Mason Marley

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.

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.