Jersey Junction Ice Cream store

Jersey Junction Ice Cream store

in East Grand Rapids

http://www.jerseyjunction.com

652 Croswell Ave Se, Grand Rpids, MI 49506-3058

(616) 458-4107

(Added by Lori: I'm so glad to see that Hanna and Hyunkwan have discovered Jersey Junction--it's been a Grand Rapid's (and my own personal) favorite for many years. I remember in the summers when I was 7 or 8 years old, my mother would take me each week to the library nearby, then to Jersey Junction for bubble gum ice cream--the world felt perfect on those days! Such sweet memories!)

CoCo

There is one squirrel that every day come over our house.

My husband and I named her CoCo.

Meijer Garden

(Pictures by Hanna, commentary by Lori)

For my 50th (!!!) birthday, we went to Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Even though it was too cold and rainy to spend time wandering through the acres of flowers and art, there is enough to see inside to make it worth a visit!

Hanna and Hyunkwan kept talking about the red bird being an "angry bird," which confused me since cardinals (the red birds) are pretty friendly. Finally I realized that they were referring to the game Angry Birds, and how much the cardinal looks like the one in the game!

We each tried the butterfly chair. Aren't Hanna and Hyunkwan a beautiful butterfly? In the picture below, I look like a tired butterfly!

Happy Birth Day Lori! We love you so much :D


http://www.meijergardens.org
1000 East Beltline NE Grand Rapids, MI 49525
(616) 957-1580 I Toll-Free : 888-957-1580

Meijer Garden

March and April are special months at Meijer Gardens. They bring in thousands of butterflies, some of them common, but some are ones we'd never seen before. The one below is a common one--a Monarch. I think it's too pretty to be called "common"!

Hyunkwan tried to get a butterfly to land on him (it's a common occurrence, surprisingly, and it makes people really happy) but the butterflies were being stubborn. Who know that butterflies have a stubborn streak?!

They have wooden boxes set up so that we can watch the young butterflies emerge from their cocoons, with their wings still wet. They stay in their until their wings are dry, then they're free to go make friends with other butterflies!



http://www.meijergardens.org
1000 East Beltline NE Grand Rapids, MI 49525
(616) 957-1580 I Toll-Free : 888-957-1580

The first door in Meijer Garden

Meijer Gardens is a popular West Michigan attraction--especially in bad weather as it has several gorgeous indoor gardens to explore, including an English Perennial Garden, a Victorian Garden, and even a Carnivorous Plant House (which was very stinky--we only lasted about 30 seconds in that one!)

The first door you enter leads to the Arid Garden, filled with cacti of all shapes and sizes.

When you first enter, it's like taking a trip to Arizona or New Mexico--hot and dry, which is wonderful on a cold, rainy Michigan day! The earthy smell reminded me that warmer weather is on it's way.

Here are just a couple of the cacti on display--trust me, those needles are sharp! The round one on the right is fuzzy on top, though--a strange combination of poky and soft.

Now we can't wait for warmer weather so we can explore all the outdoor spaces at the Gardens! We'll be sure Hanna takes plenty of pictures.



http://www.meijergardens.org
1000 East Beltline NE Grand Rapids, MI 49525
(616) 957-1580 I Toll-Free : 888-957-1580

The cafe in Meijer Garden

They had a Korean style sandwich. 

This is Korean Bahn Mi.

There are some kimchi Inside of the sandwich. 

This is Uptown B.L.T

http://www.meijergardens.org

1000 East Beltline NE Grand Rapids, MI 49525

(616) 957-1580 I Toll-Free : 888-957-1580

Chesapeake Bay Candle (hanna)

Chesapeake Bay Candle

 This candle has very nice fragrance.

Thank you Lori for this gift :D  

April Showers (Lori)

In just three very short weeks, my daughter (Sarah) will be getting married! (Yikes--that's so soon!!)

 Last weekend, Sarah was honored with a bridal shower, and I thought I'd share a few pictures, especially for our Korean friends who may not be familiar with the tradition of "showers." (The word "shower" is used because we want presents to rain down--so to speak--on the bride-to-be. I know, it sounds strange to me, too!) Usually these parties are girls-only (although it's becoming more common to see "Couples" showers), and are often hosted by relatives in the weeks before the wedding. Many brides will have more than one shower (if you're thinking that American wedding couples seem to get a lot of presents . . . they do!)

The shower thrown by Sarah's aunts was kitchen/cooking-themed, so I crocheted a chef doll (it looks exactly like Sarah, right?), and added her to a pot filled with all sorts of fun kitchen goodies. (I totally overestimated how many spoons, spatulas, and towels it would take to fill the pot, though--which is why there's a second bowl filled with the "leftovers"!)

Sarah had a great time opening presents, most of which were cooking-related (like this tres chic apron) . . . 

. . . but she was also really happy to get a board game from her favorite TV show. (I think she's already thinking of excuses not to cook!)

 Showers are a great excuse to eat too much--we had yummy chicken salad, fruit, and croissants, and then these sweet creations for dessert. (The picture didn't turn out well, but they were cute: the plastic goblets are filled with candy, then topped with a cupcake!)

 Sarah's friends got to help stock Sarah's pantry: they each whipped up jars of dry mixes (to make soup, cookies, cocoa, or brownies) for Sarah--and for themselves. Later on, they just have to add the "wet" ingredients (eggs, milk, or whatever) and they'll have delicious treats!

Friends, family, food, fun . . . it was a fantastic day! And now we'll see if Sarah turns out to be a better cook than her mom (I set the bar very low, so it shouldn't be a problem!).

SKY_In front of Meijer (Hanna)

Sometimes I think that even the sky in America is bigger and higher than my country.

My country has many high buildings and many people are busy.  

so they use to forget to look up the sky. I did too. 

AND NOW I realize that the sky is big, high and more beautiful than I thought. 

Spring is coming~

Rockford, Michigan

Rockford, Michigan, is a quaint town just north of Grand Rapids, and in the summer it's a fun place to eat ice cream and canoe in the river. We (Hanna, Hyunkwan, Lori, and Sarah) spent a day there in February--it was very cold and we couldn't wait to get to the next warm shop! (We'll try it again this summer.)

This is a favorite shop of many of the locals. It's a unique used bookstore called "Reading Books," and a big part of the store is actually an old train! (This is not a good place for someone who's claustrophobic!) The name of the store comes from the game Monopoly, which features the Reading Railroad. Pretty clever, huh?

The aisles are packed with used books of every sort--almost too many to look at! We spent most of our time with the two kitties that call the store "home."

S'mores

Snowy winter nights in Michigan are a perfect time to make sweet s'mores!

For many people, s'mores are a favorite childhood treat (for me, the smell of melting marshmallows takes me back to the years that I was a Girl Scout--we always made s'mores on our campouts!). S'mores are easy to make--they're just toasted marshmallows piled on graham crackers with a chunk of chocolate--YUM!! ("S'more" is a combination of the words "some" and "more"--the idea being that if you have one, you'll want some more!)

 

It was Hanna and Hyunkwan's first s'more party, so we had to instruct them on the most important part: toasting a perfect marshmallow! (Our fire was a little too hot, and the marshmallows tended to catch on fire.)

Julian and Sarah are demonstrating proper toasting techniques!

The fun (and messy!) part is trying to figure out how to eat the gooey s'more--the marshmallow just oozes off the graham cracker! As you can see, Hyunkwan did his best--though I think he needed some wet paper towels when he was finished!

Dyeing Easter eggs

Easter is a VERY big holiday in the United States, and we decided to introduce Hanna and Hyunkwan to a tradition that is a favorite of many children: Easter egg dyeing! I'm not sure what the origins of egg dyeing are (or how they fit into our celebration of Jesus' resurrection), but regardless, it's a lot of messy fun!

  

We start with hard-boiled eggs, then dunk them into colored water. We tried a bunch of different techniques: dipping the eggs in multiple colors, drawing on them with wax (the design will show up after the egg is dyed), and a special pearl-y dye (those were especially pretty!). 

 

We tried using these nifty plastic tongs to dip the eggs, hoping to keep our hands at least a little bit clean--but I think we just made a bigger mess! (By the way, if you look at the top of the picture you'll see my refrigerator, complete with a Korean fan that Hanna gave me!)

If there was an award for Most Creative Easter Egg, it would have to go to Hyunkwan for his Calvin-themed yellow egg. In the picture above, it's the egg that has LATIN on it!! He was very proud of his creation--we were all very careful not to disturb the egg as it was drying!

Bennett watched us playing with the eggs, and was saying, "OH my gosh!! What are you doing!? I wanna join with you!!"  Sorry, Ben, but food dye is impossible to get off your furry little paws!

Monkeying around (Lori)

I admit it--I love crocheting monkeys! Maybe it goes back to my childhood dream of having my own real monkey (my hubby vetoed this idea), but I think when I'm happy with a finished project, I want to try it again with different yarns and colors. 
These two friends were made with the same pattern (available free from here)--the only difference is the yarn and hook size. Big Monkey was made with Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice worsted-weight yarns and an F hook. He's about 8" tall sitting.

Little Monkey, on the other hand, was made with Comfy Fingering yarn from Knit Picks (you can drool over their wonderful yarns here.) I'm new to lighter-weight yarns; these are the first I've tried and I LOVED them! I think it's the mix of pima cotton in the yarn--my fingers were so happy as I was crocheting! (I used a C hook, and I liked the finished size of my monkey friend--about 5" sitting.)

I wired both the monkeys so that I can pose them--I used a craft wire on the big monkey, but found it was easier on the little one to use pipe cleaners. 

I'm considering adding a teeny tiny monkey made with crochet thread to my To-Do list!

Random Ripple (Lori)

This is the first ripple blanket I made using the Neat Ripple pattern from Attic24 (find the pattern here). I LOVE this pattern! After you get past the first row, it's fairly mindless to work on, but with enough color changes so that it doesn't get boring.Admittedly, it's a little dizzying to see this all laid out, but it looks great all crumpled up around my legs as I'm reading! I like the "drape-iness" of this pattern.

 

I used yarn from Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice collection, and from Caron's Simply Soft collection. They're both worsted weight yarns, but the Simply Soft is a little finer and I was concerned how they would mix--no worries!

 

This is how it looks all crumpled--pretty, huh?

Kudos to Hanna for these photos! She even captured all the cat hair on the blanket!