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| Dribble castle |
After the invigorating hike, we drove over to the white sand beach of Jeju- Hyeopjae Beach. It was low tide, so there was plenty of wet sand to play with and Landon had a great time scooping sand and dumping it out of his bucket. His favorite new game is Austin digs a Landon-sized hole and puts Landon in, then we bury him. I usually try to build a sand castle, and the sand was perfect for a dribble castle this time! If any of you don't know what a dribble castle is, you use wet sand and construct the castle using little drops of wet sand coming off your fingers. You need fine sand and a good sand/water mix and we dug down deep enough that the hole we made provided the perfect mix. I made some arches and then a dome to cover the whole top before Landon ruined it.
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| Landon at work |
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| Dribble castle goodness |
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| He's buried! |
Although there were lots of other people on this beach, this group was my favorite. It was a bunch of young people, some of which were couples, and they were playing games. I don't know if this was organized beforehand or a spontaneous group, but in this relay race they had to hop on one foot around the flip flop. I thought it was hilarious that the girls only had to go half as far as the boys. I had just commented to Austin how I have seen women hiking and a few biking along the Han river, but other than that I have not seen very many Korean women doing sports here in Korea. I have never seen another Korean woman jogging here, which is probably one reason why I get weird looks when I'm running with a stroller, along with the fact that we're white and Landon is very blond right now. Also goes for swimming. I have not seen another Korean woman with a swim suit on at the beach. I have seen a few at the pool, but it usually a swim outfit. So I kind of stick out wherever I go, I guess, because I like to be active and do sporty things just like the boys... always have.
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| Playing their hopping game |
After awhile, Landon discovered some pools that were left by the waves near some big lava rocks when the tide receded. In the pools were normal crabs and hermit crabs and snails and kids playing. Landon liked playing in the pools, jumping in and splashing around and even putting his head in the water! Austin helped him find some hermit crabs, which he was interested in watching but not interested in touching at all!
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| Tide pools |
I went on a walk out to the tide pool area of the beach to get some good shots of the ocean and the tidepools. I found lots of people out on the tidepools harvesting food for dinner! They were grabbing crabs, seaweed, shellfish- whatever they could find. I think they were hunting mostly for crabs though- with cups and chopsticks of all things! Definitely a little different than in the US!
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| I guess this beach and the island in the background are both common shooting locations for Korean dramas. I wouldn't know. |
The water here was very clear so I could see everything in the pools clearly. I saw the occasional small sea anemone, sea urchins, and lots of crabs and seaweed. Not as full of life as I thought they would be. The tides were large because of the full moon and I think more of the pools were left uncovered vs. normal.
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| People harvesting their dinner during their day at the beach |
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| I had never seen these guys before- I know they are some sort of shellfish, but I'm not sure what! |
When I got back from the tidepools, we decided that being good parents we should help Landon get over his fear of the waves. Austin took him out and they had fun jumping over the waves. They weren't too big so Landon was not very scared, until I took him. I guess he knows I would push him a little further or something.
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| Playing jumping over the waves! |
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| We LOVE the beach! |
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Every time I looked back at the shore, Austin was
taking a picture of me... Here is one... I'm the speck in the water |
After playing in the waves, Landon again remembered his fear and ran back to the little pools. The waves were picking up as the tide came in, so I went out to bodysurf for a bit. The waves were tiny and choppy, but I was able to catch some. The real sticking point at the beach for me were the stupid lifeguards. Koreans are serious about beach safety. The lifeguards are also police and they were standing in knee deep water and whistling at anyone who passed their imaginary line to go further into the waves. It was a major drag. Austin said it looked like I was past the lifeguard's line a lot, but I really tried to stay closer to shore than the lifeguard but sometimes the waves were just calling to me. I have never had the experience of having to watch where I was in relation to the shore while trying to body surf. It was different and not very fun, especially when there were better waves further out. There was no danger- the waves were small and the water was knee deep.
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| Landon playing in one of the pools |
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