Zach vs walking

He still needs a little help... :-)

Zach vs dinner

Dinner tonight started off with Zach stuffing his face, chewing, and going "numnumnumnum" for about 15 straight minutes. The result: a happy camper!


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Zach turns one!!

To celebrate the momentous occasion of Zach's first birthday, we decided to throw a party. We realized that there was no way Zach would remember this. In fact, there was a good chance he would sleep or cry through most of it. But really, this party was more for us than it was for him. It was a good excuse to have friends over and BBQ. There was some extensive party preparation (thanks, Sarah!).

Turning one year old is a huge deal in Korean culture, because historically speaking, if you made it to one, you've made it out of the dreaded infant mortality age, and can probably be counted on to be around for a while. Thusly, there are several traditions that accompany the one-year birthday. First, there is a birthday outfit. My mom being the packrat that she is, has kept the one-year birthday outfit that *I* celebrated in 30 years ago for just this occasion. She omitted the fur lined vest that I wore in January, and the shoes were also not a very good fit and wouldn't stay on, but the rest was fair game. There is also a tradition whereby Zach chooses his future. Several items representing several life outcomes and honorable professions are laid out in front of him for his perusal. Whichever item he chooses represents his future life path. In this case, there was a bowl of rice (representing wealth), a long thread (representing long life), a hundred dollar bill (representing monetary wealth?), a pen (scholarship), a stethoscope (medicine), and a computer mouse (representing technology). I'm forcing you to look at the album to see what he chose :-)

Meals also made two cakes, and my mom bought a third cake made out of dduk (rice cake). Meals *really* wanted to see Zach eat birthday cake, so we let him go at it. This was his first experience with cake or really any refined sugar. You really have to see the whole sequence to get the full experience, but suffice it to say, it was highly entertaining, and Zach performed quite admirably.

We had an awesome time, and we hope everyone else did, too! Thanks so much to everyone for the happy birthday wishes, for coming out to celebrate, and for being a part of Zach's life. Thanks especially to Hal-moni (Grandma Min) for helping us carry out the Korean traditions and supplying the dduk!

Andrew.

Link to the album:

Maui, to infinity and beyond

Ahhh, Maui. Despite 85 degree weather and no AC in our condo, it was wonderful. Highlights of the trip:

1) Zach turning on the charm and flirting with the waitress at Aloha Mixed Plate. Who then promptly turned around and gave us a table ahead of a half-dozen other customers!! What a stud!

2) The endless rainbows. It seems like every day we were treated to at least a couple of stunning rainbows, oftentimes all the way to the indigo end of the spectrum.

3) The pool. Zach *loved* the pool, which I'm pretty sure we managed to capture in the photos below.

4) The massages. All four of us ended up getting massages. Meals declared hers "the best massage I've ever had, hands-down." Mine involved slightly more pain. Seriously strong hands combined with the elbow techniques of lomi-lomi gave my shoulders a work-out. Painful at the time, but definitely looser afterwards.

5) Snorkeling tour. We got to visit Molokini and Turtletown. The former was awesome - although we didn't find any octopi, we did manage to see a ton of coral and colorful tropical fishes in some of the clearest blue water you can find. The latter was also really cool - we saw probably 8 or 9 gigantic sea turtles spiraling their way hither and thither up and down from the ocean floor (probably doing their best to avoid the herd of snorkelers following their every move).

6) Sneaking onto the beach at the Ritz-Carlton. An awesome find. A beautiful protected cove, clear blue water, almost as good as Molokini, great for snorkeling and swimming, yet calm enough for Zach to play in the waves.

7) Dinner at Hali'imaile General Store. Amazing sashimi napoleon, incredible ahi entree with ginger soy dressing. No room for dessert. Speaking of dessert...

8) Shave ice. With macademia nut ice cream. Probably my favorite thing about Hawaii. Why is there not a good shave ice place on the mainland??

We'll miss you, Maui. Until next time...

Real cool dude

Somebody found mommy's sunglasses.


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Maui, part 1

OK, so whose idea was it to take an 11 month old toddler on a 5-1/2 hour plane ride?? The first hour and a half were *painful* - Zach was trying to crawl all over the place, crying, whining, unhappy to be cooped up on our laps with nowhere to actually MOVE. We tried the usual tricks - books, bottles, toys, rocking, shushing - but we were *that* family. The one with the crying baby that you pray you don't get seated next to on the plane. It only got worse as the flight wore on and it became clear that Zach was cranky because he needed a nap. But he's not used to napping in our arms, and he just wouldn't do it. And time fell into that void where it creeps by at half-pace. Finally at around two hours in, we got him to sleep. And he slept. And slept. He slept for an hour and a half, which was kinda beyond my wildest dreams. And after he woke up, he behaved!! The rest of the flight was innocuous... It also helped that Grandma Wheeler kept popping up with new presents for Zach (books, toys, etc) every once in a while!

Maui is fabulous. More than anything, we are glad to be away from home. Away from residency. Done with the anesthesia boards (congratulations, Meals!!!). We got to our condo in Kahana and were treated to an amazing sunset, right off the bat.

We are treating this as a low-stress vacation, with very little on the agenda. Well, ostensibly, Meals is here for an anesthesia conference, but those lectures end at noon. We took Zach to a "baby-friendly beach" yesterday and it was amazing (pictures at the end). Zach seemed to tolerate the ocean more than enjoy it, but I hope that by the end of our trip, he'll be more comfortable with it. He does really enjoy the pool at our condo, which seems to be constantly filled with other children. We have discovered we have a sea turtle that likes to hang out outside our lanai - we have named her Henrietta. I am trying to channel the rhythms of Henrietta and stop being the obnoxious mainlander who is always impatient (while driving, at restaurants, etc). Maybe at least for a few days, we can relax and enjoy island time. We have been enjoying the local cuisine - wonderful fresh fish and kahalua pork. And we booked massages for Friday... will report back later.

Aloha!!

Andrew.

Maui, part 1