He sure is growing!

We went to see baby SJ's doctor for his 6 month check up which meant another set of immunization shots for SJ. I should be getting accustomed to this by now, but I just don't think I ever will. I get so sad when I see my baby cry out of pain. Now that he is a little older, his cry is getting louder and lasts longer. It seems like he is crying because it hurts but also sounds upset. Besides those shots, the doctor's visit was great. He is still in the 90th percentile in both height and weight. I told the doctor I thought he was loosing weight by looking at his thigh, she looked at me weird and said, "Mom, that is crazy talk!" hahahahaha. She showed me the growth chart and compared SJ to the standard growth and it's clear that SJ is growing, growing and growing! I was worried for SJ but turned out I didn't have to :) He also learned to crawl. It amazes me every time he makes an attempt to crawl, he'll keep trying and trying and never stop. Watching him develop every minute gives me energy to keep going. It is really hard to raise a baby but I have never regretted being his mom and I know I won't. I love him like there's no more room to love him but than, I love him more.

grocery run

Okay, this is what schedule last Saturday looked like...

Our first stop was Walmart for cleaning supplies

And ran to Target for kitchen tools.

H-Mart (Korean grocery store) for grocoery shopping for following week

Whole Foods for baby SJ's food

And then... even our baby SJ got so tired from all the grocery runs, fell asleep in my arms while my husband stopped by Costco for very last grocery shopping.

We went to 5 different grocery store to get what we needed to get. Am I little picky? hehe :)

To be or not to be...

Aghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

  This has been on my mind for a while now. I regret watching the documentary, Food Inc., so much! 

  Ever since I saw the documentary, I have a hard time looking at meat, it just doesn't seem the same any more. This is horrible because I love meat. I love every kind of meat. I can't live without meat. I even eat steak for breakfast sometimes because I crave meat. I mean this is horrible. There were some scenes in this movie that made me want to throw up. This documentary made me hate these corporations involved in the food industry. I don't ever want to eat at certain restaurants or go grocery shopping in certain stores any more. I want to know where my meat is coming from. I mean this can sound very weird to people but after watching the documentary, you would be like me.

  I mean eating healthy is very important and good for us. I'm not gonna lie, it was a very educational documentary. I have gained a great appreciation to the farmers who do it right. I am so glad there are still some farmers who overlook profit over quality/honesty and I want to support these local farmers. So I shopped at Whole Foods for the first time and researched restaurants who get their supplies from local farmers. Now I need to start collecting salad recipes. If you know some good ones, DO SHARE :) I am seriously considering to become a vegetarian. It will be extremely difficult, but I am really thinking about it. Ugh...big sigh...

Long weekend means another road trip for the Parks!

Time is ticking. We don't have too much time left before we leave DC. We are very anxious to visit many places. Eus and I loved going on road trips when we lived out West. We still talk about every trip we took. It was worth skipping those school days to make amazing memories together. We also want to create new memories in the East. I know once we move to Canada it'll be harder to take road trips in the States. So, we started our East Coast tour starting with Philadelphia! My sister-in-law lives in Philly so it was perfect to spend time with family too. (Though we had been there several times, we made this recent trip the official road trip excursion)

Our first stop was Baltimore, Maryland before we got to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Baltimore was pretty interesting. I have never seen a city with this much street art. It was everywhere. And this was one of my favorites. Isn't it cool? 

After cruising thorough the city we went to this amazing Italian market that sold the best sandwich. Everything was made in their shop; from the bread to the sauce and even aging their own cheese to curing their own meat, it was all done in this one place. We'll definitely be going back there.

In Philly, the first meal I grabbed was a Philly Cheesesteak! Of course. What else would you get in Philly? The first bite, I just fell in love. I will miss it so much!

 And we were off to these little cute stores. They were side-by-side to each other. The story goes that this was the very first candy store in America and the other was the first ice cream store in America. The candy and ice cream both tasted amazing! We got salted milk caramel and dark chocolate; delishhhhhhhh. As for ice cream, I had blueberry, it was the bomb!

 I noticed that every city I visited had their own characteristic. Baltimore and Philly definitely had their own distinct character. 

Friends visit

My high school friends from Utah visited us last weekend! It was so nice to see them and reminisce our old times. We took them to all the major tourist places in DC and Korean restaurants. They got to see and play with baby SJ all through out the trip. By the time they went back to Utah, they were all so sad that they won't see SJ for a while. 7 years later from the first time we all met in high school, our journey has taken us to such different places from one another; yet none of us really changed. We were all so sad to say good-bye but we know we will meet again soon!

We have been so busy

Our little family got a little too busy in the last few weeks, I didn't even have time to blog. So... We visited Toronto, Canada which is my husband's hometown to look for a place to live! Yes. We are moving to Toronto!! Crazyyyy. After moving across the country, we decided to move again! After lots of thinking, pondering and praying; we decided to move. The last time I was in Toronto, I got married, and that left me very little time to actually see the city. This time, I was able to check it out and I looooved it! Unlike any other big city with skyscrapers and millions of people, it was extremely diverse with a rich blend of cultural ethnicity. We are very excited to live close to at least one side of the family.

Catching up with Baby SJ- SJ is 5 months old!!! He rolls constantly from back to stomach and stomach to back even while he is asleep. Very busy body! He can sit by himself for a little while.  He loves toys that make sounds. He refuses to go to bed and wants to play instead. He has been eating baby food, white rice with one vegetable at a time.

Happy Anniversary

August 7 2010, We got married

So August 7 2012, We celebrated!

We went to Annapolis to get great crab along the Chesapeake.

The weather was perfect. The nice cool breeze let us eat outside on the deck without irritating baby SJ. Eus wasn't too excited for crab but he made a sacrifice for me. (He doesn't really like seafood)

And of course, baby SJ was ready to order!

Sorry bud! You are not old enough to eat crab yet!

We got the unlimited bucket of crab. We didn't know how to eat this, or what parts we could eat. Whenever we had crab, even in San Francisco's Fishermen Warf, everything was prepared for us. After a few attempts and continuous failure, we finally figured it out. It took a while to fill our empty belly.

Celebrating our anniversary gave us an excuse to celebrate what we accomplished. 2011 was a very special year for us. Our life changed dramatically with moving to Washington DC. After graduating from college, we had to face the cold reality of life and overcome several challenges in a completely different place. Having a baby is whole different story. However, the blessings that came from enduring those challenges were far greater than I ever expected. I couldn't ask for more.