Looking for Shoes then off to an Opening

Another trip to Seoul today. Took the bus then the subway. The kids thought this was awesome. Mikey of course said Thomas was coming or Duncan or Gordon etc in the subway. Several people talked to the kids and said Lillian's hair was beautiful. Her Aunt Jessica had braided the sides to keep it out of her face. And she wore her pink polka dotted outfit. Muriel wore her yellow polka dotted outfit so they would match and be easier to find. Although, getting Muriel to wear the outfit was awful! Muriel HATES any article of clothing with dots, plaids or stripes. I had to bargain with her in order to get her into that stupid outfit. Jessica and I told her that grandma picked that out especially for her so she would look pretty. Muriel didn't care. The child actually cried over having to wear polka dots! I finally told her to pick out an outfit, any outfit, and she could change when we were done. She wore that outfit ALL day long without a single complaint!

Our first stop was a shoe factory where children's shoes are made. They do shoes for special needs children. Terry explained Lillian needed 2.5 cm added to her right shoe. There was a gentleman that started sizing her foot. He ended up with several pairs of shoes trying to find one that would fit. Then he realized the right foot is a half shoe size smaller. I know he had to be frustrated by the time he had 2 shoes on her. I know how it is for me! I hate shoe shopping for Lillian. We let Lillian pick out her new shoes. She choose black, SHINY dress shoes. We don't even know the price yet. The guy has to call us and let us know. He's not even going to charge extra for adding the 2.5cm to her shoe since her feet are also 2 different sizes. He said he would do part of it for free and consider it a good deed. Works for me! AND Miss Muriel decided to help Mikey try on boots. Now, realize these are ALL girly boots. Mikey didn't care, he wanted cowboy shoes! So, by the time I came back around the corner, Mikey's feet were black on the bottom from running all over the little room searching for cowboy shoes! I had to wash his feet in the bathroom sink since it was just that bad. I did show Muriel a pair of leopard print shoes. She loved them. I told the ladies to give her the other shoe since there was only one on the table. They gave her a size smaller and I told them it was too small. Apparently, they didn't believe my kids have big feet. They looked all surprised that the shoes were too small so they handed Muriel the bigger ones. She loves those shoes and they cost 33,000 won ($26.72). I'm not sure I want to spend that much on them BUT Lillian's is going to cost more than that. Jessica asked how much would it cost back home and I told her at least twice the cost of the figures I saw the man writing down. The man said he would make the shoes look the same on outside and the extra height will be on the inside of the shoe. I can't complain. There were 7 adults trying to get one child a pair of shoes. We will hear back in a couple of weeks about the shoes.

By this time, the kids were HUNGRY. We took the bus to a nice little place that the kids would like. They cook at your table which was really neat for the kids. There were beautiful orchids too. I've never seen them that big. They don't last long though. As usual, we herd the kids to the bathroom to wash before eating. Mikey decided he needed to pee with the door open so EVERYONE could see him! After eating, Mikey thought the stack of cushions looked inviting and decided to lie on them and cover his head. I told him people's stinky rear ends have been on those and asked if they smelled good or what. Muriel took it upon herself to drag him out. Then out came the ice cream on a stick. Muriel and Mikey had honey dew flavor and Lillian picked the coffee one. Both were good but the kids really needed to wash up after all that. Mikey was the first one in the bathroom. He came out and said he found another soap in the bathroom. There was water dripping off his hand and I realized that was NOT soap. I yelled at him to put it back where he got it which was IN THE URINAL! Jessica started cracking up and I did too. I told Mikey to WASH his hands several times with the soap at the sink! He hid his hands behind his back and said why???? That boy got several scrubbings before we left to say the least. I could not believe Mikey did that.

The kids were thrilled that we got to take a taxi back to the subway. The subway is really a hassle when you don't have the ID card. The kids found it fascinating they got to scan their own card and walk thru by themselves. Even Mikey scanned his card all by himself. Amazingly, we didn't loose any of them. We finally got to our destination which was a photography studio. One of Terry's relatives opened her own studio and was having an opening. She hired models (who also were there) and took their pictures as if they got married. The photos turned out really well. The male model showed Lillian one of the photos and told her that was him. She looked at him and the picture and didn't believe him until I told her that was really him in the picture. She looked sorta surprised. Then he said Lillian was very beautiful. I told him thank you as Lillian smiled then ran off to play. The kids were thrilled to see Terry's nephew that has come the Oklahoma twice and stayed with us both times. Once people started clearing out, the kids were allowed to play more. Mikey made friends with a almost 2 year old and chatted at the child who had no idea what so ever what was being said. Mikey even talked to some of the adults there. He found a group of private kindergarten teachers that were English speaking people and had a blast with them. Of course, my kids wanted to gobble all sorts of food while there. We had to keep telling them not to eat everything in sight. Mikey managed to snatch chips several times. Once he got caught by Terry and Mikey said the chips were for Terry's nephew. The nephew took the chips and threw them away and looked at Mikey like why are you giving ME chips? Mikey was disappointed but ran over and grabbed another chip again. By the time we left it was after 7pm. Mikey bounced like a Mexican jumping bean in the taxi on the way to the bus stop. Terry noticed his behavior and said he ate something he wasn't supposed to! I told him gluten makes these kids go bonkers. Terry could see the difference a handful of chips makes when they are loaded with gluten. Before we were on the bus 10 minutes, Mikey was asleep in my lap. Muriel also knocked out. Lillian held out the longest. The bus ride from Seoul was 1 hour 15 minutes. Upon walking into the house (around 9pm), the children were instructed to go upstairs, strip off their clothes and get a shower. Then they had a snack and off to bed they went. We had a really long day.