Mason Marley

October 08, 2022

Another weekend in paradise. Just kidding we were in Eecheon again.

I know there will be a day when Mason out-grows kids’ cafes, and since I am quite sentimental, I am trying to make the most of our time there before that day comes. Dodoram seems to be our Applebees, and luckily, they have a good setup if we are putting kids cafes to the fire.

Daerim may not have the interior that the high-rise apartments have across the street, but you can’t beat having a rooftop porch to bbq on that has views of basically the whole city, even if dilapidated. Mason and I relocated a “very cute” (according to Mason) yellow spider before we began rollerblading and hot dogging.

My Saturday swimming lessons have commenced, although Mason mostly prefers to evade my instruction by jogging away from me in the pool and singing “I’ll just run away, I’ll just run away.”

September 2022

I fell off a little bit from my weekly posts. And there is good reason to get back on track – you forget the little details that make posts interesting (to me) if you don’t write weekly.

Anyway, here are a few highlights from the month. We made some pokemon book marks at the officetel and also explored the park nearby. We have been wanting to visit that park for a while. We also visited the Korean War Museum in Yongsan – the best museum in Korea in my opinion. We ate the best Korean beef bbq I have ever had with HK and then hit the nearby brunch spot for some coffee and to play catch. Mason’s mom had to head to Dunkin Sunday night, but Mason and I finished the weekend with some water color paintings (2 solar systems, one ship in the ocean, and a rainbow.)

August 21, 2022

Mason’s first professional baseball game. Well, really it was his second. We took him to a game when he was 2 years old, but we only lasted a couple of innings. It was the subway series (Mets vs Yankees) of Seoul, Lg vs. Doosan.

HK and I had always been partial to LG, but when Mason saw Doosan last week on TV he was convinced that was his team. So, we have officially abandoned LG (who happens to be the best team in the league this year) and jumped on the Doosan train.

We had seats one row behind the outfield wall, so Mason got the chance to try and talk the right fielder out of his warm-up ball in between each inning. No luck. I was asked the score by Mason around 73 times (hahaha).

We had a corndog, ice chips, beer (only me) and potato chips – all in all – not the healthiest outing but tons of fun for sure. Go Doosan!

August 11-14, 2022

We planned our summer vacation during the busiest time of the year for a vacation in Korea. On Thursday, we stayed in Wonju at the Orchid Hotel. The Spa Suite was fantastic, and we had some of the best food I have ever eaten in my life. The highlights were: of course, the room, but also swimming in the infinity pool in the rain, the ribs that night, the next day’s lunch (beef rolls) and playing in the Wonju’s public waterpark.

Mason and I got to Mangsang around 6pm the next day (HK had to work). Lotteria only was selling bulgogi burgers at Mangsang Beach, so we opted for pizza. The sunset was memorable, almost on the level of Boracay, but not quite. We stayed at the Golden Beach Hotel (motel) and watched the Doosan Bears lose on TV before Squirtle fell asleep.

The next day we played on the beach and Mason got in the ocean for the first time ever. When Paul and Haven arrived in the early afternoon, we all headed to the East Coast Energy Hot Springs Hotel and Convention Center’s pool (whatta name). Mason loved it. That night we stayed in Pyeongchon, ate samgyupsal, met an ornery Russian, and had a foot race that resulted in a fat lip for Mason, but also some extra ice cream. Board games that night might have been Mason’s highlight of the entire trip. On the next day, we went back to Mangsang Beach with Paul and Haven.

We eventually made it back to Seoul that night (11:02 pm), after a memorable rest-stop experience. We had the time of our lives.

July 30th & August 6th, 2002

Everland was packed when we arrived around 11, so we were forced to park in the furthest parking lot and take the transfer bus (3 trees was our space marker). It was very hot, so I was very concentrated on keeping us hydrated. We saw the pandas first and then afterwards stopped in a coffee shop (to hydrate and) for HK’s packed sandwiches washed down with a mango shake.

Highlights of the day: supersoaker park, the tiger & bear bus safari (waited 30 minutes in line, but our hand fan kept us cool enough), Mason won a little dinosaur (actually he lost and the staff gave it to him for free because they thought he was cute), we ate bugers and I won the basketball game (prize = enormous wolf-looking ball), but for Mason the best part of the day I think was the shark he bought at the gift store on the way out (very slick placement by Lotte).

Classic summer Saturday at Sadongrhee the next weekend: samgyup, swimming and a sunset.

July 23, 2022

The weather said rain, so we said museum. I was honestly not expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. They had some legit vehicles on premises. Mason spotted a cabinet full of models when we walked in, only later in the evening did we realize that those were the models of all the real cars that we would get to see that day.

Mason’s favorite was the blue Porsche. In fact, Mason has been spotting Porsches since he was 2 years old. I wonder if Mason will be a car lover someday? Time will tell. We had pork cutlets nearby after the museum before heading back to his grandparents.

July 16, 2022

We decided to head west to the Yellow Sea. Got to drive right under Incheon Airport’s runway on the way in and experienced a few planes’ landing what felt like was on our heads. We made a stop by a very quirky coffee shop before the beach.

The beach was a muddy mess which was heaven for Mason. Although he was not as fond navigating his way through seagull feeding frenzy we had to contend with to get there. Unfortunately we missed the daily publicly-ran clam digging session but were both happy to watch the incoming tide invade our space as a concession. It gave us a moment to discuss the moon and how drastically a close friend can affect your own course.

Can’t beat fresh fish walked from beach to restaurant for dinner or a day at the pool on Sunday with HK.

July 9, 2022

I have been going to Miranda Hotel’s sauna since the very first time HK brought me to Eecheon (that’s a long time). Now, we finally have good reason to enjoy their small water park. It did not disappoint, perfect for a 4-year-old and his Dad.

We actually went 2 days in a row, both Saturday and Sunday, with HK joining in on Sunday (Oh Beak!). Mason’s grandma’s discount brought the total for 3 to KRW 50,000. I bet we hit this spot again this summer, it was a nice way to cool down.

I also got Mason to take some very basic steps to learning to swim by convincing him to put his face under water. You got to start somewhere, right? Later on, we both got quite a surprise when he slipped off the pool’s huge floating dinosaur and got caught underneath it, under water. Luckily, I was there to immediately pull him out. Hindsight – this episode was probably his first real step to learing to swim.

June 25, 2022

This was our third visit to Deokpyeong Dino Park. This time we decided to bring Yunwoo along for the trip. We started the trip off with happy meals at McDonalds. Mason got the Tigress toy and YunWoo picked Shrek.

It was a hot day. I think YunWoo enjoyed the little red train they rode the most and Mason liked feeding carrots to the sheep and goats best. We had pork cutlets at the park. While we were eating, Mason decided to get up from the table and go touch a nearby window. Once he sat back down, Yunwoo decided she would also had to touch the same window. Of course, Mason had to do it again, so that he would be the last one to touch it. A hilarious war ensued that I had to negotiate a cease fire for.

The next day I took Mason to his first movie ever at Songpa Haibo, Jurassic World Dominion. It was PG-13, so I kept asking him if he was scared and he kept saying “no.” He made it almost 2 hours before he got tired, so we didn’t finish, but not bad for his first movie. In the future, we will stick with rated g kids’ movies.

June 18, 2022

On Saturday for brunch Mason and I enjoyed HK’s homemade egg sandwiches at the picnic benches outside Coffee Bay. We were greeted by a white and gold colored stray cat. Mason kept guessing about where he lived and who his owner might be. Korea is filled with great coffee shops. Mason had a sugar-riddled mango, apple smoothie that got him dancing.

After lunch we made our way to Yangpyeong and found a spot by a mountain stream to play and enjoy. We really could have used some aqua shoes, but we made do. On the way back to Eecheon, we stopped at a country school to enjoy their playground and then we had dinner. Mason ate like he hadn’t eaten in a month, we had squid and clams with kalkuksu, along with pork cutlets. The food was fantastic.

On Sunday, HK found a Texas BBQ restaurant in Eecheon that had recently opened. It did not disappoint, and I’m sure we’ll be back. We ended the night with some foot races at the soccer field just up the street from the restaurant, before Mason and I headed back to Seoul to end the weekend.