Grandpa and Grandma!

So excited for visitors!

Mom and Dad actually standing in North Korea.  This building
was constructed exactly on the border between the two Koreas,
for official talks.  When you cross to this side of the room,
you are in North Korea!

At a traditional folk village, grandpa receives some traditional
punishment!

Myeongdong Market

At Gyeongbuk Palace

Grandma gets the dead skin eaten off her
feet at Dr. Fish.

This is a trendy ice cream cone in Seoul.

Enjoying some traditional Korean BBQ.

Hiking down Namsan along the Seoul
Fortress Wall.

Getting some excercise!

Visitors!!!

Danny's college roommate, Rich Trowbridge, and his family are currently stationed outside of Toyko with the military.  They can fly standby to other military bases, so they flew over to Seoul this summer to check out South Korea and hang out with us.  They have 3 girls and 1 boy, and in the same order as us too!  We had a lot of fun touring around with them, catching up, and talking about "old times".  

 Here we are in Insadong having some Korean BBQ.

 The best part for Hyrum and Miles was just

having another boy around!

 Here we are doing "noraebong".  This literally means

"singing room" in Korean.  It is a very popular

passtime in Korea.  Basically, you pay to have

your own room to do kareoke.  The kids were a

little shy at first, but a few

songs into it, we had to remind them to share the

microphone, and then we had to drag them home.

Banpodaegyo

So one week night when Danny was working late (pretty common since we've been in Korea), the kids and I decided to check out the Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain. This is the world's longest bridge fountain.  It sprays water in wave-like movements that are synchronized to music and colored lights.  It was a long walk from a subway stop and we lost Mary Jane's favorite blanket along the way, but we all enjoyed the show.  We fell into bed when we got home, and Joy donated one of her blankets to M, so tears were dried and it was a happy ending.

 

Found a nice, cozy spot to enjoy our picnic dinner.

So . . .  nothing seems to be happening . . . oh, wait a minute,
we're on the wrong side of the bridge.  So we quickly packed
up our picnic and rushed to the other side!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxLnoNKSlZQ    My pictures do not do this justice, so check out this link if you'd like to see more.  And, as you'll see, the fountain sometimes plays on both sides of the bridge, so you can understand our initial confusion!

Mary Jane's 6th birthday at the Children's Grand Park

So now you know how far behind I am in my blog posts when I'm posting about MJ's birthday (mid-May) in July!  Fortunately, I haven't been carrying my camera around much lately so I'm hoping to be caught up soon! 

We had been looking forward to visiting the Children's Grand Park in Seoul, and we thought that M's b-day would be the perfect time.  The park is huge.  There is a zoo, children's museum, playgrounds, musical fountain, theater, botanical garden, and lots of picnic and play areas.  We brought a picnic lunch and spent the entire day very entertained.  Of course, our kids are pretty easily entertained.  Just one of the above mentioned venues would have been a days worth of excitement for them.  We practically had to drag them away from the sand box and the monkey cages (and that was after ample time enjoying them).  We are grateful that they still delight in so many of the simple joys of life!  But the show must go on!



Fun-fetti birthday cake.  So glad Danny stocked up on the
"essentials" before we left the US!

The stairs coming up out of the subway at the Grand Park
stop were pretty fun!

Like I said before, the "no feeding the animals" rule often
goes unheeded in Korea.  Look at these beggars!

After failing in his attempt to transition the kids from
the sandbox to the botanical garden, Dad goes back to sleep.

There was just something about this
hairdo that I had to capture!  Kendal
and Brookee?

Saturday is definitely not the best day to enjoy a place like
this, but we really wanted Dad to be there so we endured the
crowds.

There were some really fun experiences at
the Children's Museum for the kids to see
what it would be like if they didn't have all
of there usual senses and mobility.  This is
Hyrum crossing the street and getting on the
subway in a wheelchair.

This is a game the kids played while wearing goggles that made
everything look fuzzy.  They had to try to keep the ball out of the
net with their hands.  The ball had a small bell in it, so they could
hear it coming but could not see it.

Dressing up and walking down the runway in costumes from
around the world.

This is Danny living vicariously
through his son.  I know, I know, I
should have made Danny do it!

Musical Fountain.  You have to get a little excited when you're
an American living abroad and you hear a song by
Michael Jackson.

As if they don't already stand out enough!  These "tokki kabangs"
(rabbit backpacks) were a gift from their Korean teacher.

Check out some of our favorite websites:

Venture Team Building

Ultimate Home Life

College football snack helmets

Mini Football Helmets