New Beginnings

New Website!

2011-09-16T23:29:00.001-05:00

Rai's new website is http://raiyuntaek.blogspot.com/

This website was created to track Rai's adoption, and it has now been 1 year and 5 months since Rai came home.

Follow us at http://raiyuntaek.blogspot.com/ for more pictures, videos, and updates!

30th Birthday

2011-09-16T20:04:00.001-05:00

Yes, my age finally caught up with my gray hair. Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so wonderful!

Korean Game (for my phone)

2011-09-15T18:27:00.001-05:00

Rai like a Dora writing game I downloaded for my phone, son I did some searching and found a cute Korean game for my phone, too. It says the name of each Hangul character several times so he can practice.

Cupcake!

2011-09-02T19:55:00.001-05:00

Hats!

2011-08-31T12:59:00.000-05:00

A boy who knows how to accessorize :-)

Future Paleontologist? Part 3

2011-08-26T17:28:00.001-05:00

Future Paleontologist? Part 2

2011-08-26T17:26:00.000-05:00

Future Paleontologist?

2011-08-26T17:23:00.000-05:00

Spikey Hair

2011-08-17T21:22:00.001-05:00

Older Video: Rai's New Bike

2011-08-10T21:36:00.003-05:00

Older Video: Gifts from Omma and Appa

2011-08-10T21:35:00.002-05:00

It has been a few weeks since we received a package from Omma and Appa, but here is the video of Rai opening his gifts!

School Art

2011-08-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

Rai's Favorite Things: Trucks!

2011-08-10T21:27:00.002-05:00

Iron Man!

2011-08-04T17:47:00.001-05:00

Rai got to watch the last 30 minutes of Iron Man, or as we like to call it "the not scary parts", so he now wants an Iron Man party for his birthday ... in 3 months.

Big boy bike

2011-08-04T07:22:00.001-05:00

After a few weeks of trying to ride his little bicycle, it was finally time to graduate to a 12-inch big boy bike. It once took 20 minutes to ride around the cul-de-sac twice, and now it takes 10 minutes to ride halfway across the apartment complex and back. Needless to say, I'm getting more exercise!

Free sticker at Central Market

2011-07-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

New Korean Book

2011-07-27T08:46:00.000-05:00

Rai received a package from Omma this weekend, and he's been so excited that he wore one set of clothes the next day at Pre-Kindergarten and read his new Korean book multiple times the first night. Thank you Omma!

Gift from Omma!

2011-07-25T19:06:00.000-05:00

Rai received a package from Omma this weekend and was excited to see the sweets, books, clothes, and puzzles. And thank you Omma for the pictures and tea! I will post videos soon!

Muscles!

2011-07-20T12:56:00.001-05:00

Rai was excited to get new pajamas with Batman, his latest and greatest hero.

Legos!

2011-07-18T21:46:00.001-05:00

Rai's First Baseball Game

2011-07-17T22:58:00.000-05:00

2011-07-16T14:43:00.003-05:00

Adopt Korea Texas Dallas Meet Up

2011-07-16T14:43:00.001-05:00

We spent the morning with 2 other families who adopted from Korea and managed to get the kids still long enough to take a picture.

Graduating to a bicycle

2011-07-15T21:55:00.001-05:00

Why did Buddha and GI Joe cross the road?

2011-07-11T18:38:00.001-05:00

Why did Buddha and GI Joe cross the road?

"to go to the zoo, but then they have to go home." -Rai

Pennies

2011-07-09T21:21:00.001-05:00

Stickers!

2011-07-07T22:50:00.001-05:00

Lions

2011-07-04T17:53:00.001-05:00

Zoo Day

2011-07-04T17:52:00.001-05:00

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Lunch with Uncle Don

2011-05-31T18:14:00.002-05:00

Lunch with Ojiichan

2011-05-30T11:28:00.002-05:00

Sea World

2011-05-29T13:27:00.000-05:00

We had an opportunity to return to San Antonio for vacation this month. Luckily, the weather cooperated (and so did Rai), so we had a great time.

Sea World
We arrived 10 minutes before Sea World opened and managed to fly threw the line to get in the park and to feed the dolphins.

The Seal Lion Show

Children's Water Park

Headed Home
It was a great vacation with time to catch up with friends and family and see a few new sites. I didn't take as many pictures as usual, but we had a great time nonetheless! Here are a few pictures of the trip home:

Other May Updates

2011-05-19T12:36:00.001-05:00

We're leaving for vacation this morning, so I promised myself I would be caught up with videos and pictures before Rai got ahold of his camera again. :-)

Best Friends!
Rai has been at his new school for a while now, but he does miss some of his old friends. One friend in particular has been his best friend since he first started school almost 2 years ago. When Rai started requesting to play with him, I decided to drop off a note to this boy's mom, and luckily, his mom agreed to a play date. After the Korean school talent show, we had a picnic lunch with Rai's best friend, his brother, and his mom. I am still getting accustomed to Rai having friends he actually plays with, and although I'm not ready for sleepovers or entire afternoons at someone else's house, I'm glad he has a good friend we can visit at playdates.

Mother's Day

Another Try at Kite Flying

Day at the Zoo

Guitar

National Take-Your-Child-To-Work Day

2011-05-19T11:46:00.000-05:00

Thursday, April 28th was National Take Your Child to Work Day. Most of my classes were entirely finished for the semester with the exception of my Professional and Technical Communications class who were assigned an instruction development activity (involving board games), so I thought it was safe to finally bring Rai to work on a day I taught.

Here is Rai's temporary office:

He seems to be hard at work here while I respond to student emails.

He had lunch with the other children from my department...

...and decided to be useful fixing my chair in the classroom while the students worked on their activity.

A Reason to Celebrate

2011-05-19T11:33:00.001-05:00

May 5th is Japanese Boy's Day, Korean Children's Day, and Cinco de Mayo. Since Rai is Korean, has a half-Japanese mother and lives in Texas, we thought it would be appropriate to celebrate all three holidays.

Japanese Boy's Day
We took Rai to the local park for some typical boy activities. Rai played tee-ball for a while and then tried to fly the Japanese Boy's Day kite my mom gave him and a bigger kite that flew a bit better. Unfortunately, the wind died down by the time the missing pieces of the kite were accounted for, so it wasn't the most successful kite flying day.

Cinco De Mayo
Although Cinco De Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day (that's September 16th - my birthday), it is a popular holiday in Mexico and in Texas. For dinner, I stopped by a local Tex-Mex restaurant and brought dinner to the park for a picnic. We're taking advantage of the nice weather with regular picnics before the temperatures here in Texas rise above 100 degrees.

Korean Children's Day
On Saturday, May 7th, Rai's Korean school celebrated Korean Children's Day with a talent show. Here are a few of the earlier performances:

Although Rai didn't seem to pay much attention to most of the performances, this performance caught his attention. It's a song from the CD/DVD Omma gave him. :-)

Rai especially liked the drums:

And here is Rai's class:

2011-05-12T20:10:00.000-05:00

Science Fair!

2011-04-27T21:38:00.001-05:00

Yes, 3 is a bit young to start science fair projects, but Rai is in the Pre-Kindergarten class with the 4-year olds who are starting science fair projects this year. He chose the vinegar and baking soda project (where you mix the two in a bottle with a balloon on top), so we decided to make this an opportunity to teach him about the 3 states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). After reading "What is the World Made Of," Rai chose 3 more powders (sugar, chocolate powder, and gelatin) and liquids (coffee, coke, and orange juice) to add a few variables and made a guess about what would happen when we mixed each solid and liquid together. What was his initial guess? All of the bottles would spill. After a few more questions about which liquids and powders might blow up the balloon, Rai finally decided that only the pink balloons would do something "cool." (We assigned different color balloons to each combination of liquids and powders, so we could tell them apart.) It turns out he was partially right. Both pink balloons were assigned to coke, and coke released some gas with each powder and partially blew up the balloons. Orange juice blew up two of the balloons and bubbled up quite a bit, and of course, baking soda and vinegar were the most impressive.

Here are a few pictures and videos of the project:

Vinegar and Baking Soda

Rai's Picture

I have to admit that I was skeptical as to whether or not Rai could understand what we were doing, but he can now tell you the 3 states of matter and says that coke gives you gas. :-)

Pretty Kitty

2011-04-27T09:41:00.001-05:00

Rai and Kobe seem to be getting along well. :-)

Sushi!

2011-04-25T19:01:00.000-05:00

Rai and I went to our favorite sushi place tonight. The owners are Korean and enjoy teaching Rai Korean each time we go. It's not often that you have excellent quality sushi, great miso soup, Korean conversation, and practice in Japanese table manners. (If only you could hear Rai slurp his miso soup...)

Other April Pictures

2011-04-25T16:14:00.000-05:00

I've promised myself that I will get caught up on pictures before May, so here are all the pictures we've taken so far this month:

They Might Be Giants
A friend of mine got Rai a CD of They Might Be Giants a few years ago, but Rai only recently developed a fascination with the music. When we moved, I put a TV in Rai's room, so he could watch the accompanying DVD of alphabet songs. If I can record him singing at the top of his lungs when he's not looking, I post it here. :-)

Playgrounds, Playgrounds, and more Playgrounds
We're slowly locating all the playgrounds in the area. This playground is at Central Market which is convenient since we can eat dinner here and then play.

The Things You Learn in Pre-Kindergarten
When Rai moved to his new school last month, the 3-year old class was full. Instead, the school moved him into the 4-year old class which is also known as pre-kindergarten. He will stay with his new teacher for the next year and will keep some of his new friends when the school changes classes this August. The new class has certainly been an adjustment. They learn to write letters, color in the lines...

...and get down difficult parts of the playground. It makes me nervous when he does it, but he seems to be very careful and proud of himself! :-)

Pizza Planet
Rai's first time at Pizza Planet:

Spring!
We had several nice days recently, so we finally put a little color on the patio.

Rai has also gotten out his sun glasses now that the days are sunnier (even if it's still cold).

Swimming!
Yes, we did have one day warm enough to go swimming. The water was still a bit cold, but Rai didn't care.

Obaa-chan and Ojii-chan Day
My parents watched Rai one day that I had opera tickets. Rai apparently had a great time cooking "chicken bones" (or rather forks and spoons) using his pretend kitchen. Apparently, a pretend work bench makes a great pretend kitchen. My parents also spoiled him with some of his favorite cartoons.

4T Clothes!
Rai is finally 37 inches tall and over 30 pounds, so he's big enough to comfortably fit into 3T clothes and just big enough to keep 4T clothes on. Since he needed some new clothes, I told him he was big enough to wear 4T clothes, so he's convinced he's now a "big guy."

Tee-Ball Anyone?

2011-04-25T16:00:00.000-05:00

In case you missed Rai's tee-ball experience on video...

Rai is still playing soccer, but he's taken to playing tee-ball at home. Here are a few pictures of his 2nd time out.

Day at the Zoo

2011-04-25T15:58:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago my parents took us to Rai's favorite place in the metroplex, the zoo.

Rai wasn't too fond of feeding the birds...

...but he LOVED his first pony ride!

Here are a few other animals we caught on camera:

2011-04-23T22:40:00.001-05:00

First Pony Ride at the Zoo

2011-04-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

Not scared anymore part 2

2011-04-14T11:02:00.001-05:00

Not scared anymore :-)

2011-04-14T11:01:00.001-05:00

Playing at the mall

2011-04-14T11:00:00.000-05:00

Getting Caught Up

2011-04-12T11:15:00.001-05:00

Now that the vacation photos are finally posted, I'm slowly catching up on the pictures and videos we've taken since March.

Daredevil?

A Typical Morning in the Life of a Pre-Kindergartener

Tee-Ball
Although Rai is still playing soccer and will start actually having games next week, he's taken an interest in baseball. Since my parents are huge baseball fans, I thought it might be fun to teach Rai to play tee-ball in the courtyard near our apartment. I'll post a few more pictures soon.

Talking, Talking, Talking

Riding the Carousel with Obaachan

Pizza Planet
In an attempt to find an alternative to Chuck E Cheese, I found a few promising reviews for Pizza Planet. Although we were the only ones there for the first hour, Rai had a great time and has asked to go back several more times.

Sticker Calendar

Rai's Pictures

2011-04-11T09:22:00.001-05:00

I finally got Rai's camera away long enough to copy his pictures over to my computer. I'm not sure I can identify every pictures (a few were blurry or washed out), but here is my best guess of what each picture is from:

Sea World

The Shamu (Whale) Roller Coaster (Rai certainly loves roller coasters.)

Waiting in line to feed to dolphins

The Zoo with Obaa-chan and Ojii-chan

Rai asked me to take a few pictures of the birds. (I think he was a little scared.)

Pizza Planet

The Flowers and Cats on the Patio

Playing Dance Central on Xbox

Sea World Vacation Pictures

2011-04-08T20:42:00.000-05:00

I haven't organized the pictures from our vacation yet, but here are a few from my camera:

Rai was scared of a big water bucket at a local swimming amusement park last year. This year, he saw several kids run underneath it and followed along.

As you can tell, Rai made good use of his camera at Sea World. (I'll upload the pictures from his camera soon.)

What was Rai's favorite part of Sea World? The playground - something he can do at home. :-)

Later that day, we went to the Kiddie Park, his favorite part from last year.

And on the way home, we stopped by another playground since the traffic was bad

Vacation Day 1 and 2 (cont.)

2011-03-18T15:27:00.000-05:00

We took a break from driving yesterday long enough to drop off something at a friend's place and spend an hour at the playground.

This morning, we picked up Rai's camera (see the post below) just before our lunch with Zoey, Braedan, and Kim. The kids seemed to have fun taking pictures of each other, but I think I've just doubled the time it takes to post pictures now. Even so, I'm looking forward to seeing Rai's pictures from this weekend.

Here are my pictures from lunch:

HUGS!

And kisses :-)

Learning how to use the camera...

After Rai wakes up from his nap, we're headed to Sea World for the first of our two days at the park.

Through the eyes of a 3-year old who is 37.5"

2011-03-18T14:44:00.000-05:00

It's not a surprise that Rai knows how to pose for a camera, but I wasn't sure how much he would like being on the other side of the camera ... until today. We picked up a cute 3 megapixel LEGO camera at Toys R Us and decided to give Rai a try at taking his own pictures on this vacation. The camera wasn't fully charged, but it lasted long enough for Rai to take these pictures after our lunch with Zoey (his adoptee friend from Korea), Braedan (her brother), and Kim (her mom and friend of ours from our trip to Korea last year).

Rai even shared his camera long enough for Zoey and Braedan to gave a few pictures.

Vacation Day 2

2011-03-18T13:29:00.001-05:00

We just finished having lunch with Zoey, Braeden, and Kim. As soon as we get home, I'll post the pictures we took. But so far, this is definitely my favorite. :-)

2011-03-17T13:35:00.000-05:00

Vacation Day 1

2011-03-17T12:18:00.001-05:00

Today is the first day of our vacation to San Antonio to visit with my cousin, our adoptive/adoptee friends, and Sea World. I'll do my best to post pictures regularly.

Here is Rai in the car trying to stay awake until we eat lunch. San Antonio, here we come!

2011-03-16T13:12:00.001-05:00

Rai's New Room (part two)

2011-03-16T13:10:00.001-05:00

Rai's New Room (part one)

2011-03-16T13:09:00.000-05:00

2011-03-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

2011-03-16T13:04:00.001-05:00

Ice Cream

2011-03-09T18:23:00.001-06:00

Creative Imaginations

2011-03-07T17:28:00.001-06:00

Rai had fun playing with the big boys today at the playground. Apparently, there was lava below the bridge. The boys saved all the girls who were just trying to go down the slide. Too cute :-)

Soccer Tots

2011-02-20T16:59:00.000-06:00

Rai, the Train Conductor

2011-02-16T16:21:00.001-06:00

Rai is still a little shy around kids he doesn't know, but he made a friend today at the train playground. Apparently, he told the older girl that they were going to Korea because I heard her yell, "Mommy! We're going to Korea! I need my passport!"

2011-02-14T22:30:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T17:42:00.000-06:00

Rai's favorite gift from Omma and Appa - Pororo Doodle Pad

2011-02-11T00:12:00.000-06:00

2011-02-11T00:11:00.000-06:00

Future Ice Skater?

2011-02-10T19:42:00.001-06:00

A night at the mall playground

2011-02-10T19:38:00.001-06:00

2011-02-08T19:38:00.001-06:00

2011-02-08T19:38:00.000-06:00

Snow day for Rai and Kobe

2011-02-04T11:50:00.000-06:00

Snow Day! Well, it's really just ice...

2011-02-01T12:00:00.000-06:00

Rai and I are staying home today since both of our schools are closed due to ice on the streets. There isn't enough snow on the ground to do much outdoors, but we've found several ways to preoccupy ourselves. :-)

Practicing Chopstick Techniques

Vacuuming with Rai

2011-02-01T08:46:00.001-06:00

Riding a Bike (with Training Wheels)

2011-01-31T21:07:00.002-06:00

2011-01-31T09:12:00.001-06:00

Rai Shows Obaachan (his grandmother) how to use his new tool bench :-)

More Singing Rai:

Rai singing

2011-01-29T14:04:00.000-06:00

2011-01-29T14:02:00.000-06:00

2011-01-29T14:01:00.001-06:00

2011-01-29T14:01:00.000-06:00

2011-01-29T13:58:00.000-06:00

2011-01-27T17:54:00.000-06:00

Pictures from 2010

2011-01-06T10:41:00.002-06:00

Despite my failed attempts to publish blog posts from my new phone, here are the last set of pictures from 2010.

Catching Up with Kimsan and Katie
In December, two of my old college roommates, Kimsan and Katie, made time out of their busy schedules to catch up on old times. We had a great dinner at Royal Thai (my new favorite Thai place in town), a girl's lunch at Northpark Mall (the week of Christmas), and a lunch with the kids at Kimsan's house. It was a great reminder that great friends are hard to find, but they are certainly worth the time and trouble it took to get us all together. Here are some of the pictures with the kids and our dinner (without the kids):

Rai and Sean (Kimsan's oldest son)

Katie, Rai, and Justin (Katie's husband)

Kimsan, Katie, Rai, and Justin

Rai and Cole (Kimsan's youngest son)

Kimsan, Katie, and me

Christmas!
Rai wanted a play kitchen and a Cinderella doll for Christmas, so he had fun cooking in his kitchen the first night and making dinner for Cinderella. (For anyone who is worried about my decision to give a boy a "princess doll", I should explain that it doesn't matter to me if Rai plays with trucks, GI Joes, kitchens, or princess dolls. I only want him to be happy (and I have a sneaking suspicion that Rai has a crush on Cinderella).

Rai and my brother, Donald

Rai and my dad (Ojiichan)

Christmas Present from Omma and Appa

Hidden Birthday Present from Zoey and her family
Imagine my surprise when I went to the post office to pick up the Christmas presents from Omma and Appa and I received a different box from "Zoey Shuck". I couldn't believe it. Kim (Zoey's mom), had mentioned that they were sending a present for Rai's birthday, but I didn't think anything of it when we didn't receive anything. Unfortunately, the post office never gave us a notice and kept it all this time. Zoey, Kim, and family - Rai LOVES the books and pj's! Thank you!!!

Thank you Omma!

2010-12-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

We received your gift. Rai opened it today and loves the nori (seaweed), clothes, and the cards. In fact, he LOVES the card that plays "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." And thank you for our lovely cards. We will translate them and give them to our parents as well. You are so kind and thoughtful. Thank you! We will post pictures soon!

Pictures of Omma's Package

2010-12-10T15:32:00.000-06:00

Package from Omma! (Rai's Foster Mother)

2010-11-29T08:36:00.000-06:00

After a few days of confusion with our post office, we finally received Rai's birthday package Omma sent. Rai received several Korean books and flashcards, a Pororo doodle pad, and many of his favorite snacks. (I will post pictures soon.) Thank you Omma and Appa!

Birthday Celebration!

2010-11-21T09:48:00.002-06:00

(My apologies in advance for this quickly written blog entry. As you can tell, I'm behind on posting updates and pictures, but you can expect slightly more polished entries in the next week after the birthday pictures are uploaded and these major assignments are complete.)

Rai's birthday is Tuesday, November 23rd. It is certainly a bitter sweet day when we remember:

- Rai's birth mother who made such a difficult decision and plan for her mere 2 pound son.
- Rai's foster family (Omma, Appa, and their son and daughter) who were such a vital part of the first 17 months of Rai's life and continue to be such a wonderful part of our extended family.
- All of the wonderful moments that have happened since Rai's last birthday, such as potty training, first successful ride on a tricycle, first plane ride since coming home from Korea, etc.

Earlier this month, we prepared a small mailing of pictures and a card to send to Rai's birth mother as well as Omma and Appa. It was a bit rushed, but I wouldn't have missed this for anything. Last year, Aaron and I attended a Korean birth mother workshop and heard from two birth mothers first-hand how difficult birthdays are and how wonderful it is to go to their son/daughter's file on his/her birthday and see the updates. Although there is no way to know if Rai's birth mother has viewed his file and received the stacks of pictures we've sent, I can only hope she'll see these pictures this year and realize that no matter what happens, Rai is happy and loved ... and he will always remember her.

Rai's omma and appa have been on our minds as well. During our trip to San Antonio in September, our reunion with Zoey and her family brought back so many wonderful memories of our trip to Korea. It's important to us that Rai is constantly reminded of Omma and Appa and remember not only what they look like but what life was like with them. It has certainly been fun to go through these photo albums that Omma gave us with Rai and have him point out everyone. He is also starting to ask me to take pictures of certain moments or make videos to send to Omma and Appa. So, here is the first of many more to come:

Birthday Celebrations!
Last week, I went to Los Angeles for a conference and managed to spend some time with one of my roommates from college, Katie. The first day I arrived, we went to a huge shopping center in Koreatown and found several Pororo toys, movies, and books. It couldn't have been a better timed shopping trip. Needless to say, Rai received a Pororo toy from Katie for his birthday this year, and I picked a few Pororo toys and movie for him as well.

Yesterday, we had Rai's birthday party at a local play place (with bounce houses and slides) and invited his friends from preschool as well as some friends of ours. The party was a bit smaller than expected, but Rai still had a great time and slept really well on the way home. I will post pictures soon!

National Adoption Month

2010-11-01T18:20:00.001-05:00

I wanted to take a moment to recognize an incredible adoptive and adoptee mom and her work. Thank you Kim for putting together this beautiful video, including Rai, and for your friendship.

For more information, you can find her blog here.

Halloween

2010-11-01T17:32:00.000-05:00

It was certainly a busy Halloween this year!

Trunk or Treat at UTD
My university has a fun trick-or-treating event for children of the faculty and staff in the parking lot of the residence hall every year. Rai went last year and had more fun there than he did trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, so I took him again this year.

Pictures (and Trick-or-Treating) at the Arboretum
The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so I took advantage of the Arboretum Halloween event by bringing a few changes of clothes and taking Rai's nice pictures there. He wasn't as excited about the big attractions (i.e. the pumpkin village) but he did enjoy having all of those pictures taken ... and, of course, the candy.

Trick or Treating at the Zoo
Since we finally became members of the zoo this year, I thought it was worth the drive to the zoo trick or treating event. After all, they promised we could see the nocturnal animals. Well, it wasn't as animal oriented, but Rai did have a great time seeing a few animals, getting yet more candy, and running through the bounce maze/slide.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-29T11:24:00.000-05:00

A Very Busy September!

2010-10-02T23:12:00.001-05:00

Now that the vacation picture are finally posted, I realize how quickly September passed. It seems like just yesterday we:

- had 100 degree weather and found all the covered playgrounds in the area!

(Rai tries to catch me coming down the slide. Good luck!)

(little climber)

-went to Chuck E Cheese (again)

-went to the State Fair of Texas

(Rai enjoyed every second of this very fast roller coaster!)

(Rai certainly enjoyed watching the trains.)

-spent the day at the Akimatsuri (Japanese Fall Festival) with my parents

(Rai colored his first Daruma doll but didn't realize you are only supposed to color one eye in until your wish comes true. That's okay. My mom, Obaachan, made one for him with only one eye colored in.)

-discovered the park 1/2 a block away with over 100 ducks!

(We now buy a loaf of bread for every day we can go to the park.)

(And a goose!)

(And a heron)

(And a playground!)

- made Rai's first Build-A-Bear doll: A Kitty-chan (Hello Kitty) doll with my voice

- celebrated my birthday

(Thank you Aaron and Rai for the fun cake!)

- started making cards for everyone's birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

- went to the zoo (again)

(The new "Wilds of Africa" section of the zoo is incredible! The restaurant has an up-close view of the lions that Rai loves.)

Labor Day Vacation - Part 3

2010-10-02T22:29:00.000-05:00

Although it has been nearly a month since Labor Day, I wanted to be sure these last pictures were posted. (I have several pictures since then that are uploading now, so I might actually get caught up by this coming weekend.)

On our last day of our vacation, Rai and I spent the day with my cousin, Morgan. Our first stop?

Kiddie Park!
This is an older park that was recently renovated. The rides are the older-style rides, but it is hard to imagine that there aren't more parks like this. Because Rai is still a bit too short for most rides at most carnivals and parks (35 1/2 inches), he gets frustrated that he can't ride the big kid rides. This park, on the other hand, has no height requirement, so Rai rode EVERYTHING ... twice!

Rai may be a bit timid on tall playgrounds, but he has no fear of tall rides! He loved the ferris wheel!

Rai and "Auntie" Morgan

After the park, Morgan surprised Rai with a visit to Chuck E Cheese. I have a feeling this day trumped Sea World. When Morgan asked Rai what his favorite part of the trip was, Rai said "Kitty-chan park." :-) (For those that don't know. "Kitty-chan" is what "Hello Kitty" is called in Japan. That's what Rai calls her. I guess Rai didn't realize the Kiddie park was for kids, not kitties.)

After a very busy weekend, we drove home on Labor Day with two short stops for lunch (at a playground) and ice cream.

It's amazing that we waited this long to drive down to San Antonio. Rai certainly had a great time and has been asking to go back every weekend since then. There's so much to see and so little time. I'm sure we'll be back to see "Auntie" Morgan, Sea World, and Zoey ("Korean" friend) soon, though!

Labor Day Vacation - Part 2

2010-09-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

A Reunion to Remember
On April 29, 2009, Rai (then 17 months) and Zoey (then 10 months) met for the first time in the van on the way to the airport in Seoul, South Korea. Having had a busy few days slowly meeting the people they would call "Mommy" and "Daddy", both Rai and Zoey didn't pay too much attention to one another. Once they arrived at the airport, however, they slowly acknolwedged each other's presence until we finally got this adorable video clip:

Play time was cut short when they were seated on opposite sides of the same airplane for a VERY long plane ride from Seoul to Dallas/Fort Worth. Despite the brief reunion as both families passed customs in DFW, they didn't have much time to play, but this brief time together was certainly important.

I call Zoey "Rai's Korea Friend" because this is the only friend Rai knew (or at least met) while in Korea and still knows today. Since Zoey lives nearly 7 hours away, it has been a bit difficult to keep them in touch. We keep up on Facebook, by email, and through our blogs, but Labor Day weekend was the first chance they had to see one another again.

We met the Shucks at a Snake Farm and Zoo in San Antonio on the second full day of our vacation. Rai and Zoey weren't too sure of each other and focused mostly peaking through glass windows of snakes until they got outside.

(Zoey and her brother, Braedon)

As you can see, Rai really took to Braedon, too!

And we even got the trio to pose for a few pictures!

By the time we went to lunch, they acted like they had known each other for years.

It was certainly a day to remember!

Labor Day Vacation - Part 1

2010-09-23T10:25:00.000-05:00

Rai and I had a great time on our trip through Austin and San Antonio. Here are the highlights:

Day 1
We left after preschool and stopped for dinner on the way down to Austin. As we expected, traffic was really heavy for the holiday weekend, so we took our time at dinner!

Day 2
The next morning, we got up early to have breakfast with Mili and her son, Luka. Rai had met Luka a few months before and kept saying "Luka has eyes" all the way there. I'm not sure where that came from, but it was funny to relay the message. After a few minutes of eating breakfast, Mili explained to Rai that Luka couldn't eat the breakfast burrito because he doesn't have teeth yet. So, I heard "Luka got no teeth?" all the way to San Antonio. :-)

*This is certainly my favorite!

After our morning visit, we headed down to San Antonio to see Sea World. Luckily, the weather was beautiful, and for once, it wasn't too hot.

Rai tried to convince me that I needed a souvenir (this hat in particular), but I'm not much of a hat kind of girl. :-)

The Beluga Whale show had a "splash zone" where you can sit if you don't mind getting splashed by the whales or dolphins. Unfortunately, we weren't close enough to get any water.

I explained to Rai that he WOULD get wet at the Shamu show. (I had remembered getting soaked many years ago.) So we sat in the 2nd row just to be sure.

For anyone who hasn't been to Sea World, the Shamu show includes one part where the trainers have pairs of whales splashing the audience. They went to each section EXCEPT ours. Apparently, we were too close to the front. Rai liked the show, but he was a bit disappointed when the show ended before we got splashed.

So I made sure he left soaked. :-)

I'll continue the other trip pictures tomorrow. (They are uploading now.)

Adventures, Ice Cream, and Pictures

2010-09-02T09:38:00.000-05:00

Although I never found my camera, my old back-up digital camera works well enough to get by for now.

Adventures
Several months ago, my mom and I started walking at the mall. It was just too hot to walk outside and our nearby gym had closed down. Around that time, Rai still didn't have enough energy to walk with us, so he chose to ride along in the stroller ... as long as we occasionally stopped for a snack or a train ride. The mall also has a bungee jumping place where you can wear a harness and jump incredibly high using both bungee cables as an air trampoline. My mom thought I was crazy, but when Rai asked if he could do it, I was "sure, why not?" Luckily, you only had to be over 20 pounds, and Rai was certainly over that. Well, it wasn't too traumatic, but Rai wasn't about to do that again. He was okay until they started the machine which raises you higher. At the time, Rai didn't like the noise and immediately wanted out. I did get a few pictures of him somewhat smiling while squeezing my hand, but I wasn't surprised when he didn't ask to do that again.

Until last week. :-)

You could tell he was tempted to try this again several times over the last few months. Each time we would see a child jumping and doing flips, Rai would stop and smile. When I turned to him and asked "Do you want to try it?", he immediately looked startled and shook his head. So imagine my surprise when he said "Let's try it!" and actually giggled the whole time!

But he still wanted to ride the train, too! :-)

We bought a season pass to the zoo this year since we had been going every Friday. As schedules became more hectic and the heat rose, we took a break from the zoo for most of the summer. Last weekend, however, Rai asked to go to the zoo, so we went EARLY hoping the temperatures would stay lower than 100F for at least a few hours. Luckily, they did, so we had some time to see a new section of the zoo called the "Wilds of Africa" and the Bug house.

Yes, I love snakes, but bugs and I don't do well together. Hey, snakes are soft, cool, and calm. Bugs are crunchy, fast, and have little legs that make my skin crawl. I tried not to impose my squeamishness on Rai. He looked around, asked "What's that?" several times, and then was ready to go. WHEW!

And in preparation for our vacation to San Antonio which starts later today, I told Rai we could get him some new sunglasses. (Rai's sunglasses from his last trip had some pieces missing.)

Rai wanted to pink flamingo sunglasses, so I took advantage of a little work-related joke by getting Rai a matching stuffed animal pink flamingo and calling him ... well I don't want to give the joke away. :-) Here is Rai posing with ...

Ice Cream
Rai LOVES desserts. He doesn't get too have very much of any dessert or have it very often, but he LOVES them. The other day, his preschool teacher said that potty training was going well and to pick up UNDERWEAR for preschool on Monday. I almost cried. Underwear? He's 2! Oh, I'm not ready to see him grow up this quickly, but I have no choice. He's a big boy ... with underwear. I asked him if he was ready for underwear, and he smiled and said "Let's get Kitty-chan or Spiderman!" (Yes, Kitty-chan is Hello Kitty.) No, we didn't get Hello Kitty, but we did get the assorted boy pack with Spiderman, Finding Nemo, Cars, etc. Now, my conversations with him on the phone are "Mommy, I go potty! I wear Spiderman!"

So what does this have to do with ice cream? Well, before we bought the underwear, I had only see Rai actually go potty in the toilet 3 times (once in August of last year, once a few months later, and once a few months ago). So when we went to the mall to do our crazy adventure bungee jumping and train ride I made Rai a deal. "If you go potty in the toilet, we'll get ice cream." Apparently, he was motivated. As soon as he went potty, he said "I get ice cream!"

And he did. :-)

Pictures
Here is a picture of the new wall of pictures. Rai can almost reach several of them, but they are at least easier for him to see.

The pictures on the left and right were given to us by Omma and Appa (Rai's foster parents), so I'm grateful that these images will still be familiar to Rai.

Vacation!
Today, Rai and I leave for a weekend in San Antonio. It's going to be a great weekend with MANY pictures! We're visiting with an old friend, staying with my cousin who I haven't seen in a year, spending a day at the Snake Farm with another adoptive family (we met IN Korea), and going to Sea World! So be on the look out for more pictures soon!

Missing Camera :-(

2010-08-27T10:25:00.000-05:00

We are still here and doing well, but there may be a delay in posting pictures for a few days. Unfortunately, my camera disappeared at a recent event along with all of the pictures. I have a back-up camera that I'll use in the meantime, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that whoever found it will at least return the memory card. *fingers crossed*

As for updates, Rai is doing well! He's talking non-stop, and I love every minute of it. My parents joke that I now know how they felt. Apparently, I wouldn't talk much in school but spoke non-stop everywhere else (and still do).

Rai is also developing a sense of humor. A few months back, if you laughed, he laughed. He had no idea why you were laughing, but he followed what everyone else was doing. Lately, he has realized that being silly is funny. If I say, "Where is Mommy's car?" he will point to a tree and start laughing. On the way home from preschool yesterday, I think he laughed the entire way home pointing to things and saying "Mommy's car!" He certainly has a sense of humor. :-)

Pictures at Home
It has been over a year since we came home, but I finally got all of the pictures Omma sent scanned as digital copies. I wanted to hang several of the larger pictures on low a wall with other pictures of family so Rai can see them better as he walks by. This morning, he said "Good morning, Omma! Good morning, Appa!" when he walked by the pictures. My next project is to get a large collage frame and put a baby picture, a hand-drawn picture of his birth mom/dad (Rai has done a few), pictures of Rai with Omma and Appa, pictures of Rai with Aaron and me, and a more recent picture of Rai. It a photo adoption story and a great way to talk about any part of the process.

Sea World!
Next weekend, we're going on vacation to San Antonio to visit family, friends, and Sea World. Rai is really excited and giving me names of things he wants to see. So far, he has told me: fish, sharks, and snakes. We were certainly see fish and sharks at Sea World, but I hadn't thought about snakes. There is a snake farm near San Antonio that I have wanted to see for a long time (but no one else wants to go). Since Rai seems excited, we'll go. Don't worry, it is safe. I think it is just a large zoo for just snakes.

That is all for now. I'll take new pictures with the back-up camera soon!

July/August Pictures

2010-08-13T23:15:00.001-05:00

We finally found the camera battery charger, so I think this is all the pictures and videos I have been waiting to post!

18-hour Visitor
It has been way too hot here to do much outside. Rai wanted to go to the playground one weekend, so I told me we could go after his nap. I hadn't thought it through until I realized that "after nap" is the hottest time of the day. But I kept my promise. After 10 minutes at the playground, we decided that it was too hot and headed back home. On the way, Aaron heard a little "chirp" in a tube sticking out of the ground next to a tree. Apparently, a little baby bird had fallen inside and was stuck. Not knowing what to do, we went home, called a wildlife rescue organization, and received directions for safely removing the baby bird. To make a long story short, we ended up taking the bird home and watching it overnight until the bird rehabilitation organization opened in the morning. Although the bird wasn't injured, it wasn't in a safe location and the rehabilitation organization didn't think it could survive. Needless to say, it was a fun 18 hours, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that this little cowbird is doing well!

He (or she) apparently mistook me for a mommy bird after I got him (or her) out of the ground. Rai thought it was funny that he/she would hop onto my glove and fall asleep.
Tip: Did you know that baby birds eat every 30-45 minutes during daylight? We were told to soak cat or dog food in water until it became mush and hand feed him/her until he/she fell asleep or stopped chirping. so cute!

Shirt Hat

We noticed Rai growing out of his smaller clothes when he started having trouble pulling his shirts off around his head. Rather than see him frustrated, we started joking that his shirt looked like a hat. He has much bigger clothes now, but he still likes to keep his shirt on his head, look at himself in the mirror, and laugh. :-)

Texas Weather Isn't So Hot ... If There's Water

Big Eater

Chuck E Cheese (again)

Rai loves the racing game

Dancing, Dancing, Dancing
Rai dancing in the living room:
(And yes, Janet, this is the CD you gave me. Thank you! Rai loves the music, too!)
Rai dancing at the Korean grocery store (with a gradual a audience of people as they came in)

New Bed

Big Boy!
I got teary-eyed posting these pictures. I didn't realize how big Rai has gotten until I looked at these pictures I took this week. He's getting so big!