Thanks Nature

Saturday morning was pretty tragical. I don't think that's a real word but Anne-with-an-e said it so I'm going to say it. If you know what I'm talking about, you're welcome at my fire anytime. That's from Man From Snowy River. If you know what I'm talking about then you've watched two of my most favorite movies and we should be friends. What was I talking about? Oh yeah...
From the moment the boys woke up, it was nothing but crying, whining, fussing, and fighting. We had to get out of the house, and fast. With the weather being so nice for a change, our plan was to drive 30 minutes to Farmland to see some animals and wander around. But the boys both fell asleep in the car and we wanted to give them a longer nap, so we kept driving and exploring. We came across a sign that said Thanks Nature and decided to follow it. Upon arriving I realized its the place Americans here refer to as "Herb Village" which is somewhere I wanted to visit anyway. Score! So we traded Farmland for Thanks Nature. Imagine my delight upon entering a store full of wonderful-smelling skin creams and baked goods all in one place! Throw in a La-Z-Boy and movie screen and I'd be set for life! The smell of bread beckoned us up the stairs for lunch.

Herbal creams, gifts, etc.

The bakery/cafe.

We ordered the Special - a croissant sandwich, salad and a Creme Anglaise-filled cakey pastry. I'd like to have this lunch everyday.

The Cafe

Italian restaurant on the third floor.

Toby on the stairs

I want one of these, but it was rather pricey. It's an anti-bacterial air freshener that emits a cool mist and whatever essential oil you put in it: calming, energizing, etc. It smelled so good!

Admission is free, so you only pay for whatever you want to buy. What I *think* this place does is grow herbs which they use in their skin products, candles, food and baked goods. They also have soap and candle making classes. You can get married here, too. There's a plant nursery, a few trails, and even a spa (!!!) Since its still winter, the gardens weren't looking so good, but I imagine they will be really nice in summer.

This will all be green and beautiful in summer.

First time being able to play outside with no coat and getting as dirty as he wants!

A space capsule that landed in the woods.

Sipping my lavender tea in the space capsule.

Driving the space capsule.

Charm fellow

Walking toward Fragrancia where they sell more stuff and do soap/candle making.

Soap/candle station

Herb pasta

The nursery may have seen better days. Not sure.

Bunny hutch

Daddy goat

Babies!

Hey, Kid.

Thanks Nature was pretty nice, but I could have done without the Michael Jackson and Barry Manilow music piped loudly both indoors and outdoors. Hey, I'm still a fan(ilow) but not when its the Korean acoustic version of said artists. Mmm. Nope.
With plenty of hours left in the day, we got back in the car and headed to Anseong, a city near Pyeongtaek. It was niiiiice. And just confirmed again that P'taek is rather a hole. The streets were very clean and vibrant with tons of people walking around. There were no-car shopping streets, farmers markets and looked like it could be a nice place to live. We noticed a lot of young kids, like between age 10 and 12 walking around in pairs or groups by themselves with no adult. You don't really see that in the US, but its totally normal here and sometimes they're even younger. Within minutes of getting out of the car, male and female tweens all over the place would point, giggle, shriek and even scream when they saw the boys, like they were seeing The Bieber or something. They would follow us around just to get a good look at Jonah. If he chose to grace them with a sideways glance, they would cover their mouths laughing and squealing. It was crazy. This kind of thing happens occasionally in Seoul or Pyeongtaek, but they see a lot more foreigners. Anseong must be just removed enough that the boys were kind of a big deal.

Groupies...and some dude.

Future heart-breaker and he knows it.

Pretty fruits

T'was a lovely outdoorsy day in the country and in Anseong city. 
Aaaaaand we're back...