Fun with Hal-ah-beo-ji

Joseph is enjoying his time with Korean grandparents. Even though the bike was too big for Joseph my dad tried for ride. One Sunday evening we went to fishing. Joseph was busy throwing little stones to the water and now busy eating food and my dad was busy throwing the fishing pole. Nothing was caught though~!

Family Worship Time

My family here are trying to have a family service everyday. One day all the families in Korea gathered together and had a service. But! They couldn't continue reading the Bible verses because they were laughing so hard because of Joonyoung (3 yrs) and Nael (2.5yrs). We read one verse in turns and when it was the little kids' turn, they just told their stories (not many people understand though!) or murmuring whatever they wanted. Sometimes, it's very short but other times they did't stop telling, so we just have to say "Amen" to stop them. In the second picture Joonyoung just told his story and it made my mom fall down laughing! :) Yesterday I found Nael and Joseph playing "family service". They brought the hymn books and sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" themselves! Nael can sing all three verses by memory and Joseph is only clapping! It was very cute! (Somehow the picture looks weird)

Families in Korea

Okay, I have to explain about each picture.
No. 1 and 2: Joseph's cousin, Nael, and my mom are trying to do "victory V". Joseph followed them for the first time. It seems quite successful!
No. 3: He's doing "Where did it go?!" after throwing the orange (he played with it like a ball) in my grandmother's house (My grandmother's is doing great! She's now 96!).
No. 4: With my aunt in my grandmother's house. They're playing with wind and a dog!
No. 5: My brother came to my parent's house from Israel on Fool's Day to shock everybody! It was a very successful "surprise." His wife who was already in Korea almost had a heart attack! The little baby is their second one, Joel!

Watching Soccer (video)

Joseph was always overwhelmed while watching soccer or baseball on TV. I'm glad to catch this one! He's also pretty good at throwing the ball, too. My family here are all surprised at that. We cannot deny he is his grandpa's grandson! :)

Joseph's Heaven

We went to a kid's playroom in a mall. You know how much Joseph loves balls! He LOVED playing a lot of balls at the same time. Yes, he is in his heaven :) The wood slide was fun, too (Actually I enjoyed very much!)

Joseph and Fishes (video)

We went to an open market in Busan and Joseph was excited to watch real fishes and chickens! He's now explaining about the different fishes...I think! :)

Joseph in Korea!

Joseph and I (Ami) are visiting Korea for four weeks. He had a good time at a hotel room in Japan (First picture). He even reigned an adult seat beside me and VERY enjoyed his TV while other people were all sleeping! He's getting along very well with his Korean grandparents, too.

Great time with Daddy!

Before heading to Korea, Joseph had a great time with daddy at Mill lake park and the airport! :)

Joseph's "Front Yard"

We just moved to a new house on Bevan Ave and it's basically across the street from Mill Lake Park! He's going to have a lot of fun there!

Joseph Descends Mount Everest!

All by himself, Joseph discovered a new skill. He's very proud of himself!

Hopeless Romantic

Like his daddy, Joseph has found himself an older woman. His friend Boemee

is almost three!
These pictures were taken at Korean New Year. It's Korean custom for children do a traditional bow to their elders to receive cash on that day. Our little money maker netted 31 bucks!

Joseph's Secret Weapon

This kid has longest tongue of a child that I have ever seen. It's also his weapon

for sneak attack. If we aren't on our guard he'll come at us and try to lick our face just to get a reaction!

Very Accomplished!

So many interests - both technological and musical!

Catch Up Pictures

I know I've been a bit negligent recently in posting pictures. Things should improve markedly now that I've finished my thesis defense though. So these are so pictures to update you on what Joseph's been doing the past month! Click to enlarge. More to come!

Where'd it Go?

This is, bar none, Joseph's favourite game right now, dancing to the music and pretending shock when it stops. I'm beginning to wonder if he has a little theatrical blood in his veins. Maybe such things skip a few generations! (This goes on a bit, feel free to stop it in the middle. My high pitched "baby voice" gets a little irritating :)

Joseph's First Snow Day

December 2 was Joseph's first experience of snow. He was pretty excited, constantly pointing out the stuff to us!

Father and Son

So waddaya think? Any resemblance?

Video: Little Beethoven

Our little pianist seems to be taking after mommy! Though he also seems to have daddy's ability to get distracted...

Joseph's First BIrthday

Joseph had a ball for his first birthday! Three or four parties, presents from all sorts of people and the chance to wear a cool costume. In Korean it's called a "hanbok." Every time we put it on him the little narcissist walked over to the mirror to look at himself. I am constantly switching between thinking he looks like a Jewish high priest or one of the three wise men. We also followed a Korean tradition of letting him choose between a pen (intelligence), money (wealth), book, thread (long life), car, and a Bible. Our little genius chose the pen. Hopefully the Bible will come in useful too!
Anyway, it was all we could wish for in a birthday!

Dramatic Joseph

Joseph in one of the most expressive moods! Every time a new person appears, he feels the need to point out how interesting the world is with the constant cry of "Oo, Oo, Oo!"!

Thesis notes? What thesis notes?

Mommy may be done her school work, but daddy is not, and Joseph still likes to mess up his notes

Mommy's Done School, Time for Some Fun!

Okay, okay, we're back from our extended hibernation with more cute Joseph pictures.

Family at McDonalds

Just before Scott and Courtney left for the Middle East we got together at McDonalds.

Real Walking!

Joseph is very proud of himself these days! He's really walking! He can do 10 steps easily and his maximum is 20 before he reverts back to crawling mode. Life going to be hectic soon!

Synchronized Boogie

Joseph finally found a dance partner he feels comfortable with! When he doesn't dance well Joseph works hard to get him in gear. In the end though, they are able to make up. (For those of you who know us well, it's quite a surprise to have such an enthusiastic dancing son!)

Dancing in Turns

Joseph and cousin Josiah seem to be having a little dance competition!
They live by the credo: "Real men don't dance together!"

Joseph Performs for his Fans

Joseph is rarely inclined to move on to the next stage of development until he has an audience. When he has many people watching though, BOOM! instant progress! He caught the idea with Grandma the day before, and then on Sunday he voluntarily grabbed this bike and started walking! Life is fun these days!

Take That!

"This will teach you to take up all of Mommy's time!"
Joseph takes out his jealousy on Ami's school notes.

Afternoon at Westminster Abbey

We visited Westminster Abbey with another Korean Joseph
(a boarder at my parents' place) and he made this amazing photo video for us!
PS. Oops~! It's 10 times faster than it should be. I'll post some of those pictures soon individually!

VIctoria Journey

We really hadn't had a family vacation since Joseph was born - in fact not since our honeymoon - so a trip to Victoria was a nice change of pace. We did all the traditional touristy things and got some anonymous gifts to go to ridiculously expensive places like Butchart Gardens. Ami's friends, in the lower right corner, let us stay with them. The place was a wonderland of photo opportunities for Ami! If you click on them you can see them better.

Video: Mommy... or Daddy?

Joseph's enjoyment of games has grown exponentially.
He had a lot of fun with this one until he got dizzy.

Video: Wink

During mealtimes Joseph's favourite game is"Wink."
Hasn't quite got the concept down yet, but he's having fun!
(Thanks Blogger for finally getting video! More videos on
the way, Robyn!)

Family Reunion at the Mill Lake Park

Seeing as this is the last time the family will be able to be together for another two and a half years, figured we better make it count. This has been a great summer with everyone together. Now Robyn's back at Moody and Scott and Courtney are heading off to the Middle East for more than two years. We're going to be going through a lot of changes before we see each other again. You never know maybe there will be a few additions! (If you click on the pictures you can magnify them. Sorry Courtney, Google cut you in half in the family picture!)

Little Swimmer

This is our first trip to the ARC Pool. Joseph was beside
himself with enthusiasm!