Family Fun

Last week my mother flew 10,252 miles (as the google maps flies) to visit us way over here in Misawa.  At least she said it was to visit "us", but I know it was really to play with the grandkids.  We all head a great time reading books, eating Japanese food, playing games and running at the park.  Here are a few photo highlights from her trip. 

(Note: While Michelle and I agree that a blog post should have clever concise commentary, we disagree on the ideal number of pictures per post.  Michelle belongs to the "Serial" school of blogging.  I subscribe to the "Megapost" philosophy.  This post is a prime example of the latter.  Any feedback, as long as it supports my view, will be graciously accepted.)

 

We began the week by celebrating Helen's 4th birthday, albeit a few days late, so that we could all enjoy it together.  On this day we learned that 4-year-olds are not ready to put their own candles into a frozen cake-roll (note bent candle on left).

Here Helen and Jane sport their new birthday "bling" while reading Peter Pan book-on-tape.

What is a trip to Japan without a picture with octopus at the grocery store?  This isle also had a basin full of large prawns that happy Japanese shoppers snapping right up.

On Saturday we took my mom to the Statue of Liberty park so the girls could run and play on the roller slides, and so Michelle could stare into the middle distance while contemplating freedom.

  

On Sunday we started the day at our own house of worship, and then visited a few other local holy spots:

 - Misawa Buddhist Temple,

 - Torii gate leading to Misawa Shinto Shrine.

For the rest of the week, the girls reveled in playing with their grandma - planting flowers, doing puzzles, playing trains, spelling words, and singing songs.  It's taken them a while to recover and remember how to entertain themselves.

And for the record, here's a shot of Alice at 6 months on her 1st day of "solid" foods.  She's been observing our meals with wishful eyes for a while now, and she was very happy to finally join the party.

Seoul, Final Episode

While in South Korea, we were able to attend the temple. It really feels like this one is on top of a mountain. Can you tell that it was yellow day?

I decided that I wanted to get my haircut in Seoul and asked at an information desk at one of the malls and they gave us a map and marked the spot. Sadly we didn't think to look up at the signs to find it on the third floor. And even if we had looked up, there were no scissors or other pictures to help us find it. We had to go to a second information desk to find it.

I got the best haircut ever: shampoo, cut, & style for 18000 won ($15.43). I had brought a picture so that she could replicate the style of some superstar. Ryan came up looking for me with the girls when I wasn't done at the scheduled time (it takes awhile to cut each hair on my head 3 times). When they came in the hairdressers grabbed Alice and Jane and took pictures with them and chit-chatted with Helen. 

Ryan got a new pair of glasses and the optometrist gave the girls a pair of sunglasses each in their favorite colors. As if they couldn't get more popular with the locals...

Seoul, Part 2

We got to watch the changing of the guards at Gyeongbokgung Palace with many of our closest friends. Please note the conchs in the third row. Somehow they are able to make sounds like bagpipes without said instruments.

Here we have a snapshot of how we passed our time at this palace. People talking to us in Korean and taking our pictures. Ryan says that he couldn't resist taking this picture.

Our next palace stop was much more enjoyable. We went on an English tour of the Secret Garden of Changdeokgung. It was hard to believe that we were in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world when hiking in these woods. The large gate that Helen and I are standing in was the gate the emperor would go to after he was done fishing in his pond.

We are trying to decide if any of these pictures are worthy to go on our wall of beautiful pictures.

Seoul Grand Park

On Helen's Birthday we went to the zoo in Seoul. I had heard that the terrain was hilly in the zoo, but when I saw hikers like those below I was filled with a little more trepidation. I will have you know that nearly everyone we saw was in hiking gear, from the tips of their gortex boots to the top of their ventilated hats. Before coming to Korea I read in all the travel books that Koreans love to hike and love hiking gear. I didn't really believe it until we went to the zoo. These three people were what everyone looked like in the zoo, except for the kids on a field-trip who all wore matching hats. 

 Helen is trying on a shell for size and Jane is working on breaking out of her shell.

My kids panicked when Ryan put his arm in the crocodiles mouth even though we told them it wasn't real. Now when they see the picture they just yell "No, Daddy, no!" to the computer screen.

This was one of my favorite parts of the zoo. I have never seen so many cranes in my life and their nests were amazing. 

After the zoo we headed over to the rose garden. I have to admit that I have been to many "rose gardens" but they never seem to be in season, and usually look like no one has taken care of them in years. These gardens were amazing.

Helen learned about thorns while we were in the park. Luckily her wound has healed. We are at the stage in life that discussions of "owies" take up a big portion of our dinner time conversations and heartfelt prayers. I wonder if we will out grow this, or if we will just have more scraped knees to compare as our kids get older.

Seoul Part 1

After reading all the travel books available at the library on South Korea, I was tickled pink to go to the National Museum of Korea. It is clear that Alice is also a connoisseur of the rich history of the Three Kingdoms including this 10 story pagoda.

 Here are the girls outside the museum after they enjoyed the children's section of the museum where they could dress up in ancient royal robes, do giant puzzles, explore forts and traditional houses. 

After the museum we went to Namdaemun Market and the lady in pink convinced us that we wanted to eat in her restaurant as opposed the other 10 stalls selling what appeared to be the same dishes in plastic in front of her shop. 

 What to purchase in South Korea for your dining pleasure? Even with English translations we were still surprised by what the waitress brought. I ordered "Homemade noodles" and got noodles with clams and seaweed in addition to the noodles. 

 The following day we went to Dongdaemun Market which has a great gate when you come out of the subway. 

 I love scarves, and there were so many to choose from that I was almost too overwhelmed to buy any. Lucky I was able to overcome my initial trepidation and picked up a couple. 

Suwon, South Korea

Last week we took the hop over to South Korea for a week of fun and adventure. We started out at the Hwaseong Haenggung palace. Luckily Ryan and the girls were cute enough to get past the guards. In fact, our kids were cute enough that all the ladies riding public transportation with us chit-chatted with the girls the whole time. They were even willing to hold the youngest two and take pictures of us using all their electronic devices.

 Looking at the undersides of these roofs, one realizes that standard American homes are pretty mono-chromatic. 

 Helen did a good job pretending to open the gate for us. 

While the girls and I took a lunch break, Ryan tackled the stairs leading up to the high fortress wall circling the city. In retrospect, that might not have been the best division of labor, as Ryan is not the biggest fan of heights. 

 I consider this to be a serious bell. For 1000 won Ryan could have even rung in the cavalry with it. 

 Pavilion rooftop in all my favorite colors. 

Here is the command post Seojangdae which overlooks the city of Suwon and doesn't bear any resemblance to the command posts I've seen in our military. 

 After the fortress we went to the Korean Folk Village. We were lucky enough to arrive in time for the traditional Korean farmer dance show. Our girls liked the pom-pom hats the best, but Ryan and I preferred the hats with the twirling streamers. 

 Here are the girls demonstrating how the early Korean totem poles keep their mouths open. 

 Ryan bought a little wooden "helicopter" from this gentleman. Nothing like buying one of something to teach sharing in a public location. Parenting is not for the faint of heart.