Lotte World

To cap off our trip in Seoul, we decided to take the girls to Lotte World. It's an amusement park, but thankfully (because it was freezing), half of it is indoors, which made it perfect for small kiddos. They were running a promotion and the kids were free anyway, so we enjoyed the indoor part and that was plenty to keep us entertained (and warm). The girls were so excited to go. They loved Disneyland so much when we did it almost two years ago, and this is about as close as you get here in Korea.

When we got there they beelined for the carousel. They love carousels.

This is Maddie's posing version of the peace sign the older two girls do. Both index fingers smashed up against her face and she yells, "cheese!"

Hannah was seriously so excited she could hardly contain herself. She had the hugest grin on her face all day long.

Next we hit the bumper cars. Emily was scared so Tyler had to ride with her. Not Hannah, she plowed on alone and gleefully bumped to her hearts content. This kid likes a thrill.

Without a technicality like Thanksgiving in the way, Korea starts to decorate for Christmas early, way early. The entire park was decked out with trees and decorations. It was a fun way to preview the season.

After riding most of the rides the kids could do, it was time for the Christmas Parade. Parades in Korea are something else. Singing, dancing, costumes out of this world, and ethnically white dancers. There were maybe two Koreans in the entire show, everyone else was white, mostly Eastern European (our informed guess). And it's not just here, it is at all the theme parks, everywhere with a parade like this. It always cracks us up. I'm not sure if they just can't get Koreans to take such jobs, or if they just really want white performers, whatever the case we find it amusing.

Unreal costumes

Sorry for the backside shot. . . . the girls were invited to join the parade for a little dance. They wanted Maddie, too, but she made a face and screamed at them. They wisely took that as a firm no.

Snowflake Ballerinas

Motorized Rudolph. This guy was seriously hilarious. He was so animated and so into his part.

One of the highlights of the day was watching what a dare devil our little Hannah is turning into. She wanted to ride everything, and I do mean everything. I thought it crushed her world when they told her she was too small for the log flume. She was dying to ride with Tyler. Emily meanwhile continues to be timid and wanted nothing to do with most anything above the carousel level. Too bad their heights aren't reversed . . . . Hannah and Tyler would have had a blast! At the end we did come across a tree hopper ride that Hannah must have ridden 15 times. It was one of those rides that takes you up in the air, drops you a little, takes you up again, drops you again, etc. until you reach the bottom. Emily looked like she was going to cry the entire ride. Hannah was laughing hysterically and yelling more. So she rode again, and again, and again. We look forward to watching her grow up and continue to enjoy her need for action.

See the sheer look of joy on her face. . . it was constant the entire time she rode.