A "Weekend Away " - aka "THE OVERNIGHTER"

We just came home from our first attempt at a family weekend away!!! Tony has a week off before starting his final semester of Chinese language training and since I desperately wanted a change of scenery we decided to head over to Ilan - a town/county just two hours by train from Taipei. Well, I wouldn't call it a dismal failure, but... we ended up coming home 2 days earlier than planned. We realized on that first night that Hunter has his own room at home for a reason - he's a NOISY sleeper. By 6.30 on Sunday morning (we arrived on Saturday evening) we both agreed that it would be a more relaxing holiday if we just went back home and hung out there where we could wash the burp rags, adjust the heater and raid the refrigerator (or at least know where to go to find food).

Hunter was amazing on the train...
he ate, slept, was changed and even made it into a few Taiwanese cameras all in a matter of two hours!

Hunter's bed...
and storage closet and changing station and meal table

We took a boat ride over to the National Taiwan Culture and Arts Center - very cool place!

Ever thought you'd need to lock up your umbrella???

It's the "Year of the Pig"

Hunter wasn't the only one who ate a couple of meals at this "family friendly" facility...
but of course it takes a bit more time feeding him than feeding ourselves.

Cool sculpture

Tony gonged the gong louder than anyone I'd heard all day... then again I didn't hear much after that!



Drinking a Starbuck's mocha in the rain while watching a parade with my son in his stroller just seemed like the American motherly thing to do. Of course it was a "de-caf" mocha.



We love our little guy...

This is the kind of embarrassing photos we'll save for his 21st birthday!

There was a boulevard of folk arts - despite a lot of looking, touching, tasting, wondering... we managed to walk out of there without buying much.

It had been a long night and a long day, but we're still smiling...
having fun being together!