Everland

Thursday I took the kids to Everland with some friends to check it out. I have wanted to go since we got here, but it just hasn't worked out until now. The closest thing I can compare Everland to in the States is Disney, but it's not quite right. Anyone who has ever spent any time in South Korea can tell you that is kind of a theme here. One day I am going to write a post on all things "not quite right," but today I am going to tell you about our trip to Everland. It is kind of a combination of a few of the parks at Disney World, but on a much smaller scale. It is still huge, and awesome, and has a different theme every couple of months. This month's theme was the tulip festival. Oh my, were they gorgeous! I had lots of fun taking pictures and was able to capture a few great shots, even with the kids running around. Wish I could have gotten them still by the tulips for some good shots, but I'll have to try that again another day. Not at nap time.

We entered the park and got some pictures with the major characters of Everland under the tree of life (sound familiar?) and then headed to Africa to start the zoo part of our adventure. As we walked through the exhibits, we came across a bird habitat and a zoo worker selling packets of birdseed for 1,000 won (less than a dollar), so handed my kids some money and they bought a packet of bird food. Both kids were very excited about feeding the birds (yes, even Ryan, but wait for it) and I filled their chubby little hands with tasty little morsels for the birdies. Kaity reached up and the birds started fluttering towards her, landed in her hand, and chowed down. You can tell by her expression that she was delighted. Our tender hearted, sweet, caring child with a passion for all animals. Our future veterinarian. She would have stayed here all day had I given her 20,000 won and left her. Tempting, but we eventually moved on.

Ryan is getting braver every day and he boldly walked up to the tree and stuck his skinny little arm out trying to get the birds to land on his hand. He stood there for several minutes with no action (I think his hand was still a little close to his body for the birds' comfort and much lower than where they were usually fed). Finally the zookeeper man brought some birds to him and I wish I could have captured the look on Ryan's face when he felt the bird land on his hand. Thank God those birds' wings weren't clipped because Ryan screamed and cried, throwing birdseed (and bird) everywhere, startling the bird as much as the bird startled him. The look I did capture was the one he gave me after I asked if he wanted to try again. Ha!

We worked our way through the exhibits where he quickly forgot about the bird trauma, had lunch, saw a few more animals and were off to ride some rides.

We walked through the park to see all the tulips and ended up in an area with a beautiful waterfall and fountain. In the summer they turn it into a splash pad. This was the most relaxing part of the whole trip, as we didn't have to corral any kids. They just ran and climbed and played. At one point we see the two littlest ones (Ryan and Anna Grace) who appeared to be in the water at the other end of the area. I start running towards them (stopping only to take a picture) and arrived to find them sitting on a ledge just above the water. Whew! They were a little wet, but dried quickly.

The next little area of the park took us all the way to Holland where the tulips were in full bloom. I can't say enough about the beauty of these flowers. The colors were so vivid you would have thought the flowers were fake or that I enhanced the pictures. Truly incredible. We ended our day with a train ride around the tulip garden and a few more pictures. It was a great day with great company!

Check out the slideshow below of the best pictures from our day. If it has already stopped playing just click on the play button and it will start over so you can see them all.