Our Seoul Trip : Christmas 2011 : Let it Snow!

Because I have received a couple of e-mails / private messages inquiring about our Seoul trip last Christimas after posting this one, http://hahpiness.blogspot.com/2012/01/seoul-trip-story-behind-arrival.html - now I am more than happy to continue our Seoul chronicles here.

Seoul Day 1

It was still cold outside at 4 deg cel. Our planned trip for the day [23rd Dec] was canceled due to the fact that our luggages were not with us yet(remember our airlines lost them). They promised to deliver it the next day ( 23rd Dec) at our friend's pad at GANGNAM-gu. So instead of going to Everland we opted to stroll and see the nearby mall and sceneries at GANGNAM. Gangnam itself is a tourist spot in Seoul. If you like shopping for branded stuff, this is one of the places you want to go. As per WIKI,  It is one of the most affluent areas of Seoul and is located in the southeast of the city.

But we didn't shop for branded stuff because I don't have budget for that. He He. We instead visited TheFaceshop / Etude  to buy some gifts for family and friends. We had a stroll around Coex mall and ejoyed the Coex Aquarium. It was stress free.


Coex Mall / Coex Aquarium

   After our aquarium adventure, Marvin bought some more pasalubong from one of the local stores we passed by. He also got himself " I <3 Korea" shirt and some displays to put home.

In the evening we met with our friend, Stacy, who has been our knight and shinign armor. She let us stayed in her home for free for 3 days, let us use her personal stuff because we don't have out stuff with us yet, prepared food for us, made as feel at home and even let us use her own room. :D She brought us to Podo Restaurant at Appujeong-dong for dinner. She ordered some beef and side dishes, cups of rice for us and some more beef. :D It was the most tastiest beef I tasted. Super saaaaraaaaap! It was very soft and malasa. Panalo.

Stacy also ordered a soup for H. We requested for a non spicy miso soup for the kid but they failed. In all fairness to them, we saw the effort, they really tried to make a non spicy soup, they just cant. Cute.

For Koreans,  the dinner should be finished with cold noodles or what they call, nangmyun. Just imagine a noodle soup with crushed ice. Ha Ha. It was delish!

After dinner we headed to the Han River. According to Stacy the Han River is the most famous river in Korea and it divides Seoul's north and south part. It also has it's major part of Seoul's history. For more, just Google. :D

Before we left the restaurant, Stacy already received an SMS from VW sms alert that it will snow the next day so VW owners (she owns a Volkswagen beetle) has to be extra careful but we were most surprise when we went out of the restaurant and there are already snow flakes. It was SNOWING! We all got excited, my daughter went crazy.

When we arrived at the Han River, the snow was already pouring. My daughter sang Barney's song, "... Standing outside with my mouth open wide... Ah ah ahaa"




Those are snow

 It was the highlight of our evening! And we wanted more! :) We were excited to go home and wake up in the morning and see everything is covered with snow. It was a perfect night, I'm telling you.

Day 2... To be continued.


Blessings ♥

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Safety first

Today, I am joining the newest meme I discovered through blog hopping. I stumbled upon http://extraroomforhappiness.blogspot.com/ and at the same time, my come back post for http://www.mommyjourney.com/category/mommy-moments

HAPPINESS IS... mommy moments :D

For me happiness is me. As my nick name is Hapi and my friends call me Ha(h)piness, I conclude that is me. I'm just teasing! :D Seriouly happiness for me is making my daughter happy. When she is, then I am, then we are.

Yesterday my sister in law and I decided to have a jog around the park. My daughter who likes to think she is sporty enough and can run with us wanted to join us as well. Last weekend we bought her a set of protective gears so she can be safe everytime she rides on her scooter so I said yes but she must wear those. She agreed and here she is, all geared up for an afternoon physical activity. She is also wearing the Standard Chartered 2010 Marathon singlet which she joined in before. It still fits her. :D

She was unstoppable. Manang Ji-ji our very dependable helper cannot catch her! Ha ha. It was a great bonding for us too. As a parent I'm confident that when she's geared up, she's safe. When she's safe she can enjoy more what she's doing. After an hour, she played habulan with SIL. Yes, that's running!

I love it when I'm with my kid and when she is happy.

Blessings ♥

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My daughter turns 4 - Parteeee!

Todo na to! Creating another blog entry for the dearest daughter's 4th birthday.

Of course to start a party, we should start it with an invitation. 1 week before the 4th of March event, I distributed invitations to some people at Church. It was not a must to do it because our guests are primarily Church members and we will be celebrating it there but I thought of doing it anyway just to formalize a celebration.
This is what the invitation looked like.

It's a cut out tower which I designed with cut out flowers and embossed hearts. I also added 4 inches long braided hair which finished the look. It is a Tangled theme party so having a Rapunzel hair dangling on it looks more exciting.

The invitation says,

"Let down your hair and get tangled as Hershelle Faith turns 4!"

Thanks to my niece, Paula, who drew the tower for me and Martha Stewart for the invite idea. Wow parang close lang kami ni Martha. :D  I'll create a separate post on how I did this.

Anyway, the party was held at the Salvation Army Changi Corp foyer. We decorated it with Tangled inspired stuff like yellow/purple/violet balloons, banner (thanks to my friend Allison for providing), DIY lanterns (care off  SILs Marchella/Hazel) and of course the tower (them again).

tower

LANTERN

BANNER C/O ALLISON / BOUQUET BALLOONS

We also prepared braided hair for the girls. Thanks to mommy bloggers for the idea.

THOSE HAIR

I saw a nice gown online and asked a friend who does birthday costumes to make the same.

c/o Yumi's Nook

We originally planned to start at 5PM so the kids can play the "Find Me" game while the sun is up but unfortunately they were not able to. We started the "program proper" after the Church's Praise and Worship.

singing "When will my life begin"

Hershey sang on her birthday.  She sang "When will my life begin" with a background music. Hehe. She had to sing because she wants to win on their game, "The most beautiful voice" and of course she won. Yey!

They had few more games and lastly they had their arts and crafts.

They had spaghetti and chicken for dinner plus Ribena juice drink.

This is her 2nd cake.

thank you Chinee

cake + cupcakes (topper from allison) + glasses of hershey's kisses

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!

GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS...


Blessings ♥

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Hershey at 4 - Party in School

Wow it's been a while since my last post. I've been thinking to write about something but my story would always lead me to how I miss my Mother and then would end me up crying. It's just difficult so I'll try my best to change the mood today. What I want to share is about Nanay's dearest granddaughter anyway - so the connection. We celebrated my daughter's 4th birthday days ago - I'm sure Nanay is happy to see the little girl enjoy her special day. She is just her favorite. Super!

Hershey had 2 celebrations for her birthday - the 1st one was held in school, two days before her real birthday and on the day itself, we had it in Church. The 4th of March which is her birthday fell on a Sunday so got no choice. :) I ordered 30 pieces lap desks from one of the party suppliers in the PH.. My in laws were kind enough to bring those over to Singapore from the PH.

This is what the lapdesk look like. The theme is Tangled, Rapunzel. I thought about the design and executed by my niece, Paula.These are personalized with her friends and classmates' names.

Her birthday in school was celebrated during their break time. Twenty minutes is our time. We brought cupcakes for her classmates and teachers. Her dress is a gift from a friend. Thank you.

That's the birthday girl with her cupcakes. Its Rapunzel themed cakes. :D Thank you to my baker Chinee of http://pinkgingerbynee.blogspot.com/ She also did H's 3rd birthday princess cake.

Happy happy birthday, Hershey! Love love love! :)

Gift giving to her classmates. :D

Just like that and the party is over. Simple, stress free. :D Enjoy the blessings.

NEXT: March 4th birthday celebration.

Blessings ♥

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