched the cars get covered with snow quite a bit.

We also went outside to play in it; or, at least, think about playing in it.

The littlest Seal Pup packed on the pounds and has quickly learned that he would be more successful in coaxing the 'rents with smiles and cooing rather than cries and screeching.

The change in his disposition (which was probably brought about due to a change in my diet...ice cream, how I miss you) has been an improvement for all parties concerned.

So, I suppose I will be doing more regular updates since starting this weekend, we will be doing some wandering...in style...but more on that later. Now, just focus on cuteness.

For the sake of more cuteness, I uploaded a ton of photographs in flickr, since the grandparents have been asking about them--oh, and for you too Angie.

hi, happy new year

I wish I could report adventures and wanderings of all sorts; but, no, not so much. We had a great Christmas.
Some of us were not so excited about celebrating; but, it's hard being new.

I received various and sundry photographic equipment which guarantees tons more photos to look at in flickr (woo hoo!). I spent some time testing out a new lens. I think it's a keeper.

What do you think?

Our New Year celebration involved everyone sleeping at midnight (even if some of us were awake shortly after, sigh). But how can you hold early morning wake-ups against an offender this cute?

You can not. Well, I can't. Happy New Year, everyone!