Hwaseong Fortress

So I know Peter already posted a lot of these pictures up on Facebook but I still like to add them to the blog. :) This was our trip to Hwaseong Fortress last weekend (that I'm finally getting around to posting!) It was SO beautiful! I loved all the stone design and the views!

 Of course Faith wouldn't look at me for the picture...

 Here we are admiring the waterfalls and counting the tunnels...can't pass up a chance to sneak in some learning! LOL!

 Daddy took our picture from up above in one of the towers.

 The kids were really excited to see the 'castle'!

 It's the closest thing to a castle the kids and I have ever seen in person, so we thought it was pretty cool!

 There was a show going on outside the gate.

 The girls had two amazing experiences this day. First, they were invited to join these two Korean ladies to have a traditional bamboo tea party! The girls were thrilled! They got to sit on the fancy silk pillows and drink bamboo tea!

 Faith told me she LOVED the tiny table.  :) Anything 'her size' is her favorite right now.

 Even Joshua tried some!

 She was already feeling pretty special at this point.

 But then we found the dress up!!! We were taken back to a pretty dressing room and two traditionally dressed Korean ladies got us dressed and literally tied up in lots of layers that make up their gowns. The girls were so giddy! They told me they felt like 'real princesses!'

 Even Mommy dressed up and we got to sit on the royal bench to have our pictures taken. The headpiece I'm wearing weighs a ton! And was SO hard to keep on. I had to sit very still and straight! Between the tea party and dress up, it just made their day! We had a couple of very happy girls.  :)

 Joshua's favorite part of the day was pounding the rice to make rice cakes. He loved getting to smash it as hard as he could!

 The girls took a swing at it too.

 Faith was not as impressed. It was very sticky.

 Here they got to stir the pulp the lady was using to make paper.

 There were potters and several other artists working that we had a chance to watch. The kids loved talking to the lady working with the clay. They asked lots of question and watched her make a few different pieces. She worked surprisingly quick!

There was so much to see and do and we only got to one part of it so we'll definitely be making a trip back to explore some more. It was worth the drive, we all had a great adventure!

See the Korean lady with the umbrella? That is really common here. They carry umbrellas when it rains, but I think I see even MORE umbrellas when the sun is shining.  :)