Berry Dirty

My friend Kimberly invited us to go down to the Nonsan Strawberry Festival on Friday. Both of our husbands were workings, so we set out on our own with six kids in tow.

I think before we got there, we thought that the picture above (which was taken from the website advertising the festival) was a good representation of what we would experience that day. But at the end of the day I took the picture below, and I think that summed things up much better:)

MUD! The festival was in a big field, and it had rained ALL day the previous day. The parking was also in the field, and there were many spinning tires going nowhere and spraying mud everywhere. Luckily, I am such a skilled driver, that getting stuck in the mud was not an option for us. Getting shoes in the mud, however, was inevitable. These poor ladies had on their traditional hanbok, with little white shoes.

In addition to the muddy conditions, we didn't get to pick any strawberries. We found out later that you have to pre-register to pick strawberries, and that the fields where you pick them aren't at the same place as the festival. Despite the disappointments, we had a really good time. We had strawberry juice, and strawberry icecream. and strawberries covered in chocolate, and strawberry jam on toast with cucumber slices (we ARE in Korea), and the kids colored strawberry masks, and Kimberly's kids made strawberry soap.

Of course, the kids' favorite part of the festival had nothing to do with strawberries. There was an area with animals that you could look at, and pet some of them. We spent at least half an hour there. Neither of our families have pets, so we let the kids get their fill. These bear cubs were so cute and so little. Where the heck is their mother?!

Everyone got a turn with the birds.

Alex was the only one brave enough for the snake.

The best of the best were these bins with baby rabbits and mice. When we first got there, we joined this group of pre-schoolers.

There were about 30 of them, and even though they had a couple of teachers with them, there was NO adult supervision. Some of these "pre-schoolers" were really just toddlers, and they had no idea how to correctly handle these animals. There was pinching, and grabbing, and sqeezing, and dropping, and THROWING for heaven's sake. I rescued 5 mice that had been dropped/thrown out of the bins, and Kimberly got a few more. We were cringing the whole time, and trying to tell the kids to be careful. Of course, they didn't understand us because we weren't speaking Korean. Cora, my big-hearted daughter, was in an animal-rights-activist frenzy. This face says it all.

After the school kids left, things were a bit more calm, and all of our kids were very careful with the animals.

The funniest thing that happened at the festival was that we became famous. Okay, not really, but were were stalked. When we first got there we were approached by a man and his assistant. They were taking pictures and video for all the promotional stuff for next year's festival. They followed us around all day.

We finally had to say no more pictures. Besides, there were other American's there who needed to have their 15 minutes of fame too:) All in all, it was a very successful festival, and we're glad we went...

...even if our shoes will never be the same:)

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This list of 10 things is dedicated to Mary....because, really, who else would you dedicate a list of 10 things to? 1. I would really love to be able to sleep-in until 8:00 in the morning. And I'm not talking about the kind of sleeping-in that consists of actually being woken up by your kids between 6:00 and 7:00 and then laying there until 8:00, trying to dose off, as your kids run around the house, playing/fighting, talking loudly, and coming into your bedroom every 15 minutes to ask what's for breakfast or if they can watch a movie. 2. Madelyn has started speaking in her own language. It kind of sounds spanish, but Joe assures me that it's not actually spanish. She started it when John and Joanna were visiting - we were at the war memorial, and there was a group of people near us speaking Korean. She went up to them and tried to talk to them in her language (I'm not sure they even noticed her), then the rest of the day she just kept doing it (to herself). She's still doing it (see video below). 3. I love dancing, especially in the privacy of my own home, but I just plain stink, and I know it, and that's okay. Which makes me feel like such a hypocrite, because I was dating this guy in college, and I stopped liking him after I went to a dance with him and he had absolutely no rhythm. Lame (me, not him). Ironically, my very first date with Joe was Latin dancing, and he still kept dating me. Anywho, one of my very favorite things in the world, other than watching Juli dance, is that I have conditioned all of my children to immediately start dancing as soon as a movie ends and the music comes on with the end credits. Yep, just like Pavlov's dog....only dancing is so much better than salivating, don't you think? 4. There is a Korean tradition, that dates back to ancient Chinese medicine, that says that when it's hot outside your inner body tries to cool down, putting your body out of balance (hot on outside/cool on inside). To bring balance, you should eat hot foods when it's hot outside and cold foods when it's cold otuside. Also, when food makes you sweat on a really hot day, Koreans think that is very shiwonhamnida, or refreshing. There is a day here in the summer (the hottest day in the summer), when it is popular among Korean males to eat a hot soup called boshintang. The main ingredient is dog meat. Ostensibly the Korean government banned it back in 1986, but it's still very easy to get. Added bonus - it's supposed to increase virility......riiiiiiight;) If we ever get a dog, Joe says we are going to name it Boshintag, and call it Bo for short. 5. When I'm rating books on GoodReads, I tend to go back and forth between being stingy and liberal with my stars. Then when I'm looking at them later I think, "I should have given that an extra star" or "Why did I give that so many stars". Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me? 6. Madelyn's hair is short again. Not by choice, but by bubblegum. She had been trying to grow her hair out like Cora, but thankfully she likes the new cut....maybe because I told her she looks more like Tinkerbell. I have always liked her hair short, but I was kind of diggin' it longer too, so I'm a little sad.

7. The milk we buy here is ultra-pasteurized, and it's fine, but sometimes it wigs me out that I can buy milk in March, and it doesn't expire until May - and that on top of the fact that I know it was shipped over here from the States, so who knows how long it's been since it actually came out of a cow. And saying "wigs me out" reminds me of earwigs, and they TOTALLY wig me out. As a kid I always had a fear of an earwig crawling in my ear while I was sleeping and chewing through to my brain. Even thinking about it now makes me want to sleep with earplugs, regardless of whether or not it's just a myth. Next to that, ultra-pasteurized milk is nothing. 8. I like Korea just fine, thank you very much, but my eyeballs don't....at all. They are so dang sensitive to the pollution, and sometimes they try to kill me in retaliation. Dear eyeballs, it wasn't my idea to come here, and I'm not responsible for the bad air. Plus, two against one just isn't fair. Can't we all just get a long? 9. Within a short period of time, 1)my friend Nicole's son got a popcorn kernal stuck in his ear and had to have it removed surgically; 2) my friend Mary's daughter got peas stuck in her ears (one in each) and had to have them removed surgically; 3) is this one of those things that happens in three's, because if it is, watch your kids carefully my friends! 10. Does this ever happen to you? You take a big ol' swig of water out of your glass or water bottle, and THEN you notice all the floaties in it - usually thanks to your kids. It's gross.

Whirlwind

Can I just say, I LOVE FAMILY! Can I also say, I just took about 300 pictures in the past 5 days. Joe's oldest brother John, and his wife Joanna, and their oldest daughter Hannah came to visit us for a few days. Joanna served her mission here in Korea, and then her and John lived her for a year teaching English when they were first married. Now they want their kids to be able to experience this beautiful country, and Hannah was the lucky first one. They got in on Thursday, and left on Tuesday - not much time, but we sure saw/did a lot while they were here. My calves can attest to that (I can't complain though, because they did way more walking then I did - one day they had over 22,000 steps, and if you've ever used a pedometer, then you know that's a lot).

Thursday - First was Seoul Tower. My kids hadn't been there yet either, so I think that was fun for them.

Last time when Joe and I went it was during the day, so it was fun to see that city at night from up there.

I tried to find our lock of love, but couldn't - I know it's there somewhere:)

We rode the subway there and back, which my kids always love.

Joanna was really hoping to run into a drunk on the subway, and we finally did on the weekend. Joe spotted him first when he fell over. Then he got on the same train as us, and sat near us, barely able to hold himself upright. That's when Joanna noticed that he had thrown up on his own coat. I think she was really pleased, hehehehe;)

Alex, who has always been a Daddy's boy, instantly bonded with John. It was very cute, and John spoiled him to death by carrying him everywhere.

We stopped at a street vendor and John and Joanna introduced us to oh deng, which is....well, it's hard to describe, but it's like a processed fish pancake on a stick, only it's not extremely fishy. They were actually pretty good, and my kids loved them.

Then we got some Korean-style Chinese food. Yum.

Friday - This day was spent mostly shopping at Itaewon and Namdaemun. I mostly stayed home with the kids. Joe and Cora went with them to Namdaemun. We did meet up for lunch and dinner though - Korean, of course. We ate Korean most of the time they were here, and it was fun because they actually introduced us to some things we hadn't tried before, and we shared something with them that they hadn't tried before. I can't remember which day it was, but one day we went to the neighborhood bakery. We were only going to get a snack, but it ended up being lunch because we got soooooo much food.

Saturday - Korean War Memorial. Yes, we've been there a hundred times, but it never gets old. Outside they had an area set up for a traditional Korean wedding. It was cool to see, but we missed the actual wedding darn it.

There was one area of the museum that we had never been to, and that was the area where you can learn what to do in case of an emergency. There was a display of Seoul with a nuclear bomb hanging over it that made us laugh. There were gas masks, and how to use them. But my favorite part was the dress-up area.

I'm not really sure what it had to do with emergencies. Are they anti-radioactive suits? Are they superhero suits? Or is it just about how to be fashionable in an emergency? Maybe all three.

Sunday - We visited 2 temples: one LDS, and one buddhist.

This is the Jogyesa temple in downtown Seoul. Again, fun to see at night with all the lights.

Monday - The older kids were in school, but the rest of us went to visit Gyeongbok Palace.

We have been here before too, but one thing that we had never done before also involved dressing up. There was a little area near a gift shop where you could try on Hanbok, or traditional Korean dress. Hannah and I jumped at the chance.

Literally, we jumped. You see, the lady who dressed up before us was taking the funniest pictures, one of which was jumping up into the air. We thought it was so funny, that we just had to try it ourselves.

Hmmmm, didn't quite make it. That's okay, it was fun anyway.

John, Joanna, and Hannah also took some great little video clips of the trip, which I will post below. One is of us jumping. One is of Alex dancing to the chantings of a buddhist monk. And one is of the changing of the guard at the palace. We absolutely loved having them here and hope they come back with their other kids. They have to come back, because they are now indebted to us for introducing them to "Community":)

Promised Video 3

Promised Video 2

Promised Video 1

Tween?

See, I was thinking that Cora was just now a tween, having turned 10 last week, but I was wrong. According to the internet, the great perveyor of all wisdom, a tween is between the ages of 9-12, not 10-12. So apparantly, having a tween is not that big of a deal, because we've already had one for a year. Nothing to worry about.

Cora's birthday was on Monday, so she started in on me early on Sunday morning. "Mom, can you get me out of school early tomorrow, because it's my birthday" (cutest smile) - over, and over, and over again. On Sunday morning I had no intention of getting her out of school early the next day, but by the next day....well, it WAS her birthday. I took her out after lunch, and we went and got a manicure, a treat, and picked out her birthday present. It was fun spending time with her (Yay mom!).

Cora didn't want a cake for her birthday, she wanted to make a desert that she saw on Veggie Tales - one of those worms-in-the-dirt things. I didn't have the ingredients on Monday, but we made it the next day, and everyone liked it except for me (not my cup of tea).

The other thing that Cora wanted for her birthday was to go to Chili's. The only Chili's in Korea is down at Osan AFB which is south of here. We had to wait until the weekend to go, but we decided to spend Friday night there, and come back Saturday. It took us an hour and a half to get to our hotel. Usually we just turn on the DVD in the car, and entertain the kids that way, but this time we decided to just listen to music.....and Cora decided to talk. She talked NON-STOP for the whole hour and a half. Joe and I were laughing our heads of by the time we got there - not because of what she was saying, but just because we couldn't believe that she had never stopped:)

The only thing that I ever worry about Cora is ME. Sure, Cora as struggles in her life, and she's not actually perfect, but I'm pretty sure that I am often her biggest problem. I worry that I don't spend enough time with her, or that I get in the way of her creativity, or that I'm too.....you know. Cora is one of the most amazing people I've ever known, and I don't want to screw that up. So my biggest challenge with Cora is to just not screw her up. Okay, I guess that's any parents' biggest challenge with any child:) Seriously though, how do you do that?

Dear Cora, I'm trying. Just hang in there. Love, Mom. P.S. Happy Birthday!

When we got back from our weekend trip for Cora's birthday, I had to run from the car to the bathroom, and that is where I spent the next few days. It was horrible. I haven't been that sick for a long time. I was completely useless as a mother. My kids had to feed themselves (easy mac, sandwhiches, cold cereal, etc.), get themselves ready for school (it's a good thing that I wasn't behind on the laundry, or they would have been in big trouble), supervise themselves, and everything. Alex got into all kinds of stuff. Drew pictures on the walls. Tried to make himself a peanut butter sandwhich, and some other kind of sandwhich - I seriously don't know what was on the bread, I just couldn't tell. I'm used to JT making pickle sandwhiches (mayo, pickles and lettuce), but Madelyn made a mayo and jam sandwhich, and actually ate it. That would have sent me to the bathroom if I hadn't already been there. Food was left out, dishes piled up. There was a pretty funky smell. It didn't help that Joe was working until 8:30 at night. We were no match for 4 kids.

Now things are back to normal, and we are recovering from the damage. It's never boring;)