Four years ago this summer, I was super pregnant and nesting like crazy while watching the 2012 Olympics. This summer, I'm watching the Olympics a little at a time, and we celebrated Landon's 4th birthday! Because of our traveling, his birthday celebrations have not always included a kid party, but this year, we had friends to invite from church here in Korea! Landon decided he wanted to go to the local free water park for his birthday party, and some wonderful Korean families joined us.
 |
| Austin and Owen, the watermelon eater! |
I had no idea what to expect from this party. I was not sure what Koreans do for birthdays, and I was just crossing my fingers that our guests would show up at the right place at the right time, because I told one lady at church that speaks English and told her to pass it along to all the Primary kids' parents. I planned on having enough food for everyone, and we brought along a couple picnic mats so everyone would have somewhere to sit (Koreans HAVE to have mats to sit on the ground, it seems). Turns out, I did not need to worry at all. The families that came brought picnic mats, grapes and gimbap (seaweed and rice rolls with ham, egg, and kimchi). I provided watermelon, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (Landon's favorite) and popcorn, along with birthday cupcakes. We opted not to attempt to sing "Happy Birthday", because I had no idea if anyone would know the song. We made little treat bags that had stickers, glow in the dark dinosaurs, and fruit snacks. The kids gave Landon cute little presents, although Landon was confused if they were presents or not because they weren't wrapped. He kept thinking he would have to bring them back to the kids on Sunday.
 |
| Landon and some of his guests |
Landon had a wonderful time playing in the water with his friends. He loves to dive and swim underwater, but had a little trouble being too rough when he was a platypus defending his baby platypuses from predators. It was a hot day- perfect for being in the pool! During lunch break, all the kids crowded around and they played together so well! It made my mommy heart happy. When we are at an attraction like the pool, Landon can play maybe 2-3 hours, and then he is exhausted and needs to leave. Koreans can really stick it out, though. We arrived before 10:00 am. The kiddy pool opened at 10:00 and there were 50 minute sessions at 10:00 and 11:00. We did lunch and cupcakes at 12:00 because there was an hour break, and we thought then people could leave and get on with their day. Well, 1:00 rolled around and everyone was still there! Austin and I had a pow-wow and decided it would be rude to leave first from our own son's birthday party, so Landon and Austin played another hour while I watched Owen nap and chatted with our Korean friend that speaks English. 1:50 came and no one made a move to leave. Landon was SO tired he was doing random naughty things for no reason, so we had to apologize to our birthday party guests and pack up and leave. Koreans can hang and party all day long, I guess! They just bring pillows and chill on their mats under the shade if they need a break. Overall, Landon had a wonderful time at his party, and we so appreciated our friends from the Seosan branch for making it such a special day for him. The kid in the red shirt is a boy Landon calls "the bigger boy" who plays and wrestles with him on Sundays. Landon was THRILLED to see him at his party. He's much older than Landon, but he plays with him, much to Landon's delight.
 |
| Our whole family with some guests |
Landon's actual birthday fell on a Tuesday. The morning of his birthday, we had some balloons for him, a special hat, and some party blowers. He was super excited and got to open a couple presents before Austin went to work. He opened new Robocar Poli transforming vehicles. He was pleased.
 |
| The birthday boy |
 |
| With Amber and Poli, Landon has the whole set of characters! |
For his birthday activity, he decided he wanted to go to the beach. We were flying solo because everyone else was busy with work or school, so I took the boys to Mallipo beach, which is basically the closest beach to Samgilpo with sand that has nice showers and bathrooms. Landon had a blast digging in the sand, swimming in the waves, and befriending Korean girls who spoke English. I loved his posing with the girls because at first, he held up two fingers like "peace," but then opted to go with four fingers to show how old he was!
We brought a soccer ball and kicked it around. The tide was way out while we were there, so there was a lot of beach to play on! Owen loved crawling around and eating sand. This was the first trip to the beach where I really saw how much Owen wants to keep up with Landon and play with him. It was adorable to watch him crawl around on the sand as fast as he possibly could yelling "ANDA! ANDA!" As we were playing on the beach, I thought we should go pick up Landon's shoes that were way up near the road, far away from us because of how far out the tide was. So, we're walking up toward the road, and I get the feeling that I need to check to see if the car's lights are on. That would be silly, because they were not on when I left the car, but Landon had been playing in the front seat, so I decided to go with the feeling (the promptings of the Holy Ghost) and check on the lights. They were definitely on! I raced back to our stuff to grab the keys and turned them off. Crisis averted! We were there all by ourselves this trip, and we could have easily been stranded there on Landon's birthday, which would not have made a very good birthday trip. Thank goodness for promptings from the Holy Ghost.
 |
| Ripslinger! |
Once we got home from the beach, I started shaping and decorating Landon's birthday cake. He requested Ripslinger from Planes, so I did my very best. We had an oven because of another wonderful Korean friend from church, but I did not have a mixer of any kind. I bought an immersion blender because I could not find a handheld mixer, but it didn't work quite as well as I would have liked. Anyway, I made chocolate and vanilla buttercream frostings, and managed to decorate the cake before his cake and ice cream party with Austin's co-workers. I think Landon was pleased with the results.
 |
| Happy birthday boy! |
Landon's face while "Happy Birthday" was being sung was priceless. He felt like such a special kid! It was awesome.
 |
| It took a couple tries to blow out the candles, but it was a major victory when he did! |
Austin's friends and co-workers really came through and Landon had tons of presents to open from us, co-workers, and both sets of grandparents. He was so excited about each toy and gift, and it has led to many hours of independent play, which is a nice break for me, too! Happy birthday, my rambunctious, adventurous boy! We sure do love you!
 |
| An OCTONAUTS toy! Hooray! |
Four years ago this summer, I was super pregnant and nesting like crazy while watching the 2012 Olympics. This summer, I'm watching the Olympics a little at a time, and we celebrated Landon's 4th birthday! Because of our traveling, his birthday celebrations have not always included a kid party, but this year, we had friends to invite from church here in Korea! Landon decided he wanted to go to the local free water park for his birthday party, and some wonderful Korean families joined us.
For his birthday activity, he decided he wanted to go to the beach. We were flying solo because everyone else was busy with work or school, so I took the boys to Mallipo beach, which is basically the closest beach to Samgilpo with sand that has nice showers and bathrooms. Landon had a blast digging in the sand, swimming in the waves, and befriending Korean girls who spoke English. I loved his posing with the girls because at first, he held up two fingers like "peace," but then opted to go with four fingers to show how old he was!
We brought a soccer ball and kicked it around. The tide was way out while we were there, so there was a lot of beach to play on! Owen loved crawling around and eating sand. This was the first trip to the beach where I really saw how much Owen wants to keep up with Landon and play with him. It was adorable to watch him crawl around on the sand as fast as he possibly could yelling "ANDA! ANDA!" As we were playing on the beach, I thought we should go pick up Landon's shoes that were way up near the road, far away from us because of how far out the tide was. So, we're walking up toward the road, and I get the feeling that I need to check to see if the car's lights are on. That would be silly, because they were not on when I left the car, but Landon had been playing in the front seat, so I decided to go with the feeling (the promptings of the Holy Ghost) and check on the lights. They were definitely on! I raced back to our stuff to grab the keys and turned them off. Crisis averted! We were there all by ourselves this trip, and we could have easily been stranded there on Landon's birthday, which would not have made a very good birthday trip. Thank goodness for promptings from the Holy Ghost. 
Once we got home from the beach, I started shaping and decorating Landon's birthday cake. He requested Ripslinger from Planes, so I did my very best. We had an oven because of another wonderful Korean friend from church, but I did not have a mixer of any kind. I bought an immersion blender because I could not find a handheld mixer, but it didn't work quite as well as I would have liked. Anyway, I made chocolate and vanilla buttercream frostings, and managed to decorate the cake before his cake and ice cream party with Austin's co-workers. I think Landon was pleased with the results.
Comments
Post a Comment