Mall of America - Korean Style

Last Tuesday-Thursday, Zander didn't sleep as well as he had been the week before - reminding us how critical sleep is for him, and for Mommy & Daddy.  We've been slow to recover and are behind on our postings - let's see if we can get caught up!  Thursday night, Zander was Daddy's biggest fan at his softball game (Nana Pat and Mommy were close seconds) - Go Loons!!  Zander wore one of his Phillies outfits - Mommy tried to snap a photo of Zander cheering when Daddy was batting, but realized she left the memory card at home - it was definitely one of those days (e.g. also had to wash Phillies outfit prior to the game since Mommy forgot to put the Sippy Cup "plug" into place before giving Zander his milk at lunch - what a mess)!!

Friday we had our one-month post-adoption progress report meeting with our social worker.  She visited us at our home for a meeting that lasted about an hour.  We had to complete some paperwork prior to the appointment (questionnaire on Zander since joining our family, medical report, survey on our trip to Korea, recent photos of Zander, etc. - this also cut into our blog posting time).  Our social worker asked us many questions and observed Zander playing and interacting with us.  She agreed that he is doing really well and offered some great perspectives, thoughts and insights based on her experience.  She also coached us on the required next steps for finalizing the adoption (more paperwork/fees - should be complete ~January 2011). 

Saturday, we visited the Mall of America to attend part of a Korean Cultural Day ("Passport to Korea") - it was Zander's first time at the mall and he seemed to enjoy all the activity.  Nana Pat joined us and we started with a DELICIOUS lunch at Hoban Korean restauarant (www.hobanrestaurant.com/) in Eagan - we look forward to going back sometime!  Then we headed to MOA:

We saw Chef Emily Kim making a popular Korean dish called gimbap (or kimbap) - it is similar to sushi role without the fish (rice, veggies, spices, rolled in dried laver seaweed)...  We tried this in Seoul and were happy to get another chance to sample it at MOA.  You can see the sushi-looking pieces on the video monitor at the top of the photo:

Next we watched a performance of the MuGungHwa & Shinparam drummers:

Here is Nana Pat watching the boys watch the drums:

While the Taekwondo team was warming up, we ventured into the amusement park area - Zander was so excited, and a little overwhelmed by everything going on.  He was wearing a shirt we bought in Seoul (Insadong) that says "Smile" in Korean (at least that's what they told us!).  Here Zander kindly posed for a photo with Blues Clues Dog:

Zander then enjoyed some warm Toll House chocolate chip cookies - yummy!  We returned to the event stage to enjoy an entertaining Taekwondo performance:

What fun!  It was a wonderful day and a great way for us all to learn more about the Korean culture.