Hiking Mount Dobong

The kids only get Korean Holidays at school, while Tyler gets Korean and U.S. holidays, which means that U.S. Holidays are day-dates for us! So on Labor Day Kristina and Curt watched Kalia (at the beach :) and Tyler and I hiked Mount Dobong, in the Bukhansan National Park. It was amazing!

 You can see little fish swimming in the river.

 At the beginning of the hike...

 We could see our destination way off in the distance.

 Buddhist temple along the hiking path, complete with paper lanterns hanging from the trees.

So many Buddhas! 

 Gorgeous views of the city

 The temple along the way...

 They had a mic on the monk who was chanting, with speakers projecting the music through the forest. It was a surreal experience, hiking through a beautiful forest, listening to the monk singing.

 Half-way up the mountain.

 These signs were hanging from trees along the hiking path. 119 is the Korean equivalent to 911 in the U.S. Comforting to know that help was available should it be needed :)

 The view from the top!!!

 We could see forever in every direction.

 Definitely worth the hike--it took about 2 hours to make it to the top.

 This photo doesn't do it justice, but the last part of the climb was so steep that they installed a metal handrail. The only way to get to the top was to drag ourselves up as we hung on to the handrail for dear life. Koreans are some intense hikers! They've never heard of switchbacks, that's for sure.

This was the drinking fountain. Cold mountain water--refreshing! They had ladles hanging on the sides, and everyone just used them and put them back. I didn't drink anything on the way up, but I was so thirsty on the way back that I didn't mind sharing a ladle with everyone.

This was an octopus swimming in a tank outside a restaurant. Someone's lunch, but not ours. We got some kimbap--Korean sushi rolls. So good! 

Bongeunsa Buddist temple, whitewater rafting and subway adventures

 Beautiful flowers on the walk to the Bongeunsa Buddhist Temple in Seoul

 Kalia and Shayla at the Buddhist Temple. The architecture was amazing.

 Beautiful lilypads and ponds scattered throughout the temple grounds. It was very peaceful and serene, right in the middle of huge skyscrapers and big-city busyness.

 I think a miniature of this elephant would like nice on my front porch :)

 The paper lanterns were EVERYWHERE, and so beautiful!

They had shoe-cubbies outside the temples, and after removing our shoes we could enter and sit inside the temple. People were praying on red rectangular prayer mats. They would stand with their hands together in prayer, and then bow low to the ground, then kneel on their mat, and then repeat. Kalia was fascinated watching them, and then started copying them. I think Shayla has the footage of her praying just like the Buddhists. I'll have to add that here...it was so cute!

 This shows how this temple is in the heart of Seoul, with skyscrapers everywhere. 

Such a blending of the old and the new.

 This monk was singing and playing a drum as he prayed. 

 Miya--someone had just given her a chocolate treat (can you tell?) Koreans love children, and they are so kind, always trying to give the kids a treat or just pet them on the head and tell them they are cute :) 

 This statue was huge!

Kalia is really good at posing for photos :)

Leaving the temple--across the street was the Coex Mall.

We went there to find some lunch...

Ordering at the mall was a feat! We finally figured out that they had one main cash register where you ordered all of your food for the whole food court. They gave us a different pager for each restaurant, and then when the pager went off we had to go pick up our food from the right restaurant. Most of it was not written in English, so we were trying to match Korean characters from our receipt with the right restaurant sign. We were so proud of ourselves when we finally had retrieved all of our food! Pictured above is Shayla, Ty and Kalia eating seaweed soup, some tofu and radish sides, and Bibimbap (I think...)

Miya and Garrett enjoying some potato dumplings. The rest of the food we ate before I could take pictures. We were hungry.

Taking the subway back home...

speaking of which, when we had been in the country only a few days I took the kids out on a subway adventure to visit an outdoor Korean market. We made it there just fine, but coming back it was super crowded. I was so scared we were going to be separated somehow, so i was carrying Kalia, and herding the smaller kids in front of me, with Ty and Shayla behind me. Well, Ty was being a gentleman, and offered to let someone on the subway before him, and then a bunch of people pushed past him, and the doors closed before he could get on the subway. I tried not to panic, Ty and I made eye contact through the closed doors as the train pulled away. He mouthed that he would meet us at the next stop, and I mouthed back that we would wait there. We then proceeded to pray our hearts out that we would be reunited somehow. Seoul is so huge and busy (25 million people), I was so scared we wouldn't be able to find each other. After waiting at the next stop for the longest 10 minutes of my life, the subway pulled up, and Ty got off. Oh the joy!! 

We now have an emergency plan if we get separated again. Luckily it was Ty I lost, and not one of the little ones. 

We went whitewater rafting on the Song River (I think that was the name). It was a 2 1/2 hour drive east of Seoul. Such a beautiful river and scenery. The river was kind of low, so there were a lot of rocks to maneuver around. Luckily we each had a foot strap on the bottom of the raft, that we kept our feet in, or there were a few times that we would have been thrown from the raft. Actually, our guide WAS thrown from the raft once. That was super scary as we tried to navigate the river to safely get him back in the boat. Luckily he was okay, and as he climbed back in the boat he reminded us to keep our feet in the foot strap :)

I wish i had pictures of the river, but we didn't have our waterproof camera. It's somewhere on our boat shipment on the way here.  Next time...

Cousin Time!

 One of the biggest blessings of being in Korea is to live just 5 minutes away from Kris and Curt. 

This was having Sunday dinner at the Magleby's on the 22nd floor. The view from their apartment is amazing! 

Kalia, McKay, Miya and Kiku

 Kalia and Kiku

 Annabelle is a cute puppy. I love that the kids can play with her, and I do not have to be a pet owner. It's a win-win.  Thanks, Kris and Curt :)

 McKay, Kalia, Felicity, Kiku and Eva gathering leaves at the embassy housing. 

We are in temporary housing right now (a 3-bedroom duplex), and will be moving into our permanent home (4 bedroom home with a fenced in yard!) mid-September. We can hardly wait to get settled.

Cute kids! 

The weather has been hot and humid since we arrived, with a few huge thunderstorms to cool things off. I've heard fall is beautiful here, with every shade of changing leaves abounding. We can't wait to get out and hike one of the mountains surrounding Seoul.

Live from Korea!

Hello! I am going to try and post pictures of our adventures here in Seoul, South Korea. My goal is to post once a week, so hopefully it's not too lofty of a goal and I can be consistent. I'll start with the present and try to work backwards. We've been here almost a month, and are really loving it! The food is amazing!

 Tyler and I went on a date in Itaewon--walking distance from the base. We found a little Korean BBQ place called the Maple Leaf. It was delicious! I loved everything except for the giant leaves (sesame) front center in the pic. Kind of bitter, like picking a leaf off of a tree and eating it.

 The meat is brought out raw, and then cooked over a bed of hot coals in the center of the table. Delish!

 Afterwards we had dessert at Cafe Bene--it was Korean shave ice, called Bing-su. This particular one was a kid's dream. It was topped with cotton candy, pop rocks and a rainbow. The pop-rocks would sizzle and sometimes fly off of the dessert when they got wet. I got beaned in the face by one :) It made for adventurous eating.

 We felt guilty eating this without kids present.

 We took the kids another day (actually Ty took us--he had been to this BBQ place with his friends the week before) to eat at The Gogi (which fittingly means, "The Meat"). 

We walked (since we have no car, we walk a TON) off base and kept walking for a mile or 2. Just when we thought we were lost, Ty found it!

 As we were getting settled at the table, I looked over and saw Kalia holding her chopsticks like a native. She's a fast learner!

 Miya (not quite native yet in her chopstick skills), hiding Grant and Garrett

I love this photo because Shayla is taking a picture of the food. I should get her to post her photos on here--she takes great pics! 

Korean style is to have lots of little side dishes and then a main dish (the meat). The side dishes are always being replenished. At The Gogi we had marinated mushrooms, lettuce leaves, some kind of shredded peppers and spicy sauce, shredded cabbage, kimchi, corn, etc. 

The meat was so tender and delicious, and the atmosphere was fun. 

The funny part of the evening was that a group of Ty's friends were also eating at the restaurant.

Ty did pretty good at playing it cool, being seen with his family and all. And we tried not to be TOO embarrassing :) 

Merry Christmas! Dec. 2014

One of our favorite things about this time of year is hearing from friends near and far, and reflecting on all of the good memories we’ve had over the years. Tyler and I celebrated 15 years of marriage last week, and can’t believe we aren’t that newly wed couple anymore. Time sure flies!

A lot of you already know how we ended up living in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, but for those of you who don’t, here is the story. When Tyler and I were newly married he did an internship at the U.S. Embassy in Chile. We loved our time there, and he got acquainted with many foreign service officers working for the Department of State and Commerce. We talked about what a great experience it would be to live abroad, and discussed it as a career option. But the application process took a few years and we were fresh out of college, so Tyler got a job and life led us in a different direction. We have talked about it on and off through the years, and 2 years ago we decided to apply and see what happened. Long story short, Tyler was given a job offer after a long process, and we felt good about accepting it. He is now a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, which means we will live abroad near different embassies around the world, and he will work with U.S. businesses looking to export their products and services. Our first assignment had to be state-side, so we will be living here in Ft. Lauderdale until summer 2016, and then will go abroad. Right now it looks like we will be in Lima, Peru or Mexico City for our first assignment, but we won’t find out for sure until Feb. 

This is our first non-white Christmas, and it is a bit hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it is 80 degrees outside, but I love the warm weather and the palm trees. I took the kids swimming a few days ago and couldn’t believe we really live here. 

We had a fun summer visiting family out in the D.C. area and exploring the many sites. We had many adventures, some good some bad, but were so glad we were able to spend the time out there, especially being able to spend time with family.

Ty is 13 and has adjusted well to life in Florida. He was having withdrawals from not playing sports for 6 months while we were in transition, but happily he is back playing lacrosse now and is thrilled about it. He is doing great at school and at church and sets a great example for the younger kids to follow. He is a Life scout and looking forward to earning his eagle before we leave Florida.

Shayla is almost 12 and counting down the days to her birthday. She is loving gymnastics and is very glad we were able to move our trampoline down with us. She has adjusted great to middle school and the move, and since she doesn’t have her own phone I let her use my phone to text. Bad idea, now she thinks my phone is hers, and I get texts with lots of emogies non-stop all day. She is so helpful with her younger siblings and is full of energy and laughs.

Garrett is 9 and a budding entrepreneur. His latest business is a foot-massage company, and he has targeted his dad as his prime customer. He loves to earn money and is very generous with what he has. He is doing great in school and loves to learn. We went to a book swap and he picked out an Algebra textbook just for fun and has been teaching himself Algebra in his spare time. Since we missed the soccer season he is looking forward to Lacrosse in January.

Grant is 7 and looking forward to getting baptized in August. He loves to learn and his favorite is math. He loves to memorize fact books and then quiz me to make me feel really smart when I can’t answer any of the questions :) He is also starting lacrosse in January and has been practicing with his brothers.

Miya just turned 5 and is our sunshine. She is always giggling and cheering everyone up, and saying funny things. She has become a great swimmer with all of the extra practice she has had here. She is in a co-op preschool and loves to learn. Her favorite words to write are “cat” and “pop” and I find scraps of paper all over the house with those words on them.

Kalia is 2 and is everyone’s favorite. She is Miya’s shadow, and copies every word that comes out of her mouth. She loved her birthday in September, and for weeks after she would say, “My birfday’s coming up!” dozens of times everyday. She loves playing with babies, and her stuffed animals, and sleeps with a dozen of her babies every night.

Some of my favorite memories of living here in Florida have been listening to the kids after we tuck them in bed at night. We hear the girls chattering and laughing, and we hear the boys wrestling and tackling each other and who knows what else. Since we are in a smaller home we have a boys room, and a girls room and they have really bonded with the extra time they spend together. I’m proud of how they have adjusted to all of the changes in our lives, as we have many more to come.

Life has been so good to us, and we are so grateful for all of the blessings the Lord has given us. We celebrate the birth and life and great gift of the atonement of our Savior at this time of year, and hope that we can remember Him always, and better follow in his footsteps. We are grateful for each one of you and feel blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Love,

Tyler, Lani, Ty, Shayla, Garrett, Grant, Miya and Kalia

2909 Stockholm Ave.

Hollywood, FL 33026