Annual Apple Picking

Last month, we went apple picking with good friends, the Lee's and the Lee's. (there are lots of lee's out there) =) We drove upstate to Maskers Orchard where there are sprawling acres of apple trees. What's nice about this orchard is that you can just set up a blanket under a tree and have a picnic. On the menu was mini kim bap, chicken wings, fried rice, gourmet sandwiches and homebaked cookies. I think the picnic was the highlight for the parents. The kids ran around the apple trees and we got to enjoy the gorgeous day. Thanks Susan and Annie for the delicious food. It was so good I didn't even take a moment to capture a pic. I remember more about the picnic than the actual apple picking but i digress.

So here is Justin eating or should I say devouring his first apple. He absolutely loves fruit and he must have eaten at least 7 apples total (not the whole apple but still). Thank God for his unsatiable appetite for fruit because he managed to eat at least half of the apples at home. We did go a little too early in the season so most of the apple varieties were not ripe. We mainly picked the Macintosh.

The honorary boys picture. They are all actually looking at the camera. =)

Justin in heaven. I think we went to so many orchards this year because of Justin. He loves that he can pick a fruit and just eat it. No questions asked. Look at how happy he is.

It's virtually impossible to get 4 kids to look at the same direction but here is the closest I got.

With 6 kids, it's definitely impossible to have the kids look in one direction. Maybe if I had candy it would have worked. Gotta remember for next time.

I like this pic. It puts everything to scale and everything in perspective. God is so good.

School Artwork

So Tyler spends a lot of his day at shool drawing especially when the weather is inclement and the kids have to stay indoors. He must have brought home 20 pages of drawings but here's a few of the highlights. The above is a self portrait. Notice the spikey hair on top of the head. Awww.

This is a drawing of Eugene, a rainbow and a flower. (Don't ask me why)

A truck or tractor. I love that there is a person driving the vehicle.

My favorite piece d'resistance! I promise I didn't force Tyler to draw this. I love the little heart!

School Days Are Finally Here!

So Tyler and I have been waiting for the day when he would start Pre-K for about 2 years now. He was so bored at home and I knew he was ready for school. On the first full day of Pre-K, Eugene went into work a little late to drop off Tyler at school together with me and Justin. Tyler was so excited that he even brushed his teeth without even being told to do it when he woke up that morning. Now that's excitement for a 4 year old!

People aske me if I'm sad that Tyler is in school now and I answer with a resounding "no" since Tyler is learning so much from school and from his classmates and teachers. He absolutely loves school. The only thing he doesn't like is the 50 minute nap time since he dropped his nap when he was 2 years old. Other than that, Tyler absolutley adores school. It's so amusing to hear him talk about his classmates, activities he's done that day or a new song learned in music class.

Look at how happy Tyler is waving goodbye to me at drop-off. My boy is all grown up. A part of me is so happy for Tyler but a part of me is sad that he's growing up so fast.

Bahamas

This will be the last post regarding the summer since Halloween is almost here! Praise God for granting us such a fun-filled summer. We're truly thankful for His grace and providence at all times. The highlight of the summer was our trip to the Bahamas which wouldn't have happened without the generosity of our good friends Cailee and Kyu. They invited us to join them at their timeshare in the Bahamas. They even gave us the bigger side of the lockoff since we have two kids. Thank you once again for your generosity and inviting us along. It was one of our best family vacations!

So here is Atlantis. It was quite impressive. It reminded me of Las Vegas but even better. The grounds are immaculately clean and beautfully maintained. I could see why they charge an arm and a leg to stay at the Atlantis.

Good thing for our friends, we stayed at the Harborside Resorts at Atlantis (we were in a 1 bedroom suite). It was literally a 1 minute shuttle ride to the other towers of the Atlantis. It worked out great because you can't really stay in 1 room with 2 kids who go to bed at 7:30pm. Plus it was lots of fun playing Settlers with our friends every night. Too bad I didn't win a single game.

Even some ceilings were painted with such detail. It's so much more impressive in person. The picture doesn't do it justice.

The boys loving the Aquarium and exploring marine life. This tunnel has a see through glass ceiling where sting rays and other fish would swim above your head. It was very cool. Justin on the other hand enjoyed running back and forth in the tunnel.

So we got to know the local Bahamian people and they are so friendly and welcoming to tourists. We met Kenva (a front desk person aka our own personal tour guide) took us outside of the resort to this hole in the wall stand to get the best fresh conch salad. She kept saying how conch (pronounced konk) is an aphrodisiac and that we had to get one. I think the locals just say that so the tourists will try the shellfish because it seemed like it was ubiquitous.

Here is the man whacking the conch shell open with what I think was a machete.

Here he is pulling out the conch out of its shell.

Chopping the conch with tomatoes, peppers and onions.

All the ingredients get mixed and they squeeze like 10 limes to get rid of the fishy taste and it acts like a bactericidal. Thank goodness because I don't think I saw the man wash his hands once but I don't think the Dep't of Health comes to inspect so what are we to say anything. We were definitely going for the local experience.

Here's the final dish...fresh conch salad. It was the best thing I had in the Bahamas. Sort of like ceviche...not at all fishy. I highly recommend it.

The boys were fascinated by this stilt walker...actually I think Justin was scared. He never sits that calmly. =)

To continue our culinary adventure, our local guide Kenva would bring us local fruits to try. This is called a sugar apple which is sort of a misnomer because it's neither sweet nor related to an apple. It doesn't look that appetizing but it's actually pretty good. It tastes like persimmon and wasn't too sweet.

Look who we ran into at Atlantis! It's NBA star Kevin Durant. He was very gracious and his mother was even more gracious when she took this group picture. The Miss Universe Pageant was also being held there the same time. We tried looking for Miss USA and Miss Korea but no luck. I think the husbands were disppointed...haha.

This pic was taken at the exclusive Cove Tower where only celebrities stay and they have swimming with the dophins. It felt like we were in Hawaii. We'll have to save money for the next 10 years to go and swim with the dolphins.

Hanging out at Marina Village (overpriced shopping area in Atlantis for people who don't want to travel downtown)

When you ask Justin what he did in the Bahamas he will make a swimming gesture and proudly say "schwimming!" I think his favorite time was snacking afterwards while lounging in the chairs.

So basically we went to the kiddie pools and lazy rivers everyday. The kids loved every minute of it as well as the parents.

Cailee and me at Marina Village.

Did I mention the kids AND parents loved the kiddie pool? Nice random person offered to take our family picture. People are so nice when they are on vacation.

The boys at you guessed it another kiddie pool. I must say, it is a very family friendly place but if you're going to pay that much money you should go when your kids can go on the rides and slides by themselves. Dare I say it? It may be better than Disney World since you're not walking around the whole day and waiting on lines for rides. However Tyler wants to go back to Disney and the Bahamas. What a lucky kid that he can even say that.

Date Night - Thanks C & K for babysitting while we went out. We had Nobu but it's not as good as the one in NYC but it was so nice to enjoy a meal without yelling at two kids to sit down and eat their food. So nice!

This was probably one of the best family vacation we have been to. It was so relaxing and fun and we had great traveling buddies. FYI - if you need to bring food out of the country just freeze it and check it with your luggage. Thanks again C & K. We must travel together again. =)

Ring Master

Tyler was asked to be a ring boy in Daniel (Eugene's cousin) and Sally's wedding this past August. At first he was a bit hesitant and he actually wanted to walk down the aisle with Eugene instead of the flower girl. But he watched an episode of Little Bill (cartoon on Nick Jr about a little boy produced by Bill Cosby) and all his fears were laid to rest. Tyler likes the show because he can relate to the little boy since they are similar ages. He saw an episode where Little Bill was a ring boy and saw how easy the task would be. He somehow got the notion that the title of the position was "Ring Master". So we all had to refer to him as the ring master including the bride and groom. Here is the pic of Daniel, Eugene and the hansome Ring Master.

Tyler actually did a great job except he didn't finish walking down the aisle. Eugene told him to walk down the aisle to me and give me the ring bearer's pillow. I didn't know this and sat three rows from the front. Tyler obediently walked down the aisle until he saw me and threw me the pillow and sat down and I had to get him up and walk down the three rows to the front of the sanctuary with him. Kids are so funny. Tyler did a great job! The flower girl didn't make it past halfway down the aisle so I'm quite proud of my little ring master.

I love this pic of me and Tyler. I love a man in a tuxedo...haha. Thanks for the pic, Iris!

Thank you once again Daniel and Sally for including Tyler in your wedding party. He had so much fun and loved staying up past his bedtime to celebrate your marriage. He also thanks you for the ring master gift!

P.S. - I just noticed Tyler is holding hands with the flower girl. I don't think anyone asked him to. Do I need to be worried already? =)