Kids Cafe: Bang Bang Town

Most of this summer has been filled with summer camps and swim lessons, so I promised the kids we would do something fun today and try out a new kids cafe!  We planned a play date at the cafe with our friends, the Campbells!  We met up at Bang Bang Town ready for an hour of extreme fun!

We chose a bad day to come to Bang Bang Town, because the Korean kids are out of school right now (which we didn't know), so there were a lot more kids then we were expecting.  The Cafe is also extremely small and there's not a lot for kids to do and keep them entertained.

I was worried that Big Sis wouldn't be allowed to play due to her age and being too old, so I had her bring some card games, just in case.  This ended up being a very good thing, because the four older girls spent about half the time playing card games together.  They all complained that there were too many kids and it was over crowded.

Monster and the Campbell's two youngest kids loved Bang Bang Town!  There was a designated trampoline and slide area just for little kids!  Monster loved going up the rainbow stairs!

He also loved all the balls that were in the kid trampoline area!  He would pick them up and chuck them at my head and then laugh!  He would then throw them at all the Campbells and then all the Koreans within throwing distance. He also loved the little slide!  He would go up and slide down and then take a ball up and try to throw it while sliding down.

Monster also got the hang of jumping.  He hasn't ever jumped on a trampoline with two feet and made air until today!  He was doing a marvelous job jumping and he was loving every second of it!

Little A did not enjoy the kids cafe for the first half hour.  She saw how much fun Monster and the little Campbells were having, so she wanted to join in the fun.  She came into the little kids trampoline area and was immediately told that she was too big and was given the two handed Korean X, and gestured to get out.  She sulked the rest of the time, and was sad she didn't have anyone to play with.  I sat and played with her for a while and she ended up enjoying her time with magnets.

Another item in the cafe that caught all the kids' attention was the candy machine!  For 500 won you can get a small mentos candies.  I had some spare 500 won coins in my wallet, so I let each of the kids play the game for the candy.

When we had about ten minutes left, a lot of the Korean kids left, so the kids went into the big kid trampoline area.  The had a blast jumping, racing, and sliding down the trampoline slides.  They were sad when our names were called and we had to leave.

I'm not sure if I would return to Bang Bang Town.  It was super small and didn't provide any variety for my older kids.  I would come with just the littles, but Little A would defiantly need a friend to come along.  In the end, all the kids had a good time!  I am super glad we brought games, and even more glad that I had a ton of 500 won coins, because the candy machine was a big hit with all the kids.

Summer Break in Korea: Humphrey's Hurricane Swim Team

Big Sis Humphrey's Swim Team:

Being on the Humphrey's swim team was very enjoyable thing to do over the summer. I had an amazing coach that helped me improve so much on my swimming while I was on this swim team. I was able to learn how to do the proper way of free style, the correct pattern for breaststroke, the quick way for backstroke, and the pain and difficulty of butterfly. 

Every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday was swim practice. The very big down side of the pool being an indoor pool was that it was always super duper cold. While me and M&M where doing practice, Little A and Monster played in the free section of the pool. Little A loved swimming during swim practice!  She made a friend and they would dive for toys, play mermaid barbies and just swim around.

Swim practice was always nonstop and very hard, but over time, it wasn't that hard to do. One of my favorite things to do were the contests to see who could hold their streamline the longest. I usually was second, which was always fine with me. The second thing that I loved to do the most was the diving. We also learned how do a diving start. I always loved to do my dives because it was always so much fun to do. 

The biggest mistake that I made was to do a 200 meter individual medley on our last swim meet. It was the hardest thing that I have ever done, and my time was 4 minutes and 17 seconds, and I got 3rd place. The swim meets were all so long, hot, and very tiring. Our fist swim meet was against the Daegu Dolphins. We were the Humphrey's Hurricanes! It was outside and was a very long day. I think I personally did a very good job on my first swim meet. The second swim meet was at Humphrey's and was inside which was much better than outside. I also think that I did a very good job and I want to do swimming again. I am so happy that I was able to make so many new friends through my time in the Humphrey's Hurricanes swim team.

M&M Humphrey's Swim Team:

During the summer, Big sis and I were able to participate in the Humphrey's swim team. We had 

practice every  Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The practices were very challenging and hard every week but got easer the longer we were there. While Big Sis and I were doing practice there was a little section at the other side of the pool for the little kids. That is were Little A and Monster were swimming. Monster always tried to follow Little A and her friends with his floaty.

Big Sis and I had 2 Meets with  the Daegu Dolphins. We did lots of strokes and races at the meets. At our last meet, I made the mistake on doing a 100 IM race. An IM is when you do Backstroke, Butterfly, Breaststroke, and Freestyle. But I was able to beat my opponent in my heat.

The first meet was at Daegu and Big Sis, Mom, and I had to take a very long bus ride to get there. Big Sis and I were able to perfect our dives and strokes every practice before the meets.

One of my favorite things to do is the relay races were you do 25 of the 100 with 3 other partners. My relay partners were fast and were we were able to beat the other team. I had such a fun
time at the swim team and can't wait to start swimming again.

Summer Break in Korea: Osan AB Youth Summer Camps

M&M Sewing Camp: 
Hi! This is M&M and I will be telling you all about the time I had at the sewing camp in the Osan youth center. The project that the sewing camp was going to do was to make a lap quilt. A lap quilt is not like a normal quilt. It is a quilt that only fits on your lap. Not like one that you sleep under. After everyone got there we noticed that the teachers had cut and set out the squares that we were going to use to make our quilt. I was the only person that didn't use the pattern that they had. While my grandma was visiting she made me a pillow case and I wanted a quilt to match. So after the first day I stayed late and cut my pattern out for my personalized quilt.

Everyone was ahead of me but I concentrated on my quilt and was able to finish it in the end of the sewing camp. What everyone started with was to learn how to use a sewing machine. After everyone had mastered that part, We started to sew our quilt rows together. We had to sew each square to each other into 9 rows of 9.

Everyone worked hard, we were able to sew all our rows together. I had to finish the front, cut the back, pin the inside-front-and back together, sew them together and to tie them. I worked hard along with everyone else in the camp and I was able to finish my lovely quilt in the time line I had in my sewing camp.

M&M Art Camp: 
Another camp that I was able to participate in was the Arts and Crafts camp. The first craft the we were going to make was Galaxy Jars. How you make galaxy jars was that you have a
mason jar and you put a layer of cotton balls on the bottom of the jar and you pour paint onto the cotton balls.

The paint seeps through them and colors them. you keep going with that process with the cotton balls and paint and you stop when you get to the top and you have your galaxy. My Galaxy Jar was a fading of light blue into dark blue into purple. I loved mine after the first day. I had new crafts every day from Galaxy jars to tie die shirts to sand art. I had the best time ever at the art camp and couldn't wait for the next camp.

M&M Archery Camp: 
Big Sis and I were able to narrowly get into Archery camp, Because we were on the waiting list, and had the best experience with Archery there. We all learned how to

hold, shoot, and carry the bow.

On the first day we all were ready to chose our bows and to learn how to shoot. Big Sis got a numberless bow and I got number 23 bow. Everyone got their own bow and we learned all the forms, whistle calls, and how to aim.

We did drills every day to practice form and whistle calls.  We did shooting practice every day after the drills. I was able to get more experience with a bow and arrows than I every had in my life. It was so fun to learn about aiming and shooting.

Big sis and I had the best time ever at the Archery camp that week and were so happy that we were even able to go.

Big Sis Archery Camp:
Hello, it my turn tell you guys all about my experience at archery camp. The weird part about this camp was that the bows that we had to use were huge. In the picture below, you can see that my bow was about 3 inches taller that me. Another thing that was strange at this camp was that you are supposed to hold the bow with your dominate hand. For me however, I am right side dominate, but I shot with my left. I was the odd on out because I was 1 out of 2 people that had a left bow, but that also meant that it was a lot easier to find my bow!

During the first day, we where split into groups. M&M was in group A, and I was in group B. Each group had a turn to shot 3 arrows, got retrieve them, and then the other groups went. I was surprisingly good at my aim, and got a couple bulls-eyes! I was 2nd place in the little shooting tournament we had on the last day. James Betts got 1st, but I am okay with that. It was so much fun to go to archery camp and learn some more about archery. I hope that I can do it again next year.

M&M Volleyball Camp: 
Big sis and I had volleyball camp as well in the summertime. I had the best time learning a lot about volleyball. The teachers helped me perfect a lot on my hits and form. The teachers were amazing and I had the most awesome time. I learned how to do high passes, low passes, tossing, and the basic one, hits. I spent every day for a week learning all about volleyball and now I'm a very good volleyball player.

Big Sis Volleyball Camp:
Volleyball camp was a great chance for me to make friends and make my wrist really hurt. Four years ago I broke my wrist, and after that happened I got my cast off, but ever since that happened, every time I hit or bumped the ball, it set a pinging pain up my arm. Volleyball camp luckily fixed that. Everyday, we would practice a new technique that was required for volleyball, hitting, serving, saving, and passing. I had a lot of my 7th grade friends there too. I had so much fun the last day most of all because we played a lot of mini games of volleyball that were super fun. If volleyball camp is an option next year, I will definitely go if I can.

M&M Sideline Sports: Handball, Fencing, Waterpolo, and Badminton
I had the privilege to participate in the Sideline sports camp at the youth center where I learn the not-so popular sports. Like Handball, Fencing, Waterpolo, and Badminton. I loved learning how to do all the unusual sports that the camp was doing.

I especially loved learning Waterpolo because that was my mom's sport and I loved all the other sports because I turned out to be really good at most of them.

I had a very good time at the sideline sports camp and I couldn't wait for the next camp.

Big Sis Sideline Sports: Handball, Fencing, Waterpolo & Badminton:
Handball is just like baseball and soccer, but slightly combined and different. The goal of the game was to make as many home runs as you could without the ball being throw and tagging you out. we spent the first day learning that game. The second day was the day the we learned how to do fencing.

Fencing is basically sword fighting, but 100% more safer. There was no killing, no blood, and zero pain. It was also really hot in the uniform because we had to wear 3 different layers.

We learned defenses, attacks, and the fighting part. It was super fun to do this because there was a part of the day where we got to play "Queens and Knights"! The goal of the game was to kill/ unarm the queen and all the knights to win. My team won the first round, but lost the second round. It was so much fun learning how to fence.

The next day was water polo. It was a super easy sport to learn, but the one really down she of
that day was that it was 100 degrees F, and it was a clear sky. We didn't bring sunscreen, ad after being in the sun for 3 hours definitely resulted to a very sunburnt body. But other than that, it was a super fun day indeed.

The next day was badminton. In 6th grade, my gym class spent about a month learning how to play, and I was really good at playing badminton! I had such a fun time playing a sport that I really loved for the whole day. I really enjoyed playing and learning so many games for a week. I thank my mom, so much for letting me do this camp.

Mommy & Me Taekwondo

For the last few months of school, I decided to pull Little A out and homeschool her to help catch her up in reading and math.  Since she was being homeschooled, I asked Master Mun, her Taekwondo instructor, if she could attend the 9 am adult class.  There were only one or two people who came to the 9 am class, and since Little A is only a few stripes from her black belt, I figured I would ask.  Master Mun said she could attend, if I also went to class and started Taekwondo.  This is how I got started in Taekwondo.

So every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Little A, Monster and I go to the 9am Taekwondo adult class.  The majority of the time, we get private lessons because we are the only ones in class.  Little A and I progress very quickly, since we get one on one lessons.

Little A is learning new kicks and multiple kick sequences.  I am learning self defense moves and enjoying a good work out.  Master Mun really makes you run and sweat and work the entire lesson time.

I enjoy spending one on one time with Little A.  It is fun to do something that just her and I do.  I enjoy watching her learn and grow in martial arts!  It is also fun to progress and learn the different kicks and defense moves for me too.

Vietnam: Hanoi City Tour

We spent the majority of today going around the sites of Hanoi!  We found the Hanoi City Tour Hop on- Hop off bus and bought a day pass!  There were 14 possible stops for the city tour, but we only had about half a day, so we picked our favorites and set out!  I loved the bus because it was a double decker bus with an open air top deck.  The bus also provided headphones and an audio tour of all the sites we passed.  I preferred sitting on the top deck, I felt I got a better un-obstructive view.

The first and last stop of our tour was at the Hanoi Opera House.  The opera house is a beautiful rich yellow gigantic building!  There was a large tourist group about to go inside the building, so I quickly rushed to get a picture.  The opera house was constructed during the French colonization of Vietnam in the early 1900's.  It was beautiful with its French influenced architecture.

We jumped back on the bus and headed to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and One Pillar Pagoda.  We had to skip the stops at the St. Joseph's Cathedral and the Flag Tower of Hanoi.  I was sad missing all the sites and history, but we just didn't have the time to do all the stops.   The Mausoleum is another gigantic building.  There were many guards all around with lots of restricted areas.  We had a hard time figuring out where to go.  The grounds were beautiful and the building was impressive.

According to the pictures on the map, we should have been close to the Pagoda, but we couldn't see it anywhere.  We walked around for a while and followed the crowd.  We finally found it tucked back in an area to the left of the Mausoleum.  We were running out of time to catch the next bus, so we quickly grabbed our camera and snapped a picture.

Our next stop was at the Quan Thanh Temple.  Here, we found a beautiful white gate, a gorgeous temple and even prettier grounds!

It cost a few dollars to enter the temple grounds.  We paid our fee and were free to look around, enter the temple and enjoy the smells of burning incenses.

Normally when I visit temples, I always feel like I am trespassing and I usually won't enter the actual temple.  However, at this temple there were many people walking in and respectfully looking around. The people didn't look twice at the tourist and never said anything to them, so I went ahead and went in and looked around.  The detail inside the temple was amazing!  It was so beautiful.

My favorite part was the landscaping and the grounds!  It was jaw dropping beautiful.  There were small fairy gardens and each bush was cut with precision.

Our next stop was Corianne's number one!  We were all excited to go to the Tran Quoc Pagoda!

We arrived only to find the gates locked and a few signs in Vietnamese (which we couldn't read, and google translate was useless).  We could only assume that since it was Sunday, the Pagoda was closed for worship.  It was so pretty from the outside.  I'm really disappointed we couldn't go in.

We were quickly running out of time, so we were only able to squeeze in one more stop.  Our final tourist destination was the amazing Temple of Literature.

This place is so very big and so very gorgeous!  Every new courtyard we entered was just as beautiful as the last! The architecture and colors were vibrant and beautifully contrasted against the greenery.

At the rear of the Temple of Literature was a deep red temple with brilliant gold lettering and designs.   The entire area was just beautiful.

We walked more around the grounds and were pleasantly pleased to find more and more beautiful buildings and landscapes.  It was such a peaceful place to be.  Definitely my favorite stop!

The reason we had to hurry and get back to the Old Quarters is because we had bought tickets for the Water Puppet Theatre Show.  The Water Puppets are a traditional Vietnamese show.  The puppeteers stand in water behind a curtain to control the puppets in the water.  The show was interesting, cultural and original.  I never could figure out how they controlled the puppets!  Sometimes a puppet would weave in front of or behind another puppet, it was the strangest thing.  I still have no idea how they did it!  Right when the puppet show ended, we had to get back to the hotel and catch a ride to the airport.  It was a jam packed day, but it was a good one.  I definitely wished I had more time to see Hanoi and at least one more day on the bay.