What we've been up to...

Hi! I feel it's been so long... hummm, maybe cause it has!.... sorry : / 

We've been out & about...

Since we moved we've done so many things, nothing crazy or too adventurous. We've just been getting to know the area. 

The first time I did a post in this blog, was 6 months after we moved to Seoul. I explored and got to know a little bit about the City. I wanted to have things to tell. Now I felt the same way. It has been a while since I posted something, because I wanted to get to know our new neighborhood before I started fully blogging again.  

It's been great! 

In this time I've been able to find a School for Marky & one for myself (to learn Korean). We also, have a Korean friend that's gonna stop by once a week to tutor me. 

I found a Church with an English and a Spanish Mass. 

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We've enjoyed the last bits of the Summer...

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& our new house... & it's patio... : )

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& finding a Supermarket that has AMERICAN food!!! 

I almost heard singing angels as I was walking in... : ) 

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We've learned to use the Bus... Marky's dream of riding Tayo, came true! 

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We've walked all over the surrounding areas, like Itaewon and the Han River...

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& the Namsan park...

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& we've located our favorite places to eat... for now... : P

Seoul at night, Seoul City view, Namsan park

& seen some amazing sunsets and views of the City...

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& celebrated 9 years of very, very, very happily ever afters... ❤

We went through a very big, but weak, Typhoon... and another one two days after... 

We took the kids to Children's Grand Park... will do a post on it later! 

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And we took our son to his very first day to School... Today... 

I'm still emotional about it. Marky has been with me, all through out his 3 years. He went to Montessori for a bit, in PR and he loved it... until we moved here. When we first got here, we put him in a Korean speaking "pre-school". We thought it would be good for him, so he wouldn't get bored at home... It wasn't. 

He was there for like 2 months and he came home crying every single day. He refused to go and as soon as he came home he would tell me, he did not want to go back. One day on a School trip he ran off and the teachers couldn't call him. They didn't speak English, he didn't speak Korean... I viewed my baby lost in this gigantic city, not knowing anything about anything...

 That was it... No thank you... 

& so we moved to the English hood... hehehe... 

 I'm happy that we found a School he REALLY likes, no crying! Montessori'esh type of educational system, and with Teachers and kids that speak English! 

He came home beaming! 

 Him having a good day, makes my day...any day! 

Till' very soon... promise... : )

xoxo

T. 

Trick Art Museum

Sorry for the delay. I was supposed to do this post a bit ago. I've been super extra busy these days. I have a couple of things going on that have kept me occupied. Also, Olivia has been teething pretty badly, but at least that's done with for a bit since two bottom ones are out! She looks super cute with her new smile! ♥

On top of that, S. was in London for work last week. Without his help, I get to do all this parenting/housekeeping/blogging/touristing'... (you know what I mean)... on my own. That means I ended up EEEEeeexhausted' every night! Anyways, hopefully I get to catch up this week. : P

Back on our trip to Paju, here are some funny pictures we took inside the Trick Art Museum. I actually thought we had more, but some came out just too dark or at, not so flattering angles (uuuhummm)... Let's just say they did not make the cut! : )

Trick art museum, Paju 

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So much fun...

I read somewhere that there is one here in Seoul and I need to find out where ASAP! With Monsoon season coming up, finding indoor entertainment is a must.

xoxo,

T. : )

Mother's Day...

The first time I found out I was gonna be a Mom, I was terrified. It was quite unexpected & during a stressful time in our lives. I also had what I guess are common concerns, as wondering if I would be a good Mom, if I was too young, etc..I mean, something that requires such commitment and dedication... Motherhood is not for everybody I thought. Yes, terrified!

Thinking, thinking, talking, talking, talking about it...
I had a great role model, I had good values, my partner was a great man and we were great together...Why not? I could do this...

On my 12th week appointment, we found out the heartbeat we once heard, had stopped...
I did not know just how much I loved this little thing until then.

I asked and asked, over and over and over; "Pleeeease, check again!", "What did I do wrong?", "Why?"... My last question; "are you 100% sure?". When he said yes. I felt as if my world crumbled. My heart dropped, my knees got weak and I cried like NEVER before. He asked if I wanted to do a test to find out what went wrong, and I said no. What's the point. It was gone, a test is not gonna make me feel any better or less sad. I was sure I knew exactly what went wrong.... Me!
I thought of myself as the worst kind of Mom...One that doubted herself so much that made her kid die. : (

I had the D&C the day after. I cried for a week straight, then I stopped. I did some research, I talked to some friends that had gone through the same thing. I realized it was not my fault! Miscarriages are actually very common and it happens to 25% of all pregnancies. People just don't talk much about it.

From then the baby seed was in my head & I promised myself that if I ever become a Mother, I would try to be the best I could.

Marky came two years after! This time I was confident & loved him from the first + + : )

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I now feel so blessed & grateful to have two beautiful kids, whom I adore. My life is definitely different than what it used to be. At the same time it is so, so, soooo much better! You become all those cliches you hated when you were not a parent. You enter this wonderful new world, of infinite, unconditional and the purest of loves. A world you did not know existed & you would NOT understand until you become one yourself. No other love compares as it IS the greatest of loves.

Being a Mother is just about the hardest job, but also the most gratifying one. When one day (which happens to be a Mother's Day) you wake up, and your 3 year old is standing next to your bed staring at you and says; "Good morning guys! First of all let me tell you, I love you Mommy".... priceless....

It's all worth it! : )

I don't know if I am the best Mother, but I try my very hardest to be a good one.
I had the best example and it's funny how I find myself saying things to Markus that my Mom said to me! I miss & love you Carmen Garcia. You were the best Mom I could have had. Thank you for raising me the way you did, your sacrifices and your infinite love. I now know & understand. And I only strive to be 1/4 of the Mom you were to me.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

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People say Mother's day should be celebrated every day. I don't agree. I like it just the way it is. I enjoy having that one special day to celebrate Motherhood. It's nice to look back and remember all the things you've gone through that led you to the place you are now. 

As for my day, It was great! Thank you Sean, for making it a very special one. I love you and I couldn't be the Mother I am without your unconditional support!

I surely will look up this post in the future (when my kids are bratty teenagers...lol) to remember the good old days, and how great & special this day was to me. 

I love you Mom! 

xoxo T. 

Happy Mother's Day to everybody! 

Love & enjoy your kids as much as you can before they grow up! Time goes by fast & it won't wait for anyone.

PS.... Now if I could only have my old body back... Life isn't perfect, but how boring would it be if it was! New goal! hehehe... 

Spring in Korea!

I ❤ SPRING!!!

Flowers started blooming everywhere and tiny green leaves started growing on trees. Magnolias, Cherry Blossoms, ohhhh.... all so, so, so, so, so incredibly beautiful. 

Coffee shops, boutiques, flower shops, gift shops all started putting pots of plants and flowers outside their door steps. 

As much as I love Winter, I must admit it is really nice walking around without a coat. I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and started going out as much as I could. 

We headed out to the Cherry Blossom Festival at Yeouido. I came out a bit disappointed as there where soooo many people, you couldn't really take any good pictures.

There where a lot of street vendors, selling I guess local "snacks". Dried fish, squid, octopus, and what I just learned is Caterpillar cocoons... I wonder... How do you even come up with the idea of eating one of these, of turning it into a snack???... I know for people that grow up eating these, they must be delicious. I will not try it if I'm not forced to. To me, sorry to say, it smells and not like something yummy. : (

A picture is as close as I'll get to these! Not in a house, not with a mouse... I could not, would not try it anywhere!

I told you I'm no Andrew Zimmern... : )

As soon as I realized there was gonna be no good pictures I turned my focus onto people. It became a people watching day. I have NEVER, ever in my life seen so many people posing for pictures or taking pictures of themselves. Seriously, I took the funniest pictures of people doing the most hilarious poses. It would have been the funniest post so far. But... : ( the camera fell and I lost ALL of them. I guess it wasn't meant to be.... : ( 

To my surprise as I was walking to the supermarket the next day, (a new one I just found closer to my house) I accidentally walked into the most beautiful Cherry Blossom lined road! I was sooo happy. I felt so lucky, as if I got a second chance to take pictures! I didn't have the camera with me or Sean to help out, but I took some pretty ones with my phone! 

Ohhhhh... the Azaleas.... so pretty....

I just found out trough my Instagram, there is a mountain filled with Azaleas. I saw this picture and I had to ask where was this place. Unfortunately is in Daegumsan Mountain and it is in Geoje. This place is actually an Island that's all the way on the South part of Korea, by Busan. It would be a 2 hour Plane or 4 hour train ride. Yeahhhh.... Since they would only be as pretty for a just a couple of weeks, I don't believe we will make it there, at least this year. I hope she doesn't mind, but I want to share her Instagram picture with you  HERE! I have serious picture envy! : )

So basically I assume this is it for my dear Spring. Last weekend it was raining non stop. Then Monday felt like a Summer day, super hot. Today is raining again. In no time yellow dust arrives and we will not be able to walk outside for a while again... : ( NOT looking forward to this...

WTYS... : )

xoxo

T.

It's been a Year!

Hi,
I can't believe it's been a year since we moved to Korea. WOW...a lot has happened...

So many new experiences, so much learned, so much growing up & so much giving up.  I don't know if it's the fact that I have been super busy with the kids or the fact that as you get older you realize how fast time really goes by, but I really don't feel like it's been a year, maybe because I've really enjoyed it.

Robot Birthday!

Hello! 

So last week was Marky's Birthday.... we love birthdays!!!

Markus turned 3 and it was his first one to be celebrated in Seoul. 

I baked the cake and decorated the night before.

 I wish I could upload here the video of his reaction when he woke up... (I put up a small part on my FB page). For some reason I can't upload videos here, I could, but once is up, you can't play them. hummm...  Have to figure this one out. : (

Since it was just us, I decided to make a special guest for him. Some cardboard boxes, paint, glue and parts of broken toys & Voila....

I introduce,

Vacation... Puerto Rico!

Hello,

 Puerto Rico!!!!! 

First, let me start by telling you something...

I came back from this vacation with 12 extra pounds!!!!

I mean, could you blame me?!?! 

I needed to eat as many tostones as I could, before heading back to Kimchi land. 

Back in Korea, they don't even know what Plantains are. Back when I was living in Puerto Rico, I didn't have them too often, (as they are fried) but when you can't get it, that's when you want it. 

Vacation!

We survived 2-15 hour flights with 2 kids under 2. If you may like to know, it wasn't bad at all.

 Olivia did amazingly. She did not cry, she also did not sleep... hmmm... I didn't mind that she didn't sleep because she was very happy the whole time + it worked out for us, cause with the time difference, it made her adjust right away. 

Marky, as always, was a great sport. He's so fascinated with planes and he's super curious with just about everything, that he keeps entertained pretty easily. It's just more how we handle tiredness and having to answer absolutely every question there is. He needs to know everything about everything. He's at that age, I guess... 

Home sweet home, here we come!!!

We are heading back home!!!! Yeayyy's for the yeayyysss....  : ) 

I can't believe it, it's almost been a year since we moved to Seoul. Time truly goes by fast!

I have to say, I have enjoyed my time here. But like in any vacation (the way I feel being here, a very long one for that matter) It's always nice when you return home. Weird, we are going on vacation, but we are really returning home. And for two-whole-weeks! 

Olivia is 100 days!!!

Today is Olivia's 100th day with us (Baek il).  It's Korean Tradition to celebrate a baby's 100th Day of being born.  I have to admit, I love all these extra excuses I get here to do a little celebration! : )

When Markus turned 100 days, we went to NY (we lived in PR).  His Mom & Sister threw a little dinner party to celebrate & have the rest of the family meet him.

preparing the food for the Baek il

How cute Marky, he was so little!

The food was delicious! baek il

The rice cake. Baek il

A regular cake.

111 Days, because we did it a 11 days late : ).... pretty cute!

100 Days celebration

Even though we're not having our family over & we won't have 100 people to give rice cakes to  (hopefully she will still have a long life). We will most definitely celebrate! She has been such blessing & brought so much joy to our life. <3

Happy 100th day Olivia!

Happy 100 days Livy, we love you! I will try my very best, to do something special, just for us. I hope I can make my Mother in Law proud. I'll post pics over the weekend : )

xoxo