Our Ava

Ava is the only baby I've ever met that has resided on three continents prior to her first birthday. 

She has only slept through the night 16 (!!!) times in the 416 days she's been on this earth.

(yes, feel bad for me)

She says mama, dada, baby, hi, bye, yes, amen and "he did it." She says a lot of other really important stuff but no one understands her. 

Ava blows kisses and high fives her brother all.day.long. He must be her hero.

She loves dancing naked. Her signature move involves grabbing her muffin top (and then maybe peeing on the floor -which may explain why we don't indulge her in this way very often).

She has not one... but two chipped teeth. 

When it gets eerily quiet in our house... Ava is doing one of two things: playing in the toilet or looking at a book.

Her awesomeness is only equaled by her naughtiness
and that's a lot of awesomeness.

I am 1 month and 19 days late in posting this but I blame severe sleep deprivation.

Happy birthday to an amazing little girl. 

I wish the rest of your years to be as exciting as your first.

xoxo

Mom

"I know a girl, she puts the color inside of my world"

-John Mayer

Icheon Rice Cultural Festival by accident

I wanted to visit Icheon because I heard that is the mother load for Korean ceramics. Those that know me best know that I have an affinity for anything made of clay.

 It's my kryptonite. 

Unfortunately, like most "quick" trips in Korea, we ended up getting lost and stuck smack dab in the middle of the Icheon Rice Cultural Festival. 

After circling around the park numerous times in our car, we decided to just go with the flow and check out this festival.

A translator would have been ideal at this point as I was so overwhelmed by everything that after 30 minutes of wandering aimlessly, we asked for directions to the ceramic village and gave up on the idea of enjoying any rice at the said festival.

I would consider going again next year if only to eat some of the rice that was once served to kings! 

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Icheon Ceramic Village

FYI: Look for this set-up on the side of the road when trying to locate the ceramic village. Hindsight, guys, hindsight. 

All things ceramic! 

And unrelated to our trip to Icheon but put here because I can no longer remember where it fit in our sequence of events, I introduce you to the 'Formally known as Uncle Burger now Older Sister Burger's Bulgogi burger.' 

We don't have a lot in Anjeong-ri but thank God for these bad boys.

Freshly made right in front of you and picked from a speciality menu that contains only eight items.

Wonderful in a bun.

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Information regarding the Rice Cultural Festival can be found here and information for the ceramics village here.

And in the event that you don't believe me about my love for ceramics please refer to this blog. Or this one. And maybe this one. 

Thank you!

Korean Folk Village

Amusement park meets outdoor museum. 

Summarized in one word... awesome. 

Unlike other things in Korea,  this joint isn't free but well worth the money. 

They have gobs of parking and multiple restaurants to choose from- many of which have really good food. There is a tea house, Soju store, outdoor market, acrobat show, etc. etc. 

We spent all afternoon there and didn't get to see all of it so I definitely would like to visit again.

There are multiple Korean Folk Villages all over the peninsula but this one near Suwon is one of the most popular. 

Understandably so.

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Lunch included a kimchi pancake and beef bulgogi.
(You don't have to eat at one of the restaurants up front as there are more casual eating arrangements near the back of the park. However, in true Korean fashion, navigating can be a challenge and we pretty much always go with the path of least resistance. If our double BOB fits inside, eat there.)

There are a lot of exhibits demonstrating life in earlier times. I like to think this place is Korea's answer to our Colonial Williamsburg.

Except I never saw an old man sit on a tight rope in Colonial Williamsburg. Just sayin'.

 I really wanted to try to take some good "Christmas card" material photographs here. Unfortunately, Rhett fell and bit through his bottom lip which required stitches just a few days prior and as demonstrated in the below photo... Ava refused to cooperate. 

Story of my life.

We ended our afternoon with a little souvenir shopping (pumpkin honey, be still my heart!) and wish making.

Love this place!

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For more information, go here.

Austrian food + Lucy Pie + Lanterns in Seoul

Oh Seoul. You glorious city, you. 

Unless you are driving, have a stroller, and/or a Korean GPS. 

Then you suck.
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I think it's pretty much assumed that when people come to South Korea the only city that comes to mind is Seoul. 

And I love Seoul... I especially like that there is an Army base located right on the outskirts of the city where we usually stay and walk to major sites.

But staying on an Army base isn't immersive so I booked myself and my parents a lovely room at a guesthouse. 

The look on my dad's face at "check-in" was priceless. 

Guesthouse translate to guests in one's house.

No lie. 

But before we found our "hotel," we got so lost in the city that we had to park in a parking garage and our lovely host had to come find us and take our poor, pitiful selves to her home. 

City hall recently changed the street names so our GPS was rendered useless.
Thank God a young Korean man took pity on my mother and was able to get us help.
If not for him, I would have ditched the whole idea and gone home.
Making matters worse my phone was minutes away from dying and the number I had burned up my battery calling was not correct.
Once we were rescued by our host and arrived at our guesthouse - learning then that we were literally bunking in one wing of these lovely people's apartment, shit got real.
No, seriously, our accommodations were great.
Centrally located, beautiful views, parking and breakfast!
That makes for a happy girl.
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See? Beautiful view...

I'm sure Seoul has thousands upon thousands of places to eat but we can never find one when we're really hungry. We settled for Paris Croissant which is a popular chain in Asia and I will say... their warm grapefruit juice changed my life. Delish.

We stumbled upon a book festival in the city.

And they were gearing up for Christmas at Namdaemun market.

And I picked up one of these egg buns because when I asked a young man about them he said they are a must have in Korea. The bread was really nice... a little sweet... but the egg in the center just didn't do it for me. Cross that off my list of Korean street food.

Our visit conveniently took place during the Seoul Lantern Festival. I really wanted to go because it only happens once a year and it's always nice when you can show your company something special like this. We went right when they opened (after having been out all day long) and even before it got really dark, it was still pretty.

This event is free and stroller friendly (they even have a nursing room if needed).

Another day another picture of our view...

My mom wanted to visit Myeongdong Cathedral in... Myeongdong. It's the most well known Catholic church in Korea. We had a great lunch of beef bulgogi and then walked up this giant hill to look at the church. My mom and her churches.

And now I'm going to plug a little business because I said I would. And it's my blog and I can do shameless plugs if I want to. The Lucy Pie Kitchen is totally adorable and I'm sorry (not sorry) to say that we ended each evening right here with Lucy. It was bliss. 

While living in Germany, I wanted for no pastry. Their sweets often blow American pastries out of the water (in my opinion), however, I sometimes would miss a nice warm crumble (a la mode) or berry pie right about mid-Summer. 

Flash forward a year and every "sweet" thing I've tried in Korea (bingsu excluded) has been lack luster. 

Then we found this place. 

Pecan pie (a rarity here), sweet potato pie, mud pie, blueberry cheesecake all packaged in this little 'I Love Lucy' themed cafe? Heaven. 

And the employees... super nice.

I need this place in my life.

You want pie now, don't you? 

Okay, anyways, our last day we were able to visit the National Museum of Korea and the area of Itaewon. Not before getting lost but that's water under the bridge. 

We had a great lunch at Chef Meili- a small Austrian restaurant right here in Korea before a brief walk in the rain and a long drive home.

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Don't have the luxury of staying on a military base in Seoul? Seriously, the River View House was awesome. A wonderful family operates the entire thing and they could not have been more welcoming.

Public transportation nearby, lots of little restaurants, within walking distance to Yongsan station, and did I mention that view? I booked it here.

More information regarding Chef Meili and their restaurant/delicatessen can be found here.

Seoul Lantern Festival here.

That glorious little pie shop, find directions here.

And lastly, if you want to read about how Seoul warmed my heart and cured my cold, click here!