Seoul Cherry Blossom Festival

This weekend in Seoul was the peak time for seeing the cherry blossom trees in full bloom, so we headed up Saturday to see the beauty for ourselves... and 4 million other people.  Though it was beautiful, it was not at all what I expected for a "festival" - this is one area that we have the Koreans beat!  To me festival is somewhat synonymous with "party", and lots of things going on.  In this case, it was several million people walking down a sidewalk between two rows of trees, with your occasional street vendor.  Like I said, it was beautiful, but as one of my friends put it, "We felt like sardines."  Needless to say, I don't think I will ever be a big-city girl!

David and Tristan checking out the boats

A view of N Seoul Tower (on the mountain) from across the Han River

Taking a trip on the duck boats

Grace pedaling the boat

A view of the 63 building

It is 817 feet tall, and was South Korea's tallest building until 2003 

Tristan pedaling - he found he got better leverage by holding himself off the seat. 

There was a little children's park there that had a cool zip line that the kids loved.

My darling daughter insisted on wearing a dress this day - "I want to look nice at the cherry blossom festival." Thank goodness she knows to wear shorts under her dresses still!

Fresh made cotton candy.  Mmmmm. 

As you can see, there were a few other people around enjoying the beauty of the day and the cherry blossom trees. 

David gets a kick out of how portable things are here - this guy had his cotton candy machine set up on the back of his scooter!

While we did enjoy our outing, next year we know that we can stick around our own little town of Anjung-ri to see all this beauty, and if we want to go to Seoul again, we can go to Yongsan (the Army base in Seoul) and drive down one of the streets there that is beautifully lined with cherry blossom trees.  But, while in Korea, we must experience these things first hand - what fun would it be if we said that we just stayed home because we didn't want to be around all those people?  I've just learned to prepare myself for loads of people when we want to venture up that way.

A Sailor's Wish

One of my father's greatest wishes was to be buried at sea.  He always told us that it was so we could send him flowers any time we wanted to  - just by flushing them down the toilet.  I never talked to him much about his time spent at sea, I was too young to care when he was still in the Navy, and for the time that I was in their lives, he was never at sea, and never gone for any period of time, so it never crossed my mind.  I do believe that the sea became very much a part of his life, and I know he enjoyed it any time he could get on a boat.  After his death, my mother and I made arrangements to have his wish fulfilled, and on January 16th he was committed to the sea.

Here is the text from the letter we received from the Commanding Officer of the USS BARRY (DDG 52):

Dear Mrs. Samuelson,

The cremains of your father, YNCM Edward A. Keyser, were committed to the sea following your request.

The cremains were brought to the ship on 10 January 2011 while in port at Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia.  We departed at 0900 on 13 January 2011 en route to service with the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group.  Your father dedicated several years of service to his country and it was a fitting choice that he be committed from the deck of a proud ship so employed.

The burial at sea ceremony took place on the ship's Flight Deck on Sunday, 16 January 2011 at 1000 hours and conforming to Naval tradition, the ship was stopped, colors displayed at half-mast and the participating Officers and Crew were at parade in full dress uniform.  The morning was partly cloudy with a 65 degree temperature and slight winds and seas.  Under these favorable conditions, both the religious and military ceremonies were conducted with dignity and solemnity.

The ship's Executive Officer, Commander Kevin Byrne, United States Navy, was the Military Commander of the ceremony.

I, as Commanding Officer, attended the religious ceremony and committal.  A four-person Rifle Squad with a Senior Chief Petty Officer in Charge, a flag bearer, the urn bearer and the 22 member Honor Platoon were all formed from the crew of the USS BARRY (DDG 52).

Enclosed are a CD containing photographs of the ceremony and shell casings fired in his honor.  A chart showing the location of the ship at the time of committal will be mailed to you at a later date.

The Officers and Crew of the USS BARRY are proud to have participated in this solemn time-honored tradition and ceremony.  Please accept my personal warm regards and sincerest sympathy in your great loss.

Sincerely,

A.H. Ibarra
Commander, U.S. Navy
Commanding Officer

Strawberry Farm

Today being the first day of Spring Break, we took complete advantage of the opportunity to visit a Korean strawberry farm.  As I might have mentioned before, the strawberries here are the best we have ever eaten!  I do believe that we have eaten more strawberries in the last several months than we have in several years in the States.

The playgroup here arranged for a field trip to one of the local strawberry farms and for about $7 a person, you got to pick a container of strawberries, and eat all you wanted while you were there. They then showed us how to make jam, and then we got to taste the delectable stuff!  Needless to say, it wasn't necessarily a cheap trip since I spent another $15 on jam and strawberry plants, but hey, if I can keep the plants alive, we can have our own strawberries any time we want them!  Now I just have to figure out how to smuggle the plants back into the US... anyone ever started a strawberry plant from seed?

As you can see by Tristan's empty container and full mouth, he was more interested in eating the berries rather than picking them

The beginning of jam 

Letting the kids do the work 

This was our backdrop.

Korea really is a beautiful place once you get out of the cities.

Our treasures...

...turned even more delicious! 

And who can resist a little Cool Whip on top?

I could get used to eating all this fresh fruit - even without all the added sugar that's in this pie!