May 2- Headed for adventure

Just a styling boy cruising down the road.
Today we strapped the kids on our backs and hiked up Chiak Mountain to the temple to witness the celebration in honor of Buddha’s birthday. There are three different levels of parking progressing up the mountain…and we parked in the lowest one. Go us! So our hike was a bit longer but it was a perfect day for it. It was overcast but not raining and cool enough the kids needed sweaters but we were still comfy while hiking. Perfect day for a birthday! And I guess I better mention that yes, I’m aware of the fact that my hair is red. Remember that day of pampering and doughnuts in Seoul the other weekend? Let’s just say Koreans don’t know how to color hair blonde. This was the result. An interesting shade of red. I’ll be attempting to touch it up myself, but I don’t want to fry my hair, so I’m giving it a few days before I color it again.
Isn’t the view beautiful?
The forest was strewn with lots of colorful lanterns.
Buddha looks a little dirty here, don’tcha think? I just don’t know about the toga look.
That’s better. A cute baby Buddha. Seems a little more appropriate for a birthday celebration. After all doesn’t Jesus always appear as a baby wrapped in swaddle cloths on his birthday?
Half way there. The first entrance to the temple.
When we arrived at the temple they were serving a free meal of temple food to all the worshipers. The line was loooong, so we forwent the opportunity to eat was appeared to just be rice with pepper paste and veggies. It sort of looked like bimbimbap for anyone who is familiar. I was mostly interested in seeing the altars anyway. One altar was established for pouring water over a golden statue of Buddha is a request for favor.
Anyone care to guess how old Buddha is today? 2,253! Yikes!
The kids really liked all the lanterns at the temple. They kept calling them “bubbles”.
Ella and I climbed up the stone steps to the main altar as well as one of the side altars. Before we went in I explained to Ella that we had to be very, very quiet when we were inside the temple. So we stopped and took our shoes off, then proceeded inside. We sat down in a back corner as to not disturb any of the worshiper’s prayers, but we were still pretty noticeable. One of the monks came up to us to say hello and thank us for coming. Well, Ella had been very vigilant about not making a peep inside the temple, so when he spoke to us Ella gave him a withering look of disdain like, “you should know better” then put her little finger to her lips and “shushed” him. We had to leave then. I was too afraid I might start laughing out loud. So, my child has now silenced a monk. Nice. And yes, as we were sitting down and putting our shoes back on, Ella turned to each person passing into the temple and gave them a final warning to be quiet.
Sterling loved the little rock turtle. He kept bending down to give it kisses.
A little fresh air, a cozy ride up a mountain on your parent’s backs, and it’s enough to send a baby into a coma! Our kids don’t usually go down for their naps until around 1pm, so we thought we’d have plenty of time to make a little outing before naptime, but I guess we were wrong. They were both out like a light by noon.
Silly child passed out still gripping her rice cake.