Not so crafty post

Last month, we took a family trip to Korea. 

I learned a couple things while on the trip. 

1) It's hard to travel with a toddler

Hubby and I had planned this trip before Koala became an opinionated toddler and before I was pregnant. We wanted Koala to meet her grandparents and to meet our grandmas (her great-grandmas) since they were both getting old. In retrospect, if I knew what I know now, I probably would have waited to take the trip but I'm glad we went. 

I'm sure some people would argue that traveling with kids in general is a challenge but I think traveling with a toddler is the hardest. They understand everything but are just getting to the age where they're developing their own ideas but can't quite verbalize what they want yet. There were many times when Koala was frustrated because she wanted something but couldn't tell us which made it hard when you're both already tired from traveling. She also is at the age where she understands everything we say but isn't at the age where she listens to everything we say. She is too excited to explore and see what's going on to listen when we say, 'stay right here.' Koala is also still in diapers and still takes naps which makes traveling hard. We had to bring enough diapers and wipes for the trip because my friend told us diapers are more than double in Korea. And it was hard keeping Koala on a schedule because we were traveling so she was often cranky from being tired because we missed her nap time or were home later than her normal bedtime (in my defense, it's hard to keep a 6pm bedtime in general). 

2) Travel in packs 

I'm so thankful that I had multiple hands helping me on this trip. I can't imagine trying to chase after Koala and look after my bags by myself. It was so helpful to have not just Hubby but my parents there to watch after Koala while we traveled. 

3) Korea is a lot more child friendly than I expected 

I'm not sure if Korea made changes to be more kid friendly since I was last there or if I just didn't notice it because I didn't have a kid back then (I'm pretty sure they changed because sooooo much changed since I was last there!). There were family bathrooms and toddler size toilets everywhere we went, nursing rooms in restaurants and other places (I heard they have them in subways too), and fun places to take toddlers. 

Nursing room in a restaurant 

Playground at a 찜질방

Pororo Library in Busan 

Meeting Pororo at Pororo Park in Seoul

Children's Grand Park: free zoo, park, botanical garden as well as a Children's museum (there's a fee for the museum). 

Lotte World

With all that said, it was overall a great trip. Koala did great on the plane and on the trip in general. 

Plenty of activities on the plane ride to keep her entertained- coloring, stickers, & the quiet book I made to minimize how much TV she watched. 

It was great to see Koala meeting our relatives and how much they loved/doted on her and how quickly she warmed up to them! She called everyone either Haha (Halmonee/grandma), Papa (harabujee/grandpa), Emo (aunt), or uncle without being told to do so. And I'm so glad my grandma was able to meet Koala since she had prayed so much for Koala. 

Koala had a good time with both sets of grandparents.  She met Hubby's parents for the first time.  It was great to see how their faces lit up because of her. And she also spent a lot of time with my parents. Usually my dad is pretty busy when he goes to Korea because he has a lot of people to meet. But they spent a lot of time taking her on walks and going to the  Children's park, Secret garden and to see the ocean for the first time. 

It was definitely a memorable trip and even though Koala probably won't remember any of it, one day we'll look at all the pictures and I'll tell her all about her first plan ride and trip to Korea.