Korea, day one

We managed to find a direct flight to Korea this time around, we flew out of Dallas and when we got off the plane we were in Korea, this was the happiest thing to happen to me in a long time.  I can't believe the blessing, on the way home when we have our new baby who has just met us and is grieving so much, we get on a plane one time and when we get off, we're home, no re-checking in and re-boarding in LA, no holding a baby on my lap on a domestic flight.

Last time I distinctly remember thinking, whew! I did it when we got to the US, but then I had to do it all over again and the flight from LA to Houston was terrible, there was so much less space and Jack was crying and I had to change his diaper and there was no place to do it anymore, and you get the idea.  So I'm very happy to have a direct flight home, even if Korean Air it required flying Korean Air, which heats their plane to 80 degrees, Koreans love heat, you can quote me on that.

After a night of multiple three hour naps and some melatonin, we got up and got to skype with the kids, which was so good for my heart.  I was already missing them terribly and wondering how I was ever going to spend eight days away from them.  They were so happy and having so much fun, hearing their "i love yous" was soothing and I was able to go off and enjoy my day.

This time our hotel included breakfast, which is another huge blessing, last time we were here we were on our own to find breakfast and an American breakfast is very hard to find, the best we could do was coffee and pastries, which is not the most filling or healthy way to start the day.  So we filled up, after all it was included in our rate and everything else we would eat that day would cost us :).

We then took the subway over to the COEX shopping mall, which is a very modern shopping mall, with a mix of stores selling traditional Korean gifts, along with typical mall stores, it also has a theatre, a aquarium, and probably more things we didn't have time to see.  We got several things purchased, our main mission this time (besides getting Chloe) is to buy a lot of things that we can give to the kids over the years that are unique to Korea, we want them to have decorations, toys, and collectibles that represent part of their identity.

After a long day of shopping we came back to our hotel to rest for a little while before heading off to see the show Nanta, which was really good and quite funny even though I couldn't understand everything, if you ever have the chance to see it (it travels all over the world), I highly recommend it.

By the time that show was over it was 7pm and I was kaput, my husband was not (of course).  How can I explain what traveling with Kyle is like, it's a little bit like Amazing Race.  There are a large number of activities that have to be accomplished each day, and they need to be done quickly, because we need to get in all of our activities.  So of course after the show was over he had made plans for meeting a friend we recently made that lives in Seoul.

Kyle's goal for this trip was to try and tone it down some and give me time to rest, because my idea of a vacation is basically staying as still as possible.  He's been trying really hard and the compromise we've been coming to is him doing something by himself at night while I rest, which he did the night we got in to Korea and also did after we saw Nanta, I spent the evening eating junk food in a robe and taking a bath, but y'all knew that.

I'm trying to remember to take more pictures this time and to blog about what we do each day so I have that record, so stay tuned.