Toddling in the Windy City

Our flight from L.A. to Chicago last week was, how shall I say this nicely... um, PAINFUL. Jude is our champion frequent flyer. But after blessing us with an easy child like Jude, God may have decided to mix it up a bit and give us our second son. Not having a seat of his own on the plane, Eli whined, fidgeted, and cried for almost the entire flight. You might be thinking, c'mon, no child can be that difficult for an entire FOUR hour flight without getting tired at some point. Everyone? Meet Elijah Kim.

Did you notice something about that pic? Our Eli is officially a toddler. He took his first 11 consecutive steps at our friends' Jeny & Sungjai's home in Chicago and now loves to walk around everywhere. Our trip to Chicago was so nice that the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad flight was worth it. A week seems like a decent amount of time, but I really didn't get to do half the things I wanted to. Most important, however, was Eli's first birthday party (dohl). Although most of our friends back in Chicago did not see Eli during his first year of life, they graciously came to celebrate with us. That speaks of what wonderful friends we have and why I can't figure out how my husband has not moved us back already.

Also high on the agenda was Jude's week long 3rd birthday celebration which included an evening out alone with Kathy Eemo and Uncle Stace as well as another family get-together at Chuck E. Cheese (a special request from Jude):

It was a nice vacation for everyone. Kwang spent some quality time golfing, golfing, and golfing some more. And Jude spent a lot of quality time with his cousins. I imagine his senses probably exploded each morning he walked into their home. He got to play with and ride so many of their toys, toys he thought only existed in toy stores and remained there.

(Cousin Noelle and Jude)

Normally a plastic helicopter will keep Jude plenty entertained. This is not the case when his cousins have their own Nintendo DS Lites. Can you tell which is my son and which are my nephew Zach and niece Meghan? The non-electronic toy and crazy hair should be dead giveaways:

I did get to see some friends, but it was pretty obvious that while they missed me, they really just wanted to see Eli. Soon after this picture was taken, my friend Jane ate her panang curry chicken with a side of Eli's cheeks:

Fortunately, our return flight was much, much better than our departure. Both boys were fast asleep when we pulled into our garage last night, safely back home in L.A. Here is the conversation I had with my half-asleep Jude as I unbuckled his carseat:

Me: Come on Jude, we're home now. This is our house, remember?
Jude: (looking around the garage from his carseat, a bit disoriented) House?
Me: Yes.
Jude: (pause) Home?
Me: Yes.
Jude: (frowning and burying his face in my shoulder) I want to go to Chicago.