One more month in Korea!!!!

Hello all, Maria here. To bring you up to speed, we haven't slowed down one bit since summer started. Our "vacation" may be over, but we've been trying to live up every minute we have left in this beautiful country.

Our Anniversary-

We celebrated "2 years of marital bliss"(as we titled our anniversary) on a nearby island called "Sonudo." It was a fitting weekend, to match the title of our celebration. We rented a tandem bike both days we were there, and explored the island, which was really more like a cluster of small islands connected by bike bridges. We had so much fun exploring the islands scattered with tiny fishing villages, a long beach, enormous rock faces, great tidal pools, and a few seafood restaurants. We watched a great sunset on the beach, ate a crab dinner, then sipped on blueberry wine under the starriest night we've seen in Korea where we talked about our loved ones then sang every song we could think of and then reflected more on our blessings. It was a really, really wonderful anniversary!

Last weekend-

We went on a trip to Sonesan National park with our friends Angie, Sarah, Chris and his two visiting English friends. It was a bit more bus riding than we anticipated, but once we got there, we knew it was worth the trip. We browsed some temples, a giant gold Buddha and some ancient Buddhist stuff, then hiked farther into the park. We had to hike for about an hour next to a beautiful mountain creek before arriving at our "lodge" which was nestled right next to the river. Though you wouldn't know it by the outdoor toilets, it wasn't too rustic, as they did provide us with an excellent vegetarian dinner. The next day we climbed a huge mountain. One thing we are always surprised about in Korea, is no matter how remote you think you when hiking, you are never more than 30 minutes hike from a small restaurant/snack stand with water, ice cream, "Korean pancakes," hard boiled eggs, and trail map bandanas. It's awesome!

Our New Nephew!!!

Welcome to the world Henry Adam Simcox!!! My laws, Adam and Jess had their baby on Wednesday. We are so happy to have our first nephew, and we can't wait to hold him and let him know we love him! I just realized we never announced the arrival of our newest niece. Claire was born in June, and we also can't wait to meet her when we get to Pennsylvania in November!