An eventful Easter!

Well, with all the family in town, we had an eventful Easter to say the least... it was not, shall we say, a picture perfect day!

The day before we dyed some Easter eggs.  Notice that N is the only child participating in this activity.  e and Uncle T were both still down with the flu, so Grandpa and N decorated the eggs.  N did a great job and was very patient!

Easter morning we had a little egg hunt before we had to take Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle T back to the airport.  N really got into it this year, and e was so cute carrying around the couple eggs he found.  At one point, N had all the eggs he found neatly lined up on the ottoman, sorted by color.  What a kid!

And check out those Easter Tupperware bowls.  I think the Easter Bunny might have forgotten to bring baskets to Korea... so she had work with what she had...

Then we headed to the airport to say goodbye.  But not before getting an adorable picture of e and in his Easter finest!Then the real adventures began.  When we got back into the car and turned it on, we heard an unmistakably bad sound.  E got out, popped the hood, and thought it looked like one of the belts was loose.  Now, bear in mind it's Easter Sunday, and our plans did not include going home for several more hours.  We were headed to the Dragon Hill for Easter brunch, then back to the airport several hours later to pick up Aunt EJ and Uncle E.  Also, keep in mind that Seoul is a gigantic city, so this involved lots of driving in a now really bad sounding van.  

So we limped the van to the Dragon Hill for brunch, but when I went to get e out of his car seat, I discovered problem number two of the day.  His diaper had exploded on the ride across town.  And was Mom smart enough to bring spare clothes even though he was just getting over the stomach flu?  Nope.  So I very ungracefully changed him in the bathroom and washed out his pants as best I could before we ate.  At this point I was hoping to take a nice family photo of everyone all dressed up, but oddly enough, that didn't happen.

But we had a nice lunch none the less, until I picked up e to leave.  Yup, you guessed it.  His diaper had exploded, again!  Argh!  At this point the pants were unsalvageable, so we had to make a trip to the BX.  Luckily, Easter outfits are on sale on Easter afternoon!  So, problem number two was dealt with... back to the van.  

While in the BX I got directions to the auto hobby shop.  Let me tell you, the guy I asked gave me a funny look when I said I need to get to the auto hobby shop on Easter, in my good clothes, holding a new Easter outfit for my kid.  Ah the joy.  Anyway, we found it.  And there were actually mechanics working!

Hold on tight while I break out my best car lingo... apparently the AC compressor was on it's way out, which didn't seem like a big deal to me because it was March and quite rainy chilly, so I didn't see any need for air conditioning.  However, the belt around the AC compressor also went around the alternator, and I am smart enough to know we needed that.  So eventually the compressor was going to seize up, melt the belt, an then the alternator would stop spinning.  Great.  The guy said he didn't have the parts, and that the car was not safe to drive, and he seemed to look at us like we'd lost it when we said we had to drive to the airport and then back home.  Not good.  Since at this point, it was becoming evident I was not going to get that perfect family photo, I snapped this one of the boys while the mechanics were looking at the car.

Then E broke out his mechanical engineering degree and noticed that there was a way to reroute a different belt to bypass the AC compressor, so there would be no AC, but the alternator would spin and the car would be safe to drive.  Always a bonus.  The mechanic said it would work if he had the right sized belt.  After several minutes of looking, he found it!  I have never been so excited to see a belt in my life.  We really couldn't figure out what we were going to do.  Here is a photo of E and N along with our "minivan car" as N calls it, being fixed.  He was very curious as to why it was up in the air!

After this adventure we returned to the airport to pick up Aunt EJ and Uncle E, who we were very happy to see after such a long day.  Happy Easter!

Grandma, Grandpa, & Uncle Trent visit

I know it's been a while since I posted anything here, but with a couple months left in Korea, and lots of family visiting, we've been going, going!  We had a really good time with my family in town, even though the stomach flu reared it's ugly head!

To start out their trip, Dad, L, and Uncle T got stuck in SFO for a night, so we missed out on an entire day, which was huge bummer, but we tried to make up for it.  We did a lot of the standard Korean things.  L and I visited the purse shops and walked out with some fabulous bags...  I can't believe we didn't get a picture of them!  T got a blanket and we all enjoyed some wonderful Korean food.  Dad checked out E-Mart.  (I can't believe I forgot my camera, again... Dad loves grocery stores and was amazed by the packaging of the Korean products.  I'll make sure to get some E-Mart photos before we go...)  We also figured out that the Piz.za Hut here serves his product.  It's a small world after all!

We did manage to remember our camera on our trip to Everland, and got one of the best shots of all of us, and the Everland creature.  You might say she's like Minnie, but not quite right!

We had a great time in the ball pit...

... and on the roller coasters.  

Yes, I'm a bit of a chicken, so I mostly rode the kiddie coasters.  For the record, I did go on a big one at the end of the day.  Funny story, the Everland employees kept asking if my dad's heart was OK before they would let him on the big coasters, and one girl even called over her supervisor to talk to him before he could ride.  Picture that with the pointy talky.  "Heart, OK?"  Apparently Koreans over 50 do not ride roller coasters!  We didn't give him a hard time about that at all!  Hee, hee.

e did get to practice his driving a bit while we were there too.  How did Uncle T even get into that tiny car!?

And N got some ice cream with Daddy (he still hasn't quite figured out how to eat an ice cream cone yet...)

The next day we headed to Seoul to spend two days sightseeing up there.  Our first stop was the flower market.  This is a wonderful place full of flowers being sold at wholesale prices.  Anyone can go, look around, and buy.  It is glorious!

In the morning, we headed to one of my favorite spots in Seoul, Namdeamun market.  It is an amazing display of anything and everything for sale.  It's just all packed in there, and a little bit of something for everyone.  In true fashion, we ate our way through.  

Then it was back on the subway for our last stop of the day, one of the palaces.  

We didn't know when this picture was taken, but e was not feeling so well.  Here we are in the palace right before the flu hit.  

All of a sudden, e's diaper just exploded.  I mean, the worst I've seen to date, and that's saying something.  It took three adults to clean him up.  (Yes, still in the Korean palace...) and he got back on the subway wearing N's sweatshirt and my fleece around his legs.  One stop away from ours, he threw up.  On the subway.  It was lovely.  So we all rushed off the train and cleaned him up again.  He rode that last stop wearing only my fleece around him, and by this point I was carrying a rather nasty pile of dirty clothes.  I kept picturing that AFN ad where they tell you to blend in to your surroundings.  Let me tell you, we did not blend.  Not with a baby with the stomach flu on the subway!  Needless to say we got back in the car and headed for home.  Here is Grandpa rocking the little guy... except for Grandpa fell asleep first!

Two days later, Uncle T got the flu.  I'm sure he was thrilled with his littlest nephew for that Easter present!

Sadly, and much to soon, my family headed home on Easter Sunday, which was an event in and of itself, and worthy of it's own entry, soon!

Not quite right...

For those of you not in Korea, I thought you might enjoy some of the Korenglish that make our lives interesting on a daily basis!  You might have to click on the photos to zoom in to read them better... sorry!

We found this sign on base, where everything is written in English... sort of.  This is a pretty typical example of how sentence structure often gets lost in the translation, but you can still figure out the meaning.  (The funny part is, the elevator was obviously empty, and not in operation...)

Here is another, where you can sort of figure out where they're going.  This is a guide map from a major amusement park (it's like Disn.ey of Korea).  I know it's hard to read, but the tag line says, "Romantic Christmas with your Lovers."  All of my lovers, huh?

And then there are some times you really have no idea where they're going.  We saw this sign in the children's room at the aquarium.  Mind you, I'm very appreciative of all the signs in English around Korea (thanks mostly to the 1988 Olympics) but sometimes they're really not helpful!

Your guess is as good as mine on that one!

These recycling signs are posted outside one of my friend's apartments.  This is a very popular apartment complex for Americans to live in, but again, I really don't know where they're going with this...

If you can't read it, in the left bin you can recycle your "can," "beer bottle" on the right, and the middle one is labeled for "various diseases!"  So next time you have a disease you need to recycle, you know where to go!

The puzzles

So I did an earlier post about the boys' love of puzzles. Well, lately this has taken on a whole new meaning. It all started when E's mom sent N a 100 piece puzzle. Yes, I said a 100 piece puzzle for a 2-year old. We laughed. I mean, really laughed... until we did it with him. It became clear very quickly that Grandma knew something we didn't. The child loves puzzles, and is quite good at them!

This is a picture of N in his pjs with the completed 100 piece puzzle. We do it almost every night before bed, and depending on his mood (and how quickly we want to get him to bed) he can do about a third of it himself. He refers to this one as his "animal puzzle" and his favorite parts to put together are the birdies. Those of you who know my love of birds (ha, ha) will understand that I am more than willing to let him do those pieces. He literally can pick up a piece, spin it around, and put it in where it goes. Amazing.

So after realizing this, we bought him a 60 piece Thomas puzzle. The first time he saw it, E helped him with the outside, and N did the rest. The third time he saw it, he did it by himself, with E and I offering a couple of suggestions and helps near the end. Apparently he has his Dad's (and Grandma's) spacial reasoning!

How to... beat the winter blues.

1. Go sledding on the man-made snow at Everland.  Actually, N wasn't that interested in sledding himself, he preferred to watch his Dad and little brother go down the hill, and just drag his sled around.  Mind you, this is the same child who 30 minutes later was asking to "do dat roller coaster 'gain?"  Go figure.
2. Play in the God-made snow in our apartment's parking lot.  We don't really have much of a yard here, so we just do the best we can.  It turns out if you make snowballs without gloves on, your hands get really cold and your dad has to warm them up.  For the record, our neighbor actually made the snowman, we just borrowed it for a picture!
3. Go to swim lessons at an indoor swimming pool.
4. Take the subway to Seoul and go to the aquarium at the COEX mall.  Both boys loved looking at the fishies.  e cracked me up, because he was meowing at the cat fish.  He just started meowing at cats in books, so I thought it was very perceptive of him to find the cat fish and meow at them!  He also loved, I mean loved, the big shark tank.  Think squeals of delight every time a shark swam by.  He was saying 'ish (instead of fish) by the end of the day.  So cute!

A little "tail"

So we were driving home the other day when N saw a dog on the side of the road.  The conversation went something like this: 

N:  "I see a doggie!"  

Me: "You do see a dog!"  Very exciting conversation.  

N: "doggies have tails!"

Me: "You're right N, doggies do have tails."

N: "Kitties have tails too!"

Me: "Good job, N, kitties have tails too."  Then, lest you forget who's kid he is...

N: "Airplanes have tails, and helicopters have tails!"  

Yes, only in our family could we make the jump from doggies and kitties to airplanes and helicopters...

Seoul survivors...

It's official.  We are now those crazy Americans.  E and I have always tried hard to try to be "cool" while traveling around Korea, but this weekend we went to Seoul with some friends and were slightly less than "cool."  But we had a blast!

On Saturday a bunch of us left our kiddos with sitters and headed to Seoul for the afternoon to see a show.  Our first stop was for a little shopping.  I got some flip-flops and a T-shirt for $8... I'll be putting those in the closet for a couple of months until it gets warm!  Then the real adventure began.  We took the subway to the theater.  We have taken the subway before, and it has always been cumbersome, but we just thought it was because we had the boys with us.  No, it's just cumbersome.  

Here we are on the first train.  Yes, crazy Americans taking pictures on the subway.  At this point we were traveling at a leisurely pace on a non-crowded train.  The girls, Amanda, Christie, Lynn, me, and Kathy.

And the guys, Mike, E, Brian, and Patrick.

Then we had to transfer trains.  This second train was beyond crowded.  I couldn't take a picture, because it would have been a feat to just get the camera out.  Think no personal space.  None.  You are pressed against other people on all sides.  We couldn't hold onto any of the hand holds, but there was really no need.  We weren't going to fall down, because there was nowhere to fall!

We had one more transfer to make, an at this point, we were way late for our show.  So we were running.  What we didn't know is this was the longest transfer of all time.  We ran through a tunnel, up stairs, down stairs, through another insanely long tunnel, up and down more stairs.  We looked at a map later and found out that the two lines are actually a whole city block apart!  No wonder it felt like we were running forever!  Here are Mike and Kathy running through the station.  It was actually their wedding anniversary.  Nothing says romance like a sprint through a Korean subway station!

We finally got to the show, winded, but ready to enjoy it.  It was so much fun.  It's a percussion-type show with cutlery.  Think Stomp meets Benihana and you've got the idea.  Not much plot (or many words) so the language isn't a barrier, although there was some English with a Korean accent.  "Cabb-ag-e!" (They pronounce the final 'e' here, making cabbage a three syllable word, I know it's wrong, but it makes me chuckle every time.)  Here's the whole group after the show.

After our earlier adventure we decided to take cabs, not the subway, to dinner.  The girls all climbed into one, and somehow I ended up with all the husbands.  Here is a picture of us in the back seat, a little crowded, but it took much less time!  

Lastly we had a wonderful dinner at a not-so-kid-friendly restaurant.  The best part was dessert.  Lots of chocolate!  At one point we realized our bus home left in 15 minutes, so we sort of had to run to catch it, so I worked the chocolate off!  Anyway, it was a great day and I was glad that we were running through the subway as a group instead of by ourselves!  Thanks for planning it Lynn!