Today is obviously a new day and already much better than yesterday. Dan comes home in a little bit and the sun is shining!

A few weeks ago we went to the tallest building in Korea, the 63 building.


It is definitely a tourist trap, but a fun one.

There's a wax museum...

Future president?

Che Guevara

Here's Alex surrounded by a Korean school group

Me and Bach


Denice and her Frankenstein

Spiderman!

There was also an aquarium.

It was an interesting aquarium. It was kind of like walking through the mall and stumbling upon some fish. Still, not many of the aquariums we've lived near have had penguins.

King crab!

Here you could see the fish below you.


My namesake....almost!


Most of the tanks and these large tacky stickers on them, making it kind of hard to see the fish. This heart shaped thing was clearly there for couples to sit down and have their picture taken in front of some fish.

Lastly there was an art gallery and an amazing view from the top of the building. The elevators are glass so you could watch as you climbed 60 stories. (3 of the floors are underground)

I took a lot of pictures, and posted most of them just to show you how populated and densely high-rised Seoul is. This top level had windows on all sides so you could see the entire surrounding area. We live across the river that you can see in the picture below.


Check out the cookie cutter high rise apartments.

They had this area that looked like you could see all the way down the building, but there are really just slanted mirrors that reflect, making it look creepy.

Tall buildings as far as the eye can see.

I think this must be the 'rural' part of soul, with mostly 4-5 story villas.


And back around, with a close view of the crazy traffic here.


Pretty cool, huh? Makes you want to come visit us, right?

I knew I would have days like this. Days where the thought of living in a foreign country for the next 3 years doesn't sound as fun and exciting as it did the day before. I knew I'd go through withdrawals of the way it is in the states and start envisioning the PCS home. It just seemed like my 'new life' was out to get me today and it reminded me at all times possible that I had no control over it.

First was the crack of dawn wake up of Alex because we have no curtains to block the sunrise. If the sun is peeking, so is Alex.

Second was the waking of Cade because the walls in the apartment itself aren't very soundproof. Alex wakes up = Cade wakes up. But Cade had a surprise for me first thing in the morning; poop in his pants. This would happen a total of 3 times today.

Now let's remember at this point that Dan has been on TDY since Tuesday and gets home tomorrow. It is Sunday, which means I either succomb to the temptation of avoiding the mass transit to church, or I brave it.

I braved it.

I even thought I'd go early and go to choir!

I guess I tempted the fates of my 'new life' a litte too much with my confidence that she had to rub it in a little.

The 20 minute walk to the train station, which literally is up hill all the way, was filled with whines, shoes falling off, songs to try and counteract the whines, and more whines.

The 30 minute-ish subway ride (for which there is no schedule, the just come every 10-15 minutes, so you never know how long you'll wait for your train) ended up making me spend money on the Sabbath b/c there wasn't enough money on my transit card.

This is also the time where my children become a spectacle, especially since they were dressed in ties and white shirts for church. The Korean people fawn over them and I really try hard to have the kids interact so as not to be rude. I've taught Cade how to say hello in Korean "anyang-ah-sayo" so that makes them all smile. It's still something I haven't quite adjusted to and I never feel like I can drop my gaurd when we're out in public. Someone is constantly trying to get my kid's attention and it's overwhelming.

After one transfer and a bunch more stops we arrived at the stop for church upon which i exited at the wrong point. This put me on the wrong side of the street and about a block further away than i needed to be. (mind you cade is walking this whole time and alex is only in the umbrella stroller once we've finished our subway commute and are back on the surface of Seoul)

We finally make it to church at 11:20. We left at 10:00. We're all sweaty, exhausted and hungry. So i give the kids their favorite snack and head up on the stand to sing with the choir. The boys come and sit a few rows behind me and I figured as long as they were being good, no harm, right? WRONG

THESE cute little snacks

WERE SMASHED EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!

At that point I had to leave the choir practice for which we had worked so hard to get to, clean up the mess and find Alex who had disappeared. He had made it into the elevator. (The church is 4 stories)

The 'peace' continued all through sacrament, and I've never been so glad to drop them off in Primary and Nursery. There was a linger longer after church that I was intending to stay at, but after sitting at the tables for 10 minutes with Cade hitting Alex and Alex being so tired that he's wired (church is from 12-3 and remember we left at 10. This = no nap), we left for the 1 hour+ journey home.

Even at home the chaos and tempers didn't stop until the kids were asleep.

*sigh*

I just keep telling myself that it will get better. I mean, it has to. Right now we have none of our belongings, no car, and no husband and daddy. We've been lucky at the School of Music because he worked 7-4, Mon-Fri. Now it will be tours about every month for a week or so. We all knew it was coming but it still stings once it gets here. We're really in the Army now, and 'mama said there'd be days like this'.

So all of you back in the states, I remember how hard Sundays were even though the drive was only 10 minutes, but enjoy some American things for my sake. Maybe my 'new life' won't pester me so much if you do. :)

Hehehe... it's been like a month since we were in Nauvoo, but I figure you're probably a little more interested in Korea stuff than our vacation. Still, I blog for more than just you. The kids LOVE looking at the blog and reliving all the fun things we've done.

**just a note. i've been updating the blog a lot, so be sure to scroll down or click on 'older posts' to make sure you've caught everything**

So, after the fun stop at the St. Louis Arch, we went the rest of the way to Nauvoo. When Dan and I talked about where we wanted to go on our road trip, Nauvoo was #1 on my list. We were married in the temple there and hadn't been back. It was almost like coming full circle.

Dan's parents had been in Virginia Beach with us, helping us get all moved out, and met us in Nauvoo to provide a place to stay, babysitters for the temple, and fun company. Marsi, Dan's sister, and her family came from Oklahoma to join in on the fun too.

Dee wanted me to take a picture of Alex napping so in the future he wouldn't wonder where he was in all of the following pictures. It's much easier to walk around Historic Nauvoo without a cranky 2 year old!



Cousins and best friends


Hendi-jo

The whole gang at the Brigham Young house


Kissing cousins!


The blacksmith!


If you look really really close under the yellow flowers that stick out the most, that's not a leaf, it's a tiny hummingbird

Hendi and Cade in front of the Nauvoo temple



Steele and Necie in Carthage Jail

This the door to the room where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were shot and killed. The bullet holes are still in the door




Downtown Nauvoo is full of fun little shops including, fudge, candy and of course ice cream!


A family friend of ours owns a fun zone in Nauvoo, so we thought we'd check it out. We had a blast!


The indoor playground was a hit with the kids

Nana Dee wanted to spoil her grandkids with some Dippin' Dots!




Then it was time for Go-Karts!!






Here's Dan finally passing his mom!




Tight corner!

Poor Alex was the only one too little to participate

Cade said, "Daddy! We won the Piston Cup!"

And of course, no family campout is complete without a camp fire and s'mores!





Papa Jon was collecting bugs on his Jeep


It was great to go back to the place where we were married and bring our 2 kids there. Maybe the next time we come back we'll have 3!