Dunsborough - Beach Days!

 When we got to Duns-Bra, we wasted NO time and got settled in for a nice relaxing week at the beach!

 The kids were in heaven as their room featured 2 sets of bunk beds so it was like having a week-long sleepover. They all got along so well and had a blast together. I can't even remember any fights!

 The beach was awesome. The Smith's brought their inflatable Kayak and the kids had a blast in it all week. We were at a beach that had almost no waves, a really nice shallow area, and then this massive sandbar that you could swim out to and walk on in knee-deep water. It was great because the kids could play and the adults didn't have to worry about sharks or drowning so we actually got to relax, read books, and even once in a while just fall asleep in the sand. Heaven!

 Our Beach house for the week:

 Jeff and Teddy out for a paddle:

Right in front of our house was the road, then a bike path, and then the beach! So Zoe and I got some really great runs in. We took it south, ran out of paved trail, and decided to run through the bush. Now most people know that 99.99% of deadly, venomous creatures live in Australia so we thought we were pretty burly. Here's me ready to sprint away from brown snakes and bird-eating spiders....

 How can you complain though when your run takes you to places like this???

 Me and my buddy. We don't have a skin disease, we're wearing zinc. That Aussie sun is intense!

Sasha and Jamie have been in the same class for 3 straight years now. They will really miss each other:

 The kids had an absolute blast at the beach. They were always together and went from all piling on the kayak to flopping in the sand to chasing each other out on the sandbar. The great thing was they were so tired at the end of the day that we didn't have to do too much "Pipe down up there!" at bedtime. They were out!

 Kickin' it!

 Jamie and Em

 Every evening we sat on the porch with a tray of cheese, olives, pate and crackers (THIS is why I had to diet so intensely when I got back!) and a glass of wine. It was nice to just relax and look at the ocean.

 The boys spent most of their non-beach time on the iPads. It's vacation right? Love the 2 of them with their tanned boy skin and big bare feet. They could be brothers!

 Zoe and I even tried paddle boarding! It was a lot of fun and a great arm workout.

 Me and all the kids paddling away.

 There was a cool window between the kitchen and the stairs. Of course for these 2 we had to enforce the rule that they couldn't climb thru it or we would have had boy feet all over the kitchen counters.

And Sasha was just in heaven all week with "her" Emily. (Stalker alert!!) Emily is the the sweetest 9 year old on the planet though and was so patient and awesome with all the kids.

 Julian makes another little friend....

 One morning the tide was out but coming in so the kids and I went out to the sandbar which is exposed at low tide and we decided to make a big castle with moats and walls and see how long we could make it last as the tide came in. It made it for quite a while!

 Then we had a flipping contest in the sand. Jamie won hands-down!

 3 of my favorite Aussies!

 Wonderful kiddos:

 We rented the paddle boards again and everyone tried them. Emily was actually really good at it, even with a paddle that was way too long for her!

 Then we rented a paddle boat. We got together with the Quirks that day so the kids had the help of Jackson and Mikayla.

 And that night we went out for awesome Mexican food with Jess, Tracey, and the whole crew! It was great to catch up with more friends from Australia, and now that I know where they all live I totally plan on couch-surfing my way across Oz the next time I return....

A trip to Australia - Fremantle

 A few days after Christmas we headed to Australia to meet up with the Smiths. We had planned this trip for a while but when the trip actually came it was bittersweet because the Smith's had just left Korea and were headed for their next assignment in Dubai. So it turned out to be a last Hurrah with some of our favorite Australians.
The trip was off to a great start in Hong Kong where they had a Disney store! Check out all the Chinese Mickey stuff!

We stayed in Fremantle the first few nights and fell in love with the city. On New Year's Eve we took the kids to a fantastic park on the river and let them swim and play while the adults hung out.

We even got to meet up with Lorren, Darren, and Harrison!

Julian makes a new friend.

On New Year's Day, Sasha decided to spend the day puking (she seems to have a policy where she only gets sick on vacation. Unless it's Disney...) so our choices were limited. She actually picked a good day to do it as we had it slated as kind of a chill out/rest day which we definitely did.

Jeff and Teddy and I took turns going out, exploring parts of "Freeo" and touring the Prison. We actually got to stay at the Fremantle Prison - it's one of the oldest prisons in Australia and was built with convict labor.

We rented a cottage that was used for female guards and their families. It was awesome! We had 2 bedrooms, an eat-in kitchen and a back garden. It was a perfect place to stay with a sick kid because we had lots of room to spread out and relax. Teddy spent part of his time creating some photos with a friend which I only discovered after we got home!

Freeo is super-cool. It's got the neatest little streets and the architecture is amazing. It's full of characters and yet completely clean. And there are TONS of amazing restaurants, coffee shops, and bookstores. Totally my kind of place!

And best of all, it's full of Australians! They are a rare breed, those aussies.... the younger generation all look like supermodels (one young man that was helping me with directions was so drop-dead gorgeous that I actually got all flustered and forgot how to talk for a bit..) and then there's no middle aged people, and then when they re-emerge as senior citizens they are the funkiest looking people imaginable. I have no idea how the gorgeous youth of Oz somehow morph over the course of their lifetimes into dudes with crazy hair, bizarre beards, and faces that have tufts of hair sprouting from strange, strange places, but apparently around age 50 the weird hair gene kicks in. The cool thing is that they can pull this look off with their awesome Aussie accents. Check this store out. If you said the name of this store in their accent it actually would come out sounding like "Shock and Awe". So it works!

Cool buildings everywhere....

The next day Sasha was better so we got back with the Smith's and checked out some really great parks.

There were tons of playgrounds and botanical gardens so we played and hiked and just generally enjoyed the warm weather.

The kids could have done anything and had a great time! After the parks we headed to Cottesloe beach for a swim.

Then next morning we went south to Dunsborough (say it "Duns-Bra"). But that's another post. So fast forward to the end of our trip where we went back to Freeo for a few more nights. Jeff had business so we got to crash in his hotel with him and then he had to fly back to Korea. The kids and I got to enjoy a bit more of the town and had an EXCELLENT breakfast right in the middle of everything. Great food + people watching!

After that we just strolled around and took in more of the sights.

We found the coolest shop down this street that had bulk foods and I bought Quinoa and tons of other things to bring back to Korea. Score!!

Every part of town was like this. Just amazing colonial architecture and it was all meticulously maintained.

Then Zoe and Emily came and took us to an Australian store. Teddy wanted to buy it all. Here he's got some kind of severed animal foot backscratcher... it actually HURT, so don't ask a kangaroo for a backscratch. Just in case you're ever in that situation...

No Ted, you can't have an outfit made from animal skins. This is after I talked him out of buying the bottle opener made from sheep testicles. They have a great sense of humor those Aussies.....

I have been to many places in many countries and I have to say that Fremantle Australia is the nicest small city I have EVER been to. It really has everything. Great free transport in the form of "Cat" buses, amazing buildings, several incredible markets that sell organic produce and local crafts, great people, wonderful parks, it's right on the water, the weather is fantastic and it's CLEAN! Seriously, if you're one of those people that's always looking for a great place to visit, add it to your list.

I would happily volunteer to proof-read....

 One quirky thing we've discovered in our travels is that Asian cultures are as obsessed with English writing as we are with Chinese characters. So they really, really like to put English on signs, banners, labels, cards and pretty much anything else they can think of and they almost always get it wrong. Now before you judge, think about how many people you know that have a totally "edgy" tattoo with a Chinese character or Sandscrit or some other unreadable language because it looks cool. I guess English looks as cool to their eyes as theirs does to ours.

One of the most glaring misunderstandings the Koreans have with English is the misuse of the word "Story" at some point the word got mistranslated and the whole country latched on. EVERYTHING is a "story".

 We have integrated this into our daily lives.
    Me: "Dude! What's all this smoke in the kitchen?"
   Jeff:  Ahh... burnt pancake story..."

 Jeff: "How come you're not running today?"
Me: "Sore hamstring story"

So if your store is Organic it's not just Organic, it's a "Green Story"...

 Oh no, Wait......

So that's one small example of something we see every day. Then there is just a total weirdness of use and or phrasing. So you get greeting cards that say "Each one lovers the others forever!" and T-shirts that say "My charlie" and even worse THIS FANTASTIC EXAMPLE. (Mom, I am not linking to a swear word, I am linking to a Type-O).

   They also love to link things with human life. Very relative things. Like Banking?

Now an apple I can kind of understand. I mean an apple a day keeps the Dr. away right? Choose wisely.....

 Then there's the ones that just make you feel like you're in a parallel universe. This place was a chaucy hot-dog stand. See where it says "Delicious Life! Wellbeing Life!"? Yeah, it gets better.

Here's the official slogan for the Dog King:

 I would totally volunteer to proofread all of this stuff for them BTW. I mean they've got a compound full of Expat trophy wives here who would LOVE a part-time job fixing their little hallmark slogans and signs. But no one ever asks for my help. And the Koreans forge bravely onward. Here's some window stickers for the next global pandemic:

 Kind of makes you wonder how many Americans are walking around with Chinese characters on their shoulders that REALLY say "total doofus" or "smack me".