Happy Birthday, Min!!

We were lucky to have my brother and his family here during Min's 3rd birthday. It always adds a little more excitement and chaos to the party. Min and his Thomas cake. Min is obsessed with Thomas and his 'favorite' engine is Diesel 10. To unknowledgeable Thomas folks, Diesel 10 is a naughty engine. I truly hope that is not a predictor of my son.

My nephew, Noah, came too. Here he is helping Min unwrap his presents. He's turning 5 in a couple of weeks and was so good to Min.

Noah, with what I was told was a wanted movie of his.

Min at the restaurant where we had his birthday dinner. This was after drinking his ice cream as you will see in the next picture.

We were a little surprised to see Henry 'skiing' behind the Gator. They left to go around the cul-de-sac. Henry was roller-blading...alone, and Charles and Min were in the Gator. This is what we saw when they made back to the house.

This is a pretty good shot of the 'real' Min. The Min we see at home. He always hides when people talk to him in public. Yes, he's nuts. Poor Charles... he had been working on building a dam in the sandbox. He didn't get too upset though.

First Days of School

School has officially started. Henry started on September 7th and is in the 2nd grade. None of his close friends are in his class, but he loves school anyway. Charles started kindergarten on September 10th. He was very nervous about school starting. But came running out at the end of the day with a smile on his face. I asked him if he liked school, and he said, 'I love school!.' I asked him he had any homework, and he said, 'I don't think so. I don't know what that is.'

Happy Birthday, Charles!!

Charles is 6. Wow!! We spent most of the day in the Cities. We went to the Como Zoo and amusement park. Very much a hit with the boys. Afterwards, we made it through the traffic mess of the State Fair and got to the Mirror of Korea for dinner. We stopped over at Kim's Market for melon bars before we left for home. Charles and Min fell asleep on our way out of St. Paul (at 6:00 p.m.) and slept all the way home. Yes...you're right.... it's not good for a 2 and 6 year old to take a nap at 6 p.m. But, they did crash at 10...not midnight like we had thought.

It has been so fun watching Charles grow to this age and seeing more and more of his personality shine through. On his first birthday, he stuck his fingers in the cake and screamed. He hated it. Now, he's very much a rule-follower (he's going to LOVE school). And, thinks everyone else should follow the same rules....even when you're 2. And, when you don't follow the rules, well... he's not especially happy. He loves to build with Lego's, Lincoln Logs, and in the sand. He could play in the water for hours and hours. He's literally spent the majority of the summer wet and sandy. He also adores ships. He's not a speed talker like Henry. Thankfully...you can really only have one or maybe two of those per family before you start buying stock in earplugs. But he is a thinker and an analyzer. He asks some incredibly thoughtful questions. Most of the time they are also incredibly thought-provoking. He is our Charles. Our Jeong Min 정 민. We love you, buddy!! Pictures with the brothers!!

Opening presents....He got a remote control airplane and a remote control helicopter.