Wandering Browns

Grandma and Landon before with the trains! Until you have spent a significant amount of time living in hotels, I think it is hard to appreciate all the of amazing things that come with a house. There is a definite warmth from being in a familiar place with familiar people that you love, and that you know love you. Anyway, that's my nugget for the day. Landon's hair is very thin and blond. It gets fuzzy on the back of his head from naps and bed time when his hair gets too long. Before India, I took a pair of clippers to his head and the results were acceptable, but not ideal. So, I decided to take him to a legit children's hair cutting place so that he could have a good haircut for his birthday and the wedding. Before the haircut The lady was really great at making Landon feel comfortable We went to Cool Cuts 4 Kids in Arvada. They had a train set in the front that was good for when we were waiting, but once the stylist was ready for Landon, it w...

Austin, Landon and I had a great time in Colorado visiting family. Grandma Ev had spent a good amount of time researching all sorts of fun things to do with a toddler. Unfortunately, Landon got sick with a fever, cough and snotty nose so our ability to go out and do all the fun things was limited. Before he got sick, though, we picked a beautiful afternoon and went downtown for a Rockies game. Typically there are afternoon thunderstorms in Colorado in the summer, but this day was just gorgeous. It was also the weekend that Todd Helton's number was retired, so we went early to get free jerseys they were passing out.  Lechuga's The Browns have a tradition of going to this hole-in-the-wall place in Denver to pick up canolis before the game for dinner. Canolis are sausages wrapped in pizza dough, kind of like pigs in a blanket for grownups. Some have peppers in them and some have sauce in with the sausage. If you go to the restaurant you can get them smothered with ...

In my recent post about hotel living , it was clear that hotel life has its ups and downs. Near the beginning of our recent journey to travel for my husband's work, our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had its semi-annual General Conference. In this meeting, the leaders of our church who we believe are called by God and are prophets on the earth today, give talks to help us with our lives. I believe that  President Uchtdorf's conference address  was specifically for me. Pondering it and reading it over and over have helped me to have the perspective needed to be happy and grateful no matter what my living circumstances are. You should check it out using the link above! Muddy at the mud flat beach First, he suggests that no matter what we are going through in life, it will be made better if we are grateful. Not just grateful for what possessions we have, but make being grateful part of our day to day mind set and way of life. As I have tried to ap...

Seoul's fish market was recommended to us by one of Ausitn's coworkers as her favorite place in Seoul. I will tell you it was not our favorite place, but it was a fun thing to see. I think part of the reason it lost its wonder with us is because in traveling to Sokcho and Jeju we had seen many of the sights we saw here. However, the giant prawns were new.  We drove down from our hotel and traffic was not too bad! We were able to get there in about 20 minutes. The parking lot looked a little sketchy, so Austin missed it the first two times we made passes, but finally I was able to show him that it was, indeed a parking structure even though it looked old and rickety. As soon as we got out of the car it smelled like we were at the ocean, even though we were several miles away from actual ocean. The whole premium fish row Overall, it looked like a fish market. There were water and puddles all over the floor, people hawking their fish, and little restaurants ringing t...

Preparation room for the Crown Prince This shrine was our last touristy thing on my list for Seoul. The Jongmyo shrine houses the spirit tablets of all of the kings of the Joseon dynasty and their queens. Named a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as getting awards for intangible culture and heritage for its ceremonies and music, we are glad that we went. It was built in the late 1300's, but was destroyed in the 1500s during the Japanese invasion.It was rebuilt in the 1600s and remains the same as it was when it was rebuilt. I love how the sights here have so much more history and time on their side vs. anything in the United States!  The only way to get into the shrine was with a tour group, so we went on an English language tour and it helped us have a better appreciation for its history.  The shrine is only opened up completely and used two times a year when ceremonies are performed to honor the dead. The king used to come and make offerings of raw meat and grains ...

Since moving out of our 2-bedroom townhouse in mid-March of this year, we have lived exclusively in hotels/guesthouses/extended stay hotels. Since May, we have lived in a business luxury hotel. There are many perks to living in a hotel. I bet if I didn't have a toddler I would be perfectly fine staying in hotels for long periods of time. There are some downsides, though. I will list them all- pros and cons- here for all who are contemplating living in hotels to consider before taking the plunge. PROS: Maid Service every day/ No Housework ever!: I don't have to worry about the messes Landon makes, for the most part. We have someone to come in and clean our room every day. This is my favorite pro. Never have to wash sheets: Automatically with maid service comes new sheets and towels whenever we want! I know this is horrible for the environment, but we're not in a position to do anything about that.   This is our hotel buffet! Free buffet breakfast: This isn't ...