Category: Uncategorized

August woke up a little before 8. After rolling around on the floor and doing some yoga as he woke up, H\he pretty much went straight to his Duplos and played with them a lot. As we left, he was saying goodbye to everything: Oma and Opa, of course, but also the people in the wall hanging from Glecy, his chair, the lizards on the chair, the ‘sass’ (snake) on his poster, and to “Zinnie” when he saw himself in the mirror in the elevator.

We made it to Seoul Forest a little after 10. When we got to the top of the subway station, he said “sun, sun”. The first things he saw in the park were the empty drainage ditches, and a fountain that wasn’t on. He would point and say “sad”. He chose animals over playground again, and we first went to the butterfly house. He enjoyed that, but he really wanted to play with the rocks by the waterfall, which wasn’t allowed. I took him outside to play with rocks there, but then he saw the building next door and started saying ‘inside’. I don’t know if he remembered the building from the spring (doubtful) or if he saw other people going in, or if he saw the animals on the windows, but he threw down the rock he was holding and wanted to go in.

We went in and walked through, seeing frogs (gaeguli, that is), which was exciting. Upstairs, they have chipmunks, but they were asleep and you could barely see them. As we walked down the passage, he said “bye, chipmunks.” And as we started to go downstairs, he suddenly got really sad. I asked him what was wrong, and he pointed back and said “chipmunks.” We were stuck in a group on the narrow stairs, so I said we could go back later.

Downstairs he perked back up, and he loved walking around the room with the fish, spiders, turtles, axolotls, and iguana. He wasn’t too perturbed by the crowds of bigger kids, and was wanting to see what they could see (which also happened upstairs with the pinned beetles). We were in that room quite awhile (several other groups came and went) and then we went back upstairs. 

And the chipmunks were awake! He watched them, and in fact went and got a little stool and set it in front of the chipmunks and sat on it. He wouldn’t sit still, however, and ended up going and getting the three other stools as well, and climbing on and off them as he watched the chipmunks.

We finally headed out. We went to the CU convenience store and got a rice thing and banana chips. The rice thing, unfortunately, had kimchi in the rice. He ate a little, but not much. But he loved the banana chips. We had sat on the benches between the CU and the bathrooms (I remember changing August on these benches when we came with my parents). This meant we had tons of elementary school groups walking by, one of which was pretty annoying (I had to tell one kid to knock it off when he yelled in August’s face, and I was looking around for their teacher), but we made it through.

Now close to 1, so we went walking, down towards the deer area. He fell asleep and we sat on a secluded bench close to the deer. Slept for close to an hour, 1:07 to 2:04. When he woke up, we went and bought deer food and went into the deer area.

The next 30 minutes were pretty crazy. He loved feeding the deer. We also shared that small area with a girls’ middle school. They were all over August. Luckily, they were pretty good about it, and respectful of August. He started to get overwhelmed at one point, but I think it was a combination of a deer almost knocking him over with its head and the girls. I held him for a minute, and then he wanted back down. We worked on his deer-feeding technique, since he didn’t understand holding his hand flat – he wanted to hold the food like he did with the sheep. He was getting the idea by the end.

From there (and getting a lot more attention on our way out as we were walking with the girls when feeding time ended) we walked across to the Waterworks Museum. It is located on the site of the first water treatment facility in Korea. August really liked seeing pictures of animals in the first building, the Ari and Soolee statues (the water mascots) outside, the big map of Seoul on the floor in the second building, and the statue of a water seller that talked when you stepped in front of it in the third building.

We headed home. Carly called when she was leaving Derek and Jill’s (she and Megan had dropped off the food and cards). A couple minutes later I got a photo from Derek, showing he had the wrong card. So August and I intercepted them walking home and showed them the photo. When they figured out what they were looking at and why, they started laughing. August was thoroughly amused, although he didn’t know what was going on.

We headed home and ate the yummy peanut sauce pasta that Cherie had made. Chuck had seen that they were setting up for a concert in the park. So we headed over, catching the end of a saxophonist playing “Hey Jude”. August loved playing with Oma and Opa on the bench by the tree. Oma got him to dance, and he walked out on the fountain area and started dancing. Cherie took him over to see a woman’s dog, and she started dancing with August too.

I took him up closer to see the singers. After awhile he wanted to go back to Oma and Opa. But later he then surprised me and Carly by asking for “more singers”. So I took him back up for the last two numbers. He sat in my arms, starting at them the whole time. The encore was “Funiculi, Funicula”. 

After the concert we all walked home. He kept saying “more singers”, so I ended up pulling up a video of Bocelli singing it on YouTube.

He watched it a few times, quietly sitting in my lap. Eventually, he was getting tired, so against his protests we got him ready for bed and he went to sleep a little before 8:30.

New words/phrases: alligator (his duplo in the morning), eyebrow, buttons (vending machine), yoga, sun (as we came out of subway station), inside, hedgehog (photo in waterworks museum), buttons (in museum), dark (our hallway, as we left to go to the concert), bye bye Megan (he had said it when I showed him the video from yesterday, then was saying it after we saw her today), more singer

Waving to people on the subway: 

Seoul Forest: 

Banana chips with lunch:

Deer park: 

Waterworks Museum: 

Home: 

Dancing in the park: 

A little “Hey Jude” on sax: 

August managed to sleep in until 8. Close to 12 hours. He ate a bunch of eggs that Oma made him for breakfast. While playing with Duplos, he sang a new song: “Got my Duplos, got my zookeeper.” 

We left around 10 and headed up to Dobongsan. I took August out of the backpack each way so he could sit next to Oma and Opa. Up at Dobongsan we quickly stopped so I could buy a hat, then continued to walk on up and into the park. We hiked past the first temple you always go past as you enter the park, up to the temple that August and I went to on Buddha’s Birthday, walking past the old swimming hole where he took a nap. August was really noticing the lions at both of the temples.

We then turned around and headed back down to the stream area. It was a little past 11 but still in the shade. When I took August out and set him down he said “cold rocks, cold rocks.” And the water seemed freezing at first. But we spent close to two hours there. Cherie played with August in the stream, helping him get rocks. She also taught him ‘wowzer’, ’superwozer’, and ‘awesome’. By the time we left, the sun was hitting most of the stream and August and I had been wading back and forth through the stream with no problem. So probably an afternoon activity for the last few weeks before we give it up for the winter.

We left after I changed him, and we walked down the stream. He fell asleep, and we all sat on our usual set of benches by the river. August slept close to an hour, waking up about 2:40, then we walked to Suraksan Station and came home.

I changed him and we played for a few minutes, then we all went over to Sing Sing Mart to get chicken and a few other things, then stopped at Tous les Jours and got the black bean bread.

Carly got home soon after, then Megan came down a half hour later. She and August made cards for the two babies born here in the last week: Garvey and Rosie, and Carly (with help from Megan) made enchiladas for Jill and Derek.

Carly gave August a bath, and he played in the bathtub for a long time after. He still won’t actually sit in the tub, crouching instead. Carly’s first attempt to put him to sleep didn’t work, but the second attempt, sometime after 8, did, and they both fell asleep. 

New words/phrases: beep Oma nose, out the window, awesome, person, wowzer, super wowzer, popcorn (looking at a photo of himself eating popcorn), chukahaeyo (‘congratulations’ in Korean; Megan looked it up for the card; he repeated it on his own in the bath), blue car (in the bath)

Waking up: 

At the stream: 

Biiig rock: 

Uffta: 

Awesome: 

Super wowzer: 

Sweeping Haechi in the subway station: 

Cards and food with Megan: 

Duplos with Opa: 

He woke up a little after 6. He listened intently to Cherie talk to Derek via Skype, even though it was only a voice call, no video. He made a smoothie with me, then we skyped with my parents.

Chuck stayed here to work, and before his class Cherie, August, and I made a quick grocery trip through Home Plus for diapers and a few other things. We then went up to his class. Today’s class was all about the leaves and weather changing for fall. In addition to the usual songs, bubbles, and sticker work at the end, there were three activities: a felt board with leaves and trees to attach to them, big trees on the wall where they got to hang leaves, and then a big bucket of paper leaves that she poured on the kids, and then they got to pour on themselves and each other. August really loved the last two of these activities, and really liked helping pick up the leaves at the end.

After his class we came home. August ate a bunch of apple and the rest of the peanut butter sandwich Carly had made for him this morning. He was tired, but too excited with Oma and Opa in the house (even though they were trying to calm him down), so I took him out for a nap in the park. I developed a nice figure eight walk around the lower half of the park and the community center that allowed me to stay away from the playground (which would just distract him more). Two circuits of the figure eight and he was asleep.

We sat on the bench nearest Carly’s bus stop and he slept for just under 50 minutes (awake at 1:53). After he woke up, we went to the rocky fake stream area and played with the rocks – stacking them (like at the folk museum) and throwing them. He was all about “big rock”s. Eventually he decided he was done with that and he climbed out of that area and was walking around the pigeon area happily clutching a “big rock”. 

From there I gave him the choice of going home or to the art museum. He excitedly chose art museum. So we went there, but I first changed him inside. The changing room is next to the little play area in the museum, so after changing him he wanted to play. He crawled in and out of the structure for the first time, and when he got on the trampoline he got a little air under his feet for the first time. I think that kind of startled him as he did try it any more after that.

When he decided he was done, we put on shoes. He then wanted to “go see art”. I didn’t get that on video, but when I would ask him what he wanted to do next he would keep repeating “art”. We first walked through one of the small rooms, then over the walkway to the main gallery. As we went over the walkway, he pointed down to the children’s art area and said “art” and “down there”.

We spent most of our time in the first floor main gallery. His favorite pieces were the sharks, a shovel, and fish on the wall. I didn’t know he knew the word shark until he said “shark, shark” as we approached them. Several times we started going up the stairs, but he would stop at the landing to wave at the docents down below and then say “more shark” or “more (fish sound)” and we would go back down.

Eventually, we went through upstairs and then downstairs to the children’s art area. He spent a fair amount of time on the Alice in Wonderland piece (although they’ve put clear plexiglass over the holes, meaning you can’t put your head into the mirror area anymore – which kind reduces the effect, and sucks when you smash your face into it, having put your head in a dozen times before). 

We went to the mask exhibit in the community gallery, but he wanted to go outside. Somehow he had the idea that there was a waterfall outside (perhaps we had beed there when it was raining and there was water dripping from the tree sculpture outside?)

He climbed on the wooden benches near the lizards and drank his water. It was empty so we went back in the art museum to fill it. We ended up back in the play area. He saw a pair of small shoes and said “kid shoes”. I said the kid was in the play area and he should go say hi. August went in, saw the boy and waved, and kept saying “Hi, kid.”

This time when we left we went home. But Chuck and Cherie were gone (they had gone on a walk up the stream and to the Buddhist temple Chuck had visited before). So after August ate an entire banana, more apple slices, and two pieces of crab, we headed back out. He wanted to go to the dinosaurs, so that’s what we did. He played around them and the playground, waving to a lot of people (dozens throughout the day). We ended up over on the fountain, where a bunch of kids had collected crab apples and were playing with them. August joined in, throwing and kicking them.

It was now about 5:30 and we tried to go find Carly. We walked down past the pink building and waited a few minutes but she didn’t come by. Could have waited by the building longer, but smokers had taken over the sitting area. Went home and she wasn’t there. Thought about turning around and going back to the elevators, as August usually gets upset if she’s not home, but he saw Oma and Opa in their room, spotted a phone, and exclaimed “Google!” Carly was home a few minutes later, and he was reluctant to leave Google behind.

He ate a little more for dinner (mainly a couple crackers) and had fun playing with Carly with his cars and climbing on Opa, first in a chair and later on the couch. I gave him a bath and brushed his teeth and Carly put him to bed sometime around 8.

Twice today he put Duplos away. At one point he found the owl out in the hall. I asked him if he could take the owl in and put it with its animal friends. He did. The last time we left the house, he was carrying a few Duplos. He made it a few steps out the door. I held the door open and asked if he could take the Duplos back inside. He turned around and went back in. As he got to the little step I told him he could just set them there and get them later and he set them on the step and came back out the door.

New words/phrases: excuse me, cave, yoga, Loopy (Pororo character – on the wallpaper in the changing room), shark, bagel (spotted in museum cafe), kid shoe, police car

Class: 

Awake from his nap: 

Rocks: 

Art museum: 

His favorites of the day, the sharks: 

Back home: 

Back out to the park: 

Asleep: 

 

He woke up at 8:20, a nice long night of sleep. He played and ate eggs (that Chuck made) with Cherie. Afterward, when Cherie brought him his water bottle, he said ‘Thank you, Oma’. And at some point he got the little broom out of the backpack and was walking around sweeping everything, saying “sweep, sweep, sweep.”

It was a little after 10 that we all got going. Chuck and Cherie were going to Costco, so got off the subway before us. August is repeating more of the train stations after he hears them on the loudspeaker. Today he said ‘Yongmasan, Junghwa, and Taerung’.

We made it to Children’s Grand Park and headed to the zoo. We walked through the folk tale/robot area as all of the little streams and fountains were back on for some reason. He identified the conservatory from even farther away, pointing and saying “(fish sounds) there, go there”. So we first went to the conservatory. I let him down earlier, letting him walk around the conservatory and look at the fish and waterfall. We then went and looked at the outside portion.

From there it was to the animals. First the horses and goats (there are now two baby goats), then to the waterfall and in the building. He identified the lemurs by name immediately, even though they were curled up sleeping. And he said “lemurs sleepy.” Other animals he referred to by name included the goats, crocodile, turtle, and gibbon. And when we saw the big cats later, he really liked the names ‘serval’ and ‘puma’.

Anyway, we spent some time in the top of that building (birds, gibbon, crocodile, turtles), then went out on the square and sat in our usual spot and ate. At one point, he decided he was done and walked off on his own and then started up the big tall steps on his own.

From there we went and saw the water birds. Here he was into saying ‘egret’ and ‘pelican’. He spent a lot of time just staring in at the birds.

I needed to change him, so up to our usual set of bathrooms, and then trying to put him to sleep. It was a little early, but he woke up late and it was already past noon. Took a little longer, but he was asleep at 1:13. He slept until 2:11 at the coffee shop.

After he woke up we found that counting book with the elevator and read/played with that. I then gave him the option of playground or more animals. He kept choosing animals.

So we went and saw the big cats and dogs. He is really into tigers now, so that was the draw, but the tiger was asleep on a rock. So we spent most of our time with the lions and leopards. A leopard was walking back and forth by the glass, and August tried to beep its nose a few times. He really liked the word ‘serval’, and was saying ‘hi serval’ and bye bye serval’. The same with ‘puma’ (which he chose over ‘cougar’ when I gave him an option).

We headed home, walking through the robot/little stream/folk tale area, changed him again by the front entrance, and headed home, getting home around 4:45.

Chuck and Cherie had bought him a set of cool cars/trucks at Costco and he was very excited by that. I ate a little and Carly got home. I then headed to my writing group meeting over at Lotte Castle at 6. When I got back a little after 8, he was asleep.

New words/phrases: scorpion (pointed it out on his pajamas when I was hanging laundry), family, push it, yellow truck, bulldozer

 

Morning. Playing with his lion but taking a moment to eat Oma’s breakfast: 

CGP: 

Baby goats: 

People watching from the steps after he started to walk away from lunch: 

Beeping the leopard’s nose (do not try this at home): 

Singing “Hungry, hungry baa baa” (hands on his head is the sun drying up all the rain):

Headed home:

New cars/trucks from Oma and Opa: 

We went down to Insadong again and to the Folk Museum – actually the first time Carly and I had been there, as we always go to the art museum across the street when we are in that area.

He slept in until around 8, not really getting up until 8:30. We left the house around 9:30. We first went to Tapgol Park. When August saw the park and first started walking in, he did a few dramatic double finger points and “ah-ha”s and “I see it”. He explored the park, and followed the pigeons. But had to take away his shovel and not let him have more rocks as he was starting to throw them towards the pigeons. We needed to change him so we did so outside the bathrooms in the park.

We then walked through Insadong. August was pointing out a lot of animal knickknacks and pictures in the shops.

We stopped at Subway so the rest of them could get food. We then walked over to the palace/folk museum. We first went in the parking lot entrance. Can’t get to the folk museum from there, but there was a changing-of-the-guard type of performance going on, so we got to see that.

Then up to the folk museum. A few minutes in the outdoor area, then we found the children’s exhibit and got tickets for 2pm. Carly took him in to nurse and I walked around. She then took him to play outside and I looked around more. We switched at one point, and August and I found Chuck and Cherie. August liked sitting next to Opa on a concrete wall, but it was 2. So we all went in to the children’s exhibit. 

This is where August really had fun. There were a lot of things to do, but the highlights for him/us were:

– stacking the plastic rocks

– climbing up the little climbing wall and sliding down the other side

– putting stars in the light wall thing

– him crawling through the tube under the climbing wall

– putting the clear colored pieces of plastic in front of his eyes so things appeared different colors; got a good reaction from him

A little after 3 we decided to head out. August had not napped, and I was hoping it would be a napless day – if he could make it to 6:30 we would be back to a normal schedule, as he’s been staying up so late and sleeping late. Alas, he fell asleep on the way to the subway.

We stopped at Starbucks so people could get drinks, then got on the subway at Anguk. August slept until just a couple stops before our last stop. I had to get him out as we approached Seokgye as he was getting upset. Carly nursed him on a bench on the platform before we headed out and caught the bus home.

At home, Atsuko brought us a surprise – a delicious chocolate dessert. Carly made popcorn using a pan, and Cherie and Chuck entertained August for awhile while I caught up on blogging stuff.

New words/phrases: hiking (said it as I was taking him to the changing pad and he was looking outside), more heeby jeeby (playing with mama as we waited for the bus), pine needle (at Tapgol Park), come here, more whistle, chestnut, woodpecker, baa baa black sheep, yes sir yes sir (lines from the song that he started singing on his own), pumpkin, honk (may have recorded these last two before), leaf, carrot, Old King Cole, zookeeper

 

Tapgol Park: 

Pointing at pigeons: 

Subway: 

Palace: 

Folk museum: 

Children’s exhibit: 

Home: 

Ladybug on Oma’s phone: 

Eating mango: 

Putting his feet up like mama: 

Duplo tower: 

A nice slow morning to recover from our trip. August slept in until around 8. In his sleep earlier in the morning he had said ‘please, please’ and ‘Give me art!’

In the morning Chuck and Cherie went grocery shopping, after which Carly, Chuck and I took August to Dream Forest. Carly was going to go to the coffee shop and work, but they didn’t have wi-fi, so she ended up heading home.

Chuck and I took August up the observation tower, where we discovered there was another floor we have never been to – actually the roof of the tower. August found a coffee cup and its cardboard insulator and played with those. We went down, then walked over the hill to the observation point I first went to with my parents when August was only 6 months old. We stopped in the pagoda and had a snack, and then put August in the backpack for his nap. We walked down the trail (where I noted where August was first playing with the rope along the trail) and he was asleep as we got back around to the center part of the park.

I was going to go to the rooftop cafe above the children’s art museum, but it was closed. Walked up to the playground, but it was a zoo. So I found a nice spot over across the wading pool area near the street and sat there. Chuck went off exploring for a bit then came back and also read.

When August woke up at 2:20 after a 50 minute nap, he wanted to use his shovel to play. So I had the idea of going to the other playground, right around the corner, that is small but built on sand. And almost no-one uses it. We played there for about an hour. August did his usual of pouring sand on our feet, but then he got into throwing rocks over the long bench into the bushes, then his ambulance so that I would get it, then he wanted to get on the other side himself and explore through the long grass. We also went back to the sand and I made a mountain, which August happily destroyed.

We headed home at 3:20 or so. The two busses we could take, the 100 and 111 came at the same time. I had the brilliant idea of skipping the 100 as it was packed, and sure enough the 111 was nearly empty. So we all got big comfy seats for the ride back. August was in a great mood; in fact, this was when he started saying ‘happy’ several times.

Back home, he nursed and played with Carly. She started rolling on the exercise ball, and he thought it was hilarious, and started rolling around on the floor as well.

Cherie had made soup and prepared things for nachos. We made nachos for dinner. August really liked the soup, saying ‘more Oma’s yummy soup’. Carly taught him to say ‘green soup’, so then he was saying ‘more yummy green soup’.

After dinner, I gave August a bath, then Chuck and Cherie went for a walk to Nowon. August read books with Carly, then climbed in the stroller with Marshy and I was pushing him around. Carly took him in to nurse, but they were soon back out. He went back and forth from me to her, until he made it clear he wanted us close together, then he wanted up in my lap. A bit later, he went and got Carly, saying ‘climb on ball’, wanting her to go back to the ball. After she rolled on it, he came and got me and wanted me to roll on it to. We had a lot of fun as I pretended to run them over with it.

Chuck and Cherie came home at about 8. He was hanging out with them and started throwing some of his Duplos. Carly taught him to set them on the table, so he started setting things on the table, saying ‘set down’. He watched some ABC songs on YouTube with Chuck, but wanted to keep watching and watching. This was around 8:30. Carly took him in to nap and he was sleepy 8:50.

New words/phrases: Oma’s yummy soup, yummy green soup, yippee, coloring, climb on ball (wanting Carly to lie on the exercise ball), set down (Carly teaching him to set down his Duplos instead of throwing them)

Dream Forest: 

Back home: 

We packed everything up in the morning and went down for our now-usual breakfast at Starbucks. August got to try some of Chuck’s cinnamon roll, which he really liked, saying ’cinnamon’ several times.

We plugged a beach out east, Woljeong Beach, into the iPhone and GPS and headed out there. Took about 45 minutes. At the beach, he first went out wading in the water with me, then went up and was playing with (destroying) the sand castle that Carly and Cherie had made. We spent a lot more time in the water – he got more and more comfortable, and I took off his shorts as he was getting farther in. 

I saw a shipping boat heading out on the water and pointed it out to him, saying it was going out to sea. He really liked the phrase, and kept saying “out to sea.” Awhile later, Carly had a bottle or something and August saw a ‘C’ on it. He pointed to it and said ‘C’, then pointed out at the ocean and said ‘sea’.

Chuck and Cherie had gone for a walk along the beach, and while doing so started picking up garbage. When they came back, August joined in in picking up garbage. One of the things they had brought back was a mess of buoys. So Cherie taught him the word ‘buoy’, which he says with his big round O sounds.

A little past noon we figured it was time for lunch and to head back to Jeju City. So we changed August and started walking along the shops. A couple really nice looking coffee/ice cream shops, but no luck. Foursquare told us a there was a taco place, Taco Massim, a little farther along, so we went and found that. A quirky little place, with a broken guitar August liked playing with, and a John Lennon album playing on a portable record player. We got the build-it-yourself black pork tacos and Coca-Colas in bottles. August liked the tomatoes, pork, and tortillas.

We drove back along the coast, stopping for gas, and made it to the car rental place a little after 2. Along the way Carly kept August pretty entertained, either with his videos on the iPad, the Sesame Street art app or Nighty Night, or food. But he would keep taking his arms out of the straps. Chuck told him to ‘Help mama’. August took this the wrong way, and each time he managed to free himself he would say ‘Help mama’ and do the sign for help.’

We took the shuttle to the airport, made it through check-in, and August fell asleep right before security. Again. That is 3 out of 6 times (at least) that he’s been asleep when we’ve gone through security.

Our flight was delayed about 25 minutes. We made it through our long trip home: through Gimpo Airport, on the airport express train, then line 6, then the #9 bus. August was understandably getting a bit tired of it all by the end, but not too bad.

We made it home about 7:30 and made our own burritos for dinner – Carly made beans and Chuck made eggs and hash browns. Chuck and Cherie gave us a small dol hareubang (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dol_hareubang) since I had joked about decorating our apartment with them. August really liked it (he had enjoyed the feel of the rocks when he played with them at a shop the day before) and beeped its nose a few times.

Everyone headed to bed, and Carly tried getting him to sleep for quite awhile around 9. I thought they had both fallen asleep, but around 9:40 out they came. He stayed up with me for awhile. We mainly read books (he was really into the baloons in both the Thomas Goes to the Circus book and the Blue Bus Red Balloon book), and he lay on the floor a couple times. Finally, close to 10:30 he decided it was time to go back to mama.

New words/phrases: ear, circus, to the sea, seaweed, buoy, tiger (Duplo), Thomas (said bye bye as we finished reading it and I was taking him to bed)

Throwing sand between Opa’s legs: 

Learning how to say ‘buoy’: 

Letters with mama:

Squid: 

Eating lunch: 

Watching a video in the car: 

In the plane: 

Subway home: 

Present: 

Carly went down right at 8 to get us drinks from Starbucks, then we met Chuck and Cherie down there for breakfast. 

We went back up to our rooms for a short time then left, headed to old Jeju City. We parked near the coast and walked down to the rock. We then walked up the gorge area and stopped in a park for awhile. 

Next, we walked over to the complex of wooden government buildings and took that in. 

From there, we walked back west, past where we were parked, to a restaurant on the coast. August fell asleep in the carrier on the way there and we ate while he slept. We got nachos and a caprese salad and shared a fruit plate with Chuck and Cherie. Had a lot of time to read (Leonardo and the Last Supprr). When August woke up after 80 minutes he nursed then ate the food Carly had set aside for him – a lot of the fruit, in particular. 

Chuck and Cherie went ant brought back the car. We drove along the coast a little then back to the hotel, where we split up for the rest of the evening. 

We went to the room for awhile, then walked a few blocks to the kid cafe. It was outing and windy. We wore our rain gear and I had August in the carrier facing me. We did pretty well, considering, but were a little damp by the time we got there. 

We played for about 90 minutes. August loved it. There were so many things to play with. He started crawling under/into things for the first time – he has always been afraid of hitting his head. 

When we left, about 6:30, it had stopped raining. We walked down in the vicinity of Lotte Mart, looking for a Pizza Hut, but couldn’t find it. Found a Papa John’s, but it was inexplicably closed. Ended up at Domino’s Pizza across the street. While we waited, August played, mainly on the two steps they have so kids can watch them make pizza. 

We walked back to the hotel, stop in along the way to eat a piece of pizza. We ate – August loves pizza – and played for awhile. Around 8:30 he was tired, but he did not want to go to sleep. He did his sad crying, saying ‘more, more’ several times, but eventually went to sleep at 9. 

Oh, and the last couple of days I’ve been giving him showers in the morning. Today was the easiest, as I didn’t even hold him. He just stood and played with a Duplo and with the water on the ground while I washed him. And he didn’t complain about getting water in his face. 

New words/phrases: whistle, cleaner, more ladybug (requesting song from Cherie), sit on chair, airplane, tiger

Kid cafe: 

Developing a very important skill: how to eat pizza: 

It seemed like a slow start to the day, but it was incredibly full. August slept 12 and a half hours. So by the time we got going it was about 8:30. We went to Starbucks for breakfast. August liked watching the rain falling outside. 

We returned to our rooms for awhile, and I took August downstairs for a few minutes because he wanted to see the Hello Kitty figures on the bench. He also browsed the tourist flyers, and found the one for Hello Kitty Island. I said he should show it to mama, and he took off across the lobby saying ‘show mama’. 

We then met for a planning session. We decided on the indoor botanical gardens and the Hello Kitty place. 

We headed out. Made it down to the botanical garden area and first went to KFC for a little lunch. August enjoyed eating all the things Oma and Opa have him and the egg tart thing I had – he wasn’t fond of the chicken though as it was too spicy. 

We then went to the botanical gardens. We were all impressed. August particularly liked the pineapples and banana trees, and the dinosaur statues and all the ponds, including the alligator statues. And he wanted to go outside, so we went out for a little while in our coats and he threw rocks into the bushes. By the way, he fought his coat yesterday, but is already accepting it. 

We all met up and went to the top of the observation tower before heading out. The weather was good (i.e. Not raining) so we attempted a beach, but it started pouring when we got out of the car. So a quick viewing to see the waves and scenery and we left. 

It was now 3 and August had not taken a nap, and he fell right asleep in the car. We drove back north – no Hello Kitty Island today. 

We went and checked out the Little Prince Cafe. Chuck did a wonderful job to find parallel parking, only to find that it was closed today. So we went back to the hotel. 

Awhile later we all went to eMart. We split up there (with August in the front carrier). The three of us bought a few fruits and yogurt, then went looking for dinner. Food court didn’t look appealing, so we checked out a place across the street. Nice, but we didn’t think August could handle a sit-down dinner. So we walked to the kid cafe I saw yesterday, only to find they only sold coffee and closed at 7 (it was past 6). I spotted a Cafe Pascutti, which I knew had some sandwiches, but they weren’t very healthy. So we got a strawberry yogurt smoothie and headed to Burger King. We shared with August, who kept saying “yummy dal-gee.”

We got sandwiches and onion rings and headed home. August did marvelously this whole time, enjoying the walk. He kept singing and pointing out letters on signs. When singing the ABC song he would conduct, then do a wild pointing thing when he hit G. I suggested he wave to the cars, so he started doing so. And when we approached the hotel the wind was in our face and e was holding one fist out in front of him, like he was flying like superman. 

We ate dinner. August primarily ate from the mixed fruit bowl and the strawberry yogurt we got at eMart. It turned out Carly had been given a fish sandwich, so I ate that and she finished what was left of mine. 

We took August down to the lobby for a short see Hello Kitty and play with flyers time, then went back up. 

I tried to keep August up and running while Carly took a shower. After that, he had a few Duplos and was pretending they were a vacuum cleaner. And when they broke he was very focused on putting them back together, which he managed to do a few times. 

Carly had unplugged the phone so August could play with it. He was really excited about talking to Cherie on it earlier in the day and wanted to play with it. In the evening he was walking around with the receiver, wanting to call them. 

Finally, he went from laughing with happiness when he got the Duplos together to getting frustrated by them to crying for mama in the course of a couple minutes. Carly nursed him and he fell asleep a little after 9. 

New words/phrases: here (pointing to water on floor), cold wawa (drinking water that had been refrigerated and he really liked it), brush my teeth, crack it (breaking his toothbrush), hello phone (playing with phone with Cherie), numbers (pointing at wall in KFC), alligator, crocodile, bye bye garden, phone, dada says so, sit up

In the morning: 

Botanical garden: 

Back at the hotel: 

A long day it was. The morning was of course about packing and getting out of the house. August had a lot of fun playing with Duplos with Cherie while we got things ready to go. We were out of the house by 8:30 and on our way. First the bus to Seokgye, then line 6 to downtown to catch the Airport Express train to Gimpo, then through the whole airport process to our gate, then a shuttle to our plane, then the plane, then the shuttle to our car rental place, and, finally, to our car.

Along the way, August started playing with Cherie’s suitcase and liked how the handle went up and down. As the other got us and the luggage checked in at the airport, I was with August. The ropes they use to direct people into lines are just at the top of August’s head. He had fun walking beneath them, saying ‘under’. He then fell asleep as we headed to security, so was asleep as we went through. Luckily, all I had to do was take off my backpack and hand over my phone and watch and walk through.

He woke up before the flight, which went smoothly.

Once we were in the car, with me as navigator, we headed south to the Seoul Art Park. The park claims to be the largest sculpture garden in Asia. It is impressive, but seems like it saw better days back in the late 80s and maybe early-90s. Still, a really cool place. Chuck and Cherie stayed with August near the entrance while Carly and I walked around. They met us near the middle as we came back. I then walked up to the observation tower and took some photos, before going back and hanging out with everyone else for awhile.

Carly had the idea of going to a beach, so we drove towards the water and found a beach. Chuck and Cherie again stayed and played with August while Carly and I walked to the other end of the beach and back. They had a cool freshwater pool area at the other end which was, of course, closed by now.

We got in the car and headed back north to the hotel. Carly was doing an excellent job of keeping August happy and entertained, but just as we were a minute or two from the hotel he decided he had had enough. He started crying and repeating ‘all done’ again and again. We let Carly off in front of the hotel and she went into the lobby and nursed him. By the time Chuck and I had parked and brought up the luggage, he was asleep before 7pm.

After getting him to bed and setting up the room, Carly and I started watching season 1 of The Wire. Might be our replacement for Game of Thrones. Only made it 20 minutes in, so too early to tell.

New words/phrases: follow dada, what next, Itsy spider, cow, airplane, flag, fur, pig, seatbelt, car seat, cookie

Airport: 

Plane: 

Car seat: 

Jeju Art Park: 

Beach: