Cherry Blossom Festival

Note that Sarah is playing with one of the ladies' purses.

Photo by Adele

We got the kids up at 6:45 so we could leave at 7:35 for the car ferry to Jinhae today. Anna & Sarah were pretty excited about riding the car ferry and did very well on the ride. We sat on the floor with a bunch of ajummas (old ladies) who offered us some rice & bean paste treats (we declined), oranges (we accepted), and hard boiled eggs (we declined). Sarah had fun playing with the ladies purses (they encouraged it) and gave everyone a good laugh when she pulled out a 10,000 Won bill from one purse. Anna ate the orange and otherwise avoided interacting with the Korean ladies (as expected) and Sarah mingled a little with them which was great because it kept her entertained and made the ride a lot easier for me. In the US this trip would probably not have been as nice because I would have felt compelled to try to keep Sarah away from the ladies but here since they're always wanting to play with babies it worked to my advantage!

We found our way to the festival market pretty easily but we were a little early for a lot of the vendors and a little late for the blossoms. The blossoms were past their peak in Jinhae (just as they are past their peak on Geoje already). But we did see some interesting sights, my mom got to use a Korean "Mobile Toilet," we got smoothies, and we rode a carousel and a train. Actually, Anna freaked out on both the carousel and train so she got off pretty fast. Sarah & I took a full ride on the train which she really enjoyed.

We set out to find McDonald's for lunch (we don't have one on Geoje and I don't believe we've been there since Doha). We found McDonald's but opted for bagels at Dunkin' Donuts instead. We maybe should have driven around Jinhae after lunch and tried to find more cherry blossoms but we decided to try to catch the next ferry home instead. Our timing worked out well and the next ferry left about ten minutes after we arrived at the terminal. Sarah fell asleep in the car so we sat in the car until she woke. When she was up and ready to go we went upstairs and sat outside and watch the seagulls catching Bugels and other snacks from the passengers on the ferries. It was actually quite amusing (if you get over the fact that the poor seagulls were eating junk food) to watch them catch the food mid-air. Sarah really liked the foamy water all around the boat and watching the waves (as well a the seagulls).

We played up at the playground the rest of the afternoon and we were all exhausted by bedtime which I guess means we had a good day. I was disappointed that we missed the cherry blossoms at their peak but I guess we can try again next year.