I'm Holding Out For A Hero - Hero Play Park, Jinju

 We spent most of our Christmas break inside. The air was too yucky to go out, and the kids were glad I wasn't trying to force them to go on hikes to see temples or flowers or rocks. I could, however, convince them to check out Hero Play Park.

As soon as we arrived, we realized it was really made for little kids.

So we played like little kids for the day.

The velcro wall was fun.

We also enjoyed the ball pit. It did cross my mind how much covid was probably in there. 😝

We played a game of tag. Us big kids running around scared away all the little kids. But we had fun.

Daisy was surfing.

Zeke was obligated to fulfill his big brother duties by dive-bombing her and taking her out.

Next we moved on to the block room.

We created a large castle and started using all the blocks.

As I kept pulling the unused blocks out from behind our walls, I made sure to share with a little girl who was also building. She was determined not to give up and she was trying her hardest to make her building as large as ours. Of course ours was bigger and stronger, and it had nothing to do with the fact that there were four of us and she was only about 5 years old. Once we used very single block there was, we destroyed it, taking care to leave the little girl's in tact. Some other little kids came and knocked hers down too and she cried.

There was a magic show, which consisted only of bubbles. To be fair, he did have some unique bubbles.

There was a neat little area with fish tanks, gerbils and hedgehogs. As we were reaching in to pet the gerbils, our little building friend came over and told us not to touch them 🙅, but she's not the boss of us.

The fishing tank had magnets connected to the end of the line and you could pull your catch up through the holes, like ice fishing.

Sometimes it's fun to be a little kid again.

[January 8]

Jumping Into 2022 On The Right Foot - 9th Annual HE

This year marked the 9th Annual Hourly Envelopes for NYE. There was a small hurdle, as I had two follow-up doctor appointments in Changwon right in the middle of the afternoon. I had to think out of the box, but we managed to spend the day together as a family and have fun. 

Piggy backing on our recent escape room, we started noon off with an online escape room.

 We 'made it out,' but actually by us making it out, we ourselves became the test subjects in the game.

One o'clock brought about time to drive to Changwon.

The envelope said we got to go to McDonald's for lunch on the way.

Time for Blizzards at Dairy Queen at 2:00! We have only found DQs in Seoul and Changwon in SoKo. The last time we got Dairy Queen was two years ago in Thailand.

I was still at the doctor for the three o'clock envelope. It was a photo scavenger hunt that Daddy created.

An obstacle course for the 4:00 hour was not met with the enthusiasm I had hoped.

I found a rando park on the map. It happened to have a museum there, as well.

Obstacle courses have been a staple every year, but the kids weren't into it this time. They were terrified I was going to make them walk through not only a museum, but a museum about Korean history. The activity was cut short when Eli broke through the ice in a tiny pond. Although the boys' attire, or lack thereof, suggests it was a pleasant day, it was very cold out.

It was just as well that we cut that one short. Dinner was next up, and although it should have taken 11 minutes to drive there, traffic was bad.

At first it seemed we were not going to be allowed to have all five of us dine in the restaurant called Mexico due to the 4 person rule, because, Covid. But we showed our family registration and that was all they needed. We were glad because it was good Mexican food and we don't get good Mexican food here very often.

I'm not sure who laughs at Eli's antics more, us or him. But we all laugh.

The heater was blowing right in Abe's face, so he switched places with Daisy. Her hair was blowing like she was in a model shoot, so I created one.

The drive home was next, so the 6:00 envelope was playing the game Psych! in the car.

We were finishing up our drive for the next envelope. This one was write something nice for each family member. Of course this was not met with much enthusiasm, but they will appreciate it when we read them together.

Eight brought a game I borrowed that we haven't played before.

It was called Spontuneous and involved singing song lyrics. Zeke was the best, but I drew a card that enabled me to switch places with the leader and I won.

Eli was sliding across the table to photo bomb me and he thought it was hillarious.

Since this was Daddy's bedtime, the next hour was making Italian hot chocolate.

Left, Right, Center for the 10:00 hour!

It was past Chuey's bedtime, too.

Daisy won the most rounds. She is biting her 'gold medal.'

The evening was nearing the end. I tried a new game of 'Sorting Through 2021.' It was sort of a dud, kind of like 2021. 🤪

Midnight was quickly approaching, and we were ready for the countdown. 

We 'jumped' into 2022 on the 'right' foot.

We made it to the new year!

We wrote down our resolutions and tried to guess who's was who's. It wasn't hard.

And just like that, it was 2022. 

Happy New Year!

[December 31, 2021]