Birthday Boys

Yesterday was a fantastic birthday extravaganza for our two boys.

We started the day at Chuck E. Cheese's with Funny Guy and lots of his friends.  They ran around playing and hoarding tickets for almost an hour before the Rockstar Party started. 

Then Funny Guy got to jam with the Chuck E. Cheese band and meet Chuck E. Cheese himself.

There were pizza and drinks, balloons for everyone, and of course cake!  Funny Guy got a special Rockstar medallion and a chance at the coveted ticket blaster.

Everyone got lots of tickets and prizes and had a great time.  We didn't lose any kids either. :-)  One down, two to go . . . (In addition to our two birthday parties today, My Man had a work party to go to as well!)

The  boys talked us into letting them open presents early this year (usually we make them wait until their real birthdays, even if they have their parties early), and we were glad we did since they had so much fun with them.  They were super excited by all of it and were completely spoiled this year.

The day before, we got notice that Young Man's first spring soccer practice would be held Saturday from 3-4.  His birthday was scheduled from 4-6, so we shrugged our shoulders and said, "Why not?" and added one more thing to an already crazy day. :-) So My Man took Young Man to soccer practice, while I hurried to get the Thai peanut sauce ready for My Man's international potluck and then clean up.  It was definitely a nonstop kind of day!

The weather was absolutely perfect for Young Man's party.  Everything had mostly dried out from our big snow and rain storms earlier in the week and it was a balmy 68 degrees.  When Young Man got home from practice, his friends were already waiting for him (most had shown up 10 minutes early they were so excited). 

The plan was to walk down to a nearby football field so the boys could play two-hand touch football for a couple hours before coming back home for pizza, cake & ice cream, and presents.  As we were about to leave, however, one of Young Man's friends asked if he could open one present early since it would be "extremely advantageous during the party."  Young Man opened the gift to discover a nice set of football gloves.  Now I have to say, if you would have told me a year ago that Young Man would be happy to get football gloves as a birthday present, I would have scoffed and said, "You obviously don't know my son!"  But he was ecstatic and couldn't wait to try them out.

The party was amazing.  Beautiful weather.  The whole field to ourselves.  The boys laughing and playing hard and all such good kids.  As I stood watching from the sidelines, I couldn't help but pray with earnest gratitude for the incredible blessing it was to be there in that moment and for the joy it has been to be a mother.  Young Man had considered doing a laser tag party instead, but this was absolutely perfect. 

When the boys were completely exhausted, we took a few fun group pics then headed home.  Most of these boys move in June (moving all over the place, from India to France), so it was great to see them have such a great time together and get some fun pictures.

One boy had to leave early but didn't want to miss the cake, so we hurried to get candles lit and sing.  I realized that this is the tenth year that Young Man has had his traditional dirt cake (chocolate cake topped with chocolate pudding, oreo crumbs, and gummy worms).  It started one year with Grandma and Grandpa W, when they made one for his 3rd birthday, and he's wanted one ever since. 

There was a slight moment of panic when I realized I couldn't think of where any matches or a lighter was, but then inspiration struck:  the emergency 72-hour kit!  Yes.  Matches!  So we lit the candles, sang, and served cake and ice cream before the pizza even arrived.  Why not?  Thankfully birthdays only come once a year. :-)

A few interesting facts about Young Man:

Picture by oregoncoastphotography.com

Weight: 108 lbs.
Height: 61 inches
Favorite color: black
Favorite book you read last year: most of them, maybe the Eragon series (reread)
Favorite memory from last year: Myeongdong trip with Tim our last Saturday in Seoul
Favorite scripture story: the 2000 stripling warriors
Most memorable accomplishment last year: Arrow of Light and KORAM coach's player of the year award
Goal for this year: Grow three inches so I can ride my bike. :-)  I want to hone my photography skills and take more pictures.
What do you want to be when you grow up?  An environmental engineer
Favorite board game: Monopoly
Favorite game: Football, no, soccer
Best friends: Owen, Conor, Ravi, and MacKenzie
Favorite subject at school: Science or Social Studies
Favorite food: Stuffed crust pizza and dirt cake and root beer
Favorite song: Radioactive
Favorite scripture: 2 Nephi 9:28-29

A few interesting facts about Funny Guy:

Picture by oregoncoastphotography.com

Weight: 56 lbs.
Height: 47 inches
Favorite color: blue, red, orange, yellow (all of those)
Favorite book you read last year: Hank the Cowdog series
Favorite memory from last year: Going to Everland in South Korea--the whole thing!
Favorite scripture story: When the children of Israel made a golden ox out of their earrings and jewelry to worship because they didn't understand how to really worship God.
Most memorable accomplishment last year: Played soccer and my dad was my coach!
Goal for this year: Get to be a better reader, to read and write stuff like that longest word that my brother knows, the name for the lung disease caused by volcanic ash! (the word he's talking about is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis)
What do you want to be when you grow up?  an engineer, the kind that builds/designs stuff
Favorite board game: Labyrinth
Favorite game: Array, the new game I just got for my birthday
Best friends: Ayla, Collin & Jack, Jed, Nicky
Favorite subject at school: fitness
Favorite food: pizza
Favorite song: Country Road, by John Denver, especially when I sing it with my dad when he's playing the guitar
Favorite scripture: 2 Nephi 28:7-9

Happy birthday boys!  It is hard to believe that twelve years ago my journey as a mother began.  I was young and I've had to learn a lot of things along the way.  Thank you for being so patient and full of love.  I'm trying so hard to be the mother you need to help you become the amazing young men I know you can be.  You have so much potential.  You're up against such tough odds in this crazy world we live in, with this crazy lifestyle we are leading, but I know that you can be stronger than the odds you face and that you can be our greatest success story.  I love you.  ~Mom

The Pulpit

Last weekend, My Man heard that the winds might be good at a famous paragliding spot in Pennsylvania called The Pulpit.  It was about 2 hours away, but we decided we were up for an adventure so we packed a lunch and charted our course through several states, still searching for the Virginian Yongin. 

On the drive out, the kids were all raptly listening to audiobooks on their mp3 players, so My Man and I did Thai homework on Mango (an awesome language program) the whole way there.  When we got there, we were met by snow and wind.  I guess we forgot to calculate elevation when we looked at the mild spring forecast!  But the site was great and we will definitely be heading back more when it warms up.

The launch was clear of snow and there were rocks to climb around and explore (luckily most of the graffiti was benign). There's also a place to camp once it warms up. 

The wind cooperated for just one good launch, but that was all it took to make the trip a success in My Man's eyes.  The kids found a courageous woolly bear caterpillar inching its way across the snow.  That was all it took for them to decide this place was a winner.  I'm sure we'll be back again someday soon.

Sawatdii kha!

Or, in other words, สวัสดีค่ะ. That's Thai for hello (or good bye, but only if you're a girl. . .).  And I know that because My Man and I are taking Thai!  Most days I can hardly believe my luck!  Other days, I wonder what I was thinking when I gave up a life of leisure (OK, maybe not leisure, but comparative calm!) for the hectic craziness of full-time school.  It was actually quite a surprise that I got in the class at all.  When I initially tried to get in the class, there wasn't room for me, but when one of the registered students didn't arrive the first day, and it became clear that she wouldn't be attending, My Man lobbied hard to get me the spot (thanks Love!). The first day was a little crazy since I'd already made other commitments and didn't have babysitting lined up, but somehow I managed to get there in time for the afternoon classes.  My Man helped me catch up with what I'd missed that morning (having my own personal tutor at home is definitely one of the best parts of this class) and a gracious friend offered to watch kids after school until I could arrange something else. Since I've always worked from home, I've never had to arrange the logistics of after-school daycare, snow days, sick days, doctors appointments, etc.  It's been an adjustment to be sure, but I'm so grateful that the kids and My Man have been flexible and patient to allow me this incredible opportunity.  The house isn't as clean, dinners aren't as elaborate (or timely), and I don't have as much time to devote to being a mom/wife, but after only about 12 days of class, I can sound out Thai characters, introduce myself, tell you  all about my family (or ask you about yours), where we're from, what we do, and so forth.  That seems like a pretty fair trade to me. 

It's strange being back in school after an 11-year hiatus.  My brain has been complaining about the unaccustomed exercise but it's just as exhilarating as getting into shape again after a sluggish winter.  We are in class at least 5 hours a day (with a 1 to 4 teacher to student ratio for most of the classes, 1 to 3 in the reading classes) and then have a couple hours of homework each day.  But all that study is paying off.  And it's fun to be able to study and learn along with My Man.

To give you an idea of how it's like reading Thai, here's what it would be like in English (only pretend that you only know one in ten of the words): thisisachartofthethaiconsonantswehavelearnedtheonlyreallytrickypartisthatabouthalfofthemchangesoundsiftheyreattheendofasyllableohandalsothattheyredividedintothreedifferentclasseswhichaffecthowwordsarepronouncedandtherearentspacesbetweenwordsorsentencessoyoujusthavetofigureoutorguesswhentheyareattheendofthesyllablesandtherearelotsofdifferentfontsthatlookcompletelydifferenttousฝรั่งforeignersotherthanthatitsallverystraightforward.  (As an English grammarian, I can tell you that the lack of spacing, punctuation, and consistent grammar is killing me a refreshing change.)

This is a chart of the vowels we've been working on.  The only tricky part is that sometimes the vowels are assumed instead of written, or they change form and look completely different, and they can be written before, after, over, or under the consonants, or some combination of all of those.  And oh yeah, see those phonetic suggestions underneath?  Yeah, they don't really sound like that. My Man and I can already count in Thai to 999 (at least theoretically, we haven't actually tried going that high!).  Writing the numbers though, that's a whole different story.  Here's what the numbers look like:

I'm still not quite sure if I'll be in the class for 8 weeks or 16 or the full class.  I'm hoping they'll let me do 16, so I can go right up until school gets out for the summer.  That will be just long enough to get a good foundation but not so long that the class gets bogged down in diplomatic shop talk. :-)  I'll let My Man handle all that professional vocab, so I can focus on the important things like ordering ผัดไทย (pad Thai).  Yum. 

And speaking of pad Thai, My Man and I found a delicious Thai food restaurant near FSI called Sawatdii where all of the food is fantastic.  We've snuck off for a few lunch dates there, all in the spirit of research so that we know what to expect in Chiang Mai and to practice our Thai.  It's our hardest homework, really, but we've resigned ourselves to the fact that when you're trying to learn a difficult language like Thai, you really have to go all in, even if that means eating copious amounts of incredibly delicious food.  Frankly, I'm hoping there's a positive correlation to the amount of Thai food we eat and the level of our Thai language.  In fact, at the rate we're going, we should be able to read this in no time:
ร้านหนังสือของเราจำหน่ายสินค้ามากมายทั้งหนังสือภาษาไทยมากมายทั้งด้านความรู้วรรณกรรมนิยายและการ์ตูนจากหลากหลายนักเขียนนักแปลสำนักพิมพ์ทางร้านเรายังจัดจำหน่ายซีดีซีดีดีวีดีภาพยนตร์และดนตรีพร้อมให้บริการจัดส่งสินค้าทั่วโลกท่านสามารถสั่งซื้อสินค้าของเราได้ไม่ว่าท่านจะอยู่ที่ใดในโลกด้วยราคายุติธรรมซึ่งตรงกับสโลแกนของเราคือลูกค้ามีความสำคัญสูงสุดสำหรับเราเพราะฉะนั้นเราจะดูแลทุกการสั่งซื้อด้วยความรวดเร็วถูกต้องแม่นยำ

Repatriating Our Clan

Ever since the Olympics opening ceremony, when our kids cheered loudly and exuberantly for the South Korean team instead of the Americans, My Man and I have been looking for opportunities to remind our children that, while we loved our time in South Korea, we are proud to be Americans. 

This Saturday was the perfect opportunity.  Soon after we got here, I started looking into setting up a White House tour.  It's gotten a bit more complicated over the years!  Funny Guy and I were reading a Magic Treehouse book about Abraham Lincoln a few days ago, and it talked about how anyone could just walk into the White House and try to talk to the president.  It's definitely not that easy anymore!  You have to contact your congressman (or woman) and request a tour from them.  Then they have to get a bunch of information from you, do background checks, and set up the tour time.  All of this must be done at least 30 days prior to the date you want the tour.  Then to get in to the tour, you have to walk through several checkpoints where they check your ID against the approved guest list, have you walk through a metal detector and past a K9 unit.  Phew!  But it was fun to go inside.  The kids regaled us with interesting trivia about the White House such as, "Did you know there are 35 bathrooms?" and "Wow, the only thing that survived the fire in 1814 was the painting of George Washington that Dolly Madison saved!"  We also thought it was pretty cool that the First Lady's portrait, though hanging in the Red room several rooms away from the East room where the George Washington painting hangs, has a direct line of sight to George Washington.  There was no picture taking allowed during the tour.  I was tempted to snap one of the kids looking especially cute but Darling Daughter was shocked when  I pulled out my phone and blocked the picture, vehemently insisting I follow the rules. 

After the White House tour, we headed over to the National Archives where we got to see the original Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, among other things. 

It was really amazing to see the documents that made such an impact on our history.  Again, no pictures allowed inside.

Afterward, it was getting late and everyone was starving so we headed out to look for some lunch.  As we were walking past the Natural History Smithsonian, however, Funny Guy realized he hadn't had enough time inside last time we went.  Everyone else groaned--they were too hungry to even think about another museum!  But Funny Guy said he would rather go to the museum than eat, so we split up and I took him in while My Man took the other kids to go have lunch.  As we were walking in, Funny Guy said, "Thanks Mom!  I really love nonfiction, 'cuz it's real, and this museum is FULL of nonfiction!!"  I sure love this kid. 

We wandered through the gem stones exhibit where Funny Guy was amazed to see all the beautiful and varied minerals and crystals on display.  Then we browsed a beautiful exhibit of the 2012 winners of the Windland Smith Rice International photography awards (you can see the photographs here--they are stunning, especially in the huge printouts the Smithsonian has up!).  Then Funny Guy asked to go see the insects and mummies (his favorite from last time).  He also talked me into getting tickets to go into the butterfly room.  It was so beautiful.  The butterflies are huge and flying all around.  Not many land long enough to get good pictures, but it's so magical.  Funny Guy was hoping one would land on him but even though he was very good at pretending to be a flower, none did.

Finally, after almost two hours, Funny Guy relented and said we could go home if I promised we could come back again soon. :-)