A new day has come, and we’ve more places to go! Since we’ve been traveling from one end of the city to the other and back again, we didn’t want to try maneuvering the Durango through all the crowded streets. Traffic on the city streets is a confusing headache compounded by a lack of street markers. So, we’ve been taxiing it for most of the trip. This of course meant my kids got to ride like every other Korean child…with no car seat! God Lord, hold on tight to these babies!
Our first place of interest today was the COEX Aquarium. The COEX is actually an extremely large western style shopping mall, but one end of the mall houses an aquarium. The aquarium is certainly not as large as the new Atlanta Aquarium (of course not, it’s the world’s largest, duh!), but it was still a nice aquarium with lots of different and exciting tanks to explore. We can now count this as the second aquarium the kids have visited in their short 20 months of life. Such lucky babies!
Ella knew what she wanted to do as soon as she saw those fishies…give them kisses! I’m not sure how many fish got kissed today, but I think someone will have an interesting job cleaning tiny little kiss marks off the tanks tonight!
Daddy stops to get an Ella and Sterling’s eye view of some large fish.
Sterling was just tickled with the fish in the tanks. A little perturbed that he couldn’t touch them, but still delighted with their swimming.
Ella stops to visit and chat with her fish friends.
The only downsides to this aquarium were the open tanks. Not all the tanks were open, but occasionally there was an exhibit that had an open top. Not such a great idea. Needless to say, we were watching the kids like hawks. The tank ledges were probably too high for anyone to fall in, but I wouldn’t put it past my kids to find a way to go swimming with the fishies.
Daddy stops to point out a school of fish to the kids.
Look, they even filled this mailbox with fish!
We just thought this was so funny. While this man was cleaning out the squirrel monkey’s cage, the monkeys were climbing all over his back! Don't ask me how monkeys end up in an aquarium, because I have no idea! Must be a Korea thing.
Forget the pony, Daddy; I want a baby fish for Christmas!
First there was the Crocodile Hunter (he didn’t fare so well), now there’s the Crocodile Rider. Sterling wrangled this croc in the children’s play area in the aquarium.
What trip to the aquarium would be complete without popping your head into the deep sea diver photo prop?
As we left the COEX, we stumbled upon the Flower Festival. It was really beautiful. We had fun looking at all the flowers on display, creating miniature scenes.
Next time we go on a little trip like this, we need to hire someone to tag along and snap a few family pictures for us. All of our pictures from this weekend are either me and the kids, or Michael and the kids, but never any family pics.
This is for my mother-in-law. She’ll love the three angels playing music in the garden. Isn’t it pretty?
Who needs Sex and the City when you can have Sterling in the city?
After another afternoon nap in the hotel room, we headed back out to play on the playground again. There was a lot more sliding involved.
Don’t worry Daddy. Our boat may have burned to pieces but I’m practicing my navigating skills, and by the time we buy a new boat, I’ll be ready to be your first mate!
Yes, that would be my goofy husband in the children’s playhouse.
Tonight we wondered down to the Itaewon neighborhood for dinner. On our last visit home, someone asked me what we ate in Korea. I told them “Anything American” to which they replied “What a shame.” No buddy, when you actually live outside the US, it’s very different from a 2 or 3-week visit. If you’re going to “visit” a country, you absolutely should immerse yourself in their culture to include food. But when you have the opportunity to live in another country, particularly one with a menu so different from what you’re used to, sometimes you just want “home cooking”! We love taking advantage of any opportunity to eat American cuisine. So, tonight we found the Outback Steakhouse in Itaewon, and enjoyed a delicious western meal! Itaewon is actually considered to be the “international village” of Seoul. Sadly, it’s not so international as it is American. No matter, we love standing on a corner and seeing some of our favorite things…Quizno’s, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Cold Stone Creamery.
Itaewon is full of street venders hustling their black market goods. Michael and I each purchased cozy cashmere Burberry scarves this evening, as well as these adorable little hats for the kids. We couldn’t resist! Ella got a little lamb (or maybe it’s a goat…I don’t know, it has horns), and Sterling got a little polar bear hat. The cutest part about these hats is the fact that they hang down and have little hand mitts at the end. A scarf, hat, and mittens combo!
This was my view pushing the stroller. You can see the little mittens. Ella was greatly excited to have “paws” and spent the whole evening clapping her paws together.
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