Happy Chuseok

Happy Chuseok to one and all.  Chuseok is a big holiday in Korea to celebrate the fall harvest.  One could equate Chuseok with our American Thanksgiving. 

To celebrate Chuseok this year, we attended a Korean folk festival in our city with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Al.  The festival's main highlight was a demonstration of a typical Korean wedding.  It was amazing to see what a wedding in Korea would look like and great explanations of the symbolism of various parts of the wedding were also provided.  It was beautiful.  The festival also included singing by the Korean youth choir and dancing by one of the Twin Cities Korean Dance groups.  What would a festival be without some amazing food?  We snacked on tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), eo muk guk (fish cake skewers), hae mul pa jeon (seafood scallion pancake), bulgogi (beef) burritos, and gim bap (dried seaweed rice rolls).  Yum! 

Happy Chuseok from Lauren (dressed her Korean hanbok - which she loves and proudly tells everyone that she is a Korean princess when she wears it). 

TKD Belt Promotion Test (yellow and orange belts)

After months of hard work and practice, the boys were able to test for their next belts in taekwondo in mid September.  Cameron did wonderful on his written test and was awarded the academic achiever badge due to his excellent report card from school.  Promotion test days can get to be long, so Lauren stayed at home with our neighbor and favorite babysitter.  Kyle was up first.  He did a wonderful job with his white belt form (ki bon dong jak), self defense, and successfully broke his board with his hammer fist.  He is now a yellow belt.  Cameron took the floor next to try for his orange belt.  Cameron successfully completed his form (tae geuk yi jang #2).  Our school rotates its curriculum every few months so this is actually the green belt form.  He showed off his self defensive techniques, sparred, and had a spectacular board break with his hoping axe kick.

Bad parenting moment as we forgot the camera at home...darn.  We did take a few photos and video with our ipods but the quality is pretty poor.  Here we are at home following the test.  Congratulations boys!!!

 New Orange Belt - Cameron

New Yellow Belt - Kyle 

Show off their boards they broke

   

Ballerina

A couple of weeks ago, Lauren began her very first dance class.  This class focuses on ballet.  She looks adorable in her leotard, tights, tutu and ballet shoes.  She loves to spin and leap.  She is constantly dancing and singing around the house following her classes.  The parents aren't allow to watch until the final performance at the end of October but I do know that they will be performing Beauty and the Beast.  Can't wait to see her final show. 

Currituck Beach Lighthouse Station

The one thing Kyle wanted to do the most while on vacation was to climb to the top of a lighthouse.  The entire gang (minus grandpa Bill) made the trek to historic Corolla Village and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse Station.  The lighthouse was built in 1875 and was left unpainted to show off the beautiful red brick that was used.  After a long wait in line, we climbed the 214 stairs to the top and a beautiful view awaited us.  Mission accomplished.

 Currituck Beach Lighthouse Station

A little snack while waiting in line 

 An attempt at a group photo of the kids

Resting about half way up and checking out the view 

Soon to be Six Year Olds 

Kyle and Maddox

Brothers 

Kyle and Cameron

 Mother and Daughter In Laws

Robin, Maggie, and Alice

John, Zoe, Cameron, Mike and Lauren

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Our rental house was a stone's throw away from Kitty Hawk, where the first successful airplane flight took place in 1903.  We ventured out one morning to have a short history lesson and to take a break from the beach.  It was sort of a failure from the kids' perspective!  They could not appreciate the history behind the location, and it was HOT, so that added to their misery.  The one bright spot was when the park rangers let them fly kites in the field. 

 Such looks of excitement

 Pretending to fly to marker number 4 (marks the 4th and longest flight)

 Hot and miserable

Lauren flying her first kite with daddy's help 

 Kyle loved flying his kite once we got it up in the air

 Cameron, a natural kite flyer

The highlight of their visit to the Wright Brothers National Memorial

Jockey's Ridge State Park

We enjoyed a beautiful morning exploring Jockey's Ridge State Park, the tallest natural sand dune system on the East Coast, with Grandma Maggie.  The kids loved wading through the steams and pools to get to the dunes, climbing the dunes, building sand castles, and running down the dunes.  They were disappointed that we forgot the kites in the car as it was perfect kite flying weather at the top of the dunes.  What a beautiful morning that we will always remember. 

 Looking forward to getting a bit wet on the hike

(well except for Cam who was upset about the kites being back in the car)

Lauren's "ride" up the dunes 

 A steep climb

Family Photo at the Top 

 Grandma Maggie and our gang

Mike and Robin 

Kyle

 Cameron

 Some TaeKwonDo Practice

 Lauren

Running Up and Down the Dunes

Mini Golf

One afternoon on our vacation, our family went out to play a round of mini golf while the rest of the extended family was busy.  The kids loved the "train" ride to the top of the mountain where hole number one was placed.  Lauren played for about half the course - her method:  running to the hole with her club and ball in hand and placing it right next to the hole and knocking it in.  We had a great time playing until a freak thunderstorm rolled in.  Luckily, we were able to play quickly through the last few holes and were able to make it back to the car before the real storm began. 

Happy 6th Birthday Kyle!

Our baby boy, Kyle, recently turned 6 years old.  He enjoyed a great day and weekend of celebrations.  On his birthday he celebrated with his new classmates at school.  That night we opened presents and enjoyed a yummy meal of his choice including spicy Thai noodles and Korean hotteok.  The next day we celebrated with his Minnesota family with a small party at our house. 

Happy 6th Birthday Ky-Bear, our little snuggle bug.  We love you!

 Birthday morning

 Angry Birds Game and Magic Tree House Books

 Waiting for a big surprise

 A big bike for a big boy

 Hotteok

More Angry Birds - Yay!

Pokemon Cake

Pool Side

Back to our summer vacation posts....  The kids loved the pool at the rental house.  Our normal routine was to hit the beach or a tourist spot in the AM and enjoy a relaxing afternoon around the pool and in the hot tub.  Afternoons were filled with swim races, jumping in, diving to the bottom, splashing, water gun fights and chilling in the hot tub. 

 Lauren and Grandpa Bill - Getting ready for a water gun battle from the safety of the hot tub.

 Kyle, over the week he became such a better swimmer

Maddox, look out below 

 Cameron, getting ready for a dive

 Lauren, loved her new life vest - she was able to swim on her own around the pool.

 Zoe, taking a little rest

Cousin Love - Lauren and Maddox