One More Sleep...

So... Wednesday, July 22 we're off on our 3-week vacation to California to see our family & friends there! We are pretty excited about this... and both Tony & I are really looking forward to a vacation!!! I don't think I'll have much time/access for blogging while home, but there are lots of great things we're looking forward to so you're bound to see the good times when we return:
Mom's 60th birthday! Meeting Evan! Helena's 1st birthday! Family Camping Trip! YAHOO!!!

Where Am I???

You've seen skies like this in my posts about our trips back to New Zealand - maybe there'd be a glimpse of blue in a California shot - but can you even believe that this is Taipei?!? There must be a big typhoon coming... because the skies have been absolutely gorgeous lately... the kind of days when all you really want to do is stay outside. If we were anywhere else, I guess we'd be heading to the beach, river, park, waterfall, lake, etc... but then again, the humidity is very real (and the kids have been sick still - second week) and so we watch the beauty from our balcony... but hey... it's still beautiful and I can see it and for that I am thankful!

Family Photos

At the beginning of May we spent two and a half hours getting our family portraits done from a company called "Shot Dogs" here in Taipei. While our friends Dave & Bev were here a few weeks later, Tony & I spent the same amount of time choosing 10 photos out of the hundreds they took! What a job!!! Our photos have finally arrived - so here you go... in the smaller version of course...

"Isn't she lovely... isn't she beautiful..." this photo makes me want to sing!!

Hunter for President

Hugs

Sweet Siblings

This is my favorite, though we didn't actually order it. It looks like it's from a bridal catalogue...

Our little Taiwanese doll

Not so tough guy

Mama and mei-mei

Happy Family (I like Helena's headband - looks like a halo... and actually she's the only one who doesn't look so happy)

Another favorite

Airplane

Just A Regular Week

Here are a few photos from the past couple of weeks... nothing too out of the ordinary, just a sample of our 'everyday' lives. Too bad I don't take pictures at the doctor's office - seems we spend plenty of time back and forth there - yet I just can't bring myself to take pictures of it... maybe one of these days... Anyway, this week was fairly slow and uneventful because everyone was sick at some stage. It started with Hunter's vomiting episode early Sunday morning - which wore me out all day Sunday. Then Tony came home mid-day Monday with flu-like symptoms after Helena had vomited in the morning waking me up... Another few days of Helena coughing, Hunter acting a bit 'off' and finally it hit me Thursday. Praise God it only lasted 24 hours and by Friday I had enough energy to go outside and clean the bathroom!

In the Clark household we never leave the house without sunblock... maybe Hunter was trying to tell me something!!! I should be told something like "hey mama, don't leave these things in the reach of children"...

The tent made it's season debut during the week for just a bit of entertainment and slight change of scenery. Hunter is also a very helpful older brother most of the time.

After a week in the house I was really grateful that Kevin & Crystal weren't scared off... it was great to have adult company and something to look forward to! Kevin is a buddy from ICLP days... we used to play basketball and eat lunch together regularly, but since Tony's been working and he's been writing a thesis we haven't seen much of each other. He's headed to Columbia to work on his MBA so this was kind of our farewell... and although we haven't seen him much, it's still weird to think we won't see him here again... but this is the way of the expat!

Anyway... we had a fun dinner at a local place and the kids absolutely took to Crystal... Hunter will be disappointed to know that she is also moving to NY... bummer... he could've had a new girlfriend!

It was tough being inside because LOOK AT THAT BLUE SKY!!! Can you believe it! It was the best, most beautiful day of the year and we were only doing short stints outside... in fact, this was the day Hunter came down with a fever that started a new stream of sickness... YIKES! But you've got to love this sky!!!

Before he came down with a fever, Hunter had 'hog fever'... not related to the swine flu... more related to riding motorcycles... He's finally gotten the hang of riding the trike... and now that's what he wants to do everytime we go outside! I like this photo just because it's got the bit of action of him passing me and moving on by himself... he was loving it!!!

Helena turned 11 months old on July 9 (happy birthday, Dillon!)!!! Only one more month til my baby girl's not a baby anymore!!! You'd never know it in this photo, but in the midst of (or the cause of) her congested cough, diarrhea, etc she also cut two new teeth... so that brings the count up to 8 total already!!! And they're all symmetrical now!!! Wow!

She's a real helper too... she loves helping me 'unload' the dishwasher... she especially likes the spoons and the measuring cups!

She's been seen climbing in completely to help 'unload'... but here she looks like she's pulling out the tray for easier access! I love my helpful kids!!

During one of the (what seems like many) 'sick days' we had the A/C folks come to do the annual maintenance... of course the kids LOVED having someone else in the house and Hunter kept following one of the workers around say "hiiiiii". And no matter how hard I tried, he just kept coming back into their space...

But why wouldn't you be drawn to such fun toys as these? Even Helena was caught trying to climb the ladder!

We were out for an after-dinner stroll through 'bark park' but happened upon something other than the usual dogs... a girl had her parakeet leashed to her bike... that's interesting pet maintenance!

New Kid On The Block

Our nephew - Evan James was born 7-07-09

Congratulations, Jason & Amber!!!

In just 2 weeks we'll get to meet him... yipeee!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We spent our 4th of July at Leo Foo Cun... our newest favorite place! Our little bro, Erick, came along for the ride and we met some friends at the park. It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a blast! There were no fireworks, unfortunately, but we did have a hamburger... that's gotta count for something!

This time the train made it around the track without breaking down - though Hunter did remember our last adventure and commented "hou che huai diao le"... and yes, our daughter is chewing on the seat in front of her... she actually was chewing on everything that day and lo and behold this week she's got 2 new teeth!!!

After checking out the animals, we headed to the "Wild West" in honor of the holiday! I actually felt like I was at Knott's Berry Farm!

Hunter's not looking very patriotic...


The whole group

Yep, that's the last bite of our token hamburger... it really wasn't that great, but the steak & cheese sandwiches we got later made up for it!

Helena and I waited around while the others rode a couple rides... she was supposed to be napping, but she wanted nothing to do with it! And yes, she's still chewing on things!

The Turkish ice-cream guy gave her a freebie this time while we waited for Hunter to finish the carousel ride! Lucky 2nd child... I think Hunter was well over one before he even tasted ice cream!

A group from New Zealand are here for a month performing in the South Pacific section of the park. Tony had done a little work relating to their contracts/visas so it was fun to stop by and see them perform. I think they were happy to meet other Kiwis.

The Fire Dancer was a lot of fun... and thankfully he was wearing something under that short loin cloth!

Hunter quite liked the performance and so did Helena... she was sleeping until the music started then all she wanted to do was get out of the stroller to see what was going on!

This time around at Leo Foo Cun Hunter got to experience a few more rides! He was right into it all... Tony had the right idea with the umbrella, though - it was a slow journey on the ole katamaran...

Ashley's a bit of a thrill-seeker so we were surprised she wanted to ride such a tame one - but it was fun flying in front of friends. Hunter was busy looking back at them through much of it!

This was Helena's first ride!!! I think she enjoyed it... she didn't cry or try to climb away, so I guess that is a positive reaction, right?

At the end of a long, hot day all we really wanted to do was sit down and rest... but alas, we had to say good-bye and drive home! Thanks Walkers & Erick for a really fun time out of the city!

Independence Day Playgroup Party

Since the 4th of July landed on Saturday we decided to have a Playgroup Party on Friday complete with American classics like hotdogs, pickles, corn on the cob, marshmallows and even apple pie!!! I had some big ideas, but the weather changed them a bit but we all had a good time nonetheless.

My attempt to keep food in one general place worked generally well... though I did find a few scattered items throughout the living room later, but I think that was probably Hunter's stash!

We had an international crowd (German, Dutch, Singaporean, Malaysian, British, Taiwanese) with a standard American menu... although I did find a Taiwanese treat in the buns I planned to use for the kids hotdogs - red bean paste!!! Looks alright!

Helena enjoyed her independence day - she sat in her seat eating corn on the cob, fruit, cheese and some bread all by herself! She's really getting into this self-feeding thing!

After everyone was filled to the brim with carrot cake, apple pie, caramel corn and fruit (this is only a few minutes after the main meal which also included healthy treats like pasta salad and pesto rice) we did make it outside for a bit of running around. It's great that we've got a playground in our complex!!!

Everyone enjoys a bit of time on the slide! Especially Helena!

Suzanne brought over their new golf set and the kids really enjoyed having a go on the putting green! I'm not sure why I haven't thought of this before, but the kids really had a blast!

Sarah was adapting her sports - she must get it from her multi-sport parents (we had met them while doing the swim a couple of weeks ago).

It was fun having Margriet & Lara back in town. They were part of the playgroup when it first started but they've been living in Singapore for a year already - time really flies! Especially when you've got children.

Siena took over my job as 'cooler' and Ashee just loved it! We have this great spritzer bottle that really provides a nice mist - just what you need when it's 35 degrees outside!!! I need to keep this baby in my stroller for everyday use... it's just trying to remember!

Toward the end of the party, Hunter was on clean-up patrol... he's the right guy for the job... he's been known to carry over 5 items at one time!! He loved having his friends over to his house again - it's been a while since the group has actually been at our place and you should've seen him jumping around as his guests entered! He's an extrovert alright!

Thanks everyone for making it such a fun day!! And thanks for all the food - I didn't have to cook for my family that night!