Friday, September 24, 2010

Seoul, Korea - War Museum & Markets

Really cool monument in the front of the Korean War Museum.
Chase had a lot of fun checking out all the tanks.




Picture inside the museum illustrating dmz line(demilitarize line) between North and South Korea. It is crazy to think that they are at war with each other as we speak. Would not want to be any where close to that line.
Nice guns, Cole.
A market outside the Army Base where we stayed. This street had a ton of good restaurants, and had a lot of shops that were selling clothes, suits, purses, shoes, etc. A lot of people come to this area to buy suits for cheap. We hear the material is really nice, but the sewing doesn't tend to hold up. So we just looked.
Photo outside the Dragon Hill Lodge, our hotel on Yongasan Army base in Seoul. Really nice hotel and we enjoyed some American food which is always fun for us since we don't have good American restaurants in Japan. Chase apparently wasn't in the mood to smile like I wanted him too.
A market in Seoul that sold everything from clothes to food. It is amazing how many vendors exist in the markets and a lot of them are selling the same things. How to ever decide. Cole and I are not very adventurous when it comes to buying things from markets. We never trust the quality but it is fun to see. Would anyone like some dried beetles and worms to take home(pictured above).

My favorite meal on our trip. This small restaurant was packed with Koreans, so we knew it had to be good. And it was. The soup tasted like a noodle wonton soup and we ordered some of their famous dumplings that melted in your mouth. The Koreans use metal chopsticks & metal spoons versus the wooden chopsticks that the Japanese use. They are a little trickier to use, especially with noodle soup. Chase is enjoying peanut butter crackers, he wasn't really into the Korean and Chinese food.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Tanesashi Coast


Tanesashi Coast is about a 40 minute drive south from where we live. My goal that day was to get some 2 year old photos of Chase dressed in this cute outfit along this beautiful coastline. But apparently my planned backfired and Chase was in no mood. And there is no forcing a toddler to take photos when he is not in the mood. So we hit the beach down the hill from this spot.




Finding Sea Glass at Shipwreck Beach





Mount Osore - Dread Mountain

Mount Osore is the place Japanese believe souls come before they enter the underworld. This place was a 2 1/2 hour drive north from where we live and is in the middle of a volcano. We drove up the volcano and then into this crater. This place is highly visited by the Japanese, who come to make offerings to souls of the dead and to the souls of children who passed away before their parents. The lake is beautiful, but the sulfur prevents anything from living in the lake.



Can you smell the sulphur fumes coming from the rock. This place was so cool but smelled so awful.



Cape Shiriyazaki and Wild Horses






We took a 2 hour drive along the coast from our house to the North Eastern Tip of the main island of Japan. At Cape Shiriyazaki they had a cool light house and there was a field of wild horses. Chase was loving the wild horses and it was so cool to be able to get so close to them.

Fun at Veedol Beach




This beach is only 10 minutes from our house. Chase and I came here several times over the summer and we were excited to have Cole join us now that he has switched back to day shifts. The water is cold but feels really good after about 2 minutes especially since Misawa has had a really hot summer.

Baby Boy #2 - 20 Week Ultrasound

Here is a picture from my 20 week ultrasound. Baby Taylor is giving us the thumbs up. Cole did an ultrasound on me at about 17 weeks and we discovered then that Chase was going to have a brother. We are so excited for this little guy and we can't wait for him to join our family. My due date is January 1st. So hopefully he stays in till then so he can have a birthday of 1/1/11 or maybe he will come on New Years Eve and give us a tax break. We shall see.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Chase's 2nd Birthday

One of Chase's favorite t.v. shows "Blue's Clues". And the dog's name is Blue (a girl).
Chase enjoyed licking off the frosting before we cut the cake. Hope his hands were clean.




Chase's Buddies: Becca, Keaton, Sara, and Ashley
Jump, Jump, and Jump so more


Giving kisses to his stuffed animal "Blue"