Seoul Tour

 This weekend we went on a tour of Seoul, South Korea.  The USO organizes tours for military members and we hadn't been off base yet.
We started off at the Cheonggye Stream.  

Flying Clark

Clark making a wish..well just throwing coins into the stream.

The stream has always been part of Seoul but after the Korean war, refugees started to settle along the banks.

As you can see from the picture I copied from Wikipedia, it wasn't the most attractive feature, so in the 1950s the stream started to be covered with cement.  The current president of South Korea had the stream remodeled in 2003 when he was Mayor of Seoul.

From the stream we went to Gyeongbok Palace and watched the changing of the guards.

Me sneaking a pic with the guard.  I later found out that you could do that without getting in trouble. 

Some day maybe he will stop hiding his eyes.

Animals that protect the King's Palace

"Gyeongbokgung, also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace, is a royal palace located in northern Seoul, South Korea. First constructed in 1394 and reconstructed in 1867, it was the main and largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty.^[1] The name of the palace, Gyeongbokgung, translates in English as "Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven."
Nearly destroyed by the Japanese government in the early 20th century, the walled palace complex is slowly being restored to its original form prior to destruction. As of 2009, roughly 40 percent of the original number of palace buildings still stand or are reconstructed." (Wikipedia)

Inside the King's Palace. 

Only the king gets to have dragons on their palace.

Clark trying to hurry down the giant steps.

Clark trying to give his mother a heart attack.

And there was no way he was going to look at the camera. 

The palace had a National Folk Museum attached but it also had a children's museum.  Clint had the fantastic idea to go to the children's museum.

Clark got to play with some cook Korean "tools".

This was a gravel pit that helped kids learn about digging in the "dirt" and harvesting vegetables.

Getting ready to dive in.

Clark jumping into the ball pit.  He LOVED it in here. 

The President's "Blue House".  Our tour guide told us that the color blue is hard to find so the "rumor" is that the President had the roof made in the color blue to show his wealth and power. 

Cyclists.  Clint got excited about this one. Don't know why some of them had arm covers.  Its was really hot that day.  One guy even had a mask on.  I wondered what he was going to do when it was actually cold!

Clark really liked these characters.

"I'm going behind the chain, ok mom?"

Took the picture myself.  One of the few Clark is smiling.

Clark washing his hands in the high tech bathroom. They even had the Toto toilets that washed and dried you.  :)

Clark being President of South Korea

The last stop we made was the Amethyst store.  Clint and I both thought it was lame because it was just a jewelry store and it was a change in the schedule.  Originally we were planning on going to the Ginseng Center which sounded like it would have had some shopping, so we were disappointed.  We wanted her to show us the good places to shop that tourists wouldn't find on their own.  Oh well.

I took this picture because I liked that on all the light posts had these planters.  It made it really pretty and added a nice color to the city streets.

Clint liked these building so he took this picture.

Although we didn't get to do some shopping, it was fun to see Seoul and we actually felt like we are here.  The base is very American.  If you buy anything on post, it's in USD, all the signs are in English, except the Stop signs, then they are in both.  Even the power outlets are American.  So until we went on the tour, I didn't feel like we had left the US, but that we were visiting another city, kind of like Irvine.  It was kind of funny looking at a group of Americans taking a tour from an Asian all with cameras or other photography devices (iPad) when we are use to seeing a group of Asians going on a tour in the US. 

We are learning a lot about the culture as Clint goes through his in processing (orientation) and just from being around the people here.

Last night we left the base and found a nice hand made noodle place.  We were the only non-Koreans there, but it was delicious food and Clark did AMAZING! (For some reason, I can't get the photo to copy on the blog.) 

Aside from living in a small hotel room and sharing a  queen size bed we are enjoying ourselves.  Clark fell off the bed last night, but is fine. I think it freaked Clint out the most.  He's been sleeping on the couch while Clark and I get the bed.  Very nice of him and we all seem to sleep better...well better for being in a hotel.

Annyoung hasehyo from Seoul!

So we made it!  House is all packed up and clean ready for some nice renter to give us money...now just to find said renter.

Wednesday the family went to LAX to get on a plane to fly to Seoul.  We arrived to find out Clint and I had tickets, but Clark didn't.  Got to love the Army.  Took us about 40 minutes to get that problem solved.  Guess that's why they tell you to arrive 3 hours before international flights.

Aside from having 5 bags to carry on the rest of the time in the airport went smoothly.  Clark did amazing!  The gate area was PACKED with lots of people so listening to announcements was very difficult, but we managed to get on the plane.  We were told that people flying with small children got priority.  So we pushed (nicely) to the front and gave the guy tickets.  They were calling section D and C and we were section A.  The guys said, "You are in section A, and we aren't calling that area yet."  I thought Clint was going to turn into a green monster.  He looked at that guy and said, "We have a toddler, just let us on the plane." The guy gave us a look like, whoa, no need to be so stressed and let us pass.  We wanted to make sure we had a place in the overhead compartments for our carry ons.

Clark spent the first few minutes on the plane messing with the remote for the airplane tv and checking out all the gadgets.  :)   Then we looked at the photo album Tavi gave us of Clark and Merrik. :)

Clark did great on the plane flight.  We played games, watched movies on the TV and Papi gave us his Kindle with downloaded "Backpack" (Dora the Explorer) for Clark and a book to keep him entertained.  Thank goodness it all worked!

Clark even took a nap about 4 hours into the flight so I decided to try and sleep too.  Not much luck there for me. 

We had the Korean meal on the plane and it was horrible.  But what food is good on a plane?

About 3 hours before landing, which was about 11pm CA time, Clark passed out again.  he was good until the stewardess turned on the lights and served dinner.  Clark slept through that, but didn't want to wear his seat belt.

Then when it was time to land, he was really fighting us about his seat belt so I had to hold him in my lap, which wasn't a big deal but he just wanted to sleep so he screamed a little.  Plus the stewardess wanted us to keep our window shades up while landing.  (I still haven't figured out why.  In the US they could care less.  In Japan, they wanted the shades down and in Korea they wanted them up)

We landed, and headed to customs.  The line was long, it was hot and some Russian guys that didn't have the proper paper work filled out earlier cut in front of us, but we made it through.  Found the guy who came to pick us up, loaded our 8 pieces of luggage and carseat into the car and headed to the Dragon Hill Lodge.

When we got here Clark was done with being woken up and screamed the whole way into our room.  We got him settled and we all passed out by 10/11pm.  Then Clark woke up at 3am.

The first full day here was a rough day because it started so early.  But we did play on the playground.

 Here are some views from our room:

Clark watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates in Korean

More time on the playground

Strike a pose!

Fun at Moogies House Learning About Where our Food Comes From

We Survived...

...the 11 very long weeks apart!  There were lots of tears, mostly on Clark's part as we learned how to manage and rely on each other and get use to life with out Clint around.  I don't know how we could have managed with out the help of our wonderful family and friends.  Aside from words of encouragements, what kept me going was thinking of all the women I knew in Manhattan, KS who's husbands would be deployed for a year or more or had been surviving the second, third, bazillionth deployment with kids and no family around to lean on.  I'm definitely not meant to be an Army wife, but here I am and extremely proud of the work Clint does. 

And here we are in the midst of chaos with getting ready for the movers to come on Thursday and then for us to head off the the next adventure of our lives.

But until I can post about our trip to Seoul, I have some pictures of me and Clark enjoying the beach club with our friends Tavi and Merrik. 

 Its pictures like this one, that makes me not want to leave.  How many places in the world do you get to be "at the beach" and have such a wonderful view of the mountains too?  Plus unlike the ocean, I only have a 2 second drive, there are bathrooms and showers (to wash of the horrible, icky sand) and I don't have to worry about a rouge wave carrying my child off into the great blue deep.  Hence why I don't like the real beach.  Guess I'm not meant to be a real Californian girl either...

  Just for the record, we do have other friends, but Merrik and Clark are best friends and we have the convenience of them living right next door.  We do get to visit other friends, but most of those pictures are on my phone and since my old charger died, I don't have a cord to transfer the files from my phone to the computer.  So if you are one of our other friends and feeling neglected, please don't.  We love you all, but I'm just lame with my technology at this point in time.  Guess that's what happens when you are moving to a new country and your phone won't work there, so you will need a new one and don't want to put any more money into the old phone.   I'll get the photos off my phone...eventually....promise. :)

Easter 2012

So it's been a while since my last post and a bunch has happened to us, so I will just update you in this one post. In March Clint left for San Antonio for Captain Carree's course or how to lead as an Army Captain. Basically 10 long weeks of him being away from his family and other boring Army stuff... (Warning: I will be describing Clark's illness in some detail so if you don't want to know, skip those parts or just suck it up) When preparing for his time in San Antonio we planned on visits. Originally Clark and I were going to go visit him, but due to having to pay for Clark's plane ticket and a hotel it was going to be too expensive. So instead we planned on Clint coming home twice. The first visit was for Easter. The Wednesday before Easter Clark started to run a fever and not feel good. Then on Thursday I took him with my parents to go to the chiropractor. Right after we got there Clark made a weird belching noise. The kid doesn't belch. So I knew something bad was about to happen. I quickly ran out of the office. Just after getting out the door he started to throw up, getting barf all over me and him. I was thankful that I came with my parents because I would have been driving home in a barf soaked shirt or topless...most likely the barf soaked shirt. The poor people in the restaurant across the street and I wonder what the women was thinking when she came up to me and my basically naked baby to ask how far it was to the beach. I made up some distance, wonder if she was cursing me as they had to walk longer then I told them. My dad ran over to the local surf shop and bought Clark and I new shirts, I got my back adjusted and then we went back home. Poor kid! Then Friday night Clint came home for his visit. Clark didn't get to see him until the next morning because Clint didn't get into OC until 10:30. The next morning started with excitement that daddy was home and then more barfing. So Clint and I took him to the doctors office where they told us that he probably had a stomach virus that could last as long as 2 weeks. I remember thinking, we'll be fine in a couple of days. MAN was I wrong about that one! After the doctor visit we came home to dye Easter eggs. We did an Easter egg hunt at Clint's mom's house because she has such a beautiful backyard. Clint's mom and grandma are two very talented women! These are pictures of Clark waiting to dye eggs. He doesn't look that sick because it was the calm before the horrendous storm!

Crashed daddy and baby. I ran to the store real quick and this is what I came back to after we dyed eggs. I had to post this picture because one, they look so much alike and two, it's just an awesome picture of my sweet family. :)

The hunting for Easter eggs. Mommy got a little carried away and he had about 45 total eggs to find between real and plastic eggs.

By Saturday afternoon his stomach virus was starting to bug him and his little bottom was hurting. He would hunt for eggs then have to take a break, but it was nothing compared to what was to come later. The happy family together, even if it was only like 36 hours!

Sunday afternoon Clint had gotten a call from the airport saying that his flight had been cancelled. My brother took him there to straighten things out and they ended up driving to LAX. Then all those flights got cancelled. Clint ended up spending the night in the USO lounge at LAX. Total bummer because we could have had more time with him if we'd known. Oh well. He ended up not getting a flight until the next morning and since it was a cancellation due to weather they wouldn't put him on another flight. So irritating! Clint got back to TX by 1pm and went to the rest of his classes. And got a slight cold on the plane so had to deal with a cold the whole week. As for Clark things just went down hill. He was doing ok but needed more diaper checks as time passed. Most of you know how active Clark is. He is not one to sit still. But as the day was going on, he was moving less and less due to his poor little bum hurting. Everything that came out, gas and more would hurt. Then Monday night he needed a diaper change around 1am. So I laid him on his changing pad and about 2 seconds later he started to throw up. Some how we ended up in my bathroom with him throwing up in the toilet and having diarrhea and screaming in pain. So I decided we needed to go to the ER. I packed him up and got in the truck. Discovered that our milk gets delivered at around 2am because I passed the milk delivery truck as I was leaving the complex Got about half way there (the hospital is about 25 minutes away) and Clark was just as happy and talking and fine, so I decided to turn the truck around. I was thinking, you are fine! Got all the way home, pulled into our complex and he threw up again. :( So that time we actually went all the way. The ER staff was nice and told me about the pediatric waiting room which was nice because no one else was in there and Clark was able to lay on the couch and let me open his diaper which seemed to be helping. ER doc said the same thing, stomach virus. Said they had been seeing lots of kids with it, and it just had to run it's course. We came home and Clark said his diaper needed to be changed again. He was so exhausted. He would lay there just about fall asleep and then poop a little and scream in pain. Every time I picked him up it was worse. Finally he actually filled a diaper with a ton of diarrhea. The second diaper was much more explosive and it shot right over the top of the diaper that was open but up a little and landed in my lap. Crap, what was I suppose to do now? He wasn't going to take a shower with me, so I had to take my clothes off and his, got poop EVERYWHERE! I convinced him to sit on the toilet where we pretty much had a scene from Dumb and Dummer. Poor kid. I was sure he would never want to poop again after that traumatic experience. I got him settled back on the changing pad and quickly washed off in his bath tub. By the time all was said and "done" it was about 5 am. Clark fell right asleep but it took me a little while. We slept in until about 10:30 when the trash truck woke us up. For about the next week Clark laid on the couch and needed to be carried everywhere. I felt so sad for him. Every time little bits of anything would come out, he would cry and say "I still hurt" and have my "change" him. I think I went through a whole tub of Vaseline. I was applying it about every 5-10 minutes for at least a week. I washed my hands so much my hands got so dried out they started to bleed. I finally wised up and bough some gloves. I took him back to his regular doctor on Thursday because he wasn't showing significant improvement. She said the same thing. Stomach virus, but that I was really the only one at risk of getting it because I was changing the diapers. I don't think I've ever changed so many diapers in such a short period of time. We went through a quarter of a box of diapers in 3 days. One box of diapers usually last about a month for us. She also did some fecal (vet term) stool samples to check for giardia or some other parisite, but all was cleared. I figured it was when I started having similar symptoms. Thankfully mine lasted only about a day. It took him at least 2 weeks to get better. 2 weeks of carrying him everywhere. My shoulders are so sore. This momma needs a massage! When he finally was feeling up to it, he went out to play with the neighbors. He had a poopie diaper while I was watching Merrik (Clark's best friend). So both kids came in with me to change Clark. As I was changing Clark Merrik says, "Why are you wearing gloves?" I loved it. Totally made me laugh. Then when we walked out into the garage to through out the diaper Merrik says,"It smells in here!" Cracked me up again. Our cat boxes are in the garage. I just love the innocence but truthfulness kids have! Now Clark always says, "The trash truck is coming to pick up my poopie diapers!" Hilarious! Finally to add to the chaos we are getting ready to move. I have been interviewing rental property management companies, but they are expensive and Clint and I were kind of shocked at the loss we are going to take each month. Some how I'm sure it will work out. We have one more month until Clint is back. I've been busy trying to fix up the house and my dad has been helping me re-grout my kitchen counters. Another story for another post since this one is getting ridiculously long. Just wanted you to know why I haven't made a post in a while. Seems like all the health problems that Clark and I had to have, have ended up happening while Clint wasn't home. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have our parents so close. They have been such a tremendous help! Whether it's to babysit to give me a break or help me around the house or to do craft projects with, for me to vent to or just to visit. Clark and I have been very blessed to have all of them here. I knew I could have called any one of them when I took Clark to the ER and they would have gone with me in a heart beat, but I had no idea what the next day had in store for us so I let them sleep and kept them on hold for reinforcements if needed. Funny how when we first heard we were moving to South Korea people would ask if I was scared. I would say, heck no! I'm just worried about the plane ride and that's it. Now I'm terrified. I've been spoiled by my wonderful family, amazing friends, awesome weather and a home that we can afford, but now it's time to move on. EEK!