Recent activities in Seoul- English Playground and Mangwon Outdoor pool

Austin is working the 4pm shift now which means we get to play with him most of the day! We decided to spend a day at the indoor playground at the mall, again, because it is one of Landon's favorite things. He always asks to back to the ball pit, and every time we go down the elevator he goes to the windows (overlooking some of the fun outdoor activities) and yells "BOKE!" for bumper boats. It was raining that morning and let's just say Landon was a little excited to go back to the playground

Unfortunately, so were many other kids in Seoul. I talked with one of the workers and she said that the elementary schools are out for these 2 weeks and so that's why it was so crowded. Landon got bowled over many times by older kids, but took it all like a champ and rarely even noticed.

Landon loved the ball pit most, followed by the outdoor area that included an area to ride around on scooters and little push cars and the bumper boats. The theme was the TV show Larva which in the two minutes I have watched it had burping and farting so we don't watch it anymore. But everything was bug themed, including the cars.

Last time we went to the playground Landon rode the boats 4 times,  not having to wait in line at all. This time he rode them twice, and had to wait in a very long line both times to do so. The first time Austin was with me so it was not so bad- I waited in line while Landon ran around doing other things. The second time was a little rough because it was just Landon and I and it was hot outside so all Lando wanted to do was dive in the water!

Austin had Friday off and it was a perfect pool day! Hot and sunny! We tried the Mangwon Hangang Park Outdoor pool after going to the Yeouido pool last time. I liked Yeouido better. At Mangwon, the brick deck around the pool had weeds growing in it that made all the walkways and pools full of little blades of grass. Also, at Yeouido, there was a great big pool with a deeper end and a shallow end and everyone was welcome to play in that pool. There was also a very large wading pool for toddlers where Landon could touch the whole time. It seemed clean, but I don't know since Landon came down with his bacterial infection that week. He sucks his fingers though so he could have gotten that from anything. 

Mangwon had 3 pools: one was up to 1 meter deep and everyone was allowed. This particular day it was very crowded with kids in tubes and on blow up sharks and whales and alligators. Everyone was bumping into each other and the water was murky and seemed dirty. The 2nd pool was up to 1.5 meters deep and only for people at least 1.5 meters tall. The lifeguards walked around with a stick to measure people and honestly spent more time enforcing the rule than actually looking out for drowning kids. My point is- no kids allowed. That made this pool less crowded and much less dirty, but we couldn't go in there with Landon so that was a bummer. The wading pool was 1 ft deep and so it was even a little shallow for Landon to really enjoy himself. 

Great views of the Han River from the pool

I always time it so by the time we get there and get all dressed and put a toe in the water, there is a safety break. In the U.S., there is usually a safety break every 2-3 hours depending on the pool. Here there is a 15 minute break every hour. Talk about a drag, especially with a rambunctious toddler who just wants to play and doesn't understand the concept of taking a break. 

The boy in action in the wading pool

A boy and his dad

We spent most of our time in the wading pool since that one was clean. There was a cool fountain in the middle that Landon liked walking into. I didn't take a ton of pictures because we were having too much fun! Another fun Korean pool rule is everyone must have a hat! It didn't matter if it was a hood of a windbreaker, a baseball cap, or a swim cap, everyone needed a hat. Landon liked to take off his hat, which meant the lifeguards were constantly hounding us to put his hat back on. Again- I think they could have spent their time a little better. I felt a little bad for them though because the wading pool was curved and there were kids that would sneak into the pool during safety break and play around until the lifeguards kicked them out. Then they would do it again. 

The boy getting out of the water from a safety break