Seoul Tower

The second weekend in our new house, we still only had the 800lbs of unaccompanied baggage and our borrowed furniture. The week was long and that 800lbs of stuff was as organized as it possibly could be! Luckily Austin is always quick to make friends and lined us up a couple of tour guides to go see Seoul Tower! The kids had been marveling at it since we arrived! We were all pretty excited! The communication tower is located on top of Namsan Mountain in Seoul and marks Seoul's highest point at 777 feet tall, 1,574 feet above sea level.

The sign for Namsan Park, where Seoul Tower is located. 

 You can hike up the mountain if you'd like, but with three kids, we decided to take the cable car up. The cable car only takes you so far though. There were still plenty of stairs to climb!

Packed TIGHT into the cable car to get up the mountain!

Once we made it to the base of the tower we saw a performance that just started. I can't tell you anything about it, because I didn't understand a thing they said. They did repeat everything in English, but we were still getting use to the accent and weren't able to make out much. It was still pretty neat!

Addley and Shin. (Shin is one of Austin's KUTUSA's (Korean Augmentation To the United States Army soldiers) who we all like a lot.)

An up close view of the tower. 

Before going up in the tower, we were well aware that Seoul is a mega city! The city itself has more than 10 million people.We were also aware that there are tons of high rise building, but until you see an aerial view with your own eyes, it's unimaginable for a couple of small town Midwesterners.

Every direction was buildings as far as you could see. Just amazing. You could play one heck of a game of iSpy from up there! A favorite to keep our kids busy!

Shin and Carter. 

We spotted many buildings with outdoor activity areas on the roofs.

We found the Korean War Museum

We also found our home away from home! The Dragon Hill Hotel we stayed in for so long! 

You might remember this picture of the tower we took from our hotel room! 

After we finished looking around and made our way back down to the base of the tower, I spotted the tower fence I had heard about. Apparently the tower is a very popular date destination in Seoul. Couples like to add a padlock to the fence as a symbol of their love. We didn't have a padlock, but you know I had to have a picture! It was pretty crazy as well.

A view of the city from the cable car on our way back down the mountain. 

After we made it back down the mountain Shin took us to a Korean restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately  I was too busy with the kids to get any pictures, but the food was delicious and we all had a great time! We can't wait to go back in the evening.

Seoul Lantern Festival

Our first weekend in our new home, that still didn't feel like much of a home due to the fact we only had approximately 800lbs of stuff, we decided to get out in the city for the very first time! The Seoul Lantern Festival was going on downtown. We were a little nervous about going out on our own, but figured there would be plenty of other military families there too. There may have been...but we sure didn't see them!

The Lantern Festival is described as a glimpse into Seoul's roots and the daily life of Korean ancestors. It was held in Cheonggye Plaza along a small man made river and spanned 1.5 kilometers. We arrived early in the evening and had no wait to get down to the river that was below the street. It was crowded, but not bad.

 This was our first off post experience with a lot of people. We had heard Koreans love American children, but underestimated the type of reactions we would get. The older ladies and school age girls went absolutely crazy over Addley, then very quickly would spot Tracker in the carrier on my chest! They would just watch our every move and stop and point. Some would play with Addley's hair and a few even wanted their picture with her. It was CrAzY!

A shot of some of Addley's mesmerized admirers. 

 There was a station where you could make your own floating lanterns. We weren't sure exactly what you were suppose to write on them and had a difficult time following the directions, with a little help from a friendly onlooker we got it figured out.

Releasing our lantern.

Our lantern floating away.

 After we made our way through the Lantern Festival we found a restaurant to have dinner. Of course there were no other children there and we continued to be stared at, but the food was good and we all had a good time.

We weren't too adventurous with our food choices. After dinner we walked around a little more and tried our first street food before hailing our first cab and making our way home! All in all, a successful first outing! :)

Addley was excited about the random Snow White. 

Carter and Addley enjoying their street vendor food.