Category: Parties

4th Annual Back To School Water Balloon & Popsicle Party!

11/7/2013

OMGoodness. Are you kidding me? We had MORE water balloons and Popsicles than last year? How can that be? Our party at least doubled in size. With more than 5,000 water balloons, 1,600 Popsicles this party was total INSANITY.

Kids across the neighborhood started asking me about the water balloon and Popsicle party BEFORE school was even out last year! Several of them told me they bought their water balloons early so they could secure their spot at our party. It warmed my heart to know how much all the kids (including mine!) were looking forward to this years back to school bash. I had a few kids tell me "I can't wait, but I can wait....oh it's so hard. It's such a fun party, but we have to start school 3 days later."

The rules were almost the same as last year, however we did add a little kid area & we talked about Popsicles.

I had all the kids sit in the grass while parents strategically placed balloons around the play equipment and I went over the rules:

#1 - you must sit here until I tell you to go
#2 - you must eat as many Popsicles as you can WITHOUT throwing up
#3 - anyone over the age of 5 is not allowed in the little kid section
#4 - no water balloons to the face
#5 - do NOT throw balloons at parents with cameras
#6 - after the water balloon fight eveyone that participates MUST help clean up broken water balloons!
#7 - HAVE FUN!

I had a team of paparazzi on one of the balcony's capturing photos this year. MANY of the photos in this post are from my good friend and neighbor jrstinson. She does amazing things with her camera! I feel bless to have so many amazing shots from her! Thanks J!

I ran out of room on the back porch and we had to start putting the balloons on the grass.

Watch the slide show for more of the story.
If there is a picture of your child in here and you would like it feel free to contact me and I will send it to you.

SO.MUCH.FUN!

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4th of July on the ROK

8/16/2013

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Yes is August 17th and yes I am just now posting about 4th of July.
I like to think I have it all together and that I can do everything, but who am I kidding, I'm barely keeping my head above water this summer. I have great ideas and a good plan, but sometimes executing all that is going on in my ADHD brain is just a little too much for the most energetic of people.

This summer has been fun, fun, fun so as summer winds down and I have a little more time to myself you will get to see more of what we have been up to. :o)

Those of you close to me knows that the Independence Day, AKA The 4th of July is my FAVORITE holiday.
I've even told our kids that I when they are all grown and have families of their own they don't have to worry about this Momma getting her feelings hurt if they want to go to the in-laws (or stay home) for Christmas as long as I get them for the 4th of July I will be one happy camper! (You should see what is going on in my head for 4th of July when our kids are grown & I have slew of grandkids! )

So here are a few pictures from the 4th of July Party I threw together for our 'extended' family here in South Korea. :o) Enjoy!

Here I am with my 5 FAVORITE people on the face of this earth!

The Six of us

It's not a party without a live band....

...or hamburgers and hotdogs!

My rebel getting tattooed.

With my favorite girl.

How flippin' cute is he?!?

It's not 4th of July on the ROK till you get a little rain.

PS...who is that guy?!?

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A Birthday Adventure Like No Other

12/5/2012

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You guys got the memo a long time ago. We LIKE birthdays in our house. One could even say we LOVE birthdays in our house - heck one could even go as far as saying we are cuckoo for birthdays in our house! Girl's 11th birthday was no different. From the moment she heard that Hubby and I stumbled upon a Cat Café she knew this is where she wanted to spend her 11th birthday and who am I to say no? (Plus it is WAY EASIER than some of the home parties we throw!) Girl was allowed to bring 4 friends with her on this adventure as I wasn't sure I could handle more than 5 of them on the streets of Seoul.

The girls arrived to our house at 9AM on a Sunday morning back in October. I had a plan. Cat Café, lunch, a little shopping, doctor fish and then back home for a little birthday cake! Sounds like a good plan - right? Well it is good until you arrive at the Cat Café & realize they are CLOSED on Sundays!! (Yes, I checked before we went, I knew they opened at 10AM, but I guess my Konglish isn't as good as I thought because I didn't get the "we are closed on Sunday" memo.)

So THIS is as close as my girl got to playing with the sweet little kitties.
But don't worry, this EPIC FAIL is going to be restored....we still have doctor fish, lunch and maybe one of the other 5 Cat Cafés in Myeongdong will be open. Failure is NOT an option.
Plus, the stop at Dunkin' Donuts helped ease the pain a *tiny* bit.

On our quest to find another Doctor Fish these sweet young Korean college students wanted us to take a survey for their English class.

Now, I had read in multiple blogs about the Dr. Fish in Myeongdong - the only problem I ran into was that NOT ONE single person could give the location of this mysterious Dr. Fish. Many places said to look up and you will find it...it is on the 2nd or 3rd floor of a building. I was confidant in my ability to find it - maybe a little too confident. Finally we stopped at the Global Center to ask for directions. This is where we were informed that the Doctor Fish I was looking for closed a few months ago, (EPIC FAIL #2 of the day) but not to worry there were a couple of other locations in Myeongdong for Dr. Fish. At that point I ask if any of the Cat Cafés were open on Sunday - the answer was shocking - out of the 5 Cat Cafés in Myeongdong NONE of them open on Sunday. I guess cat's need their rest. I was informed that the Dog Café opens at noon. You should have heard the squeals that came from the 5 girls in my group. (Epic fail restored!)

Since we had a little time to kill and the girls were hungry they decided they wanted to eat street food instead of going to a sit down restaurant. French fry corn dogs on a stick it is!

As we were walking and eating we stumbled upon The Foot Shop and there was a sign that said "Dr. Fish" - we went in. The girls were SO EXCITED until the guy told me it was going to be 20,000 won PER PERSON!! WHAT?!?! It is typically 2 or 3,000 won per person. That is when I realized he was going to give them all foot massages & Dr. Fish. This is a POSH place, not a place to bring five 11 year old squealing girls. This could have been Epic fail #3, but I pleaded and bargained with him and finally got them all in for 20,000 won but he said they need to be 'quiet' - BAHAHAHAHA!! Did he not see that there are 5 young girls chomping at the bit to stick their feet in a tub of little fishies nibbling at their feet?!?! I mean this tickles like you cannot believe - So like any good mom would do, I agreed anyway knowing I could not hold up to my end of the bargain. I mean come on this was for the greater good of birthday girls everywhere!

And as you can see - the 'quiet' part really worked:

Next up, Dog Café!

So the dog café is pretty similar to the Cat Café except MUCH louder and much more stinky.
The entry fee is an 8,000 won drink.
The girls had hot chocolate and I had a latte.
The girls had a ball playing with the dogs.
I personally didn't even want to sit down because I saw a dog pee on the leg of a table, another one pee on the leg of a chair, I saw a dog poop on the floor. I was gagging! Now the staff was amazing and had very sharp eyes because each time a dog went potty there was a staff member cleaning it up within seconds, but really, this place wasn't for me. However I endured it since the girls were having SO MUCH fun.

By this time the streets of Myeongdong were getting pretty crowded so I had the girls form a human chain where we walked and sang to our next destination. SO MUCH FUN.

Hello ice cream! Yes we will have a foot long ice cream thank you!

These little characters were all over the place! I'm not sure what this one was advertising.

But this one is advertising a Nintendo gaming room!! How fun is that, I was up for it, but the girls decided against it - they thought this would be better for one of the boys birthday parties.

Finally after several hours 5 happy girls are back on the subway heading home to have a little birthday cake.

OH BUT WAIT...Girl wanted to stop at 7-11 and have her friends try one of our favorite Korean snacks - rice triangles filled with bulgogi and wrapped in seaweed. As you can see a couple of them were not thrilled with our favorite Korean snack, but all agree that the cider is good.

Back at home we all put on our new socks....

And sang Happy Birthday to one special girl!

So even though this party could have been a complete failure, we persevered and we ended up having a total ball!
Happy 11th birthday my sweet angel!

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Happy Birthday Boy 3!

9/15/2012

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Remember this picture? And how I was bursting with excitement about what was about to happen?
This is the blog you have been waiting for.
Here goes the big reveal!
(MOVE THAT BUS!)

As my friend Lori said, this looks like a room 'Dexter' set up.
I only wish I had done it as well as Dexter. My room had flaws.
And I paid for those flaws.
(PS...If you haven't watched the show Dexter, you REALLY need to.)

This is a birthday party.
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE birthday parties? Maybe it has to do with the fact that I only had 1 birthday party while growing up. Maybe it is because I love seeing that smile on my kids face when they see what I have created for them. Maybe it is because at every birthday party I hear "This was the BEST party EVER." Maybe it is because I am still a kid at heart....

But mostly I think it is because of that sweet, sweet smile...

We started the party at 10AM with chocolate pancakes with chocolate chunks and chocolate syrup and topped with vanilla ice cream. It really can't get much better than that - can it?

Well maybe it can, when you have 6 friends and 3 siblings to share it with.

And then your mom ask if you want marshmallows to go with it and when you say 'yes' she throws them at you.
While Dad tops you off with whip cream.
That might make it a little better.

Oh, I'm sorry did you say you wanted whip cream ON YOUR PANCAKES? I thought you said on your head.
My bad.

It's on!
FOOD FIGHT!

The kids had a nice selection of foods to choose from.

Here, have a little cheese & whip cream in a can.

I love the look in his eyes.

Dad coming up from behind to do a sneak attack on the birthday boy.

You can see marshmallows flying in the air.

Totally unexpected. :)

Oh man!

He's not sure he is cut out for this type of party.

But then again maybe he is as he comes back for more!

Big brother couldn't resist getting in on the fun!

45 minutes of pure FOOD FIGHTING FUN!

How can you not love these sweet nasty faces?!

Can you spot the Cheeto in this picture?

Happy 7th Birthday to my sweet baby boy!

I know what you are thinking.
"What do you do with them now? They are a nasty filthy mess. What about your porch. You are one insane woman."
*Once the food fight was over I took out the water hose, brought out the shampoo and gave them all showers OUTSIDE! We scrubbed and cleaned for a good 30 minutes! I mean really, how fun is it to have a shower outside in all your clothes while other kids from the neighborhood gathered to see what in the world was going on. While children were being hosed off the clean ones played on the playground.
*My porch - sigh.... Well you saw the set up. Plastic EVERYWHERE. For the most part it was a great idea. The plastic on the walls worked well. The plastic on the ground....not so well. If I were to ever do this again I would search a little harder for 1 solid piece of plastic and then I would double layer it. It took me 2 hours to clean that back porch. Oh and the ceiling survived pretty well...only a few things landed there.
*Yes, I am insane, but in a good way. (I think.)

Happy Birthday sweet love!

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3rd Annual Water Balloon & Popsicle Party!

9/4/2012

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With over 2,000 water balloons & and close to 1,000 popsicles this was our largest Water Balloon & Popsicle party to date.

End of Summer - this is a bittersweet party. The kids wait for it all year. It is their favorite party, BUT they also know it means school is right around the corner so even though they CAN'T WAIT for it to happen, the CAN WAIT for it to happen.

With us just moving here 2 months ago we weren't sure what to expect from our WB&P party. First we had invited just our friend that we had returned to (all 3 of them) and the few we had met over the past 2 months. I started it as a Facebook invite, then people started asking if they could invite friends, we said sure and the party grew, and then the more we thought about it we decided it would be rude NOT to invite our ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD since we were taking over one of the parks in the neighborhood. So with that though our party went from about 20 kids to well over 100 kids. Yes, just call us insane.

Same rules applied from last year:
Each family must bring 100 FILLED water balloons to the party.

And since so many people were coming this year we ask each family to bring a box of popsicles:

This wasn't even all of the popsicles. Notice all the popsicles on the bench? Those boxes are full too....(and there were more in my freezer)

How handsome is this boy?!

Kids were getting sick from eating so many popsicles. They were calling me the 'popsicle pusher'.

Before the water balloon fight the kids were busy filling up on popsicles, playing on slip and slides and just having fun in our ghetto Great Wolf Lodge water park.

Ground Rules:
I had all the kids sit in the grass to go over a few rules.
#1 - you must sit here until I tell you to go
#2 - watch out for little kids & don't throw balloons hard at them
#3 - no water balloons to the face
#4 - do NOT throw balloons at parents with cameras
#5 - teens are a free for all
#6 - after the water balloon fight eveyone that participates MUST help clean up broken water balloons!
#7 - HAVE FUN!

It took an Army (pun TOTALLY intended) of Mom's & Dad's to take the water balloons from our back yard to the playground.

The Paparazzi:

Ready, set, GO!

Good view of the fun!

This is my favorite picture of the day. This is what makes this party worth it! :-)

My friend Beth is AWESOME! I am now the proud owner of Water Balloon party shoes!!

We added a new element to our party this year, FROZEN T-SHIRT CONTEST - my friend Beth was the brainchild of this event - she did 90% of the work that went into this even and she even designed the t-shirts! If children wanted to participate in the frozen t-shirt contest they had to pay for their t-shirt.

Behind the scenes: We dipped the t-shirts in water wrung them out just a little and them folded them as small as we could get them, stuck them in a ziplock bag and stuck them in the freezer. We did this 3 days prior and by the day of the event they were FROZEN SOLID. (We even let them thaw for about an hour and a half before the event.)

Kids with frozen t-shirts, ready to start:

Kids were trying EVERYTHING they could think of to get these shirts on; (or out of the bag!) they were sitting on them, dunking them in water, biting them, throwing them on the ground, jumping on them and giving them to their moms! It was all VERY comical!

The first one to get her shirt on!
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Double fisting it!

We had 60 kids participate in the frozen t-shirt contest! Here are a few of them!

The perfect ending: a popsicle stuck to her shirt.

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“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

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Hi, I'm Trish, the writer, creator and photographer of this blog. I started this blog for 2 reasons, 1 - When I found out we were moving to Korea back in 2008 I was a little freaked out and started scouring the internet for information on Korea. At that time there wasn't much out there so I am doing my part in helping families across the world not be so freaked out when it comes time to move to Korea. The 2nd reason I started this blog was to help stay connected to family members back in the states. Today it is so much more that.
I hope you enjoy our journey.

Are you moving to Korea? Do you have questions, concerns? Are you freaking out? Freak out no further - click the button to ask a question. I'll do my best to answer open and honestly.

Moving to Korea?

4th Annual Back To School Water Balloon & Popsicle Party!

4th of July on the ROK

A Birthday Adventure Like No Other

Happy Birthday Boy 3!

3rd Annual Water Balloon & Popsicle Party!

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