Ava's First Birthday

Can't believe our little girl is ONE! We were blessed to be able to fly back to America and celebrate with our family. Though her birthday is on 4 May, we decided to have the party on Apr 30th. We decided to keep it to immediate family as Ava tends to be wary of crowds and new people. We were also unsure about how she would adjust to the time difference, change in weather, and whether she'd be teething (all issues on our last trip). We also opted for a lunch-time party, since Ava's most jolly in the morning and it would have been the afternoon time in London. Turned out that she was quite cheery and was quite the character.

Peter's mom was kind enough to organize a traditional Korean 1st birthday (called Dol or Tol) at their home. She's quite the host, re-arranging and decorating from the day prior to make sure everyone would be comfortable.

Ava's day started off playing with her Mimi by dancing as the Musical Table sang the popular (and unfortunately catchy) A-B-C-D song.

Like the celebrity she is at home, she then ate lunch, took some pictures, and conversed with the event photographers (Allie & Leah -- you should checkout the great pictures they took on their SLR Camera ).

Then it was time for the "Picking" Ceremony, or the Toljabee. As everyone gathered downstairs, Ava got dressed in her Han-bok. She was then introduced to a table with many items on it, with the idea that she will pick the first two things that interest her and that it should give us insight into her future. Ava selected the tin of Rice (meaning she will have a prosperous life) and the spool of thread (meaning she will have a long life). Now, it is important to note that Peter had visited the table only moments before, re-arranging the items he thought were fitting for his baby's future (i.e. money, rice, thread) and putting some of the other items to the opposite end (i.e. cook's spoon/good homemaker, ruler/wisdom, dried berries/many babies). He then strategically placed Ava near the "good" items. Whether out of curiosity or the urge to follow her heart (and Peter's dismay), she did eventually make it to the spoon and dried berries.

Ava was then patient enough to have a second costume change to a traditional Chinese outfit, called the Cheongsam. We then watched a collage of videos Hannah made for us, recapping some of Ava's memorable moments and favorite things. Peter's dad then gave a very moving prayer of thanksgiving for Ava's life as we then proceeded to gorge ourselves with the food.

Unfortunately, we had to cut the cake without her as she napped. It was a multi-colored Korean Rice Cake (mujigae-ddeok I think), perfect as it contained no milk, egg, or peanut. When we later gave her some "cake", she LOVED it.

After the brunch guests left, a few of Peter's friends stopped by to shower Ava with more gifts (and to help polish off the food and catch up with Peter). We were so touched to see everyone, my parents (mimi & ThaTha) flying in, my sister (Auntie B) coming in from Baltimore, Peter's sister (Komo) flying from Austin. Ava's great-grandparents (Halmoni & Harobaji) there to celebrate along with Peter's other DC based family. Ava's gifts ranged from the creative (Tigger Halloween Costume), sentimental (Video & picture collage) to the practical (clothes & money) and fun (toys & books).

4 Generations. 3 ethnicities (Indian, Korean, Chinese). 2 families. All brought together to celebrate the birthday of 1 little princess. Happy 1st Birthday Ava!