Seoulland (part 3): The first ride for all

 

The first ride? no..not this one.

This is something Freya found and she tried to snug into it...";) 

Yes, this is the first ride for the whole kids and their moms. Gee. 

Weeeeeee.....they're on the PINK boat. 

Couldn't get the whole view of them in the picture.... 

until the boat came a complete stop!!! oh, well..at least they're IN it.

Seoulland (part 2): Badminton under the Roller-coaster track!!!

Om Wawan brought along his rackets to play with.

I didn't know that they really wanted to play this! 

Well, they looked so tiny compared to the height of the rolller-coaster @ Seoulland. 

The trees were not that changed. It's early autumn so they're pretty much still green. 

a passing coaster...above us. 

Freya & Eyra were still playing badminton to burn up their calories..^^ no...I mean to get warmed up before taking on the rides. 

now..let's go explore the park.

Seoulland on Hangeul Day (part 1)

Yes, Hangeul Day is a national holiday starting from this year on. I learned that it used to be a national holiday 23 years ago. Anyhow...since it is a national holiday, we wanted to make the best of this day. Where were we off to?

Seoulland.!!! 

It's the kids' third visit. But, of course, they never get bored of it. How can they be bored if all is wonderland for them?

Eyra and Gazi: they're inseparable during the whole-day tour. 

Now came along Freya to join the club.

They're ready to explore the fun in the park. 

But...before that...we had a lunch picnic at one corner of the park.

Opened up all the prepared food from home. 

Well, thanks 'mommies' for having prepared all of these.

Madagascar Comes to Everland

Just Hanging with the Gangs of New York^^

well..for anyone who's seen the movie, it's pretty much enticing... 

Wait.... 

There you go. Ok, let's take the picture. 

Supposed to be a family photo...but with a twist...

there's this girl who was just so oblivious or well...kids do stuffs without considering what's going on around them.... 

People were queuing in line to take pictures in front of these statues of friends of Madagascar.

But..it turned out that...with this kid on our picture...it becomes even more memorable.^^

Thanks whoever you are.^^

A Weekend for Eyra @ Children Grand Park

As always, Friday afternoon is a weekly outdoor activity for Eyra with her eonni, Yang Subin. Yesterday, she went to Children Grand Park-- where as I had expected--she did do something that was not supposed to be on the list. 

Instead of exploring the zoo where she'd been assigned to...she dazzled herself into the world of floating balloon. 

the one which floats on the water ...the one huge enough for small kids to go inside it and roll themselves up and down all over the place. 

Without having to worry about getting wet or soaking wet or worse..get plunged into the water. 

for it is safely design for the convenient of the kids to explore and feel the sensation of being able to walk on the water while being tossed around inside the balloon. 

Guess...she's tired enough to keep on rolling... 

and..finally ...got to do something that she should've done in the first place...no....not...riding on a pony....

or..even..having a chunk of burritos on her hand while continuing her weekend trip to somewhere else...

Oh, swell...

T-express Roller coaster in Everland, Korea

에버랜드에 가본 적이 있다고 하는 사람들이 많다. 그런데 나는 사람들이 T-익스프레스를 탔다고 하면 느낌이 좀 달라진다. ㅇ[버랜드에 갈 기회가 있어서 한국에서 제일 유명하다고하는 최고의 롤러코스터를 탔다. 그 것을 탄 후에는 롤러코스터라면 T-익스플스만 한 것이 없다는 사실을 인정한다.

I uploaded a picture of what T-Express is like. I do not own the video. 

The credit goes to the one making this video. 

Well, 솔직히... 에버랜드에 가지 전에 그 유명한 롤러코스터가 있다는 것을 몰랐다. 방문시간이 3시간밖에 없어 가지고 제일 무서운 놀이 기구를 꼭 타야 겠다는 생각이 들었다. 테마파크의 팸플릿을 보자마자 T-익스프레스를 선택했다(?)...골랐다(?) ^^....
가보니까 줄을 서 있는 사람들이 얼마나 많은지 모른다. 좀 망설였지만 그 것을 너무 타고 싶어서 줄을 서서 기다리기 시작했다. 생각보다.....한 시간이 넘었는데 아직도 입구근처에도 못 갔다. 몰론 포기할 생각이 들었지만 좋은 기회를 놓치지 않으려고 노력했다. 기다리면서 얘기도 하고 사진도 찍었다. (사실....FB와 KakaoTalk만 보고 있었다).^^
...드디어 탈 시간이 되었다. 앞선 사람들이 지르는 소리를 듣고 도망갈 생각이 다시 있었다. 그런데...우리 뒤에 서 있는 사람들이 많았기 때문에 어쩔 수 없이 타야 했다.
T-익스프레스가 어떤 것인지 미리 알았더라면 탈 생각도 없었을 것 같았다. 너무 무서워서 더 이상 생각하고  싶지 않았다. 그 최고의 롤러코스터를 타고 난 다음에 다른 걸 탈 필요가 없다고 했다. 세계에서 6번째로 제일 높은 롤러코스터를 타 보아서 기분이 좋았다. 그 것은 진짜 잊을래야 잊을 수가 없는 추억이 되었다.

Going out for a picnic @ Zoo & Children Park

The day finally came. The kid's been waiting for the day we went to the zoo and the grand park for the first time. It was the first week of Summer vacation for me^^ so I could take the kids out. After all, it was Saturday so Eyra, too, was having her day-off.

Taking the line 7 subway to the Children Grand Park took only about 45 minutes from where we live in Imundong.

As soon as we got off the train, a very interesting mosaic or sort-of-mural or sort-of-painting on each step leading to the exit was visible. It was a picture of a tiger. Intriguing enough to stir our curiosity.

The kids finally got on the steps vanishing into the light^^

Waiting for the other families (multicultural families) to join us on the trip that day.

The trip was conducted by the multicultural families center at our neighborhood. 

So, we were expecting to meet lots  of other international families coming from different countries with their own kids.

Gonna be fun, and it was, indeed. 

Land of FolktalesThis is....

Korea like any other countries has lots of folktales of its own. So many that it would be hard to keep up with the numerous genres it offers. Yet, out of those seemingly countless folktales that it has, some famous and worth-knowing are right here being displayed through the life-size statues scattered on the land of folktales.  

I can't remember what and which ones they were. But, the one I took a picture of right here was about a naughty green frog that seemed to disobey his mother all of his life. He always did opposite of what his mother frog asked him to. Knowing the fact that his son always disobeyed her, one day the mother frog told him that should she be dead someday, she would love to be buried right at the side of the riverbank--hoping that her son would do the otherwise, i.e. burying her on the hills. 

But, as it turned out, on the day his mother died, he said that he had been disobeying his mother for all of his life that for once only he would do as his mother asked him to. 

So, instead of burying his mother on the hill, he buried his mother at the riverbank.

As the night fell and the rain fell heavily, the tomb of his mother at the riverbank was swept away...

He wept....

Eyra insisted on riding a bull. Good thing, that it was just a bronze statue.

This folktale is somewhat similar to what 'Jaka Tarub dan 7 Bidadari 'Jaka Tarub and 7 Angels' is in Indonesia. Well, to some extent it hos some similar intrinsic elements in it. As for Korea, it is known as 'the The woodcutter and heavenly maiden' 

The difference is that...finally the maiden or the angle brought along her children with her to the sky and left the woodcutter alone. While the one in Indonesia had it the other way around, the angel left the man and the baby on earth. 

Quite an interesting ending, right?

Let's see what folktale are we in now....!

wait, this is not folktale! what are these folks doing right here? I think ...they look like Avatar. Indeed, they were. I guess..this was just a gimmick to attract the curiosity of the visitors so as they trod along their steps and go into the folktales lands.

Well, we might as well take a token of remembrance right in front of the seemingly out-of-place story in the land of folktales, right? 

Or maybe they are actually at different places, it's just that I could not differentiate the fences that might separate the two colliding worlds apart?

Riding on a Camel

Where? At Children Grand Park. 

Eyra was so excited when she found out that she could have a chance of riding on a camel's back during the trip to the park. Well, since the camel was big, two or three children got to ride at the same time. ^^ fairly safe enough then. The waiting line was a bit long, but the wait was something that might add to the excitement and anticipation.

Here she was on the came's back along with her friends.

When asked whether she was afraid or scared? She said no. Instead, she was more concerned about the smell that she had to bear while riding on it. Well, what  do you expect?

But, then when asked whether she regretted it? Not a bit. She loved it, she replied. The camel ride was one of the highlights that she would surely remember of being at the park.

Then...what's this? sure it is elephant. There are two of them. Surely they are not camels. 

While her sister was riding on a camel's back, Freya got to go somewhere else to see the elephant. Those under 4 years old were not allowed --just yet--to ride on a camel. She did have a great time, though.

The Baby Zoo @ Children Grand Park

What would a park without a zoo? well, not all parks should have a zoo, of course. I just wanted to say that this Grand Park is so grand that it even has a zoo of its own. The great part, apart from the usual zoo, it  boasts to have its own baby zoo where pony horse and any other tiny winy animals were just there to be explored and see--for the children of curiosity of course. Like their Moms above^^

I forgot what they were looking at right there. One thing for sure...they were also included as small and tiny animals^^. So, no need to feel worried or anything.

This, too, I forgot what they were looking at....I think a raccoon or something like that. Well, I was busy taking picture...and busy getting away the feeling of so blisteringly hot during the day ^^^ I wished I had sunglasses like my wife was wearing. (*sigh*: the sunglasses are gone now^^)

Now, I know what we were doing. We were not looking at any particular animals or anything. We were just standing there to feel the breeze of air splashed by the waterfall in front of us. It kinda refreshed our body.+ mind, too, perhaps?

Back tot the zoo...Freya and her Mom were ready to explore more baby animals. 

They just left us like that.^^

Oh, they were going to the photo-zone where we could try our luck to be a foxy fox. 

Eyra: a not-that-happy fox

Freya: not a fox but happy

Mommy: a sunglasses happy mommy fox

This one--I knew it: beavers. Yes, the children were looking at the beavers caged on a glassed wall. 

Lemur? nope. Squirrel? BIG no.

Meerkat. Yes, that's what it was. Meerkat ( I hope I spelled it right) were there, too. 

I learned about it on NGC channel. 

The entrance to the zoo. Not many people around. Most of them were taking shelters under the shades or trees or else..they were inside the building^^. 

It was a great day, indeed.