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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Mallipo Beach on the Yellow Sea

I guess in an unofficial celebration of our Lieutenants being so for an entire year... the Evans' came down for another visit and we took advantage of the miserable weather here at Humphrey's to drive to the beach. I had read a few blogs about Mallipo and even though the traffic there (remember, Korean school holidays?) was not ideal, it wasn't horrible either. However, if it had been horrible, it probably still would have been worth it because this beach was pretty darn nice and perfect for kids. 

There is a really large parking lot (free) with bathrooms just a few blocks up from the beach. When we got there we didn't really know how the whole thing worked but some kind people took pity on us and gave us their already paid for tarp and umbrella for the rest of the day. 

The water at this beach is clear and Rhett was wonderfully entertained by the little schools of fish you could see swimming about. The water is really shallow and the waves were small so Rhett could wade pretty far out without any help.  The beach looked really crowded but not miserably so and it wasn't really an issue for us. There are TONS of restaurants and little stores but we loaded up on commissary snacks before the trip so we didn't need to visit any of those.

We will definitely be visiting Mallipo beach again and I'd really love to go on a weekday when it's not so crowded because I think the area surrounding this beach is really pretty but I was distracted by the sea of umbrellas littering the coastline. 

The only downside to our beach day was when Chad tried to beat Tim home and got on the "expressway"(15) and.... well.... let's just say that the Evans' children were fed, bathed and in bed by the time we got home HOURS later. 

Chad learned a very valuable lesson that day. Take the 32 to Mallipo there and back. He must have forgot about the tortoise and the hare. 
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We tried unsuccessfully to catch these little fish in our bare hands. Thankfully, a nice Korean gentleman was able to catch a couple in his hat and shared them with us. 
There were lots of little shells all over the beach but we were warned to avoid the long skinny ones. I guess those ones have a little crustacean in them that are enjoyed by violently sucking them out of their little home so that they can serve as an afternoon snack.
Oh and on the drive to the beach I saw this gigantic anime character and I told Sarah that Chad will want to stop there on his way home.
He's so predictable.

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For more information about Mallipo... go here.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Waegwan and a Triathlon

We had been promising our friends, who live in Waegwan, that we would visit for a month now. It's unfortunate that the same day we chose to visit was the first day of school holidays for Korean children resulting in really crowded expressways. 
We left Friday evening after Chad got home from work and after tinkering with our new GPS for 30 or so minutes we were on our way. 
The usual 2 hour 20 minute drive became a 3 and some change hours of Chad controlling his road rage and threatening to drive in unauthorized lanes but we eventually made it and stayed up way too late drinking wine and eating cupcakes in an air conditioned apartment. 
This is pretty much heaven on Earth if you ask me.
The next day Chad and his friend, Tim, were going to compete in a reverse triathlon. 
I'm not going to lie when I say I was a tad bit concerned about this whole thing considering that most of Chad's swimming instruction took place during the 3 hours that we were stuck on a freeway together the night before.
Fortunately, Chad persevered and finished the whole thing (even after making two wrong turns during the run and the bike) and didn't die therefore considering it a success!
Sarah and I then quickly herded the small children back to the house because we wanted bingsu ASAP and don't get between two sweaty, breastfeeding mamas and their bingsu. 
We then drove in the hills for a bit until we found a crowded little creek full of Koreans and plopped our children in it while eating kimbap and hoping not to contract any strange organisms from the water.
We took advantage of their A/C a little while longer before turning around and driving back home but there will be more visits in the near future... I mean.... common'...
wine, cupcakes, bingsu, air conditioning and shallow creeks that can entertain your toddlers for hours?
MANY more visits.
(Chad says triathlons too!) 
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Sunflowers will always remind me of my Stetten.
Drying peppers. They also dry rice in a similar fashion.
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After a particularly rainy night, we woke up to this little guy on our windowsill.
He stayed there all morning too. 
He then thanked us for the use of our sill by pooping on it and leaving.
And look who is 7 months old (umm, almost 8 now but whatever)!!

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