We love Seoul Grand Park. It is a HUGE area that has a giant zoo, amusement park and botanical gardens.

Dan and I thought we had seen all of the zoo the two previous times we'd been there, but we took a different path this time and saw a whole lot more! We were also there until it closed and spent a lot of time on our feet. It was so worth it! The animals were very awake and interactive. Jon saw several species of bears and birds that he had never seen before, which is saying a lot since he was a Zoology major!








These guys were roaming free so the kids got up nice and close! They moved away too quickly to touch them though.


Love this picture!

Think they'll take Cade as a wild animal?


Skylift back to the front gate

This is one of the first places we visited when we came to Korea, and it really is something you don't get to see many other places so we knew a second visit with Jon and Dee was essential!

Here we are at the entrance

Not my best picture, but I love the boys with their umbrellas.















Even in Korea Dee found strangers to talk to. Actually, quite a few older Koreans approached Jon and Dee to converse, and everyone was extremely respectful to them. America, pay attention!

Sorry it's been so long. We've had a lot of Korean adventures over the last month or two so it will take me awhile to get caught up. First I'll start with Jon and Dee's visit to Korea! Dan's parents came for two weeks and we made sure they experienced all things Seoul :) After they recovered from jet lag we took them to the Lantern Festival in Insadong which is not far from Hannam Village.

First we found a little park/pagoda with some beautiful flowers. Alex is notorious for being one with nature, so you can only imagine what happened after this picture of him LOOKING at the flowers.

Cade getting ready to make wishes

Here Alex is with a hand full of dirt


Welcome to Korea Jon and Dee! Get ready to walk your feet off :)


And now they're playing in it....


So I decided to put Alex in the stroller because he had done enough damage to the gardens. He asked if he could smell the flowers, so I leaned him forward and what did he do while Dan shot this picture? Ripped the flower out. I got lots of nice glares from the Koreans while we were there.



Then it was time to walk and find the arts and crafts part of the festival near the temple. These children were dressed up in traditional Hanbok and offered us lanterns for 'free'. We ended up with three of them.

Have you ever seen so many lanterns in your life? It was just breathtaking.

This is inside the Buddhist temple in Insadong.







A few sweet pictures of Dee and Jon



Fresh, cold coconut milk anyone?

Now for the arts and crafts. They had a whole street lined with booth after booth offering different crafts. Here's Cade making a candle.


And me attempting origami. Man that was hard! We also made some fans and scored a cool brush drawing. Remind me to post a picture of it.


What a fun start to their vacation!