A beachy 4th + an aquarium trip

Let me start by saying that one of the hardest parts of living in another country is not spending holidays with family. It was especially hard to spend a holiday that celebrates America's independence while not in America. I was determined to make it an all-American-fun filled day. After all, 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! I have the best memories of spending the holiday in Idaho with my family at my grandpas and the last five years going to Boulder City with Kasey's family. We started the day by driving to Mallipo beach, about an hour and a half away. Eisley LOVED it. We had so much fun. The tide was really long [I don't even know if I'm describing that correctly? A long tide?] and the water was shallow and warm for probably 50 yards. Eisley played in it for hours. It was different than our lovely Monterey beaches but we had a blast and let's face it, no where will compare to Monterey. In case the Army is reading this: SEND US BACK THERE. Anywayyyy, I told Kasey that it was the first place I've been since being here that I could almost forget we were in Korea. Until the lifeguard came on the intercom speaking Korean of course ;)

Cute sandy bum.

Can you spot the star fish? They were all over the beach. 

A little lunch break and cider sharing.

And she's out!

We ended the night with our branch at a BBQ on base with fireworks put on by the Army. It was lots of good company, sweaty ultimate frisbee, too much food and awesome

fireworks.

Kasey's schedule changed last week and he now works Sunday-Thursday. [boooo!] Luckily he had today off though so we decided to go to the Coex Mall and aquarium. After living in Monterey for almost two years we were pretty spoiled with the amazing aquarium there and went often. Before we moved Eisley was just getting to the age where she was becoming interested in it. Now that she's nearing two [sad face] and loves animals she was fascinated by every part of it. 

They had fish in all different kinds of things, like this phone booth and the fridge in the photo below.

And this bed frame that Eisley decided she wanted to nap on.

Doctor fish! The fish nibble at your hands and eat the dead skin cells. It felt so WEIRD!

Koreans have a hard time translating to English and it usually turns out pretty funny.

She was saying "sshhh" because Kasey told her the turtle was sleeping.

These garden eels were so weird.

She was afraid of the big sting ray.

"Hey guys!"

We ate lunch at a small shop afterward that had delicious salads and fresh juices. Eisley devoured my carrot-apple juice so Kasey and I shared the lemon-orange. We spent some time in Gangnam. Yep, the city that Psy's "Gangnam Style" song is named after. We explored the English children's section of a huge book store and got ice cream before heading home.

I sat in the backseat with her and tried to keep her awake with an apple on the way home from the train station, but with a minute and a half to spare, she crashed.

It was the perfect holiday weekend if you have to spend it away from family. We had fun, we're tired, we're full of good food and feeling extra grateful for our country and the opportunity we get to spend time in this country!

And I'll leave you with a couple of highlights from our week. Which included lots of stickly popsicles, scowls, work outs and playtime.