Kio!

We're baaaack!

It has been a month and a half since I last wrote something for the Hirano family blog. In that time A LOT has happened, namely our four week trip to Canada. Not to worry, I have been stockpiling stories from our trip to share.

In the words of Sister Maria, "Let's start from the very beginning. It's a very good place to start..."

On July 25th Shin, Kio and I set out from Canada via Seoul, Korea where Shin has a friend we were going to visit. This of course would be Kio's first time on an airplane and we were crossing our fingers, toes and all other appendages in hopes that it would go smoothly.

All that crossing must have paid off because Kio was amazing on the flight, not so much as a peep during take-off and landing. On top of that, the flight was empty with enough room for us to stretch out and get comfortable. I think that probably helped more than the finger crossing.

One thing that was a little unexpected was that there was no bassinet. During my past travels I've always seen a bassinet type thing that attaches to the wall for people traveling with babies. Our travel agent told us that there would be one. I figured that since the flight from Osaka to Seoul is just over an hour maybe they don't bother. Of course we'd have one for the thirteen hour flight from Korea to Canada.

Or would we?

Anyway, we arrived in Seoul and took a bus from the airport to our hotel where Shin's friend, Lee, had been waiting for us.

For three and a half hours.

Shin had told him our flight arrival time, unfortunately there had been some sort of miscommunication and he thought that we would be arriving at the hotel at that time. It was sweet of him to wait.

As Shin and his mate were starting their catch up I checked us in. Kio was in good spirits and was flashing smiles at the staff. I was a little surprised when they responded by calling him by name. The travel agent must have given it to them. A little odd but whatever.

Lee took us to a handicraft market and then out for some amazing BBQ. Kio was flashing smiles and holding his feet up for everyone to see. During a later point in our holiday he would finally be successful in getting them into his mouth.

The whole time we were walking around the market and during dinner I kept hearing Kio's name. I thought that I must have been tired as I'd spent most of the previous night cleaning the house and packing.

But it was starting to get a little annoyingly weird.

As dinner was coming to an end Lee asked our baby's name (about time) and informed us that Kio sounds a lot like the Korean word for cute.

So I wasn't going crazy after all.

After dinner Kio and I headed back to the hotel while Shin and Lee went out on the town. Shin came back a few hours later a little unsteady on his feet and proceeded to wake the baby up by turning on all of the lights and the TV. He was asleep within minutes.

Let the holiday begin!