Winter fun

Winter here in Daegu was cold enough to freeze our local lake solid for the month of January.

The ice and snow were quite lovely.
I have kept on going all winter with my 3.5 mi
walk around the lake, just bundled up a little more.

Jan. 12, we took some dorm kids to CatDog Cafe downtown. It's on the 3rd and 4th floors, upstairs from a pizza place.

It''s a cafe where you come in and buy a coffee or a lemonade and then get to hang out with about 15 cats (3rd floor)...

...Or 16 dogs (4th floor).  These are all animals that have been rescued and now live permanently at CatDog Cafe. There are several staff members on each floor taking care of all the animals. 

Everybody had their favorites. ♥

Coffee, tea.. or me? 

The kitties were quite friendly.

.. and agreeable...

...and curious. ☺

Everyone liked getting cozy.

On January 26, our school sent two teams of kids to the Korea National Lego Robotics championship in Seoul. This was the first time a DIS team went.  Here's me with our all-girls' team. 

The girls getting ready for their presentation.

It was at Korea University arena,
very state-of-the-art.

Here's our co-ed team competing.  Their Lego robot ran a couple of missions and scored some points.

 The competition was tough with 80 teams, but both teams performed respectably and finished in the middle of the field. We'll be back next year.

Back in Daegu, Marly competed in her first Korean ice skating competition on Jan. 31 here at Citizen Stadium rink,where she gets her lessons. 

Mar and her friend waited to get their hair and makeup done before the competition.

Coach Jennifer waiting by Marly's group.  As they were called, the kids came out and did their routines one by one. 

Getting a little nervous before performing.  There were 20 kids in her category.

She did great and was able to smile afterwards!

Would you believe- a First Place Medal! Against 20 kids no less.
Yay, Mar!

The weekend of February 1st, we all rode the charter bus to Korea's beautiful High 1 Resort for DIS's Middle/High School Ski trip.  Here's the view from our room.

Since Mar is not in Middle School yet, she and I got a condo room of our own with Coach Jennifer, who came up to ski and see her family.  The view in the other direction here.
James was chaperoning with Levi and the other 7th grade boys in their own condo.

We all enjoyed the ski lessons. :)

Here's Marly with Mr. Lee, amazing and inspirational ski teacher.

In the snow cave before we  headed down the mountain on the "easy" slope.

The kids are both good skiers!  Levi had a fun time skiing with the 7th grade guys.

Some DIS students heading to the slopes.

Day view- the slopes were crowded.

We found the outdoor spa which was heavenly! The water was so warm and clear.
Then you get out and freeze while you run to the locker room.
Here's James and Marly relaxing (behind the ladder).

It was cool to see the snow being manufactured at night.

The kids enjoyed the ski trip, so did we.  

So far the winter has been fantastic and we have had a lot of fun while also keeping busy with school.  It will be getting warmer in the next month or so and spring will be here before you know it!

California: Dec. 2012 -Jan. 2013

We headed to California over winter break to spend the holidays with family.
We had such a good time and it was really great to get caught up with everyone.

We had a special elf who carried messages to Santa.
Here he is with Summer and Grandpa at his house in Martinez, California.

Grandma & Grandpa decorated their house so nicely for Christmas!
Everyone enjoyed their kind and generous hospitality.

On Christmas Eve, we waited for Santa's reindeer to appear.
One of them was a bit early. 

We all posed for a family Christmas picture.
This was a test photo... oh boy..

Ah, so nice to have everyone together.

Santa delivered lots of gifts on Christmas Eve.
One-month old baby Callie was the best gift of all for the entire family. 

Everyone enjoyed opening gifts from relatives near and far.

Lots of new clothes and toys for everyone!

We stayed busy over our two-week visit.
Hidden Lakes, a lovely park, is less about a mile from the Sodanos'.
The kids enjoyed hiking there.

It was a nice place to meet new friends.  

The Hidden Lake has a fountain, ducks... 

... and a tree shaped like a butt.
Only my kids would notice (and photograph) this!

Levi enjoyed pushing his cousin for miles through the soggy mud.
I was glad we all brought mud shoes. ;)

On another walk, we saw several Stellar's Jays.
 They are friendly and very blue.

At another family get-together after Christmas, first, second, and third cousins got together.

The baby was the biggest hit with all the cousins.

First cousins Charlie and Tom having fun in Dad's kitchen.

On Dec. 26, we took a trip to Monterey with Brian, Kristy and Summer.
We learned about the history of the canneries there first.
Mar liked that the Del Mar Cannery had her name in it.

Next we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium.
You know you are in California when you see quotes like this on the aquarium's walls. 

The kids and a friend at Monterey Bay Aquarium. A very hands-on and cool place for kids of all ages.

A live seahorse family in a tank, up-close.

There are lots of cool touch-tanks at Monterey aquarium. The sea cucumber is especially squishy.

There are several huge tanks there, with tons of fish like this school of mackerel.

Monterey aquarium has lots of hands-on exhibits, like this brass crab sculpture in front of the real ones in a tank... 
so you can get a "feel" for the creatures, without getting pinched. 

Marly enjoyed photographing all the animals at the aquarium, like these jellies.   

Monterey is on the coast and there are some spectacular views.

After the aquarium, we went to the Dennis the Menace playground in Monterey.

This park was designed by cartoonist Hank Ketcham in the 1950's.
He wanted to make something that a real-life Dennis the Menaces would love.

It's a huge park with mountains, mazes, bridges and more. It's been modernized but still very well-loved by many.

We headed to Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf for treats before the two-hour drive back to Martinez. Here's the kids by a jolly fisherman.

The moonrise on Monterey Bay as we were leaving was just beautiful!

We also made a trip to the Oakland Zoo Dec. 28; also a kid-friendly place with lots of cool exhibits, like this snake with eggs sculpture.

... and this tiger, who lives with four other tigers in a big enclosure and looks quite comfortable.

The skyride at Oakland Zoo is a great way to see lots of animals. 

...some just enjoy hanging around, like this gibbon.

The tropical birds were out...

Simba here had just roared hugely.

There is a herd of four elephants. I love them and their curious trunks.
Oakland zoos' animals looked clean and well-cared for and it was a fun trip.

We were gifted with tickets to a trampoline park in Concord. We all went and bounced our hearts out.
The kids were bouncing off the walls! :)

Trampolining is such good exercise..

And, it just feels good. ☺Thanks, Dara & Jay.

We also made two day trips into San Francisco.
I especially like that they've named a street there after me.  ☺

First stop was the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The SF Moma has some well-known work by artists we love, like Matisse. 

The kids loved this Japanese artist's work. 

There was even some original work by Dada artist Marcel Duchamp there... 

... and one of my favorites, Robert Rauschenberg.

Here's a close-up.  Amazing!

This was a cool interactive art exhibit at SF MOMA: 
Your shadows become radio stations that you "tune" inside a giant radio!

On to Chinatown!
The foo dog sculpture guards the gate, which faces south for good Feng Shui.

We stopped for a variety of Dim Sums at a local shop... 

... and ate them as we walked. The steamed pork bun was one of our favorites. 
We enjoyed shopping for trinkets in Chinatown too.

We also stopped at one of Chinatown's teahouses for some samples of 
excellent Chinese teas, like Iron Goddess. 

Walking down through San Francisco,
we stopped for a pic with the Transamerica building.

We made it down to Pier 39 just in time to see the sunset by the famous Sea Lions- there's some on the raft.
They are so noisy and funny to watch. 

On New Year's Day, 2013, we headed back to San Francisco to see some more sights. We went to Municipal Pier first to get this great view of the Hyde St. Pier, Coit Tower and the Transamerica building. 

We rode the cable car to get down there from the BART train station.  ☺

Municipal Pier has some sweeping views of San Francisco Bay, like the Golden Gate Bridge on this side.

Here's a view of Municipal Pier (in the background on the right) from the walkway to Fort Mason.
The island on the left in the background is the infamous Alcatraz.

We walked through Fort Mason, an old Army staging ground for WW2 .
It's used today for various festivals and events but was quiet on New Year's Day.

Next we went to Ghirardelli Square, home of the famous mermaid fountain behind the kids, 
and the best, freshest chocolate in the world.
We had some of course, and ice cream with hot fudge... 

We saw the machines manufacturing Ghirardelli chocolate.  YUMM! Who doesn't love chocolate? 

Next we took in Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, by Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco,
where we saw various oddities like these.

We also visited the Musee Mechanique, always a favorite for us in SF.
It's an arcade full of antique game machines.

We all liked how the little figures went into action when you deposited a coin.  
This one shows an old execution.  What people used to do for fun!

The Musee Mechanique also has several of these old mechanical pianos. Just drop in a quarter and the old-timey music plays. ♥

Another place we like to go in SF is the Boudin Bakery.  
It boasts San Francisco's original sourdough bread, and they even bake it into unique shapes, like this crab.

We loved the sourdough bread dishes: bowls with soup, pizza and cheese bread. 

Before leaving Martinez and heading back to Korea, we made a trip to the lovely Marina park to feed the birds.

On Jan. 4 we arrived back at Seoul/Incheon airport after an 11-hr. flight.
Our visit to California went way too fast!  Still, it's good to be home. ♥