Family Vacation - Part Last

Day five - Friday was mostly uninteresting as it was a travel and rest day for us. We moved from Busan to Gyeongju (경주) that day and stayed at a hotel called the Dream Center. I think it would have been a really great place to stay in season, but in January, there just wasn't much to do. Even the indoor pool was drained. :( For in-season guests there was lots of fun outdoorsy stuff to do and even a science museum-type outfit.

The highlight of that day was our exquisite dinner at the Gyeongju Hilton Hotel's Da Vinci restaurant where we officially celebrated our three years in Korea. David had a foie gras salad and rack of lamb. I had a juicy steak with goat cheese and foie gras. It was all so tender and flavorful. And it may have been the very best meal we've had in three years.

Day six - Gyeongju World! Since we don't really get snow in Pohang and the little girls had been praying for some white fluffy goodness, we took them to Gyeongju World where they could sled and play in the man-made snow. We had a few fun hours there with some sledding and snowball fighting.

A few ways Korea is different from the U.S.:
-The climb up to the sledding area was completely iced over and people were falling like crazy.
-About twenty people would take off on their sleds down the small hill simultaneously. Some ran into each other, some fell over, and it was pretty much a big mess.
-At the bottom of the hill, everyone dismounted their sleds and made their way to the sides, but the next group of sledders were already on the way down!
-They let me sled down the slope wearing my five month old baby in a carrier and my 23 month old in front of me. I felt pretty safe about it, but I couldn't imagine any establishment in the U.S. EVER allowing that.
DMunk said that as an attorney, the whole thing just made him nervous. But really, these are the some of the things that make us love this place.


DMunk & JMunk sledding. (They're to the left, she's in the white coat.)









I believe JMunk's favorite part was the giant Ferris wheel (that moved snail slow). She threw her hands in the air and screamed just like Fern (from Charlotte's Web). DMunk and I just breathed deep breaths and couldn't believe we'd entrusted our lives to this big rickety old contraption.




On the Ferris wheel


Warning: Turn your speakers down for this one! It cracks me up, but it's an earful of little girl squeals.)

Family Vacation - Part 3

Day three of our vacation: Wednesday was a rainy day in Busan, so we took advantage of the yucky weather to spend a day indoors at the Busan Aquarium. While tit is pretty small and doesn't really compare to some of its American counterparts, it was pretty much perfect for our wees. The best attractions were the otters, sharks, and penguins. Interestingly, while there were plenty of live penguins swimming right in front of them, my girls were much more taken with 1) the little penguin statues on one side of the exhibit and 2) the video of penguins on the other side of the exhibit. DaddyMunk and I kept trying to steer them back to the real live penguins, but no dice. Huh. We went to see the shark feeding and happened to sit in front of a trio of ladies from Pohang! I'd say "small world", but this is a small country, so really, I guess it wasn't too unlikely. But we never meet people from Pohang when we're away.

JMunk and her favorite penguin.

In front of the shark tank

WMunk enjoyed the aquarium, too.

That night we ate dinner at a Japanese/Korean restaurant. We can get that kind of cuisine at home, but it was what we really needed that night. The special treat at that meal were the GIANT fried shrimp that came with JMunk's meal. I think they were as big as her head!


Day four: Thursday was our last full day in Busan, and we spent the first part of it looking for good Russian food in Chinatown. You read that right. There's a pretty large Russian population in Busan connected with the shipping port, and many of them have little businesses in Busan's Chinatown (every big city's got one, no?). We strolled down a pretty empty Texas Street and found lots of little Russian and Filipino eateries, but since it was early in the day every place looked pretty dead. (I will admit to being very silly and giddy and trying to convince DaddyMunky that nearly every Russian man I saw was a mobster of some sort. I had lots of fun inventing stories for them in my head.) We stopped at the tourist information booth for foreigners and asked them to point us to the best Russian restaurant. They sent us to The Tiger.

It looked a little sketchy and when we entered we were greeted by three women, presumably elderly mother and her daughters sitting at one of the five tables making blini. We weren't sure what we were walking into but felt like it was too late to back out. The menu looked pretty taped and pasted together. I really was unsure. We ditched the menu and DaddyMunk whipped out his Russian skills and ordered things not on the menu. What a delicious surprise! We feasted on the very best borscht and blini we've ever had, along with some scrumptious cabbage and meat dumplings. It may well have been the very best meal of our trip.




That evening we found a branch of my favorite American pizza chain, Papa John's. While it hardly measured up to our fantastic lunch, it was pretty tasty and one of those occasionally needed comforts of home.

Two years of LMunk!

On the 5th we celebrated LMunk's second birthday. It doesn't seem quite possible that two years have passed since we welcomed her into our family, but it seems the last month or so has brought on a lot of growth and maturity in our girl, and I'd say two fits her rather nicely.

We started the day with birthday Skype visits with grandparents and my sister. LMunk was so happy to see everyone and tell them about her adventures in potty training (mostly just that she uses the potty now) and showing off her big girl panties. While talking with them on Skype, she got to open gifts that the grandparents sent , so we all got to share in her excitement together. Among favorite gifts: a bouncy blue dog made out of the same material as exercise balls. Also, we have our first set of Legos!

After our video calls we took the wees to a cute little restaurant in town called Little Star Kid's Cafe. The place is packed with play houses, slides, balls (the kind you play in), dress up clothes, baby dolls + accessories, grocery carts, play kitchens, and etc. They also have exersaucers and bouncy seats for little babies. And germs. The girls are wild about the place. Me, not so much, but for her special day I braved up, made myself forget about the icky little critters passing from child to toy to child, and happily took the girls for some fun play. LMunk found a sweet baby doll and carried her around almost the whole time. JMunk had more fun playing dress-up (especially as Snow White) and bringing mama loads of groceries in her shopping cart. WMunk spent a good bit of time in an exersaucer, and he really enjoyed it. DaddyMunk and I ate pork cutlet and tried to scoop bites of it and rice into the girls mouths as they passed by. When they were exhausted, we went back home where we all took a big nap!

The wee Munks at the Kid's Cafe

We woke up feeling festive, and good thing, because it was time for the birthday party! We celebrated with our friends who were kind enough to open their home to us, since our apartment is a bit tight for both of our families to fit comfortably in. They had decorated with posters and streamers and balloons, and LMunk was made to feel really special.

LMunk with her balloon doppelganger! She was so happy to take it home after the party.

For dinner we had pulled barbecue pork and chicken, homemade coleslaw, potato chips, and Fancy Macaroni (check out the recipe - it's something super special). For dessert I made a devil's food chocolate cake with ganache frosting. LMunk wanted a flower cake, so I threw some flowers on for her. The cake was good, but the frosting was just yum. (We definitely didn't eat it for breakfast for the next few days. That would just be disgusting. Mmmmmm....)

The flower cake

And again, 'cause my mama still likes to see my artwork.

JMunk may have gotten a jump start on blowing out the candles. I don't think LMunk noticed.

Itty bitty girl eats colossal piece of cake.

Unfortunately LMunk's big present from the family didn't arrive until just before party time, and as it required assembly, she didn't get it until the morning after her birthday. LMunk always wants to help me in the kitchen, but unfortunately I don't have enough stools to let both girls climb up with me at the same time, so they have to take turns. So for this birthday, LMunk got a very fun and very colorful kitchen of her own (which she of course is happy to share with her big sis =) ) so she can be in her kitchen, in my kitchen, working with me. It only took me about two hours to put together, and the look of glee on her face when she came out of the bedroom in the morning was priceless.

JMunk helps LMunk break in the new kitchen by making (real) sandwiches for the two of them.

We praise God for two fun and adventure-filled years with our darling little LMunk!