Busan--Part 4

The weather was great while in Busan so we were able to enjoy a few outdoor activities.  One of our first stops was the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple located right on the oceanfront.  

E looks "thrilled" about our temple tour.

I love this picture of the temple door:

We also accidentally stumbled upon checked out the Busan Tower.

Not only is there a cool bell, but our friends the Wiese's are in this picture too.  They ended up being in Busan at the same time as us so we enjoyed the sights together.

From the tower there's a great view of the harbor:

You wouldn't see a statue like this in America:

We also had some tasty food while on our trip, however, Tom did find a surprise in one of his dishes...see that little sea creature!?!

E also had to take a bath in the hotel sink.  It was a bit small but we made it work, and I think E enjoyed himself.  

This concludes the Meyer tour of Busan.  It was a great trip! 

Busan--Part 3

Another big Busan attraction is the huge fish market.  WARNING: some of these pics are not for the light at heart! Although what you see here is normal eating fair in Asia, it's a bit different than what you would see in the Mid-West.  

Big E getting ready to head out: 

 This was the first thing we spotted at the market--a man sawing a frozen fish into strips.

 A lot of the people working at the market were elderly.  You can tell by the way they look and how they operate that they've been working the fish market scene for quite some time.  This is a very different view of Korea and Koreans than we see in our area.  Although I typically think about Korea being so uniform, this trip reminded us that geographically and economically this country can be diverse.

 Mmmmm....octopus....

 Can you spot the rogue octopus in the picture below?  While we were standing there it worked its way out of the big orange bowl. Two seconds later an ajuma (older woman) grabbed and threw it back in the bowl.  These women are so much more hardcore than me!

I can't say that I left the market hungry for seafood, but it was an unique, Korean experience.

Busan--Part 2

One of the famous attractions in Busan is the Busan Aquarium.  I was really excited to check it out because the last time I had been to an aquarium was to see the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago when I was in 9th grade. Now that I'm getting old and 9th grade was a long time ago I can't make a great comparison between the two aquariums, but I do know that both experiences were enjoyable.

 This is by far the best pic of the day:

 Look at this new breed of fish we discovered in one of the tanks... :)

E's new friend

Our good friends here in Korea, Michael and Leslie, just had their baby girl about two weeks ago.  Elliana Christine Rains was born a little over 6 lbs and she is a cutie.   We took Everett over for a visit a few days after she was born.  I think they were instant friends (or at least we like to think so).

Everett was investigating Michael and his baby girl.

He was so gentle with her; he even held her hand!

 Check out the size difference between these two! 

 Friends, Elias and Lauren, holding the babies. 

 Michael had to pick up big E so he could feel the size difference between his new born and our big bubs.  

PS-We are not trying to make our son look like a cowboy by having him wear handkerchiefs all the time.  In Korea whenever you buy things from baby stores they give you these super soft handkerchiefs.  I always wondered what the purpose of them was and then I started to notice that Korean moms use them like bibs.  E has been having a constant drool rash lately so the doctor recommended using handkerchiefs because the material may be softer on his skin.  We think its been helping so everyday he gets to dress like an old west star. 

Busan--Part 1

I love Spring Break!!!  We're currently enjoying a week off school, and we're soaking up all of our time together as we enter into the final stretch of our time in Korea. We decided to stay in country for break so we could check out Busan, South Korea.  Busan is the second largest city in Korea and it is a port city located on the beach near the tip of Korea.  We had never been there before so we hopped on a train and headed south for our mini-vacay.   You can see E loved his first train ride.

You can also see Everett expressing his love for Korea!

 When we arrived in Busan we checked in at our hotel and we were blown away by our prime location by the beach.  Unfortunately it is still a bit chilly here so we were unable to go for a dip in the sea.

Tom also loved the hotel because it offered free breakfast.  Seriously, if you want to woo my husband's heart get this man a free breakfast. 

 We were able to have three full, relaxing days by the beach.  Everett is at such a fun age right now--he's curious, playful, chatty, active, and a great little travel companion.  The three of us had such a great time together.

Now we're back to our apartment in Suwon and we still have half of our break left, which is awesome!!! More to come on our Busan adventures....