July 27- A day at the river

This afternoon we went with Youn Ji and her parents and family to the river before she had to go back to Seoul with her Mommy and Daddy. It was so nice of the neighbors to invite us to join them. The ride to the stream was unbelievable. We went further up into the mountains, where the beauty of nature just overwhelms you. On the final leg of the drive we had to take the car off road a bit to get to the stream. As the car started to shake and bump over rocky terrain Sterling started squealing with delight. Michael and I got such a kick out of hearing him laugh in the backseat every time we hit a particularly deep pothole or rock. Maybe he’ll be a rodeo cowboy?
Ella points out something in the water to Youn Ji. Ella actually didn’t love the stream. The water rushing over the rocks was pretty loud, and I think it made her nervous. I can’t believe I actually got a few pictures of her playing in the water. For the most part she was clinging to me with all her might.
This picture is too cute! Daddy was trying to teach Sterling how to skip rocks across the water. Sterling didn’t exactly pick up on the skipping part, but he sure did love throwing pebbles into the water. He spent probably close to 30 min. just sitting here throwing rocks in. We didn’t think he’d ever tire of that game.
Okay, this picture is a riot. No, Michael was not trying to dunk Sterling. The rocks were pretty slick so Michael was trying to hold Sterling so he could safely dip his fingers into the water. Certainly made for a funny picture!
Ella has become very good about sharing lately. In this picture, I told Ella to give Youn Ji the rock, which she very happily obliged. The only problem was, Youn Ji was just as good at sharing. So there they sat, passing the same rock back and forth. Such sweet little girls.

We stopped to look at some ginseng growing on the side of the road. They grow LOTS of ginseng here…imagine that.
After going to the river we went to a lily farm owned by the paternal great-grandmother. It was very interesting. The farm grows lilies for export to Japanese florists. It was pretty neat to see green house after green house full of lilies. While we were there they offered us a beautiful arrangement of lilies to take home with us.
After getting very wet in the stream, Sterling had to be changed into his yellow “duck” outfit. Isn’t this boy too cute?
Two little friends. We can’t wait for Youn Ji to come back to visit another weekend!

This is the problem with toddlers. They never all want to go in the same direction!