Tobyn's First Trip to Seoul Zoo

I woke up and decided that for the first time all summer it was nice weather and needed to come out like a bear in hibernation.  The monsoons have been such a downer not to mention the humidity is almost unbearable to be carrying around a hefty 9 month old boy! I invited my friend Lynisa and her pack of rug rats to come along; she was about as stir crazy as I was being cooped up in the house.



We had 4 babies and 1 stroller and by lunch we were headed out on our zoo adventure! I had staked out some metro stations that had elevators to we did not have to hop stairs during our line transfers. My plan was almost a success besides one stop we had to jump the stroller.  I'm glad that some Koreans are kind to stop and help up lift the heavy stroller up the stairs for us. We each were carrying a baby on our chest and then picking up a stroller it was insane!

Tobyn and Hurley love the train. Tobyn tries to crawl on the ground while it's moving and rolls around like a tin can in the back of a truck. It's pretty funny he laughs and laughs. He is a great traveler I'm glad that all the kids were good; like I said it's nice just to get out and do something new. This is the view as we went over the bridge. I must admit it's very cool to live in a city with a large transit system anywhere you want to go for 900 won (0.83 USD). We are very fortunate to experience another country and opportunity to take advantage of it's railways.






After a scary moment when the metro went off the track to changes drivers, in which we did not know to get off the train. We waited for it to get back on track while they cleaned and changed shifts and once again were on our way to the zoo.  It took us an hour and a half to get there; what should have been a 25 min ride. lol WE FINALLY MADE IT!! To Seoul Zoo. Well first Seoul grand central park, but we made our way around to the zoo.
I was just as excited as the kids, it's has been an eternity since I was at a zoo. I have never really been an animal lover, but now that I have a baby it's nice to get to experience them all over again. All the children had a blast; it was not to hot and we did not have to be on a timeline. Unfortunately, having so many babies with us we did not stay very long but at least I mapped the way for future expeditions.












I had to alternate putting Tobyn in the stroller because he is just to heavy to lug around on my back. Alayna didn't mind his company.

on second thought maybe she did....

Look at both of their stink eyes! what you talking about willis?!

Flamingo's are awesome and so tall! My kind of bird. They were so noisy Tobyn didn't care to much for them.

African totems, located next to the stroller rentals.

All the kids at the giraffe exhibit, they were very close to the fence it was nice they got to see them so close.

I love giraffes! They are so cool and tall! Animals after my own heart. I think I should get a giraffe print cloth diaper for Tobyn now.

Pygmy hippos were sleepy or resting because it was so hot out. I didn't know there was such a thing as a tiny hippo seems like an oxymoron, don't you think?

The Rhinos are always cool.

Me and my lil man, we had such a good time. I think he spend most of his time looking at the other children running around.

We finally greet the big hippos! They are the coolest one of my favorite animals.

Toby feel asleep at this point but we had to start heading back home anyways. Cutie pie!

I thought it was strange to see long horned cattle.  As a native Oregonian these cows are on ranches there all over, but I guess it's exotic for Koreans?

Last animal we had time for was the Zebra, but this guy looked like he was dying of a heat stroke! I feel bad for the animals that they should be free but then again I would not get to see their awesomeness. Like I said it was a quick trip because it took us so long to get there, but we can go back for more. I can't wait!
-Aly G

Dongdaemun Fabric Market

The infamous Dongdaemun Fabric Market met all my expectations and more! There were to many vendors and fabrics staked floor to ceiling. It was OVERWHELIMG to say the least. I felt like an epileptic playing the slots in vegas; I have used this simile before about Babies'R us and this was worse! I have never encountered so many swatches, stacks, and rolls of fabric it put Joann's Fabrics to shame! It's a combination of 3 buildings each consisting of 5 stories and about a bazillion vendors lined up close together. There was more space in some areas and less in others; stairs, elevators, and escalators were around making the search for treasures feel like a labyrinth. It was exciting but no so thrilling for a 9 month old boy. We rode the metro to the market and he always loves the train. He was such a good traveler; he does love to get out of the house. I'm proud of my patient lil guy, even on hot humid days when mama gets lost, he hardly ever cries. He even fell asleep on the way home.

I think I have found my new favorite subway station, there was no one at the stop! Hangangjin station is in Itaewon. It is conveniently located close to the booth exit behind Building J in Hannam Village.  Exit the booth, walk up the hill, take a right, and within five minutes you are right at exit 3 of Hangangjin station.  Catch line 6 to Dongmyo and you can either transfer to line 1 and ride one stop to Dongdaemun station and then take exit 9 and you're there. What I tried to do was exit at Dongmyo instead of waiting for the next train because it's only a 10 min walk to Dongdaemun station above ground. This was a bad idea because I found bad directions from another website. I would have been lost if a friend of mine was not there to show me the way. She saved me in a big way because I had walked in the other direction. I wasted valuable time especially walking in the heat with a baby. The Correct way to get there if you wanted to walk and save time is take exit 7 out of Dongmyo station walk straight for 8-10 minutes. You will see a Korean temple looking building keep walking straight across the street.  Then you will pass Dongdaemun exit 9 and just a few steps pass the exit is an entrance to the market to your left. It doesn't matter which way you choose to get to Dongdaemun exit 9, just know the market is in close proximity to that exit.



Textiles, Jewelry, beads, buttons, zippers, leather, fur, lace, ribbon... you name it and it was there. All except what I was looking for, terry cloth and flannel. Not many vendors speak English so it was hard to try to ask them were to find the materials I wanted. I know flannel was there but I don't know how to pick it out by just feeling a little sample of the material. It will just take some time and many trips back to search the whole place to find the specific items on my shopping list. 





Amidst the chaos it seemed as though there was some organization, but not much. Each floor has a specific purposes and the vendors were grouped by what materials were their prime sellers. Tweed in one area, fur in another, jewelers and beads in another; it seemed as though many booths had a little of everything and trying to find the best deal was hard not exactly easy. In these places it's always good to barter so you do get the bargain. I found a place I liked and someone commented about it on Facebook called, Happy Quilt. It is the preferred vendor for most of the quilters. They also seem to have the best prices. They are on the fifth floor, section F, Building B. They also sell legitimate Vera Bradley material for 4,000 won/yd. I will be hitting this up for sure!



I cannot wait to go back! Now that I know the lay of the land and how to get there I will not waste any time. I'm trying to scope out prices to help my mom work on some projects. I think she needs to come to Korea to see this place for herself! Dongdaemun area itself has other clothing markets and a night district. There is so much to explore in this area alone, that it will be hard to see it all in 18 months. Below is a picture of the name on the building, it's huge and you can't miss it! I just took this picture because I wanted to know the Hangul name of the market for future reading.







Fortunately it was a perfect day the sun came out to greet us,  met new friends, went on an adventure, and next time I will achieve my quest. My back and feet will tell you it was a rough day but Toby and I made it through. I hope next time I get better photos but my mind and eyes were racing all over the place I'm glad I remembered to take photos.

-Aly G

First Family Shoot: Claiming Our Prize

We finally took advantage of our free photo shoot that we won thanks to Ashley Clark Photography and all our friends who voted for us. Again a very BIG THANK YOU! She was so patient in waiting for us to change outfits and when Mr Toby was not having the photos anymore. It was the first day of sunshine in a long time. We really lucked out! She did such a good job on editing our photos we are really impressed. The whole shoot went great these photos were taken at the park by Ichon station. It's a beautiful place with many play grounds, trails, and picnic areas many other families had the same idea to take advantage of the nice weather. It was a perfect shoot with my perfect little family.

 

 

 This last photo is my favorite, almost brings a tear to my eye. I love my men.

First Trip to eMart

Since it was finally a nice day and our husbands are working exercise for another week Lynisa and I packed up the kids and went for an afternoon adventure. We took the metro to iPark mall where eMart is located in the basement. It was easy to get to and quick; which I was thankful for because I decided to take Tobyn in his umbrella stroller. He did very well when we were on the move but when I would stop to shop he would want out.

eMart had some cool stuff! There was anything and everything you can imagine; it was very overwhelming. I found Tobyn this cute backpack and umbrella because in this country you never know when it's going to rain. It was perfect that this tiny umbrella fits inside the bag and hangs off his stroller without tipping over; a very common and annoying problem to have when you are trying to keep a baby under control. This backpack will also work for when he gets bigger and can walk, and then he can carry his own toys around.





eMart is just a smaller scale costco, there is retail, grocery, and food samples. They even had beer and wine samples! I will defiantly have to come back for any of my walmart type needs. Though most stuff is priced pretty cheep there were some items that were outrageously priced. Once you weed through Korean name brands you can get many items for a great price. 

Here is a video of us on the metro back home. I had let Tobyn out of the stroller but he was so overwhelmed by the whole day he was just happy to not be in the stroller any more. Hurley loves the train rides home.  All the boys were happy there were no tears shed today; just friends going out to enjoy the weather and be in good company of each other. What more could you ask for!

Oh and we went to Zoo Cafe and they make some bomb iced peach tea, it was delish! All in all a pretty wonderful Saturday in my book!

PPS the bakery has some fluffy cream filled balls, like doughnuts but lighter dough. They should be called crack balls, I would have taken a picture so everyone could see what they look like but i ate the whole bag... oops!

-Aly G

Daddy Turns the Big 3-5!

 We are getting ready to go out for Daddy's birthday! He turned 35 today! We headed out to go adventuring in Korea, there is tons of shopping to do here!

 Toby-too was so excited he was such a good boy all day. We spend most of the day outside since it's always nice on Nik's birthday. I can't believe the family that we have started it's amazing to think that now at 35 Nik would be a dad, I bet he never imagined it!

 Mama giving toby some love, he is so sweet to lay his head down usually in the taxi he falls asleep but daddy was too entertaining.

 kisses for my love!

 moving through the streets of Korea, it was an adventure we went to another part of Myong-dong and found this restaurant that Nik wants to eat at.  It was very inexpensive and tasty!

The food was so spicy that while they cooked it the hot oil was burning my eyes, but I think I was over sensitive since I had contacts in. Once the food stopped cooking it was fine and we ate like we were starving! I wanted to eat more but my nose was running so bad I couldn't. Nik ate the most  he loved the spice!

 Nik always looking cool in his shades and me still not liking the camera.... hahaha