The Korean War Memorial and a trip to the park

On Friday, we went to the Korean War Memorial. Like most things we've seen in Korea, it is immense, thorough, and very well done.

This is just a picture of the city near the War Memorial. Somewhere I read an article about 'Escaping the Concrete Jungle.' It was an article about the mountains and hiking in and around Seoul. It seems very accurate to me since once thing I seem to be missing the most is grass... just plain, green grass. If anyone drives by my home when we get back and sees me just lying in the grass for no reason... well, now you'll understand why. I don't know if I've seen any grass while I've been here.



In the front of the War Memorial. This is just a very small piece of the actual space that Memorial takes up.



This is a ship that they have in the equipment yard. The yard is full of planes, helicopters, tanks, and multiple other things. Some of them you can go inside of, and others you can't. I don't think I have any pictures of Min and Charles from the War Memorial. I'm not sure why but they must have thought there was a contest to see who could sprint through everything the fastest. They pretty much ran nonstop until we got inside.



The only pictures we got with any people in them were of Travis and Henry.

We ate lunch at a little restaurant near the War Memorial. Thankfully, I can swing ordering the food. The restaurant had a table with about 8 older men eating lunch. We thought that it must be like when all the men at home get together for coffee in the morning. Only difference was that these men didn't talk much. They just ate.

After lunch we found this little park for the boys to burn off some steam. Not sure why Charles and Min wanted to even go since they had probably run at least a mile at the Memorial, but they were ever so excited.


Charles and Min did stop long enough for this picture to be taken. Then it was off to the races again. Min did inform me that he didn't want to be a girl (he's the girl in the picture, and if you make the picture bigger he doesn't look very happy either..).

The playground we were at. And, guess what was next to it.... yep, exercise equipment for the adults! I didn't post those pictures but we all had to try them out.

Foster Mom visits and an unexpected destination

Thursday was the day we got to tour the agency and visit with the foster mothers. Our tour included a visit to the nursery which, as I expected, included all the boys asking to take home one of the babies. And, concluded with a visit with the foster mothers.

A group photo

The boys loved the visit, and so did the foster moms. It was as we had hoped and the boys left with such good memories. What great mothers they had when they were here.

Henry and Mrs. Park.

Charles and Mrs. Kim 
 Mrs. Kim brought Charles a birthday cake. Pictures of that later.

Min wasn't quite as excited about sitting alone with Mrs. Lee, but he was lucky in that his foster dad was also there, and the foster baby who is with this family right now.

After our meeting, we went to get some lunch and thought we needed some time decompress. We thought that going to the Han River would be just what we needed. Unfortunately, I misread the subway map. We did end up at a river...just not the Han. We ended up at a dirty little river with old shoes in it. But it was still a great adventure. Because....

where else would find this gentleman playing a saxophone under a bridge.

As we all know, steps are not necessarily the only way to get to the top.

Exercise equipment next to the biking path.

Travis doing push-ups.

Min attempting pull-ups.

As we came to find out, we actually ended up in Digital Media City.

And found a park. Well, if you can't end up at the Han River, I guess a playground is the next best place for kids to unwind. Please note the boy with the cellphone.

Melon bars that really look like watermelon slices helps too.

And, more exercise equipment at the playground. This make perfect sense so mothers can exercise while their kids are playing... and they really did.

Toto..we're not in Kansas anymore.

After Mr. Hwang left on Tuesday night, the plan was for them to come back to the guesthouse on Wednesday between 12 and 1 so we had time to rest.  Well, little did we know that after not going to sleep until about midnight (after very little sleep during the trip), Min would be awake at 4:30 a.m. and Henry and Charles at 6 a.m. (so much for not trying Benadryl at bedtime). We got up, showered, dressed, drank a ton of coffee and decided to head out for our first look at the city. 

Made it to the Rinnai Building (fellow ESWS families will know what I'm talking about) but it is a visual landmark for finding your way back to the guesthouse. The boys were far more interested in just running down the street and seeing who could get the closest to the curb without getting hit by a car.

Just another street view

Looking at some fish in an aquarium outside of a restaurant. Some of the fish were dead so it was especially interesting to the boys.

We definitely learned that Seoul is a night city. Dunkin Donuts doesn't open until at least 9 a.m. and some restaurant hours are from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. in the morning. And, no, they aren't Perkins.

This photo is of Mr. Hwang trying to get Min to go to sleep on the subway. It wasn't working, but at least he tried.
After Mr. Hwang and his girlfriend got to the guesthouse (we had tried for everyone to crash for awhile at about 10 a.m., but with no success. So mom and dad drank more coffee...), we decided to go to Namdaemun Market. Namdaemun Market is a very traditional Korean market. For Americans, it is a never-ending maze of crowded little streets lined with tiny stores that are packed to the ceiling with whatever that store happens to be selling. I think you could pretty much buy anything you could ever need in this market and a lot more.

This is just a glimpse of the market. Pictures really don't do it justice, and it is hard to explain what it is like. I'll try to get some more pictures. We were so tired on this day that I still couldn't quite think straight.

A little restaurant in the market.

Another picture in the market. By this time, Charles was starting to droop, and was needing a lot of encouragement to keep going.

Because the boys were dragging, we decided to head back to the guesthouse. Took a taxi this time which was much easier and faster, but definitely not for the faint-hearted.  Mr. Hwang and his girlfriend offered to cook for us at the guesthouse. We walked to the grocery store down the street to buy supplies. And, with very little help from me (although I did learn how to make a few things), we soon ate supper of rice, bulgogi, pajon, and a baked egg dish. This was a great idea, since Min fell asleep before eating

Headed for bed shortly after that.

Our light at the end of the tunnel

Because this part of our journey was so special and such a surprise, we thought it deserved its own post. So after a very long journey across the U.S., the Pacific Ocean, Japan, the Sea of Japan, and South Korea.. after having one son throw up in the airplane bathroom and another get a bloody nose during descent into Tokyo, when you're not supposed to unbuckle...after watching Henry get his first glimpse of the lights of Seoul, making our way onto a crowded Korean airport shuttle, going through customs, finding our luggage, going to exchange our money and finding out that they wouldn't exchange our travellers checks but that we would have to find a bank in the city.. after making our way out the doors and seeing all the people waiting for passengers and wishing that we had someone there to take us to the guesthouse... as we were walking over to see about renting a phone, our light at the end of the tunnel came. The boys were following us, and I heard them laugh. When I turned around, Mr. Hwang had Henry, Charles, and Min in a big hug. Wow!! There are no words for that moment. We would have been enormously excited to have seen him at any time, and we didn't think we would see him until the next day, but to have him show up then was an answer to a prayer that I hadn't even prayed. He took a bag, and he and his girlfriend led us... an exhausted, dirty, glazed-eyed group through the airport to the airport subway, helped us get our subway tickets, and brought us all the way to our guesthouse. Thank goodness he was there because finding the airport subway would have been a challenge, not to mention getting out of the subway. Finding our guesthouse was okay since I had been there before, but getting a mattress and extra towels from the man downstairs would have been a little more difficult with my exhausted mind. So would have figuring out that the 7/11 next to the guesthouse sells beer. Thank you just doesn't seem like enough.  

Making our way to the airport subway.

On the subway to the guesthouse.



The adventure begins...

 We're pretty delayed in making an entry but we've been going nonstop since we got here, and then... when you have 3 boys who are in various of stages of sleepless nights, you just sleep when you're able.

Our travel day started great. August 22nd was greeted with a lot of excitement by all. Only mom and dad knew what a true marathon we were in for. Lesley picked us up at home and got us to the airport safely. The Rochester American Airlines contingent was awesome. It's so easy to get everything taken care of at our little airport. The flight to Chicago was fantastic (read as short). The boys said they loved flying. Charles comment was 'Cars stink. Airplanes rule.' Henry was served a snack and said, 'I could get used to this.' Travis was sitting with Min, and his only comment was that Min was trying for maximum number of calories burned while strapped into an airplane seat. At least he was happy.

Min loved this truck. Said it had a yellow button on it.

Min continuing to get some exercise in Chicago.

Little does he know how long he's going to be in that seat.

Waiting for the train in Tokyo.

The boys ride from Chicago to Tokyo started out great. Ended not so well. Henry didn't sleep well than started to feel sick. Made it to the bathroom in just enough to vomit on the bathroom floor. Well, at least it wasn't on the nice lady next to him (who wasn't me.) Charles got a bloody nose right before we landed in Tokyo. We gave them all Benadryl in Tokyo (thank you for permission, Dr. J!!) and had a really great flight to Seoul (read that as all boys, including parents, slept).

Waiting for luggage in Seoul. We made it through customs and immigration quickly and easily. Found our luggage with no trouble due to some advice from Travis' great aunt Ethel... we tied multi-colored ribbon to the handles.  Who elses luggage looks like a Christmas present.

Had some trouble downloading photos in order. This is in Rochester before we left. Mrs. Park stopped out to drop off something to take to her neice. Thank goodness as she waited with us until we got through security.

2011 US Open Tae Kwon Do Hanmadang

The first weekend of August, we went to Palatine, Illinois for the US Open TKD Hanmadang Tournament. What an amazing experience!! Both for the family and Henry. I put in the links of the videos of the 3 events Henry was in.

Henry individual poomsae
Henry got first in this event.

Henry and Lexi pairs form
Henry and his friend, Lexi, competed in a pairs event and got 2nd place.

3 Amigos group form
This is Henry, and his friends, Lexi and Jasper, doing a group form. Please pardon the video as Min was hanging on Travis's arm. Made it awfully hard to get a non-shaky video.

All in all, a great weekend!

Henry black belt test

Henry tested for his black belt in tae kwon do on September 25th. I've had a ton of trouble trying to get the video uploaded to the blog so finally decided to upload it to You Tube. We thought he did great but we won't find out if he passed until November. Here are the links to the video:
Board breaking  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMTzAwSSHLM
Sparring  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZhGXJdybxc 

Just to make our home a little more chaotic, we decide to....

get a puppy!! Yikes! Yep... a little golden retriever. His full name is not decided yet, but Jack is part of it. Short for Jackie Chan (Henry's choice) and preferred by Charles. And... gulp... we're going to try to have a Korean dog and teach him his commands in Korean. Thank goodness my Korean teacher has a dog. All he knows is Korean. We'll see how it goes.

Day 2 continued

We headed back to the beach this evening. Everyone was hot from hiking around and needed to relax. Went to a different beach this evening.

The great thrill was on the way home. We were very close to the aerial bridge when we had to stop so that it could go up. That means only one thing... a ship is going under. We saw some other people hop out of their cars and run over to the bridge. So... being the tourists that we are. We did the same... except Travis who, as the driver of the car, thought he should stay with it. Never mind that we were all dressed in only swimming suits (I did have a pair of shorts) and no shoes...except Min who was sandy leaving the beach that Travis took his trunks off and wrapped him in a towel. So the boys and I (carrying the naked, towel-clad 3 year old) ran down the sidewalk to the canal. And luck was with us... the ship wasn't just some sailboat or tourist carrying boat but a real cargo ship. The Edwin A. Gott. And it was spectacular. There is something about being 15 yards away from a 1000 foot cargo ship going under an elevated bridge. The boys were speechless! And, then it was gone and we had to sprint back down the sidewalk...barefooted in swimming suits to jump back in the truck before we had to drive. I try not to think about what a sight we were but feel much better that I wasn't the only mother racing her kids back to the car.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow so we will plan to go to the ship museum and..I'm not sure what else.

Family Vacation Day 2... The Road Less Travelled

We made it up to Split Rock Lighthouse and State Park this morning. We'd never toured the lighthouse before so we did that today. The majority of our time was spent hiking around. You'll see the purpose of my title a little later in today's blog. It is a favorite poem of mine and was pretty suitable for the days hiking. Charles and Min walking down the path. They were absolutely nuts. We made it through the lighthouse but no other buildings because the boys couldn't quite control themselves. Scary when you're in a historic house full of antiques. So... off we went.

Min and I on the trail. He was the only who would agree to actually looking at the camera...but he couldn't do it with a straight face.

It was nearly lunchtime so we decided to have a picnic on this little island. This was the start of a bumpy road. Not only did we have to make it over Pebble Beach. Think.... a beach of fist-sized rocks, 3 boys, and lots of throwing. No...no one got hit by rocks.

Then we had to make it over this cliff. We were happy to see that the boys are pretty good climbers. No one fell off the cliff into the lake. Min and Travis had a great conversation going over. Min...'Dad, what's this?' Dad...'I think it's poop.' Min...'No. I think it's marshmallow.' Dad...'That's bird poop, Min.' Min...'Oh.. gross!!'

Min with his collection of favorite, beautiful rocks. Yes, we carried them all the way back to the truck in the cooler.

Once we made it over Pebble Beach we had to cross these rocks to make it the island.

On the island trying to find a place to eat.

Charles and Min.