July 27, 2011 : 2011년 7월 27일

Well, the boys are literally exhausted today.  They played SO hard yesterday.

It started Monday night when they went to Keun Omma's house so that they could get up early for the Harry Potter matinee on Tuesday morning (8:30 AM).

This is Minji and Jinhyung having dinner (~10:30 PM) before dying their hair black.  They accidentally ought the kind of dye to cover gray, but it changed their hair to black, and they were satisfied (their hair is naturally a very dark reddish-brown),

BJ and AJ are sleeping, but they were very excited about the movie.  AJ was up before 6:00 AM and BJ was up not long after.

Here's a good one of Minji and BJ...

Here are the boys jumping the chairs while we wait to buy popcorn.  Jinhyung restrained himself for the camera but resumed jumping as soon as I put it down.

And here is a bit of the wand fighting that ensued after the movie:

Then we went to the playground...

while we waited for our favorite donkatsu place to open (this picture is from the other day--they still all remember BJ!).

Afterward we met our firends from our old apartment complex.  We had lots of fun with them in the house:

on the playground:

and then in front of the museum playing with traditional Korean toys--

traditional Korean tops...

And swordfighting with these small javelins...

that are supposed to be thrown into these black urns on the right.

Then they went back and played with Minji nuna and Jinhyung hyung, both with newly black hair that really stands out in these pictures:

Here are the boys playing video games (which they are not supposed to do)...

and Minji sneaking a peek at TV on her mom's cell phone (which she is also not really supposed to do--but today was special, so it was okay.)

Then we walked to the playground to the music of the cicadas (if you listen closely, you can hear AJ telling them they're too loud.).

BJ and Jinhyung played a little soccer:

And AJ tried desperately to catch the bar for the big boys (alas, we are still not there yet...):

Then when we got home, their great-aunt and uncle had brought peaches and plums!

Is it any wonder that they can hardly move today?

July 25, 2011 Part 2 : 2011년 7월 25일 2회

AJ brought this home from art today.  "This is Daddy," he said.  "He's wearing a scarf because he's outside.  He's throwing snowballs at us.  Do you remember that, Mommy?  Do you remember Daddy?"

Then, ten minutes later, he said, "Mommy, we have to hurry back to our house in English.  There's one person stuck there, Mommy.  His name is Abba (Daddy).  You're married to him, Mommy.  Did you know that?  We have to go see him.  We can go back to Korea next week." 

Somehow, I think AJ still doesn't understand all this. 

July 25, 2011 : 2011년 7월 25일

Yesterday, we went to a river near Yeongcheon.  Something I love about the Koreans is their ingenuity.  This river is about 3 feet deep all the way across, but look at all the ways they found to have fun!

The riverside was littered with literally hundreds of tents like this, even though the day was gray and rainy.

Then there were the ginormous beach balls the kids could climb inside and roam about the river.  You see Keun Abba here chasing the cousins in the big fluorescent ball.

There were also boats, which the kids just loved.  Here are a couple of pictures:

AJ being so big in the boat

Some photos of the water fights between the two boats with Komo Bu and the cousins.

And here are the boats in action.  You see Komo Bu (literally, "older sister's husband," so my children's uncle) paddling the boat with my boys (BJ with the paddle and AJ nagging for the paddle) and occasionally splashing them with his paddle.  Then you hear Keun Abba (literally, "big daddy," i.e., my husband's older brother) calling to his children, "Can you come this way?" Then you see the cousins, 13-year-old Minji and 11-year-old Jinhyung, drifting off.  Then back to BJ jumping out of the boat.

But there was also a swimming pool:

Then there was the fountain:

And of course, snacks, which AJ enjoyed the most...

Cheetos...

Cotton candy with Keun Omma ("big mother")...

And with Minji Nuna....

And with his brother and cousin, well, his cousin shared...

Bugles and watermelon....

And coffee, which is only supposed to be for the adults, but AJ usually gets some (as seen with Grandpa on another occasion):

And finally, the trip ended like every other one I have ever been on in the US and Korea--with the kids running around while the parents are too busy to stop them.

Says AJ, "I was be(de)stroying them all!!!!"  Yes, life is as it should be...

July 23, 2011 : 2011년 7월 23일

진희 생일입니다! It's BJ's birthday! 

It started this morning when the reminder that today was the day they could buy toys propelled AJ right out of bed.  BJ, however, snuggled back in the covers and hid his head under the pillow.  (Did I mention that he has grown an inch since we arrived?)

While BJ was hiding, AJ woke up Grandpa, they ate breakfast, and then the two enjoyed coffee together (AJ's was mostly milk).  Ahhh...the sweet aspects and lovely memories of Korea.

We talked to Daddy for BJ's birthday, and BJ was glad to see him, even though he wouldn't talk (Why? I'm not sure).  Afterward, he laid around missing Daddy until we went to buy his cake and presents.  In the car, he cried a little and sat on my lap.  It is hard on your birthday without your favorite person.

But then we found cake and presents, and life was a little better.

On the way home, AJ was worried because Grandpa didn't buy Grandma any presents.  Grandpa bought BJ two, so BJ gave one to Grandma and told her that when he goes home, she can look at it and not forget him.

And then we played with our toys...

and with Grandpa...

BJ fixed his and AJ's robots so many times Grandma swears he will be an engineer, which would make his other grandpa very happy.

AJ with his robot

BJ tries to be cool and not smile, but he can't help it.

But most important for them both was looking at some of Daddy's pictures:

Soooooo impressive!

Wow!  AJ wants to know if our Daddy knew he had us.  I told him he wasn't born yet, but AJ doesn't quite believe me.

Wow!  Daddy looks a whole lot like BJ!  BJ is proud.

AJ also finds a picture of Grandma...

"Was this today?" he asks.

"No," I say.  "This is when Daddy was little.  Grandma was younger."

I guess Grandma looks the same to AJ because he asked incredulously,

"You mean she was born this way?!"

July 20, 2011 : 2011년 7월 20일

Okay, it was like pulling teeth to get the kids to write about vacation, so I interviewed them instead. 

Grandma resting at a rest area where the boys were playing.

1.  Why did we go on vacation?
BJ:  Because it was a day for Jinhyung and us to rest and Jinhyung didn't have school.
AJ:  Because it was time for rest.
BJ: And it was time for fun.
AJ: Yes, it was.

Resting

2. Where did we go on vacation?

BJ:  To the beach

AJ:  To Jinhyung

3.  What was best about dinner?

BJ:  I played with the baby, and AJ tried to hide from Mommy.

AJ: I saw a dog walking and I got wet and ...

AJ getting wet

BJ: I like feeding the cats.

AJ:  But I threw meat at them and I accidentally threw it where they couldn't find it.

AJ and kitten

4.  How was AJ's birthday?

AJ: I LOVE my birthday, and I said, "CAKE!!!"

BJ: I don't know.

5. How about the cable car and the mountain?

BJ: We went on the mountain?

AJ: Oh...

BJ: (farts)

Proof we made it to the top of the mountain (me wearing heeled sandals because I had not anticipated a weekend trip to the beach would include a mountain hike).

BJ at the top--didn't get AJ because he was literally running all the way up...then had to be carried back down (thanks, Keun Abba!)

6. What about the beach?

AJ:  I don't know.

BJ:  I'm kind of crazy right now.  Can we stop?

a little crazy

July 18, 2011 : 2011년 7월 18일

Well, it's going to take a few days to tell the vacation story.  아마 2-3일간 이야기 할거걔요. 
Today, I will try to give you a sense of where we went, and tomorrow (hopefully), I can tell you in the kids' words.
오늘은 우리 휴가가는곳가각 얘기 해 드릴까고 내일 얘들 말씀으로 휴가 이야기 드릴까요.

We went to Tongyeong, which is where Sunshin Yi fought and won a great sea battle against Japan in 1598.  There is a cool article on him in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_Sun-sin.  One of his big deals was resurrecting use of the turtle boats. Here is a clip from a Korean drama about his final battle:



Here are some of the things we saw related to that:

Front of a reconstructed turtle boat.

Turtle boat from the side (sorry... best I could do in a moving car)

On Sunday, we went up Mount Mireuk where you could see the countryside as well as the battle area.

My picture of this map didn't come out so well, but essentially, if I read the map correctly, three of Yi Sunshin's ships were shoehorned into that little triangular harbor on the right and managed to come out and defeat several approaching Japanese warships during the final battle of Hansan.  Yi Sunshin died during the battle but gave the order to continue beating his drums, and the Koreans overpowered the Japanese to withstand that invasion.

Tongyeong is also a busy harbor.

Here are a bunch of fishing boats tied up.  We also saw squid boats with their special lights and hooks, but again, I was in a moving car and didn't get them this time.

Tongyeong also has access to the South Sea, which is very busy this time of year as its water is much warmer than the East and West Seas.  Yesterday, the South Sea's temperature was 24 C, which is roughly 75 F. 

We found a small beach that was not very busy Saturday.  The bigger beaches on the South Sea were packed and made the news.  After all the rains in Korea, this was the first nice weekend in a month at approximately 35 C in the south (about 95 F).

We had gone to a "pension" (I have NO idea why it has that name.  There is nothing to do with retirement, money, or any other type of allowance that I can make out), which is essentially a condo.

Boys playing loudly in one room.  It's amazing how much noise a beach ball can make when you slam it against the wall.

Minji watching TV (she's not technically allowed to do that at home.)

The outdoor eating area (they bring a grill to the table.)

Harbor lighthouse (with a green light).

Submarine in the harbor that we saw on our night time stroll.

Okay, you need a lot of imagination here, but this is a jangseung (or traditional Korean totem pole) welcoming visitors to the playground (behind) where BJ wanted desperately to lay LIKE THIS AT NIGHT but Grandpa said no because of the sand.  BJ was so upset the rest of the stroll and announced VERY loudly after we got to the lighthouse that this was NOT FUN AT ALL that Grandpa reneged, and the kids got to play for about 15 minutes in the dark.

Here are some of the mountains around...

And part of the town...

Then we left Tongyeong and headed for Geojae where they build LOTS of ships.  Alas, I couldn't get a good picture of the ships, but I did get a picture of these waving things that look like beans but say "marine police."

The beach at Geojae...

Pictures of people and tales from the boys coming tomorrow!