Korean BEACH!

Anyone who knows me well knows that my favorite place in the whole world is the beach. Well, Austin had a weekend off so we decided to take a little day trip to a beach near Seoul. It was on the Yellow Sea, or the sea that the Koreans like to call the "West Sea", actually on the island that the Incheon airport is on.

Little sailboat on the water

To get there, we hopped on the airport express train all the way to the end. It was a Saturday morning so there were tons of cyclists on the train with their bikes. Landon amused himself by running up and down the train and messing with all their expensive bikes. We got off at the airport and made our way to the bus stop. At this point, we realized that the Incheon airport is not only the best airport in the world 9 years running, it is a destination. We passed a plastic ice rink with kids skating on it on the way up to the bus, and a full-on classical trio stage performance on the way back. Not to mention they have every restaurant there I could ever want. In sum, if I were to be able to choose where to get stuck in an airport, I would choose the Incheon airport. The end.

Playing catch on the sand!

Or the beginning! We went to the bus place and I had a list of 3-4 buses that would get us to the beach we wanted to reach. Well, the first bus was waiting at the terminal and as soon as we approached, the driver crossed his arms in an "X" shape, closed the doors and zoomed off. I guess he didn't want to have to deal with the stroller or something. Anyway, we caught the next bus. Unfortunately, that bus was very full. Usually we can put the stroller on a seat (if it is charter bus style like this one was). There were no seats together either so Landon and I sat down in a seat and Austin wrangled the stroller into the back of the bus. At the next stop, everyone got off so then we had more wiggle room. That was good because Landon was being a big wiggle worm. He didn't want to stay in my arms or sitting on the seat. Our driver was kind of crazy so in one moment of acceleration, Landon flew into the seat in front of us and hit his head hard. Then he screamed and cried, then got mad at me for holding him and not letting him roam free. He tossed his ball into the front of the bus and his pail into the aisle. It was not going well. Finally I gave him to Austin and we figured out where to get off and we got off. It looked like a beach area, anyway, so why not?

Thankfully we were correct about the beach. Over a little rise was a nice beach area. The sand was sloping down to the water just right. We got there right at high tide, so there was not much room on the sand for our stroller and things. Koreans like to keep things clean, so everyone had their full-on camping style tents set up all along the beach, complete with little tables and some even had grills inside. We felt very prepared with our towels and water. We are not afraid of the sun though.

Oh the joys of playing ball!

Landon was hungry, but did not indicate that so he was just really crabby for awhile before he warmed up to the whole beach idea. Our first spot seemed a little crowded, so we walked down further to where we had a little more space. That seemed to help him out, as did eating some peanut butter and crackers. After that refreshment, Landon had a marvelous time in the sand doing all the things he loves to do:

Digging in the sand- see all the tents?

Throwing rocks in the water

Austin had a fun time later on digging holes for Landon to sit in right at the water's edge. Landon would sit in the hole and play in the water until the hole dried up. Then they moved further down towards the receding water to make a new hole. They left a trail of 3-4 big holes before we decided to leave. Other kids liked playing in Landon's abandoned holes too!

Speaking of other kids, going to a Korean beach is just different. We were planning on changing when we got there, but after feeling the water (it was COLD!) and the lack of waves, I decided the most I would be doing was wading anyway, so we didn't change. In that aspect, we fit right in with everyone else there. There were a few kids in swim suits, and some dads in swim trunks playing with their older kids in the water, but other than that, everyone else was in normal clothes. Most of the kids had normal clothes on too and were just wading around in their normal clothes. Some kids had swim suit bottoms, but windbreakers on top complete with hoods on! I think this was for sun protection but I'm not sure. I felt bad for them trying to swim around with so much fabric on them. Definitely different! There were a lot of kids with cool sand toys and even these little toy rafts that their parents would put them in and then pull them around in the shallow water. Landon really wanted to go in, he kept saying "BOKE! BOKE!" which in his language is boat, but alas we did not have a boat for him to sit in.

One cool thing is that there were these tent restaurants right on the beach with sand as the floor. They had their set up like the BBQ restaurants but sold fresh seafood as well. It was really expensive so we didn't go, instead opting to try out some of the restaurants at the airport.