Happy Halloween

It was a very busy Halloween for us in the Hamptons. Melissa, Meg's sister, and her son and daughter came over to the house to decorate Halloween cookies that Meg had baked earlier in the week. Gavin is in kindergarten, and Kate is going to be 3 in January; they are very high energy little people. I was pretty wiped out after our decorating session. :( When they left, we took Owen over to Meg's parents so they could see the little man in his lion costume. We visited for a while and then came home for dinner and to answer the door for our trick-or-treaters. Poor Owen was pretty well fried after all the hub bub, so he went to bed fairly early. Actually, we were all pretty tired from the day's festivities and turned in early. It was fun to spend Halloween here as it is celebrated like it was when I was a kid. The elementary school children in Southampton don their costumes in the afternoon and parade down the main street of the Village. Since Gavin was in the parade, Meg, Owen and I went to see it on Friday. It was fun to see all the kids in their costumes and to go back to a time when Halloween was celebrated for the fun of dressing up and getting our fill of candy.

Pumpkin Carving

Dave, Meg, and I carved pumpkins tonight once Owen went to sleep. Meg and I had the help of a little mulled cider laced with brandy (her idea!). It was a lot of fun; I discovered that the pumpkin carving kits are a great idea. The tools are pretty fantastic. Tomorrow we are going to decorate Halloween cookies, put on our costumes (not Dave), take some pictures, and do a little trick or treating. Happy Halloween!!!

News from the Hamptons

It is great to be in the Hamptons with Dave, Meg, and Owen. The trip here went very well. Once we flew over New Mexico, the scenery below was a winter wonderland. However, moving into the Midwest brought a lot of clouds. As we broke through the clouds to land at Midway, I saw all the beautiful reds, oranges, and very vibrant yellows. The clouds continued all the way to New York. It was disappointing that the visibility was so bad as we took a different approach into the airport and were flying over a lot of the mansions; however, the clouds were too thick to get a real good peek. Luckily, as we were preparing to land we were low enough that I got my thrill of seeing the beautiful landscape below. Times like that make me aware of the awesome scenery that God has given us on this earth. Everyone greeted me at the airport, and my little man was all grins and came to Grammy right away!! Oh quiet my beating heart. :) Since my arrival Meg and I went shopping, and I am happy to say that my grandson is THE best shopper. I was thrilled to get my gifts for Owen for Christmas and his first birthday: mission accomplished. We are going into the village today to see Meg's nephew march in a Halloween parade and then will come home to an evening of pumpkin carving. With the natural artistic qualities that Dave and Meg have, I fear that my pumpkin will pale in comparison. Owes is taking steps ALL the time; he prefers to be upright, although he eventually ends up on his fanny and then crawls. I have never seen such a happy little guy, and it is great to see him play and wrestle on the floor with his daddy. I have to capture some of those moments in video; what a great way to start the day hearing those delightful little squeals of laughter.

The Zoo in Seoul

September 27

We spent the day at the zoo in Seoul. The weather was perfect - slightly overcast and cool. We discovered that this was THE best zoo that we had ever been to; it truly was spectacular. The zoo had a very large amount of animals in natural habitats. There were a total of eight lions and about eight tigers; unlike The Wild Animal Park in San Diego, the animals were totally visible. The zoo grounds were very lush with a lot of beautiful trees, plants, and flowers. Despite the large number of people that were there, it was as clean as Disneyland. Our only regret is that we didn't go to the zoo while we were staying in Seoul as we would have had more time to spend in the zoo instead of traveling from The English Village. Tatyana slept a lot during our walk around the zoo, and interestingly, Tasha wasn't quite old enough to be into the animals just yet. For the five adults, it was a fabulous day.

The English Village and Yongmunsa

September 25-26
There is a beautiful park about 10 minutes away from The English Village, which contains shops, restaurants, a small amusement park, and an amazing hike to a Buddhist Temple. It was a pleasant day outside, and we enjoyed the fresh air and being away from the mass of humanity in Seoul. While the temple itself was not very impressive, there was a ginkgo tree that is said to be 1100 years old just before reaching the temple grounds. It was quite impressive, and the stores had many pictures that had been taken of it in the fall when its leaves were a vibrant yellow. (Brian and Ann later went back to visit Yongmunsa and sent us pictures of the tree adorned in its fall foliage.) We had early birthday celebrations for the girls - Tasha's second and Tatyana's first, complete with a delicious cake that we purchased in town. Our days were more relaxed in The English Village, and it was fun to play with the girls in their environment. Brian got a studio apartment for Jim, Kevin, and me; we enjoyed some solitude at the end of the day. :) We also had a washing machine, and it was good to be able to get some laundry done. Brian and Kevin had a chance to kick the soccer ball around the soccer field, and we actually managed to get Tasha to give the ball a good kick. Her preference was to keep Grammy and Papa busy chasing after her as she climbed the bleachers. We also used this time to plan the remainder of our itinerary for the trip.

Gyeongbokgung Palace and Shopping

September 23 and 24 - Seoul/English Village

Our main goal for the 23rd was to see Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was the main palace when in it was completed in 1395 of the Josaon Dynasty. It was also at this time that the capital of the new dynasty was moved from Gaeseong to Seoul (then known as Hanyang). The palace was destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasions of 1592 and was not reconstructed until 1868. During the Japanese occupation, most of the palace was torn down. An effort to fully restore Gyeongbokgung to its former glory has been ongoing since 1990. For the most part the grounds of the palace were unremarkable except for the area which was the king's retreat - where we took most of our pictures. The best part of the palace experience was seeing the changing of the guard which takes place daily from March to November. It was extremely ceremonial and quite colorful as evidenced in the pictures in our Photo Album linked to this blog. We also went to Insa-dong, a very quaint street market, which was a bit like the art fair on Mill Avenue in Tempe. We wish we could have spent more time there as the merchandise was unique and the atmosphere seemed more conducive to the type of shopping we wanted to do. Instead, we went to Myeongdong which is described in TripAdvisor as "hyper shopping." This, too, was a street market, and, from all appearances, a mecca for Korean young adults. If you have ever gone by Abercrombie & Fitch at the Mall, music pulsating out of the store, well, this was Myeongdong - store, after store, after store. In addition to the stores, tables lined the streets with all sorts of merchandise. Honestly, we walked away, the only purchase being dried sticks of squid (we think) - by Ann and Brian. Tasha entertained us and everyone near us on the subway with a variety of faces (she had this act down last October. She has just expanded her repertoire.) After being in back packs and front packs all day, the girls were thrilled to be back at the hotel and found great delight in looking at themselves in the mirror and then squealing in very high pitches. We left Seoul on the 24th and traveled by train to Yongmun and then embarked for the short taxi ride to the English Village where Brian, Ann and the girls live. The change in scenery was incredible. The English Village is a beautiful campus nestled in the mountains. It was definitely fall in the Village, evidenced by the changing leaves, although the usual chill in the area heralding the onset of fall was absent. Kevin, Jim, and I had a studio apartment in the building next to Brian's. Once we had our luggage settled, we went for a tour of the campus and then Brian, Ann, and I went back to town to buy food and a cake to celebrate Kevin's 26th birthday.

Bongeunsa Temple and the National Museum of Korea

September 22 - Seoul

We experienced the subway system in Seoul which is very clean, very efficient, and a very practical and inexpensive way to get around the city. Unfortunately, we took the wrong turn out of the hotel, so we ended up getting on the wrong train; however, Brian figured it out pretty fast, and in no time we were headed to our destination of Bongeunsa, one of Korea's most traditional Buddhist temples. It is located at the slope of "Sudo" mountain in Samsung-dong, South of Korea. It was founded in 794 and became the nation's leading temple by 1550. Most of its buildings were destroyed by fire in 1939 and the temple underwent several renovations and repairs. (Many of Korea's historic sights were destroyed during the Japanese occupations in the 16th and 20th centuries, and many of them were restored. However, we saw very few original landmarks.) Today the temple is nestled among the many high-rise buildings that literally fill the sky in Korea, making it a very peaceful refuge from the hustle and bustle of the 23 million people who occupy metropolitan Seoul. As you can see from one picture in particular in our Photo Album, there is some spectacular architecture in Korea as the majority of Seoul has been rebuilt since the Korean War. Ann is Buddhist and is teaching Tasha to show respect to the Buddha. When we visited the various temples, Tasha would put her hands together, bow to the best of her 22 month old ability, and would say hello in Thai to the Buddha who she then called a "ghost." We learned that many things are ghosts to Tasha. We had lunch at Coex Mall which houses a huge underground shopping center - and I mean HUGE. Patty and I could have done some real damage there. :) I might add that about 95% of the stores catered to women. After lunch we went to the National Museum of Korea which again is a marvelous specimen of modern architecture. The museum is quite large, and we were not able to see everything that was there. Tasha and Tyana were good sports, but they had reached their limit; and I think all the adults had, too. Unfortunately, I had a princess meltdown as Brian, Ann and I went out to hunt down dinner that night. We did not embrace Korean food as we did Thai food in Thailand, and I refused to eat another meal of Korean cuisine, so Jim, Kevin, and I ended up getting dinner from California Pizza Kitchen!!

Our trip to Seoul, Korea

We are recovering from our journey to Korea to see Brian, Ann and Natasha and to meet Tatyana. We had a very busy, but extremely memorable, trip. We saw as many sights as we could with two little girls in tow, our favorites being, of course, Tasha and Tyana. :) I will give you a brief description of our daily activities in subsequent blogs; we hope you will view the Korea 2009 album in the Photo Album link which is included on this page.

September 20 and 21-Seoul

The flight to Seoul seemed SO much easier than our flights to Thailand. We flew to San Francisco where we changed planes and then flew directly to Seoul - a total of 14 hours of flying time t0 Seoul versus 19 hours minimum to Thailand. One of the first things we saw as we exited the airport terminal was a man walking a Westie!! Brian met us at the airport, and we took a bus to our hotel in Gangnam. Of course, we were very anxious to see the rest of the family and were sad to hear that Tasha had had an accident as they were just getting to the hotel which resulted in a fat lip, bruising by her nose, and eventual bruising by both eyes. In the pictures you will see the scab under her nose which we referred to as her "Charlie Chaplin." There was a mirrored wall in our suite, and she would start to get upset every time she saw herself in the mirror! Other than the bruising, she was just fine. We soon got reacquainted and discovered that she was like a parrot. Whatever we said she repeated. In addition, she mimicked our actions as well. She enjoyed doing morning stretches with us. I was so delighted that she fell asleep in my arms as we were reading a book the second day we were there - a rare occurrence but one that is very memorable for me. I would have loved to have had a picture of it, but everyone else was asleep as well!! Tyana surprisingly warmed to us very quickly, and I was especially thrilled that she let me hold her the second day we were together. She loves to mimic "oh oh" and repeats it over and over. She has a very infectious smile. We brought Raggedy Ann dolls for both of the girls. At their home in The English Village, Tasha has a cloth doll with very long arms and legs (it is actually taller than her), and Brian told her that the doll looked like Olive Oil. To Tasha, ALL dolls are called "Olive"; hence Raggedy Ann is "Olive" as well. Gangnam, the area in which we stayed, seems very much like Manhattan in New York. We were amazed at how dressed up the Korean people get, especially the women. If you are interested in fashion, you would love Seoul!!! I have never seen so many women walking around in high heels. They are very attractive which made spending time walking the streets very enjoyable for Kevin as well. :)