April Surprise

April of this year we got a wonderful surprise. Steve's mom and step-dad, AKA Halmoni and Harabogy, came to visit us for two weeks. It had been 9 years since Steve's mom had travled to the states, and she was quite nervous about it. This has prevented her from coming any time before. They had always talked of coming, and we wanted them to come, but her health and what the traveling might due to her body always prevented her from coming. We were all so excited to pick them up from the airport. So excited, we waited at the wrong point. Ok, the airport had the wrong one listed, but they found us. And of course the first thing grandparents are going to do is spoil their grandchildren with love and gifts. After a long trip, we had to travel another three hours to get back to our place. Though we have lived here ten years, this was Steve's mom's first visit to our house.

Since they had to come in April, when Harabogy could get time off, they undertstood that the kids would be in school and Steve would need to work. There was no real interest in sightseeing, since his mom had lived in the states before. Instead there was work to do. Planting of beautiful flowers, bushes and plants, and cooking a Korean feast. The girls had a blast learning how to make kim bap, and we all enjoyed eating it.

We did make a quick trip up to Shipshewana. Heather's parents wanted to come back early from Florida to see them, and we wanted to get Steve's grandma and mom together for the first time since our wedding. They had such a special relationship. It was a good reunion.

His parents' anniversary was while we were here, and we celebrated with a cake, flowers and sparkling wine. They also blessed us with a special gift, that Steve has used to finalize his plans to go towards a 15th anniversary trip to Hawaii in two years. His mom enjoyed Hana Market, a local Korean store, and stocked us up on Bacchus and Shin ramyun. Though she is adventurous in her eating, nothing impressed her until we took them to Nine Irish Brothers. Harabogy is of Irish decent, but had never eaten Irish food. I think all the adults went away satisfied.

The time went fast, and all were sad to make the trip back to the airport. It seemed that Halmoni adjusted to the time change better and her body seemed to do just fine with this trip. We are hoping that this will encourage her to come back another time.