Friday, July 01, 2011

Koje

After nearly 3 hours of driving the southern coast we found our destination, the Koje port for Haekumkang. We parked the car and made our way out towards the shore through a winding passage... Amber said she felt like she was in Italy.... clearly I need to take here to Italy:)
The ocean is a beautiful shade of blue it kind of reminded me of Bear Lake in Utah.
The dock was empty except for this old man reading a newspaper so we asked him about the boat tours and he said they had all been canceled due to high waves.... then he asked for me to take a picture of him and Addy.
We decided to make the best of the trip and just enjoy being at the ocean.
The beach was made up entirely of stones. When the waves came in the sound was an amazing mixture of the water and the stones rolling on top of each other.
Addy unfortunately tripped on the pier and landed right on her face. The good thing about this was that daddy got a lot of Addy love:)
Logan was so fun to watch. He has been so stressed out at school and it was fun to see all of that wash away and to see the little boy emerge again. We sat for about an hour counting the waves come in and trying to doge the big ones.


Sometimes, Logan did not quite dodge in time.
My girls.
Next was the rock throwing. Little boys need to throw rocks. Luckily there were millions to throw.
What a kid.
If you look close you can see Addy's road rash.
Me and Logan had a blast trying to skip stones and see if we could hit a buoy.
A street peddler provided us with some waffles with apple syrup.
Here is a picture of the place we wanted to go... maybe next time.
My pal Logan.
Finally found a sturdy bush to hold the camera.
One thing I love about Korea is how much national pride they put into everything. Even the bricks out in front of our apartment have a little peninsula imprinted on them.
As the sun was going down, Addy found a pretty flower.
We are definitely going to try this again.

Kimcheon

One of our favorite stops on the peninsula is Kimcheon. The small town is beautiful, Jikjisa temple is magical, and the large park at the base of the mountain is amazing.
This spring the weather was perfect. the sun was out but it was not too hot yet.
Addy, Mommy and Sadie are sure pretty.
A children's group gave the kids some balloons to play with.
The playground at the mountain is a blast. We could have spent all day there.
Logan is such a great big brother.
Sadie was only a month and a half old, I can't believe how much she has grown since then.
There is a huge man-made waterfall that really adds to the atmosphere.
There are thousands of stone statues all throughout the park. Addy loved this one.
What a beautiful place.
We never pass up the chance to catch frogs.
Addy thought she would try her luck turning this one into a prince... no luck.
She is pretty fearless when it comes to handling critters.
After we had our fun with this one we let him go by the stream.
Nothing like a cold drink to make things perfect.
Logan found this really chubby caterpillar.
I am sure this won't be the last time we go to Kimcheon.

Brother Lee

In the spring I received a call from an old friend from my mission. Brother Lee was the branch president of the Kimcheon branch when I was serving in my last area. Amber's brother Judd also served in Kimcheon and had the opportunity to meet Brother Lee.
We arrived in Korea about the time that Judd was finishing his mission. When Amber's parents came out to visit, they all got the chance to go to Kimcheon and met Brother Lee and his family. I had to work so I did not get to go with them. Now it has been 2 years since we arrived in Korea and I still had not had the chance to meet up with Brother Lee. After getting his call, we made plans to go down and see him.
Brother Lee took us to an awesome restaurant that specialized in duck steamed in a broth derived from poison oak. The flavor was amazing. It was great to be able to reminisce about old times and old acquaintances. Brother Lee has not changed a bit. He is still the same sweet quiet but powerful man that he was 10 years ago.
If you ever find yourself in Kimcheon be sure to check out the restaurant.
Here is an old photo of Brother Lee and me.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

A couple of books we've been puting together....

Last fall we went back to the states for our R&R. We spent some time in Utah, California and New Mexico. We had a blast, made tons of memories and took tons of pictures. We finally got around to organizing the best pics into a couple of books. Now all we have to do is wait for a good deal to print. Here is the link for the Utah book: UTAH R&R. And here is the link for the New Mexico book: NEW MEXICO R&R. Hope you all enjoy!

Friday, June 24, 2011

The Best Dad Worker Award

I am so proud of my man!! Spencer got an award yesterday for what exactly....(I don't know :-) ??) But what I do know is that he sure deserves it! It was a pretty big deal for one because he isn't at the end of our tour and also because he is a civilian. The General presented the award it was super cool.
He looked so handsome in his suit.
Logan showing off the medal.

I really loved being able to see Spencer recognized for his hard work. He does whatever it takes to get the job done no matter what the circumstance. He doesn't toot his own horn and isn't a big talker so it's great to me when others see his worth. I appreciate all you do Spence. Thanks for supporting our family so that I can be at home with the crazies!
Logan & Addy were excited all morning to go see Daddy at "work". When he was called up a co-worker behind us was cheering for Spencer so that gave them the go ahead and they started cheering too. It was super cute to see them so happy for him.
We were all so glad to see Mr. Wally at the award ceremony. From the time we stepped off the plane in Korea till now he has been a huge support. I feel like he really gave us the jump start for a great tour. He was able to meet Sadie for the first time.
We finally got our friend Ben to come to church with us! :-) The kids were excited to see Ben and sit next to him. They kept busy before the award ceremony looking thru the English and Korean Bible. Thanks Ben for your help.

Spencer, I'm so happy we were able to be a part of your special day. Thanks for being so awesome. I love you so much. You make my life so great! Keep up all your hard work.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Happy 31st Birthday Spencer!

I'm so behind on blogging but I don't want to forget our busy month. Spencer turned 31 on May 30th. I love you handsome.