Getting the heck out of Korea

Korea has turned out to be not the fun, worldly experience I was hoping it would be.  In fact as winter has dragged on, it has become less and less liked/tolerated.  So we all decided the best thing for me was to go on a mini-vacation back to California!    I needed some good old California sunshine on my face and to be able to walk out my front door and go for a nice long hike or something to enjoy nature.  This outdoorsy girl just needed some good weather to be able to enjoy Mother Nature!

The trip to Incheon Airport was stressful. We took the train from Pyeongtaek to Seoul Station, then transferred to the Airport express train.  Unfortunately the express train was hard to find and it wasn't very fast.  The cars on the freeway were going faster then the train!  But guess it beat sitting in traffic.

Clint was a totally AMAZING husband.  He hurt his back and his pain has become worse and worse but he "sucked it up" and helped me get to the Airport even thought he was in pain.

Once at the airport the ticket lady gave me a hard time because my visa was stamped in my official passport not my travelers passport.  I think they kind of freaked when I was in their country and didn't have a stamp in my passport or official army document.  After Clint more or less yelled at the woman she gave me tickets and told me as long as I could pass through customs I was fine.  Yet they would not allow me to check my carset at the ticket office and told me I had to check it at the gate. :(

Then came the real hard part.  We were saying goodbye to Clint and Clark freaked.  He said he didn't want to leave Daddy but wanted to stay with him!  Knife to the heart!  Thank goodness another little boy had a spider man roller bag and I was able to get Clark to follow the Spider man bag, through customs and into the airport.

The customs guy had no problem with our passports and we went on our way.  I met the flight attendants in my way to the airport shuttle and they helped me find the way to the elevator because some Korean thought it would be a good idea to put a bar in front of the escalator so that large items like strollers and wheel bags would not fit.

Oh and then there was going through security.  I had the stroller, carseat, 2 backpacks and a carry on.  I had to take out the laptop but not take off our shoes.  Pretty normal security procedures, until the physically checked Clark's backpack.  I forgot that scissors are a NO NO on airport, so I packed Clarks kids scissors.  One regular pair and one zig zag set.  They confiscated the blunt ended regular scissors and let me keep the zig zag one. LAME!

Once we found our gate we had some time to kill and there were all these fun moving sidewalks that Clark and I went on over and over to try and get some energy out of him.

We also found a fun little kids room in the airport.  This is one of the few places that Korea excels. They think of Kids so often by putting play areas in most shopping centers and airports, and even having kids sized toilets, urinals and sinks in the bathrooms. 

 I got the carseat and stroller check at the gate with no problem.  Then we went down anther escalator where they were doing a second bag check.  So they looked through all our bags, wipped Clark's hands to check for explosive devices and made me through out the new water I had just bought after I went through security in the airport!  What the heck!  I bought it in their stupid airport!  And why would they check my child's hands for explosive debris but not mine?  Oh and they opened Clark's backpack a little but not really.  Seriously, if you are going to waste my time, and take my water, then do a good job checking my stuff!  

The flight was relatively uneventful. Around 9pm Korea time Clark was clearly tired but refused to fall asleep.  So I gave him some Benedryl and he slept for at least 5 hours. I got to sleep for a few hours until the plane started to shake from turbulence and it woke me up!  For some reason the second half of the flight from Asia to USA there is a large area that allows for extreme turbulence. Not fun, but what ever. 

We landed in San Francisco and then had to go through customs again and get our connecting flight to LAX.

My sweet brother picked us up from the airport and took us to my parents house. :)

Since we got here, it has rained until Monday!  But who cares when it't not snow and it's not cold and it's BEAUTIFUL!

  

Today we got the chance to go hiking with our friends Tavi and Merrik.  It was such a treat to go out and enjoy the nice weather. 

The boys checking out nature. 

The boys got tired. 

Tavi, Merrik and Clark.

Then we let the boys drive the jeep. 

Oh and I got my ring resized so it fits better and now it's all pretty and shinny. 

We also have had a chance to enjoy the park.

I had to include these because it cracked me up.  Now that Hostess is gone the  new  makers of  Ding Dongs have put them in these boxes that make them look like if you eat them you will become an artist!

Clark also helped me his Moogie put together a table at her house. Well more like he destroyed the Styrofoam and made a GIANT mess!

And it's not even been a week.  This just goes to show how much Korea sucks.  All these things we've done here in 5 days in California yet in Korea I struggle to come up with stuff to blog about.  :/

Christmas 2012

This Christmas was a little difficult, but I was happy that we had friends with us.  Unfortunately I didn't get too many pictures because we were doing a video chat with the grand parents.  Google + worked great and allowed us to share the opening of presents together despite being 5,000 miles away. :) 

Clark showing off one of his new outfits. 

Proof that Santa came. :)

Clark trying to smile for the camera but not wanting to take his eyes off of his project.  Clark has learned to love glitter, so I got him some glitter glue. He ended up using all 5 tubes on the page, then put his hands in it and attempted to glue the paper to the table. JOY.

The boys playing with the new car track Moogie got him.

The picture Clint got me. 

Came with the motherboard Clint got. Seems like it will come in very handy.

A small fraction of the evidence of the house barfing all over itself. 

Candle holders I got from the little White Elephant Clint, Anna, Anthony, Alicia , Nick and I all did. :)

We made these by filing up balloons and putting food coloring in the water, then putting  them outside to freeze. 

It took a couple of days to freeze but they did.  Then it warmed up and they started to melt a little, and  slid off the deck.  HA.

Like father like son..this picture was too awesome not to share.   Clark has learned to love video games...

Cuddle time with mommy recovering from Christmas. 

Spavis

We went to Spavis today with our branch and some friends and TONS of Koreans.  We went to go sledding.  Even though our snow had melted, the Spavis blows their own snow and has a decent sledding hill.

Clark had fallen asleep on the way, even though it is only about a 25 minute drive from our house.  So when we got there, he was grumpy.  Mimi and Papi had given him a new snow suite for Christmas which he got to open the packages today.

Even though he got a cool snow suite he was in such a horrible mood he didn't want to put it on and cried and said he didn't want to go sledding but that he wanted to go home.
He finally said he was hungry, so we went inside, grabbed some snacks and he turned back into himself more or less.

I still had a little bit of a struggle getting the snow pants on him but once we got dressed (which takes freaken FOREVER when dressing a toddler in a BAZILLION layers and trying to get "globs" [gloves] on their little hands) we headed outside to get tubes and head up the hill.

Koreans are a curious people in that they are extremely messy, but can be so organized in things like their sledding activities.  There were sections to get tubs, then carpets going up the hill so it was easy to climb and then every one got in line and when the worker from Spavis blew his whistle the people in front would get to sled/tube down the hill.  It was nice because you didn't have to worry about getting taken out by some wild sledder screaming down the hill.  Why can't more of Korea be as organized?

When we finally did get him out and and at the top of the hill, he freaked out and didn't want to go down the hill. Clint and I had that silent parent conversation that pretty much said, "Like heck child, you are going no matter what, even if we have to hold you down and force you!" In the end, Clark loved it!

At least Clint looks good in this picture!

The boys getting ready to sled down the hill.