Recent Adventures Part 1

We are trying to get out and see something new every weekend and really get the most out of this amazing opportunity to experience living in a different country for awhile. Last week we drove up to Seoul (about 1 1/2 hours away) and went to the COEX Aquarium. It was VERY cool and we all really enjoyed it.
We saw a little bit more of Seoul than we did last time and got a few pictures of some of the cool buildings there are in that HUGE city.

Ok, this next picture isn't very clear, but I wanted to show you a glimpse of one of the attendants in the parking garage. Most of the large parking lots around here have them too. Even the free lots...there are just nice Korean attendants to bow and greet you as you come in and smile and wave as you leave. 

There were several in the parking garage. The women were all dressed like this and the men....well, they were dressed like this too, only their shirts and hats were blue! LOL! Yes, they even wear the little white gloves.  :)

The kids were each given a little 'goodie bag' from the aquarium that had cool books in them but of course, we can't read them...YET anyway.   :) Maybe someday we'll get around to reading Korean, I hope so. 

There was SO much to see!

It was really cool how many different things they had turned into aquariums.....

The Coke machine, a computer, telephone booth, fire hydrant, tv, bed, refrigerator, a toilet.....and so many more things.

The kids loved this one. We didn't get a picture of the whole thing, but it's a big bathtub that was turned into an aquarium and it has slits at the top for you to stick your hands into. The fish would nibble on your fingers...

This was one of the kids FAVORITE memories from the day! I was really surprised they were so brave. 

These were the girls' favorite fish out of the tons that we saw that day.  So sparkly!

Joshua loved watching the HUGE stingrays and Joy thought they were kind of scary. 

Some of their exhibits were so beautiful and lifelike....

It was definitely a day of beautiful sights. 

(For our fellow Veggie Tales fans) Yes...we all sang "Barbara Manatee!" while we enjoyed this view.  :)

There was a hands on area where the kids could hold starfish, and other sea creatures. 

She didn't want to at first, but eventually Faith decided it was okay to hold a starfish after seeing that her brother and sister still had all their fingers....she's no fool.  :)

The kids took turns being eaten by a shark...

Joshua really thought this was REALLY cool. We made sure he knew that it wouldn't be nearly as cool in real life. Only the plastic sharks are safe... :)

The girls were curious and freaked out at the same time by the giant spider crabs. I thought they looked pretty creepy!

We saw a pretty church on the way home too...

It was another fun adventure for the Adams family and we've had even more adventures since. Maybe I'll get a chance to post Part 2 tomorrow.  :) I'll try.

Baby Incentive

All of us are enjoying having hard floors except for poor baby Samuel. He does not like to crawl on them and will keep himself positioned just so on the edge of a blanket or the gym mat so that no part of him has to touch the cold, hard floor. He won't crawl on it, so his area to move around is pretty small. Because of this, he doesn't really even TRY to crawl and then of course their is the sibling factor...why move when you have 3 little people bringing you everything to play with your heart could desire?
But we recently discovered there is one thing that Samuel WILL move for...or to GET to rather. He LOVES the MacBook. (smart boy)  :)
So I decide to do an experiment and see if we gave Samuel some 'baby incentive' if he would try to start moving. I wasn't going to make him crawl on the hard floor though, that doesn't feel good on baby knees, so I put his blanket on the ground. At the other end of it I placed the forbidden computer...the kids are not suppose to touch the computer in our house unless they have permission to be on it and Mom or Dad sets it up for them to play a game, type, etc.  So Samuel instantly had an audience because they all wanted to see if I'd actually let him play with it! LOL!
It took him a minute to get going. He kept looking at me, then at the computer and you could see him thinking about weather it was worth it to try to get to it or not!

He was SO happy that I didn't take it away...

And that I even let him touch it.  :)

Then I did something really mean and I moved it to the other side of the blanket and made him do it again.

He moved MUCH quicker this time!

I've never seen him go so fast! It was nice to see that he actually CAN crawl, he just chooses not to because apparently there isn't anything interesting enough laying around to motivate him to move. Hmm....I think he has a bit of his Uncle Stephen's personality.  :) LOL! (for those of you who know Stephen)

And then I was really mean and moved it again. This was his reaction...

He was not very happy with me. And after seeing him look so crushed, I couldn't move it again. So I somehow convinced him to crawl to it again and this time I let him play and push the keys for a few minutes. Though I don't think he expected to actually get it this time. He moved a little slower, communicating to me that he didn't trust me...maybe this isn't a good game to play with him! What am I teaching my children?!

He was very excited when I didn't take it away this time and enjoyed banging on the keys for awhile. He eventually lost interest when his cheering section dispersed and went on to play other things...such an Adams!

Pyeongtaek Lake

I haven't been very quick about posting about our recent adventures and then Peter gets impatient and wants to share them with everyone and just ends up posting them on Facebook! But I still like to write about them, so I'm going to put them up here anyway.

One of our favorite things to do is a family is to go for walks and play at new lakes and parks. So since being here we've been on the hunt for them, looking for nice places to go walking that are nearby. We were so spoiled in Missouri with the many, many beautiful parks and fun places to walk and play outside...we miss it so much!
Anyway, we finally found one the other day and decided to go check it out. Here is our city sign...I think it's interesting that it is in English letters and not the Korean character. We've found that a lot of store names are that way too...?? I don't know if it has just recently been constructed or if their just happens to be construction going on in front of it right now.

The lake was very pretty and breezy which was wonderful relief from the intense heat we have been continuing to have.

The kids loved the boats that looked like swans out there!

There was a really nice boardwalk that stretched most of the way around. The kids enjoyed getting to run for awhile. 

We wore them out letting them run all over this big ship deck, up and down the stairs.

There was a fountain out in the lake and we enjoyed watching the wind surfers too.

We then walked across the street to the Art Park and saw lots of neat sculptures and let the kids run through the fountain for awhile. (It was hot enough that we figured they'd dry off most of the way before we got back to the car...and they did!)

We found a pretty waterfall too!

We LOVE exploring new places, and this ended up being another very fun day for the Adamses!

New Camera!

We finally got our new camera that we ordered back in July and I LOVE it! We decided to go with the Sony NEX series and are very happy with our purchase.  :)  Some of you have probably already seen some of these pictures that were posted on Facebook, but I thought I'd add a few of them up here too because I know not all the family is on FB. So here are a few favorite shots from the new camera...

I tested it out while I followed Faith around...the best shots always seem to be unplanned. I love getting pics of the kids while they are playing!

She doesn't normally like getting her picture taken, but I was just snapping them quick as she was playing and we were talking.

I think they turned out pretty cute! Now I'm even more addicted to taking pictures than before!

I love the sisters shots...

Too precious! I think these may need to be framed in their room.  :)