We're Seven!!!!

Our baby just turned seven this past Monday. He is growing up and maturing so fast. He is still our fun loving mischevious little boy and we love him so much for it. What would we ever do without him? We celebrated Isaiah's birthday the Saturday before his birthday and he loved every minute of it. He was able to invite a special friend to E World with us and they both had a great time! The big parking lots here are crazy along with all of the driving so we told all of the kids to hold hands so that we could all stay together and when this happened Isaiah said that it felt like he was taking Isabell out on a date. We had to laugh pretty hard aobut this because he is such a lady's man and loves the attention of the opposite sex. There is one ride in particular that is called The Sky Coaster. The boys just love this ride and being here in Korea we just laughed when we saw it for the first time becuae it is so Korean. It is a flat rollercoaster that you get to only after climbing up steep steps, and the only way that the rollercoaster moves is if you are peddling your bike. The Korean's are very consious of how their bodies look and excercise is a must and is a way of llife for them here. So this is really part of the culture. It is the boy's favorite ride here and it really doesn't do much other than go around on a track. But we always have to ride it at least two times if not even more and so we feel that after walking up all of the hills and steps to the rides and then peddling the bikes, we have gotten quite a bit of excercise for the day. Isaiah still was able to celebrate his birthday two more days. He told us that he wanted Brandon to make his birthday cake this year which surprised us both, but it was fun and turned out perfectly for the birthday boy on Sunday afternoon. And then on Isaiah's birthday we took him out to his favorite resturaunt McDonalds. We have only been there maybe about two times this past year and I guess he was just needing some American food because the McDonalds here don't have play places in them. We are so amazed at how tall Isaiah is becoming. He is so slender and is now streching up in the height department as well. We love you Isaiah. Happy Birthday!

Hiking with the boys

It has been a while since we have taken the boys to do some outdoor cultural things and our base community center was offering a hiking trip to the Gatbawi and Donghwa Temples today. So I took the boys with me and we had an adventure. We actually went to Northern Daegu, but it took about 45-50 minutes to drive there. The first temple that we went to was the Gatbawi. Our tour guide took us through the back entrance because it was the easiest. The steep incline to the top of that entrance killed us. It seemed to be at a 45 degree angle. I am not kidding. But then we had to hike the same angle with about 500 steps(That is the number that our tour guide gave us, but I think that it was a lot more than that). Sounds easier than it was I promise. It took our tour group about 45 minutes to get to the top. But the harder front hill was similar only it has over 1000 steps, and they weren't all that even and as nice. It is said that people from all over come to hike the 1000 steps of the Gatbawi in search of a wish. The candles behind the boys are candles with people's names on them, where they are from and what they are wishing for. They are supposed to bow to Buddha 1000 times once on top(from standing to kneeling and then bow), and he will grant one visitor that day one wish. Isaiah thinks that he likes Buddha because he grants wishes. The Gatbawi is the Statue that looks like the Buddha is wearing a flat hat. On the picture of the boys under Buddha, there is a wall next to tham that people put their won coins on and if the coin stays there all day that person may have a wish. There were quite a lot of coins resting on the rock wall of the mountain beside the big statue, and Isaiah decided to try his hand at wishing and put 100 won on the wall (about 10 cents). Isaiah was helping all of the coins that would fall off and put them back on so that the person wouldn't miss out on their wish. He also saw the majority of the people bowing at different parts throughout the temple and at one point decided to join in. That is his hiking stick that is between his legs as he didn't have anywhere else to put it when he was bowing. He got a good reaction and so he continued to bow throughout the day. Funny kid. I hope it wasn't rude for him to be doing this. But I guess that we have the what do we know, we're American's excuse still. We then went to the Donghwa temple, and had been there once before to see the monks performing the drums, and didn't realize that there was more to see. I am glad that I was able to take the boys to see this as well.To give you an idea of the size of the Buddha a the Dongwha temple, the first picture you see Isaiah pretty much at the base of it minus the people praying. It is about 30 feet high. We were not expecting such a big statue to be there. It was a pretty fun day! The Donghwa temple is the oldest temple in Daegu. It was built in the 1500's. One of the most fun and interesting to see and experience here, is the rich history. It dates back to forever, and I am not able to keep track of which king did what and what time period it was in. I am glad that America is such a young country. There isn't as much to know in history as there is here. I would hate history class here I think.