Easter egg hunt

When I was growing up, my family would do Easter egg hunts at our house. We'd color a dozen eggs, and my parents would hide them for my sister and me to find. It was a nice tradition, so I do the same with my kids. And like my dad did, I make two special eggs: a "black" egg that's been soaked in all the colors (even though it comes out purple more than anything) and a "plaid egg." I was particularly happy with where I put the orange egg.

Wish you were here

This past July 24th featured a Hawaii-themed Pearls Before Swine comic I enjoyed. Link to the original
It inspired me to make the following videos for my Mainland-based family.

While I doubt anyone really enjoys getting a "wish you were here" postcard from Hawaii during the deepest depths of winter, these at least have grandkids in them. Plus Incubus, if that makes a difference to you.

Many questions, fewer answers

The other day I was hanging out with P, and he said something to the effect that "In life, there are more questions than answers."

I thought about that for a moment, and then said I could see his point. "For example," I said, "What's 2+3?"

"Five," he answered.

"Right. And what's 7-2?"

"Five."

"Right. So I think it's true what you're saying -- there are more questions, but fewer answers."

"But," he interjected, "That's not what I mean. I meant for the more complicated questions."

"Oh, OK," I said. "You mean like 'What's 22-17?'"

And we just laughed.

Diligent daughter

One of my goals for the family is to do a "family devotional time" once a week. It's something I've been embarrassingly irregular about recently, but my daughter asked me today if we could do one today.

She particularly likes when we do a communion message, so we picked up some grape juice at the store to go with the naan bread I already had on hand (I was going to make pizza). She wanted to get together as soon as we got home, but I told her to wait until after dinner.

After dinner, she started watching a movie on TV and I thought she'd forgotten, but mid-way through she paused it, set up our Korea-style 상 table, and brought it up again.

So I heated up the bread, poured the juice, and we (P too) had communion while we took turns reading Luke 22:13-20.

After that, I did a short lesson about how God talks to us, using 2 Kings 5:10-12 (Naaman's expectations) and 1 Kings 19:11-12 (the whisper).

I'm hardly the spiritual example I should be to my kids, but they make it easier with encouraging attitudes like this.

I'm glad I have good kids.

"If you keep 불어, it will be 식어"

My wife overheard our son say this to our daughter during dinner, and thought it was funny -- "if you keep [blowing], it will be [cool]."

Today she caught me doing the same thing. P has picked up a tangerine after he'd brushed his teeth, and I said, "Put the 귤 down." I didn't even realize what I'd said until after she laughed.

"Why does God make bad people?"

My son asked me "Why does God make bad people?" Pretty deep question.

So I got down on one knee and gave him this explanation: God doesn't make bad people. People make bad decisions.

He asked why people make bad decisions. I said I don't know, but asked him why he sometimes makes bad decisions. Maybe it's because you want something right away and don't want to wait. Maybe because you don't think ahead, or because you feel angry about something.

I think he understood.

A nice moment

My kids an I went to the playground the other day. While we were there, I called my daughter over to me.

"C," I said, "I think you are super fun. You are smart, you are nice, and you are a little bit silly sometimes. So I think you are super fun."

She smiled, thank you, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Bad" husband, dad

On Wednesday the 19th, I joined my company on its field exercise up in the northern part of the country ("Area I"). I stayed for three days, two nights, and returned on Friday evening.

The following day, I watched the kids while SY took a train to meet up with some old friends, so I brought them with me to the USO, where I volunteer on Saturday mornings. In the afternoon, I took them to my workplace because I wanted to be there while the convoys came back.

We ended up coming back home after my wife returned, and handed me this little comment:

"You don't help out around the house. You're worse than a Korean guy."

Wow. *****

Today I took the family to Camp Walker, where the post exchange is, for some shopping. While we were there, I took the kids to Subway, where I got them each a cookie while my wife finished shopping.

After we'd left, my daughter realized she'd forgotten her Disney-themed cold mask. (this thing)

So we went back. We looked at the spot where we shared some cookies, and asked the staff if they'd seen it. With no luck there, either we turned to go back home and I put my hand in my pocket.

And there is was ... the whole time.

In the car on the way back, my daughter told me with a frowny face, "아빠 (Dad), you're a bad 아빠."

*sigh*

When education prevents communication

My son was looking at one of his toys, and noted, "This is made in China."

"Yes, a lot of things are made in China," replied my wife.

I added, "That's because they have a lot of people who can make a lot of things."

And then my China-focused MBA kicked in. "Plus they have a production oriented economy that favors exports."

That pretty much ended the conversation, though it probably didn't help anything.

Don't mess with Bunny

My son is very protective of his stuffed rabbit.
He sleeps with a rubber band gun beneath his pillow.

C's birthday party

The kids took turns blowing out the birthday candles on my daughter's cake.

A week with 할머니

Last week we visited my mother-in-law after church. When it came time to leave, C said she wanted to stay with 할머니. Though my first thought was, "But she doesn't have any other clothes, any toys, or anything," 할머니 said she would take care of that.

Plus, with my brother-in-law's new apartment pending some paperwork hiccups, there would be no shortage of baby sitters -- our two teenage nieces would be there, too.

Well, OK, then. We left our daughter up in Seoul with her grandmother for a week.

Things went well. My mother-in-law was surprised at how well C ate while she was there, and there was no shortage of things to do. The only times she said she missed us was when we'd call to check in. It was really strange.

Two interesting things came out of it. First was C's language development. Because of the "immersion" environment, C became more comfortable speaking Korean. Yet she would speak Korean only with her grandmother, aunt, and elder cousin. With her younger cousin, she stuck with English.

In this, she's like her brother. P is more comfortable with English, but can switch when he senses a person can only speak Korean.

Second was an incident where she locked the door to the second room and then closed it from the outside (she wasn't stuck in the room, but neither could they get in). After the search for the key failed and the building manager couldn't open it, they eventually called a locksmith to open the door, which 한머니 had to pay for.

C sensed that all the trouble was her fault, so she went up to her grandmother and said, "할머니, 제송해요." (Grandmom, I'm sorry.) It just about made 할머니 cry.

Pepper jack-o-lantern

First lost tooth

P lost a tooth during breakfast this morning. It's been loose for a couple days, and it just fell out while he was eating his cereal. When I first noticed I warned him it was going to bleed when it came out, so even though he had this really concerned look on his face, he didn't freak out. Fortunately, it stopped in time for him to continue getting ready for school and catch the bus.

The little boy is growing up....

Family brand

Big bugs

Korea has a lot of big bugs. This one's a cicada that I found on a street curb. SY and her mother took the kids out for a walk one evening, and this dragonfly landed on SY. Her mother scooped it up and handed it to C, showing her how to hold it between two fingers.

I think my daughter's a pretty brave little girl -- I probably wouldn't want to mess around with a dragonfly that big.
My son, too, likes to play around with stuff he finds in our yard. This one's a grasshopper. (That's a pen he's holding up for comparison.)

Sunflower Girl

How did this happen?

My son is quite the negotiator.

A while ago, while we were at the PX, he told me he was thirsty, and said he wanted to get water from "there" (pointing at Starbucks).

Now, to me, that's about the worst idea in the world. Starbucks is the *last place* I would ever want to buy a bottle of water. Say what you want about how pure it is, but I dislike the idea of paying for bottled water, and further, I hate overpaying for it.

I suggested he wait the ten minutes so we could drive home, but he wouldn't move. Faced with either physically carrying him out of the building or getting him *something* to drink, I suggested we get something cheaper from the food court. He accepted.

Relieved that I wouldn't have to pay out of the nose for a Starbucks drink, I even offered to get a large.

To recap, he started off by asking for water, and ended up getting a large fruit punch.

I'm still amazed.

짜장면

We went to Emart the other day and ate dinner in their food court. C got 짜장면 (noodles with black bean sauce).

Loyalty!

My daughter likes to steal my hat as I'm leaving for work, so I have to keep spares handy. My wife showed me this picture when I got home from work.