Denver

In my past couple of posts I included a few pics pertaining to my visit to Colorado last week and now I guess I'll include the rest of them.

With Sarah and Eva already in Denver, I was able to get two birds with one stone, make that three, because Heather Feather Smith Janssen joined us from Nebraska, and with child.

Right when Heather got in, we did a nice little walk through the "Garden of the Gods", a park of several stunning and amazing rock formations clustered together in one area. It was a chilly, but beautiful and clear day.

If we were a family, this would be our pic. Christmas cards 2010, here we come.

The Kissing Camels. Can you see them?

The highlight of the weekend was supposed to be a tour of local candy factory, Hammonds. The tour was about as exciting as this pic, and about as interesting as the random snowman that Heather Feather is holding.

We did a lot of stuff all weekend which mostly included eating, hanging around, and talking about cooking. Well, me listening to Eva and Sarah talk about cooking, in which I learned a lot! Next time I'm at high altitudes, I think I'll likely bake better now!

We made a short visit to Manitou Springs and took a little tour of the town.


We hiked a really steep hike in Boulder the last day and took this very Bouldery photo to top it all off.

It was a good trip and it was nice to be able to catch up with everyone, and to spend time with Heather before she births her child. Plus, Denver is beautiful!

Sarah buys milk

I was in Denver, CO last week visiting Sarah and Eva. It was fun to visit them in their new city and just hang, hike a bit, and listen to them talk about cookbooks and the latest cooking techniques. One night, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights then before returning home, stopped at the store to pick up some milk. Here is Sarah's journey purchasing milk.

Sarah entered Safeway with high hopes of finding milk to purchase. She were pretty certain she would emerge successful.


But it's not to say that she didn't have her challenges. This Safeway was a big store. There's a lot of places milk could be.


As Sarah quickly found out, there was no milk in the produce section. For example, this melon? Not milk.


Nor was the milk under the Christmas tree? That would be an affirmative "no."


Freezer section? Well, let me ask you this, does milk = frozen calf liver? Nope.com


Is the bacon milk? Not likely.


Neither does Salt and Vinegar chips does not milk make.


Still no milk to be found, but content and with a happy heart, Sarah continued her search through Safeway, determined to find milk.


And then there it was. Like ice in a freezer. Sarah spied with her tall eyes, milk in the dairy section.


Oh what joy! Elation was hers!


And the milk was found!


Then as it turns out I bought the milk. Which I was fine to do. Sarah did all the hard work locating the milk, the least I could do was pay for it.




And that is the story of "Sarah buys (locates) milk".

The end.

People of Manitou Springs, CO

I think by now most of us have visited www.PeopleOfWalmart.com and had a pretty good laugh. I guess if I were going to start up a similar website, you would be able to visit it at www.PeopleOfManitouSpringsColorado.com and I would kick it off with this sighting:



Poor dog but so fortunate for us! Talk about a treat on our visit to Manitou Springs, CO! It's not everyday you get to see this walking down the street! Awesome.

Mia's Tol

This post is way past due, but it is definitely still worth posting.

Mia had her 1st birthday back in October and we had a big party to celebrate! It's a party she will never recall, but by the power of digital and film, hopefully she'll get an idea of how much fun it was!

In Korea, a child's first birthday, or "tol", is a pretty big deal. To celebrate, friends and family gather together to eat and observe an elaborate ceremony featuring the little one.

For Mia's tol, we dressed her in traditional Korean clothing and simplified the ceremony, or "toljabee".



A toljabee is a table ceremony in which certain items symbolic of a child's future are placed on a table. The child is then placed at the table in front of the items and depending on which item the child picks, is believed to be a predictor of the child's future. Typical items placed on the table include:

- bow and arrow: the child will become a warrior (not really applicable for this time period)
- needle and thread: the child will live long
- jujube: the child will have many descendants
- book, pencil, or related items: the child will become a successful scholar
- money: the child will become rich
- ruler, needle, scissors: the child will be talented with his/her hands
- knife: the child will be a good cook


We had a tol for Kimball too and he picked the thread, symbolic of longevity. Here's a video of what Mia picked:



Mia couldn't really figure out why we were clapping for her and looked to mom for an explanation, but I think she eventually caught on that she just did something way too cute and totally awesome. She picked the pencils meaning she'll be smart and educated. Every year my parents always hope the kids will choose the money...maybe the next one.

We had a big party with a ton of traditional Korean dishes and an over abundance of cake and rice cake. The cake we got from Costco and the rice cake, which weighed about 30-lbs. we got from the Korean store of course.




And little Mia with her dairy-free diet, got a cupcake all to herself. Lucky little girl.


It was so much fun and really, the best part of the party was the ceremony. It's so fun to see what the kid picks and then to just kind of believe that that's how their future could turn out. I wonder what I picked when I was that age, a question to ask the parents I suppose.

Another key moment of the weekend was this little clip I happened to catch of my dad. Our house was overrun with children and I think by the end, my dad was just pooped. He's pretty much just holding a pink balloon. (Sorry it's sideways, but after 10-seconds, I turn the camera to get the right angle.)