Back in the states- April 21-22.

Back in Maryland, June and Henry attended the 4th birthday party of Junie's little friend Maddie. 

  It was a pretty awesome party, as you can tell by the size of the cake.

And everyone came come with some great favors.  

We love the late start of elementary school in Maryland- not until 9am.   One morning, Henry and Georgie were the first ones up.

Georgie obliged in some of her latest tricks, notably saying her name (which is cute in itself), her age and her friends' names (Miss Bea, Madison, Anush, Daniella).

We all walked Henry to school, which put us at the preschool a half hour early.  

When we get to school early, we get to play in the riding room.  This morning, we were all ballerinas.

June shows off her skills.(Which include dressing.)  I like Georgie's encouragement for her performance.

As usual, the videos evolve into silly faces and Jo whining.

June's class took a field trip to the free zoo- Petco.  

Who knew this was all kids needed for a good time?

Jo had some leftover Easter candy.  Peeps are better on a stick.

One of Jo's presents from Korea was a tiny little shot glass.  It was right about that time Georgie was learning to drink out of a cup.  Say what you will, but shot glasses are hard to tip and don't have a lot of volume to spill.

The weather was finally turning nice, so the big kids got sent out to the porch for quiet time.

Afterward, Brandon (who now calls himself Dylan) came up for some fun.

And Henry took it upon himself to make dinner for everyone.  That's service.

Last Day in Seoul- April 17.

On my last day in Seoul, I scrambled out to do some last minute shopping (including a teacup for Brandon that I already broke).

.

I visited Bukchon for the last time

Said goodbye to my friend Chaewon and bought some scarves from her store for gifts.  

And in a last minute stroke of luck, found the Korean equivalent of the dollar store and bought about 75 more pairs of socks.  

And this Hanbok for June's barbie.  

Thanks for letting me bum along on your trip Miss Sara!!

South of the River- April 16.

I spent most of my trip north of the Han River, so I decided to spend a day exploring the south side of the city.  

If you know me or Aunt Jenni, you know we have a boundless love of the Olympics, so I couldn't go to Seoul without visiting the site of the 1988 Summer Olympics.

The grounds were MASSIVE, and are now a nice park where you can go walk for ages and enjoy the view of the city.

I was a little bummed to be missing the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, but consoled myself be visiting some native cherry blossoms at Jamsil Park.  

Over the lunch hour, the entire path around the lake was packed with people coming to view the blossoms.  The pictures from this overcast day really don't do them justice.  There were speakers all over the park and they were all playing the new Psy song "Gentleman" all day long. (You might know him from the song "Gangham Style" that was big in America this year.)  That was a little surreal as Psy himself was in town that week to premier the song and you could walk ten feet without hearing it.

Another place to buy a tag and profess your love.  Bless you Korea, for your love of kitsch.  

Since I was out walking, I went over to Bongeunsa Buddhist Temple.  Located right across from the biggest mall I've ever seen (and I've been to Minnesota), the gates are guarded by the Heavenly Kings, who guard the four cardinal directions of the Dharma.  

I picked up some tea and a snack and just relaxed for a while.  

These Buddhas were hanging out by a path in the back of the property.  

If my day was quiet and relaxed, the evening got much more excited as I headed to meet Sara's friend, Simon, who offered to take me to Noryangjin Fish Market- a wholesale market where you can get anything.

Seriously- anything.  And so fresh that it's all still alive when you buy it.  I wish I'd taken more pictures, but you can check out the google image search to see more.

We decided to buy a plate of about 20 oysters for $8, a huge platter (think turkey sized) of sashimi (raw fish) for $13, and a live octopus for $5.  Yes, they pulled a live octopus out of a tank, put him in a plastic bag, and handed the poor fella to me.

We headed upstairs to a restaurant who proceeded to cut up our little friend and bring him out to us, still wiggling.  It was hard to take the first few bites (and to pick up squirming food with chopsticks), but I like the octopus much more than the oysters.  (I'm just not a filter person.)

Simon and our spread. 

We also ordered the biggest pot of stew ever made, which was full of I don't know what.  So much seafood I'll never be able to identify.  Thank goodness I don't have any shellfish allergies.  

We took a nice walk along the river and took a train back to the hotel.  On the walk home, I was introduced to the idea of warm soy milk, which is kept in warmers in the convenience stores.  For the win, Seoul.