Mason Marley

August 20, 2023

Korea’s outdoor swimming season last for about 2 months – July and August. This summer we have taken dips in our plastic pool at Sadongree and at Mangsang. 

But another pool we have been too twice now is Troy. Yep, and they have a giant wooden horse. Anyway between the kids slide pool, fully equipped with bubble machine gun – there’s also a large pool with makeshift cabanas down both sides. Mason and I arrived first and claimed a picnic table and shortly thereafter HK came. 

Mason’s highlight was meeting a friend whose family let Mason use a snorkel mask – first time I had seen one like this – but definitely a great design for little guys. Looks like I know what I need to buy next summer.

Unfortunately – not many pictures – guess that means we were having too much fun.

July 1-2, 2023

We are back. Both with the blog and to Mangsang.

Unfortunately, HK had to work, so me and Mason had to turn the weekend into a guy’s trip. Rain was forecasted all weekend, but somehow, we managed to escape it.

We arrived Saturday early afternoon, after a long drive and hit the beach right away. Mason loved playing in the surf and watching the surfers. We checked into Golden and decided to eat samgyup at the BBQ setup the hotel provided. We bought our own pork from the corner store, but the party next to us was also nice enough to give Mason a pork chop for free. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do fireworks on Saturday night, but we were up early Sunday and at the beach by 8am, after coffee, juice and a sandwich. Back to the hotel, then on to darts, pizza for lunch, and finally ended up at a beach down the road where we spent the afternoon playing in the water and under HK’s enormous golf umbrella. We closed the trip with a spa trip to clean up and had pork cutlets for dinner at the rest stop on the way home. Not a bad weekend.

April 23, 2023

Mason’s birthday weekend! 

On Saturday we made our spring trip to the dinosaur park. It was a nice day to be there, not too crowded and not too hot. The spinning bumper car (has nothing to do with dinos) was probably Mason’s favorite – a family even paid for Mason’s second ride because they wanted their son to be able to ride with Mason. I think they were Korean-American because the son only spoke English. We stopped on the way home to buy my birthday gift to Mason (Bowser and Mario).

Unfortunately, later in the day, Mason said he was cold and had a headache – not too long after a fever and Tylenol. 

On Sunday morning, we (JK, HK, HK’s dad and me) played golf at the “The Ban” – HK’s first round ever and my first in almost 10 years. HK killed it for a beginner had some incredible shots. The caddie marked me as a 98, but she was being kind, it was more like a 110 I think, but I did legitimately par one hole.

That afternoon we had Mason’s party at SaDongRhee and he had recovered or at least Tylenol got us close. He has an ice cream cake and got some cool gifts. We drove back to Seoul at 10pm. Mason slept the whole way home.

April 16, 2023

Saturday was a good day but rainy. I have a photo below of Mason’s grandmother standard breakfast, so we can remember it. Mason and I hung out at Daerim and I cooked chicken breast, a little harder than I expected. Of course, we had beef and pork BBQ at Mason’s grandparent’s house before going to bed.

Sunday was Everland, with Yun Woo, Son Woo, Grandma, Jae Hyung and me. It was cold, cloudy and a little windy. Plus, I hurt my big toe again, so limping around an amusement park all day was probably not the best idea. I bought Mason a shark hat upon entry and Yun Woo was promised a princess dress on departure, but she was asleep at that point, so that never materialized.

Amazon Express was the highlight of the day, as all 6 of us got to ride together – although only me and Mason got wet. JH bought lunch – some sort of fried chicken package and I bought the 3 of us Erdingers later in the afternoon. It rained briefly and we sought refuge in a huge fake tree. Mason was scared to ride the pirate ship at first but quickly built up the courage to do it. Mario cart in the arcade was hard to drag Mason away from.

When we saw the log ride on our way out of the park, I said to Mason, “maybe you will be ready for that next year”, he replied, “maybe never.” He is witty.

February 11 & 18, 2023

Mason was lucky enough to get another present from his Grandma, a dinosaur digging kit. And in that kit, were the infamous safety glasses that went on and have rarely come off since.

Note: this post is for 2 weekends, and during that span, Mason and his safety glasses have been inseparable, even when sleeping.

They were worn throughout our day trip the East Coast of Korea with his grandparents and cousins, and as we made our way via his Grandpa’s van to Kim Il Sung’s old vacation home and the nearby raw seafood restaurant we ate at. Not to mention, the lunch stop along the way, and all the way through to his Great Grandmother’s 91^st birthday bash at a ribs restaurant the following weekend.

He was safe that entire time.

January 29, 2023

It has certainly been a while. I planned on posting for Christmas, but Mason was sick Christmas morning. He had a fever and we literally had to help him unwrap his gifts. 

This winter has been brutally cold, so we have spent a lot of Saturday nights on the 3^rd floor of Daerim. This Saturday was pasta night and Mason helped. On Sunday, we decided to make egg sandwiches for breakfast. Mason was telling me that his name is Orange all weekend, and I was Red apparently (from the Rainbow Friends who I am not too sure about yet in terms of the appropriateness of their content).

Late morning on Sunday, Mason’s grandfather called a lightning meeting. We made the trip to a fantastic seafood restaurant on the west coast of Korea, it was about 3 hours each way to the restaurant, but his Grandpa drove, so smooth sailing for me. 

Guess who Mason spotted at the rest stop? Orange (not the real guy but the stuffed animal). He refused to move until his Grandma caved in and bought it for him (KRW 18,000). It was a good road trip. We ate hotdogs at Shake Shack with HK on Monday night. I am full.

October 25, 2022

We headed to Everland Speedway for Mason’s first time at the races (mine too I think or maybe I went to a demolition derby once in Ohio as a kid). We made it into the pit (without bracelets) as a result of the power of having a kid and walking fast. Mason had a massive ice cream sundae and number 01 overtook 55 in the final laps for the win.

That night we BBQ’d at sadongree and the next morning was Mason’s first time ever at ice hockey practice. He did incredibly well and the coaches from Chadwick are awesome. He fell down like at least 50 times but never stopped trying to get up.

NHL (or Nascar) here we come.

October 15, 2022

Simple Satursday. No plan, so we decided to bbq – the burger adventure is documented below. Burgers were eaten by me, Mason, HK, Jae Hyung, Curly Hair 아저씨 and Im 아저씨.

We bought the ground round at Lotte Mart, added egg, mustard, spices, crushed crackers and created magic. Mason’s favorite part was mixing the meat monstrosity together with our hands (goopy, goopy!). Told me he wants to do “goopy, goopy” again this weekend. We also made wings and ribs later on in the day.

Mason and I co-contributed to our best painting yet of Lucario that afternoon. Making the most of the third floor at Daerim.

October 13, 2022

We traveled all the way from Gonjiam Resort to Novotel Suites Yongsan in 10 years.

There is no one I would have rather been with on the journey than my wife. She is beautiful, resilient, smart, tough, loving and tenacious. I have learned so much from her along the way. She will always hold my heart.

She also is the mother of my son, who we discovered on this trip, loves washing dishes (this will prove helpful) and still loves to play hide and seek. I was the diner at his imaginary restaurant last night and, of course, us 3 got to swim together this morning.

We had a memorable dinner in Yongsan (fastest service in the word) of skewers of beef, chicken and other delicacies. I love this city; in a way it has my heart too. HK brought breakfast, yogurt with granola, cereal and ice lattes.

I could not have had a better night (even though I feel asleep at 9:30 with our ‘Little Big Guy’) or have chosen a better partner for my journey through life.