Papa & Nanni's Taipei Adventure

Our dear friends/parents from New Zealand spent a whole week with us here in Taipei! Talk about spoiled!!! Tony also took the week off so we all had a blast together! We showed them parts of our 'everyday life' plus threw in a few special trips for good measure. There was plenty of opportunities for rest since the kids still took naps (albeit 2-3 hours later than usual), however, there was also shopping to be done and sights to be seen so there wasn't much rest... but somehow it was still strangely relaxing just being together with people we're so familiar with. It was a wonderful week and we felt so blessed that Papa & Mama/Nanni would come all the way over here to see us! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!

- Monday -

Of course no trip with the Clarks in Taiwan would really be complete these days without a trip to the zoo... so why postpone the inevitable!? We started Papa & Nanni off with guns blazing and took them out on day 1! It turned out to be a perfect day for the zoo - a) the weather was perfect - not too hot, not too sunny, not raining - perfect! and b) there was nobody there!!!

Hunter was set on riding the train so the fake pandas weren't a consolation... he finally snapped out of it when we got to stand and watch the pandas for as long as we wanted to - unlike the previous trips where we've just been allowed to 'walk by'!

And in the end, he did get to ride the train! We like taking the train to the top of the zoo, then we walk down - conserving our energy to maximize animal observation!

He was given a cool tattoo from the train volunteer... you should've seen his face lighten up as he walked around with his favorite sleeveless muscle shirt and exposed tattoo... don't get any ideas, little man!

Non-Sleeping Beauty did not want to miss out on any of the zoo action... so I gave in and got her up... just look at that face! Poor little princess!

It worked out that we spent most of our time at the Bird Kingdom on this trip to the zoo... and funnily enough - we'd never even been there! It was awesome! There were so many cool birds in big cages, but then we went into the aviary where the birds were just flying all around our heads and walking past us!!! What a brilliant place! I'll definitely be coming back to this section!!!

Helena really enjoyed Papa... I think at this stage she'd enjoy anyone who offered her freedom from the stroller - but by the end of the week I can assure you she really did enjoy Papa!!

The funny ostrich just poked his head up to eat the leaves along the brick wall... we thought this was so cute!

We needed a group photo at the zoo, unfortunately all the hippos are out of view... I promise - it's the zoo!

We took the MRT home for their first MRT experience... we purposely sat in the front of the train so as to extend the adventure!! Papa is operating the 'joystick' to keep us on track and Hunter is blowing the train's whistle... a little imagination is all you need!

What a pleasant day out!!! We were all pooped so we came home and crashed with the kids! Come to think of it actually, only I crashed with the kids... Tony took Dave & Bev downstairs for a swim when we got home! That evening after a home cooked meal, we went for a walk to our local fruit/veggie market for some local culture! It was a great first day!!!

- Tuesday -

Since we had bigger plans for the rest of the week, I kept the kids home most of Tuesday while Tony took D&B out to do some of their shopping. We all met up again for some round the house fun and went out for a Taiwanese dinner at one of our favorite little places around the corner from our house.

Tony taught Hunter how to make a 'water bomb' using the umbrella bags. And you better believe that every time we leave the building now, Hunter grabs a bag and asks me to 'help' him fill it with water! This day was Hunter's 28th month birthday - he's almost 2 and a half!!!

The food just kept on coming! And we were impressed that Bev did so well with her chopsticks!

- Wednesday -

We split up for the morning hours - Tony & Hunter took Dave out on our new bike for an adventure ride along the riverbed, while we girls went to Helena's first modelling job! Helena did such a great job - she did everything they wanted her to do EXCEPT lay on her back - she was not about to forego a chance to crawl around and gum new toys!

This was the Chicco Peter Rabbit line for autumn/winter - she got designated for pink! Lots and lots of pink!!!

However, being the winter line - everything was long and thick and the room was neither cold nor windy so she had her own little red cheeks by about halfway through the shoot! Having Bev there was also very helpful... but let's face it, not having Hunter there was the most helpful!

- Thursday -

We did another girls/boys split for the first part of the morning. The guys rode their bikes again down to the riverbed - this time we met up at the Dajia Riverside Park for the annual Dragonboat Festival!!! And this time they took the camera along for the ride...

Dave's been breaking in Tony's new bike for us! We also just bought another baby seat -now all we need is a new helmet for Hunter and we'll be off on Clark family biking escapades! Yahoo!!!

They rode through the fruit/veggie market...

literally.

Then down along the river...

Hunter enjoyed getting off of the bike and onto a real vehicle!!!

Cecilia joined the Australian/NZ Chamber of Commerce team for this year's dragonboat races! So it was really fun that we came to cheer her on, but Tony knows half the team through work connections! Thankfully they won this race - thus the big smile!!!

Hunter LOVED watching the boats... he could hardly stand to be pulled away - which we actually had to do in the end - pull him away - to get home for a nap!

Helena thought the boats were pretty cool too!

We girls took the public transportation option... but the guys beat us home by bike!! Sweatier - but faster!

Helena was attached to the basketball... on this particular day it was all she wanted and she held on as if her life depended on it!!! Future Olympian?!?

After our lasagne dinner - we ventured back out for a quick trip to the Wufenpu clothing market not far from our place where we found great deals on children's clothing! Nanni Bev has got 8 other grandchildren so she was loving the selection and prices - most of the items we found were about $NZ5-6!!! Unheard of there!!! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to all of the kids!!!

Don't let the bag size fool you... there are heaps of little kids clothes in there! Hunter scored a new pair of shorts and a new singlet, while Helena got her first pair of shorts... all for under $NZ13! Not bad at all!!!

- Friday -

We took a car ride south of Taipei to the hot spring village of Wulai. Thankfully we got ourselves organized quickly and made it out of the house before the traffic got bad. We took a dip in the hot spring river then ate a delicious meal of local grown greens and 'wild' pork! And still managed to make it home for naptime (well, naptime at 3)!

Sweethearts

We all enjoyed the varying temperatures of the river - though I was grateful for my crocs which meant my feet didn't get burned like they usually do.

While the kids were in bed, Tony took Dave & Bev up the Taipei 101 for a bird's eye view of what they've been seeing all week... it was the best day for being up there!!!

They even got to go outside for a windy view of the city! What a stunner of a day!!!

- Saturday -

To put your mind at ease - we did have some down time during their stay... and after our pancake breakfast on Saturday morning, none of us were in a hurry to go anywhere, so while Helena had a morning sleep, we all just sorta lounged around together doing 'family stuff'. But alas, once the little girl woke up, we were off... Tony & I spent almost 3 hours choosing our family photos from our May 2nd photo shoot while the kids were well looked after!

Papa in his fashionable footwear

Nanni got more 'longstitch' done without helpful Hunter while he got distracted by his train on the window.

We took a picnic lunch to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall and had a peaceful meal by the toxic green lake!

Nanni & Papa did well with the omelette rice meals they'd discovered! From the park, Tony & I rode the bikes to the photo shop and they took the kids back home. Bev took the opportunity to check out the Memorial Hall on the way home... they're both pretty good about seizing the moment!

We then took them over to B&Q and Costco for a glimpse of consumer-driven culture and a bite to eat!

- Sunday -

The BIG EVENT... Tony & I have been training for this 3km swim and it finally arrived! We all woke up early and were on the rode by 6.10am! That took some logistically manuevering the night before, but we pulled it off!!! It was another stunning day! We arrived at Guishan beach on the east coast of Taiwan about an hour outside of Taipei... well, we and over 2,000 others!!! Papa & Nanni took great care of the kids while Tony and I participated in this 'fun swim'. When it was all over and we'd all gotten as sandy as we could, we took the scenic drive home and by-passed the traffic jams! It was a beautiful last day together!!!

We were part of a team... though we just met them on the day and really didn't even swim with them. All we really did was stand in line with them while we did our aerobic warm up led by a famous instructor in the area... I'm not joking... 2,300 adults doing aerobics on the beach at 8.30am in their full swim garb to the music of "Fame" (with a bit of a dance beat added)... it was the most memorable part of the day!!! I've got to find photos of that!!! I'll add them when I do!!!

We helped get the family set up before our little adventure began... it really helped me to relax knowing our kids were safe with Papa & Nanni!!

We did the 3km swim in about an hour & 15 minutes!! That was on par with my fastest time in the pool! We're a bit skeptical if it was truly a full 3km, but hey... it was fun and we did it!!!

Hunter doing what he sees everybody else doing in photos...

Well, so that's it... a whole week with Dave & Bev!!! We don't have pictures of everything - the helpfulness, the encouragement, the gifts they brought, the advice they gave (Tony's not getting the bike), the babysitting they did, the loving words and kind gestures - but we really appreciated having them here! We miss you already!!!

Short Lived Career

Well, I hope you enjoyed those photos from Hunter's first photo shoots... looks like they'll probably be his last! Here's the story... He had a job lined up with Elle clothing on Saturday. We suspected things weren't quite right with the little man when he cried because of the new shower head and cried for some other reason at home... but we trucked out to Neihu as a family (Tony wanted to spend the day with the kids too) hopeful that all would be fine and we'd have a 'fun' time as a family. It started out well... he put on the clothes... sat in the seat and let the women put make-up on him... let them comb his hair... even squeezed into the shoes... but once he hit the set and the flash went off - he freaked out! "Bu yao pa! Bu yao pa!" - he hid behind Tony, ran to the edge of the set, basically refused to stand where he needed to stand and got scared everytime the flash went off. We tried everything from distractions - bubbles, toys, food - to logic - "Watch Hunter, mama will stand there - you press the button to make the flash go... see it's cool"... he wanted nothing to do with it! After an hour, he wasn't getting any closer to cooperating and only more and more tired... so we had to apologize and leave. Of course, that put the agent in a lurch (she wanted us to stick around and wait it out... but Hunter doesn't work that way - neither does his daddy)... thankfully she found someone else while we had our adventure for the day walking an hour home! So... I think that's that for the little man! Helena on the other hand........

He looked so cute in his preppy little outfits - totally different from the t-shirt and sweatshorts he'd worn there!

Zoo hoo!!!

Our Playgroup decided to take a trip to the zoo this week before it gets too hot to do anything this outdoorsy. We managed to meet up for an early start at 10am so we could maximize the day - which was perfect considering the fact that by noon most of the kids were ready to sit in their strollers and just roll past the animals on the descent to the exit... I think we moms would've taken a ride too. But that is the beauty of where we live and the Taipei Zoo (and this group of friends) - we can go for as long/short as we like because it is only a 40minute MRT ride away and costs less than US$5 to enter - ZOOHOO!!! Thanks, ladies, for a fun day out!!! The kids slept like logs when we got home!

Here the clan steadies themselves for the day/hours ahead. Notice Hunter has already tucked into his lunch and Helena has already ditched her hat!!

Being the zoo veterans we are, we had a strategy for this mid-week trip. First, we took the train to the top of the zoo to work our way downhill, thereby cutting out the treacherous walk up past the African animals that we normally get stuck at because we're too tired and hot to keep going...

and though not really any of our personal favorites, we decided to hang out in the "Frog House" because a) the boys don't mind looking at lizards, tortoises and frogs; and b) it has air-conditioning. You can easily guess where our other major stop landed us... yep, the Penguins!!!

He's not aware of the air-con... thus the grizzly face!

TRAIN Crazy Boy Rides TRAINS...

On Saturday we took a trip down to Taichung to visit our friends Chris, Beth & Jonathon Steiner. We had intended to go in March but I had a bit of trouble organizing tickets and in the end decided we'd postpone... I still had trouble organizing tickets this time (how was I supposed to know they'd sell out on morning seats even a week in advance?) but we managed to make our way down there. We took the High Speed Rail down - brilliant - which took only 45minutes!!! Wow... that was great! Beth picked us up at the rail station and took us to a Folk Park in town so we could get a bit of culture and playtime. Poor little Helena was soooooooo tired but of course didn't want to miss out on anything, so Auntie Beth fed her while the other three of us went to check out some of the museum in the folk park. We went back to their place for a wonderful lunch and relaxing visit and Helena finally went to sleep... but Jonathon and our kids had opposite nap schedules which kept us close to home.

While the kids were supposedly sleeping, Chris took us over to look at the Bible/English school they've established! It is fantastic!! These guys have been working really hard to get the SYME (School of Youth Ministry in English) up and running here in Taiwan and it's all actually on... we are so excited for them and this ministry! And looking forward to hearing and seeing more of what God is doing in and through them!

It was a quick trip - by 4.30 we had to head back to the train station... this time we took the 'regular' express train which took 2 hours and 10 minutes to get us back home. Thankfully I reserved 3 seats (and even better, the man in the seat next to mine got off after the first hour)! So... our train crazy boy got his chance to ride on two trains in one day!! He was pretty stoked! And he learned a new word - TUNNEL!!!

Bright and early start to our High Speed Rail journey - 8.42am is early in the Clark household - it means we had to leave home by 8...

Helena enjoyed the blurred view... really, it was just the opportunity to stand that she appreciated!

Tony used the time to read a couple new Chinese books with Hunter (when he wasn't pushing Helena out of the way to look out the window).

Tony was giving Hunter a demo on how to make the water jump using vibrations on the bronze pot...

And of course Hunter had to give it a whirl!

We got to feed the fish while the bugs fed on our legs!!!

Hunter went easy on Tony in the traditional games.

Here's the newly fitted out chapel area of the SYME. Right now they've only got 8 students but have plans for 30 in the summer!!! This place will be filled with young people hungry to grow, learn and give!!!

And what kind of school would it be without a foosball table?

Here's the 'regular' train... with the standard outdoor platforms. Taking the HSR is really spoiling in it's ultramodern/brand new station!!!

Helena's still happy to be climbing up the chair... she hasn't really had much chance to do this at home yet... but heck, it was her 9 month birthday this day so we let her live it up!!!

And a train ride wouldn't be complete without a bien dang lunch box for dinner! We had three to share between the three of us and I'm pretty sure Hunter ate more than his third... into mine already!!!

Elements of a Typical Week

Each week is a bit different, but there are definitely some common elements that most families would recognize...

Here's our daily trip to the park (or playground) so the kids can run off some steam. It often includes Hunter finding some older kids who he desparately wants to play with but they're not quite sure they feel the same about the little kid (who's really about the same size). If they're not interested in playing with him, he'll usually decide he's interested in their toys (notice the bikes... he had a go while the kids were busy elsewhere).

Slides here are great fun and both kids really enjoy them - though we have to be careful they're not too hot...
which reminds me why we come out before 9.30am in the hotter months (should start now).

Just this week Helena took the opportunity to pull herself up the slide and up through a tunnel... she looks so proud of herself (and rightfully so)! No more sitting in the pram for this girl!!!

Hunter loves to look out our bedroom window... this particular day he decided to show Hilo his favorite vantage point.

Of course there are still trains in our everyday life!!!

Here's our local 'shui jiao' (dumpling) place... too bad it wasn't a burrito joint, but it definitely provides lunch at least once a week!

These two still like to 'wrestle' on the bed and bounce around... they get along fabulously!

I just pulled out Hunter's little activity table that has become Helena's little activity table, though you'll see Hunter is still really quite keen to play with it. I wonder if he wondered where it's been these past 6 months!?! Notice, Helena's practicing her stand!

Every week I make 2 loaves of 'South African Health Bread' courtesy of Marise... this week I got Hunter involved. He loved measuring out the flour and mixing things together. This is a good one to get his help on because it doesn't really taste that good in dough form!

We threw in a picnic at the park with friends this week, but it seems we often get a bit of lunch outside.

Of course it is fun to venture over to other parks with other people... thankfully we have a few around (parks and people). This day we had a spontaneous picnic with Suzanne & Michael and Marta & Mattheas.

Suzanne & Michael (and sometimes Siena) are staple elements in our week - we are thankful for their willingness to go and do whatever...

Now it's all about Helena starting to explore a bit more...

And we even get to meet up with daddy midday sometimes... this is the beauty of living close to Tony's work!!!

Hard-Working Kid

I can't believe it's taken me so long to post these, but here are a few scans from the catalogue jobs Hunter did back in November! These are pretty funny!

This is Tony's favorite... he loves the rolled foot!

I'm glad they paid us in cash, not clothes.

This is my favorite.

Who's this chubby toddler?!?

Hunter's Weekly Highlight

For the past 12 weeks we've attended a music class on Wednesday afternoons. This was Hunter's first 'class' with a real teacher (not me), a scheduled time and a set agenda. He LOVED it!!! I LOVED it!!! Even Helena LOVED it! In the beginning, I would have to wake him up from his nap and he'd cry most of the 7 minutes it took to walk to the class (not counting the moments when he was stuffing raisins, guava or muffins in his mouth) but as soon as we'd get to the building he'd perk up and that was the end of that! In the past month he'd wake up automatically 15 minutes before I'd have to wake him and he's yell out something about 'musi hass' upon my entering the room. During the week he'd talk about 'laoshi' when he was listening to cd's - I'm telling you, he LOVED it! Unfortunately, like they say, "all good things must come to an end" and the end of this particular class has come! Because the threat of 'swine flu' is very real here in Taiwan, the teacher and other moms decided it would be best to not even start another course until things settle down (the flu hasn't even arrived here yet and may not for another 3-6 months). This is tremendously disappointing for Hunter (for me) because as I've already mentioned - we LOVE music class!!! Thankfully I brought my camera on the last class and captured a bit of the enthusiasm!!! Thank you, Liu Laoshi for making music so much fun!!!

There were several elements to the class each week. Here's Hunter and Pae Juen waving 'ribbons' as they became leaves flying off trees (at least I think that's what they were doing).

Hunter and River were a bit rowdier than Pae Juen, but the three kids got along well and had a lot of fun jumping around together.

Each week the kids would use different instruments to repeat sounds, rhythms and beats.

The course followed a picture book about a bear's adventures with his friends, so the theme for the day would be introduced and the instruments, movements and activities followed suit.

Here they are - Hunter's first classmates! We will definitely look forward to the next class opening!