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Dream Forest, Bule Children’s Park, and Gaksheem Children’s Park

A trifecta of parks and playgrounds today. 

In the morning we cooked broccoli and tofu. Which doesn’t sound like much but August was very much in a hold-me-all-the-time mode so everything took a long time. 

We left around 11 and took a bus to Dream Forest. We walked to the playground and spent all of our time there, primarily in a ten foot radius around our backpack. There was plenty to keep him occupied, from playing with our water bottles, his hat, and food containers, to walking around and looking at bushes, to practicing going up and down the little ledge, to watching and interacting with all the bigger kids and their teachers. 

A little after 1 we left there and I started to walk to the NE corner of Dream Forest, expecting to go out on a path we hadn’t walked down before. I also expected him to take a nap. That happened quickly. But it turned out there were all sorts of paths down the east side of the park I had missed before. And they were very lovely and peaceful. So I walked along them for awhile and came out on a new street. 

Walking back north along the street I came across a children’s park called Bule (버리어린이공원). It looked nice and had a bench in the shade, so I sat there and listened to podcasts until Z woke up. We played in the park – swings and walking around – and I changed him on the ground before we left. 

We then met up with our usual back (northern) route from Dream Forest to APIS. We stopped on the pedestrian bridge over the stream to first watch a trio of ducks and then a crane looking for fish. 

We arrived at APIS about 3 so went across the street to Gaksheem Children’s Park (각심어린이공원) for awhile before going up to see Carly. August snacked (he had really just been eating slowly but consistently all day) and we refilled out water bottles. August wanted to play in the plugged basin of the water fountain like it was the water table from yesterday. 

We went up and found Carly at 4. Would have been earlier but much of the girls soccer team was getting August’s attention. Unlike the last few times we have gone to APIS and August has been impatient because he wants to get up to Carly, today he was all about seeing and showing off for other people. 

We walked home together. I wore shorts today and look forward to a lot more of this in the coming weeks. 

Carly gave him a bath this evening. It was time, plus he had managed to get pretty filthy today. I imagine we are going to start giving him baths more often due to playing on the ground and sweat. Anyway, he still wasn’t too fond of the bath but handled it better than he did with me last time. 

August has also had a runny nose and is now a bit stuffy. The cold that I and Carly have had has come to him. 

Park 1 (Dream Forest): 

Park 2 (Bule): 

He is blowing raspberries as he goes, thus the funny lips: 

Park 3 (Gaksheem): 

On the way home: 

Bath time: 

 

Our weekly trip to Children’s Grand Park. What has been cool about these trips is that they really allow me to see how both Seoul changes through the seasons and how August has changed from week to week and month to month. Today we spent our time at the water table in the children’s museum – out in the ‘regular’ museum and not the toddler area. In a way he has outgrown the toddler area, and the water table (even the 36 month and under one) seemed way too big and unusable for him a couple months ago. And then we spent a couple hours outside, where he walked and explored much more than he ever has. Along the way he discovered ants for the first time and was really focused on the outdoor musical instruments – sure, he still likes the slides and swings, but those are now a small piece of our park time.

The full day:

Pretty typical morning. Woke up at 6:30 – a very happy wake up, which was nice. Most of his playing at home now involves putting things together (he loves lids) or reading books. Today was no exception. We left the house at 9:45, getting down to the children’s museum a bit past 10:30. The first floor was packed with school groups, so I thought the water area would be as well. I was wrong. We were the only people in that area for about 45 minutes. August took right to it and didn’t slow down during that time. He loved moving the water cannon, but also loved grabbing and tasting the balls and putting his fingers in front of the spray. He splashed himself a lot in the face but that didn’t deter him. We left after a big school group showed up. It was about time, anyway, as I thought August would be going to sleep soon.

We went to the book room, where I changed his shirt (wet from the water running down his arms) and we had a snack and played for awhile. He gave me a scare when he managed to pop a piece of a plastic toy in his mouth, but he spit it back out.

We left and started to walk around. He didn’t, however, fall asleep. We found a ledge and grass area by the performance hall and had a drink. He then walked around and discovered ants for the first time. They were big black ants, and it was cool to see him stop to process what he was seeing. He ended up touching 3 ants before we left.

We were probably there for a half hour and then we packed up and tried again for a nap. It took awhile, but we had a nice walk through the center of the park before he fell asleep. I went to the coffee place and managed to read two chapters of the book I am reading off their shelf before he woke up. Only 40 minutes, but it was now 1:40, so he would be able to make it to bed on that.

We now went to the Adventure Playground area and were there for the next 2 hours. A little sliding and swinging, and a lot of playing around. A 7 (Korean age) year old boy came up to us and started talking to us. He told me how he had been looking for bugs earlier in the day. He would end up playing the outdoor instruments with us, showing us a bee on a flower, and telling us about an insect museum in Seoul. I also met his mom, who learned English (and German) while studying industrial design in Germany for seven years. I thought that was pretty cool, but she said it wasn’t a good choice for Korea, where that whole industry prefers men (ugh). 

August also did some smelling of both bushes and flowers, and practiced a little walking. He ate a long second lunch up in a flower-filled area behind the playground. I had had to change him once after leaving the children’s museum, and had to change him again before leaving. He ended up wearing an entirely different outfit from the time we arrived thanks to the water table and a leaky diaper.

We headed home; the subway ride is easier all the time (knock on wood). Beat Carly home by about 20 minutes. He was getting impatient for her to get home, so we went out wandering the hallways. We were playing with the mailbox when Carly arrived. 

He practiced more with the salad spinner this evening. He is now really into the baby book and Old King Cole book that we got on our last shopping trip, and has suddenly developed an interest in the Dr. Seuss ‘There’s a Woset in My Closet’ book, which he has ignored for several months.

Waking up: 

First time at the water table: 

Figuring out the magnet: 

First outdoor stop: 

Admiring a bush: 

Discovering ants: 

Second outdoor stop, in and around Adventure Playground: 

With Jungho (sp), the boy who likes insects: 

He then took a couple steps, which I missed getting on vieo, but I got the last step and him clapping for himself:

Back home. Some more methodical practice with the salad spinner: 

August took his nap early today – about 70 minutes starting around 9. He didn’t take a nap in the afternoon, and while Carly had to keep him from falling asleep at 5:30, he then bounced back and stayed up until close to 8. That means he was awake for more than 9 hours.

Anyway, after his early nap, we took the 1144 bus from right outside the building and took it up to Changdong Station. From there we took the subway one stop west, to Ssangmun. About 15 minutes of walking got us to Ssangmun Neighborhood Park. The park is a good sized wooded area, and I didn’t know what we would find. I was hoping for a playground at some point, but most of it was trails, hills, exercise equipment, and badminton and tennis courts. 

We found a bench in a nice spot by a little basketball court and took our first break. August ate much of my peanut butter sandwich, walked/crawled around, and waved to everyone who walked by.

We then hiked around the rest of the west side of the park, crossed over to the east side, and eventually found a second spot where we played and ate. 

From there we walked around more of the east side of the park – he did more magpie spotting today. 

Finally, as we were about to leave the park at the SE corner we found a playground. So of course we had to play for awhile. He did more walking around and had to try out all the slides. We got a turn in the swings and he liked pointing out the blue bouncy ball a group of kids were playing with. 

We headed home and heard Puff the Magic Dragon playing on the radio on the bus. 

From getting off the bus we went to the grocery store in the pink building for a few things. 

When we got back to the apartment I expected him to fall asleep for a nap but he never did. When Carly got home I went to PT. 

This morning he did his sniffing thing when he saw Carly’s origami flowers. He had done it yesterday, but I thought it might be a coincidence. I think he is actually making a bit of a joke. 

Our upcoming weather. Looks pretty nice:

Morning: 

Park:

We are still arguing about when he has to wear his hat when it is warm (he was fine with his winter hat, and fine with a hood when it is windy or raining). To distract him from his hat, I told him to look at the camera. He stuck out his tongue: 

He did a lot of squealing when he saw the playground. This is the end of it: 

Swings: 

Home: 

Sometimes we think he is practicing Hebrew or Yiddish:

For several minutes he would methodically put the salad spinner together, put one or two items in it, put the lid on, turn it over, take it apart, and repeat:

 

Managed to give August a bath this morning. Not that he was too fond of it. 

After his nap he ate a huge lunch – ate more than 3 strawberries, some apple, broccoli, and all the canned salmon I had set aside for him. 

We packed up and took the subway to Taerung and transferred to a bus headed east. We went past the Taerung royal tomb (where we had been twice before, once with Carly) a few stops to the Gongneung royal tomb. Not a huge area, but plenty for August and I to explore. We walked around first, and August got really excited when he would spot magpies. He would hear one, try to find it, and when he saw it he would shriek and point with both hands. Very cool to see as he has until recently found it difficult to tell which direction a sound is coming from. He successfully did it at least three times with the magpies. 

And he really liked the big metal sign in front of the tomb. It was pretty much identical to the sign he enjoyed kicking while in the carrier with the cover at the other tomb. He was bigger this time, so no need to reach out with his feet, and he was also pointing to the pictures of food on the sign and saying ‘baa’ (as they looked like balls). 

We then found a picnic table and he ate pretty much all the food we had with us. He then explored the area, walking around (he particularly liked going through the deep leaves and up and down hills), sitting on the moss and looking at stuff, and doing more walking. 

He even saw a ghost: he was standing near the stone path, looking at/across it, and started to wave. At no one. I asked him who he was waving to and he pointed. And kept pointing. Several times. He wouldn’t walk forward when I tried to get him to, and eventually (after a couple minutes) sat down. He pointed one last time, lost interest, and started playing in the dirt. I believe he was actually just fascinated by a leaf blowing across the ground, but it was quite a coincidence. 

Anyway, he explored for about an hour and then we left. We walked just to the west and went into Samyoong University. I realized I needed to change him. Luckily, a shady spot in the grass out of the way wasn’t too hard to find. 

We then went to the university museum. We started at the top and worked out way down. First I realized it was a Seventh Day Adventist church. Then they had floors on biblical archeology and bible study/history (this floor actually had an impressive collection of Bibles in different languages and editions). 

Then we get to the first floor, where they have fossils and minerals. First I notice none of them have ages on them.  Then I find the only mention of age on the floor – a sign that explains most fossils were from 6000 years ago. 

And that is how I took August to his first, and hopefully last, creationist museum. And contrast that museum with the funky (but accurate) natural history museum at Kyunghee University (which is a Christian university, but obviously not SDA). 

After that we walked through much of the rest of the campus (which is really quite nice). We saw the greenhouse and went into the entrance of the art building. August liked the sculpture of colored pencils out front, and he really liked the apples hanging from the ceiling inside. He spent several minutes batting at them and was upset when we left. 

We headed home from there. Got home at 5:20 something, just a few minutes before Carly. 

Morning:

At the tomb: 

University museum. The history is actually quite interesting: 

Oh, really: 

Art building:

 

Carly had nice morning time with August as he woke up at 4:30. He took a  90 minute morning nap and woke up in time to have a good breakfast and easily make it to his Dunggae Dunggae class. Today was all about rabbits, and she brought out a new sort of parachute that August enjoyed. He sat by himself and held on to the edge for most of the time. 

After class we walked through the park and stopped to smell the new flowers in front of the art museum. 

At home we had lunch and talked to my parents about summer plans. He fell asleep for a second, 50 minute, nap. When he woke up we made a smoothie, which he really liked, and then walked to the park at Madeul Stadium. 

We went on the swings which, if I remember correctly, was the first place I took him on the swings. I took a picture while we are swinging, and when I told him to look at the camera, he stuck out his tongue. Seemed very deliberate and funny. 

We walked around the rest of the park a little, going on the exercise equipment, looking at the horse statues (he was very excited about the horse baabaas), and watching teams practice soccer. 

We got home just a minute before Carly did. He didn’t last long in. The evening and fell asleep before 8. He got to play with the big blender, which was pretty exciting. 

 

Morning: 

Class: 

Teething. He chewed on a straw for much of class: 

Smelling the flowers: 

Smoothie: 

On our walk: 

Playing with the big blender: 

 

I was supposed to go hiking today, but one of my co-hikers couldn’t go because he was finishing a paper and Derek wants better weather for photos for his blog. So we rescheduled to May 4th. 

Which was kind of nice as I had a small cold and was able to go back to sleep for awhile. And as our walk later showed it would have been a rather damp hike. 

August took an early nap and woke up a little after 11. The most exciting moment in the morning came when Carly plugged in the vacuum cleaner and it turned out it was switched to on. August was playing with it at the time and was scared by it. He crawled away faster than I’ve ever seen him crawl before. 

In the afternoon we went out twice. First, we all went out for a walk along the river. We headed south and walked the river in the rain until a stairway in the Gongneung area that takes you up over the roadway. It is a route August and I have walked before. 

On the way back home we stopped at the pink building. Carly got a few groceries while I placed out pho order and took August to play with the big stuffed animals and to crawl around and play with the little garbage can in the kids’ book cafe. 

A couple hours later, trying to keep August to sleep until past 6, I took him out for a second walk. We wandered through the park, looking at sculptures, birds, and flower boxes that suddenly showed up on the museum side. We then went into the Home Plus building and up to the movie theater floor to walk through the video hall up there. He was clearly getting tired at this point – a little past 6 – and barely made a sound or movement for the next twenty minutes as we wandered home. 

He fell asleep soon after we got home at 6:30. Carly and I started watching Boyhood this evening and made it halfway. It is a long movie. Really good so far, but I don’t think it will challenge Birdman for my favorite film of 2014.

Morning: 

River walk: 

He loves the little garbage can: 

At home: 

He was looking at the computer saying ‘Oma’ and ‘granma’ repeatedly. I just caught him on video saying one long ‘granma’:

Exploring the park: 

Note the fish sounds in one of these when he hears/sees the water going down a drain next to the flower box. He makes the fish sound a lot when he hears running water: 

He still likes the dog statue: 

And the vending machines. Now he can push the buttons: 

Getting sleepy: 

 

Had my book group meeting in the morning to discuss The Elegance of the Hedgehog. 

Carly then gave August a bath and I prepped banana bread. Then we all went to Home Plus for grocery shopping. 

August fell asleep a bit after noon and slept for more than two hours. So we were really late (3:30) for the APIS gathering at Dream Forest. But there were still a lot of people there when we arrived and we had a lot of fun. 

After everyone left we walked, getting a coffee at the roof cafe, playing a bit at the very busy playground, and then changing him in the big building. 

We walked home as the weather was nice and it appeared the busses would be packed. We got hit by a few drops of rain, but not too much. 

Back home August ate lentils and broccoli for dinner, and then ate a bunch of banana bread when it was done baking. He found it funny to feed Marshy banana bread. 

 

Morning: 

Home Plus: 

Dream Forest: 

Looking at the view: 

Playground: 

Walking home: 

River: 

Smelling flowers: 

Home: 

 

August and I headed to Children’s Grand Park today. The weather was nice and every school in Seoul apparently booked a field trip to the park today. Not sure if that is because the flowers are all out, or if it is because it was a Friday (we usually go on Thursday), or what. 

We first went to the children’s museum. We ate lunch then August played in the toddler room for about 45 minutes. At that point he wanted to go next door to the book lounge. He did his usual in there: practiced the stairs, pulled books off the shelves, etc. he can now put the magnifying glasses in and out of the holder while standing up. It has been interesting watching his progress on this, as just a few weeks ago it was quite a struggle for him to get one in the hole at all. 

At this point he had been awake for six hours. He wasn’t acting cranky or tired, but I knew it was time. So we left and started walking and he fell asleep. I went to the Peace Cafe and read (Roland Barthes’s essay “Death of the Author”, in case you were wondering). He only slept 40 minutes, but that seemed enough for him as he made it through the rest of the day just fine. 

We then went to the zoo. We saw the baboons, then went to the children’s zoo and watched the prairie dogs, meerkats, seals, squirrel monkeys, gibbons, and miniature horses, and then checked on the penguins. I noticed that the fierce animals area is now open, so we briefly saw the elephants and lions. 

We then took the subway to Hagye and transferred to the bus and went to APIS. We went to Carly’s room and then walked home with her. 

He got nice and messy this evening eating Carly’s lentil dish for dinner. 

 

Morning: 

Pointing at a bus: 

Shaking the bottle for gramma and grampa on Skype: 

CGP: 

Flowers: 

Exploring the cafe after his nap: 

Animals: 

August looking at the horses (teething straw in hand): 

August and I started by going down and getting his Japanese encephalitis shot. From there we went and got on the subway and headed to the National Museum. He fell asleep as we got there, so he napped and ate lunch in the nursing/change lounge. 

From there we went to the children’s history museum at one end of the building. Really focused on older kids, but August had fun, and there were a couple of older kids that took an interest in him. 

We lasted about an hour there and then went into the actual history museum to just see the current special exhibition on Bohemian glass. August did well, and actually enjoyed it. At one point he saw a case of glasses and mugs and started saying ‘Tea!’ like he does at home. 

We were going to walk to the mall but it was really windy. He has gotten good at wearing his hood when it is windy or raining. We jumped on a bus for the last three stops. 

The goal at the mall was RAM for our computer and headphones for August for the flight. We were unsuccessful. Or, rather, we determined we can just order the headphones online and wait on the RAM until summer. 

The journey home seemed to take a long time and was really crowded. We threw in an extra transfer and a bus to avoid some of the crowds. August did really well, although by the time we got home we were almost entirely out of food and milk as he was snacking much of the way. 

 

Morning: 

National Museum: 

His eyes closed and he fell asleep about five seconds after this: 

Signing more (photo) and please (video): 

Children’s museum: 

Looking at Bohemian glass in the actual National Museum: 

On our way out: 

 

August and I headed up to Uijeongbu today to exchange his play box thingies for one with all the pieces. 

We left about 9:40 – pretty early for us – and were up in Uijeongbu by 10:15. We walked around first, exploring some streets we hadn’t seen last time and going through the big market building. We then swung by Artbox and picked up a card that Carly wanted and a few accessories for the backpack (a carabiner and cord holders). 

We then walked over to what was supposed to be (according to Google, Naver, and an actual physical sign a couple blocks away) a children’s park. It wasn’t, just a parky area. But August walked around for 15 minutes or so, primarily wanting to climb on and off a little ledge. 

He started to get frustrated so I put him in the carrier and started walking. He fell asleep and I went to the Starbucks in the department store. He slept for 70 minutes and I read a poetry collection (Theodore Roethke) I’ve been working on. 

When he woke up he ate and explored a little, then we went up to the toy store and made the exchange (actually, what they did was just give me the missing piece from their display model). I let him down on the ground and he explored – he particularly liked one of those big annoying RC cars. 

From there we headed home. After getting off the subway at Junggye we stopped at a small store for lettuce, strawberries, and eggs and headed home. 

We didn’t stay home for long as we turned around and went to Home Plus for grocery shopping. That done, we played in the park for 15 to 20 minutes. Actually, he want too interests in the playground. Instead, he did a lot of walking over the wooden walkway and into the park’s center courtyard, much like Logan did the other day. 

We got home a few minutes before Carly did at 4:30. I then went to PT. When I got home August was incredibly giggly. I would stick my hand in the doorway or jump out from behind the door and he would go into hysterics. 

He ate a second dinner (Carly had fed him his first – oh, and given him a bath) and went to bed pretty quickly after that. 

Helping with laundry: 

In Uijeongbu: 

The car he wants: 

Looking down from the treehouse on the roof of the department store: 

A Pororo billboard in the subway station: 

At the park after Home Plus: