When we first moved here, we thought, “no one is going to come all the way around the world to visit us.” Last week we were proved wrong when Mike’s parents came to stay with us. Of course I was nervous given that they had never been in a home that was mine. So I cleaned, and cleaned again, and hung the rest of our pictures, did some food prep, prepared welcome baskets and even typed up an itinerary!
First, Cyndee arrived. We took the first couple of days to let her adjust to the time change, but it was not without dragging her out to our end of Mustache March party.
A few days later we picked up Mr. Pat. We had a night in just catching up and hanging out.
The following two days we spent around town showing them our typical way of life. Then, the action started. We headed up to Seoul for some exploration.
Day one we went up to Seoul Tower. It is the highest point you can reach in the country.
It also offers a look at a few Korean quirks.
We moved along to the Korean War Memorial which is full of exciting history and even a few Fiends (Harrumph!).
We couldn’t leave the area without lunch at Vatos Tacos then off to Myeongdong for some shopping! Being a very successful day, we were exhausted.
We decided to stay two nights in Gangnam at the J.W. Marriott. The best thing about the hotel was the gym — it was unbelievable! Our favorite part were the ponies (see below).
Naturally we needed a massage with our rest after.
The second day in Seoul we took it easy. We visited the flower market then took a stroll around Namsan Park.
Lastly, we headed over to the COEX Mall because we couldn’t go without visiting the largest underground mall in Asia. Across the street there was the largest temple in Korea so we stopped in!
We were fortunate with the timing of the McVays visit because they were able to attend one of the best events we have, the Fiend Ball.
With only a few days left together we spend a lot of time just hanging out. However, the day before they left we journeyed on the DMZ tour. It is a wonderful experience that everyone living here should do at least once as it provides explanation of so many historic and current events.
We were lucky some great friends of ours parents were also in town and joined us on the tour!
Some parts of the tour were a little intense as well as enlightening.
Of course it was was sad saying goodbyes the next day, but all in all it was a wonderful visit and we are so blessed to have family come to stay with us. We look forward to many more visitors in the future!
