He was up just a few minutes after 6 again. Pretty soon after Carly left, he wanted to make a smoothie. So we made a smoothie, and soon after that he started wanting to go outside. By 8:30 we were out the door and headed five stops north to Dobongson station.
No specific plans, just to do some walking and find some place to play. I actually thought we might just spend a couple hours and come home for his nap. That wasn’t to be.
Instead, we started by finding a children’s park (i.e. a playground) we hadn’t been to before (Newtown Children’s Park). So we played there for awhile and snacked. A man caught a dragonfly and showed it to us. We also went on the swings and played on the exercise equipment.
From there, we walked up to Bukhansan National Park. We took the first major left, heading up the hill past two Buddhist temples (my parents and I walked down this big hill on our way out). We then took the next left, following the easy-access (built trail) to its end, then a bit further. August fell asleep, so I looked for a bench. I had to double back, and ended up sitting at the top of the stairs at the end of the built trail. He only slept 24 minutes, waking up and pointing, saying ‘more, more’. Not sure if he meant ‘more cicadas’ or if he wasn’t happy we weren’t walking. So we walked some more, taking a left back at the main trail, and walked up to the top (what Carly and I call the ‘cat area’, as this is where Carly and I first saw and photographed the feral cats way back on our first visit). We then headed back down the hill.
We walked around the first temple complex, enjoying the view of Dobongson from behind it. Then back down, doing a shorter walk around the first temple’s grounds. We then found a set of shaded bench right down near where the main trail meets up with the road/trail out of the park. This is where we first spent a lot of time. We ate, and he played. Picking up and throwing a heavy rock (‘heavy, heavy’) and sticks, and throwing our ball off a little ledge (I got it out to keep a woman from mumbling loudly anytime he was throwing around, many, many feet from anyone, mind you, any sort of rock or stick). I showed him the moss on the trees and after that he would touch it. We were there for a good hour.
We then walked down and out of the park. He said he was hungry (again???), so we sat on a bench above the stream and ate. We then went down to the stream, and August was happy to be lowered into it (it went to his knees). We then played in the stream for over half an hour, throwing rocks and gravel and watching the little fish.
We walked out along the stream and followed it a little ways to establish that there was a path along it, and we found another park/playground. Perhaps the destination for our next visit.
We then headed home. He fell asleep as we got on the subway, and stayed asleep until we got home. He slept, perched on the coffee table for a little while. Just over 40 minutes for this second nap.
It was now after 3. We played inside, doing some reading and iPad. Carly got home at 5, and he was pretty attached to her for the evening. I pried him away long enough to give him a bath, then he went back to her and was asleep a little before 8. At one point, I did have him out with me, and he kept requesting ‘Abby, Abby’. The iPad was busy syncing, so not available, so I pulled up the Sesame Street page on her and started watching a video about broccoli. He was watching it intently, but then turned to me and started bawling. Perhaps it was the dancing broccoli heads that scared him.
Carly is sick. She almost didn’t go to work today, and then almost came home right after she was done teaching. She made it through. She went to sleep early, but woke up again. Her temperature is pretty high. Hopefully she’ll be able to get some sleep and feel better in the morning.
New words: Peter, acorn, bumpy (going down stairs to subway)
Playing at Bukhansan:
The Bears at the exit to the park:
In the stream:
