Spring Has Sprung!

Finally, Spring has arrived here in South Korea! We have been having the most fun getting back outside and exploring the great outdoors here. This past weekend we drove about 20 minutes up the road to Asan and found the most lovely little park that was absolutely beautiful. We were actually looking for cherry blossoms but what we found was even more amazing. Everything was lush and green and there were flowers of every color! Azaleas should be the national flower over here because they are everywhere and in every color imaginable. I love azaleas, they remind me of my mom!

 

The park was in honor of Admiral Yi, Korea's most beloved naval hero who helped defeat the Japanese during their invasion of Korea in 1592. Admiral Yi also designed  the turtle ship, the world's first known ironclad battleship. We didn't spend much time in the museum as most of the exhibit descriptions were in Hangul. Korean museums are tricky because sometimes they are translated into English and sometimes they are not, so a lot of what I learned about Admiral Yi was after our visit from Google!

 

 

 It has been so long since I have seen beautiful green grass. It was definitely a sight for sore eyes! I swear, every spot in the park was perfect for a photo shoot! Plus, the kids were in a cooperative mood!

 

While taking the picture of the kids on the rock, a couple Koreans walked over and one of them held up a camera and started to wave me over. He kept waving and saying baby so at first I thought he wanted to take a picture with Delainey, which isn't uncommon. Koreans seem to get a big kick out of my little white, American babies! It took me a few minutes to figure out that he was actually waving us out of the area and off of the rock so he could take a picture of his family! Ha.

This is the route up to Admiral Yi's monument, look at those azaleas!

I had to include this picture. This is Asher, just minding his own business while the big kids enjoyed an ice cream treat, and drawing a large crowd of adoring Koreans! The best part was when the lady in the stripes became very alarmed about the baby on the top of the stroller and then laughed hysterically when she realized it was just a doll! Asher was smiling and cooing at the ladies and they were just eating him up.

 

We had the best day, wandering around the park, taking pictures and admiring all the various flowers and trees. Spring in Korea has definitely already made up for the wicked long, freezing, cold, brutal, winter we just had!