Dear Helena

On Sunday, November 2nd, Tony & I stood before our Torch Church family and made a commitment to raise Helena according to God's way, for His glory. She is a precious little girl who we pray will grow up to be a faith-filled, compassionate woman of strong character and integrity who makes a difference in her generation. Amen - let it be so!!!

Thankfully they had an English translation of the prayer...

Better to Give Than to Receive?!?

Well... if you're talking about giving my almost two-year old some sugar then YES - I'd much rather have him on the giving side, but if you want to pass along some of your sweet treats to me or Tony, then we'd be happy to receive! Friday night, our apartment complex organized a trick-or-treat event so the neighborhood kids could get their sugar highs... though we don't usually celebrate Halloween, I thought I would give out some treats to support the management's efforts for the kids. Lucky Hunter got to stay up an hour past his bedtime in order to hand out snacks and greet his neighbors. He loved seeing all the big kids come over to his house and he was a very generous little giver - one lovely lady in particular received 8 goodies from his little hands!! Good thing there weren't too many more kids coming by...

Generous Hunter, dressed in his pajamas...

Amber is a receiver... actually, she's like Hunter's self-appointed older sister... most days we see her at the playground when she comes home from kindergarten. Hunter doesn't seem to mind her bossing him around.

Ballerina Ashley is his other Australian big sister

More than meets the eye!!! The yellow transformer is our neighbor from across the hall.

We Love The ZOO

Do you even remember the last time you went to the zoo? ??? Well, the Taipei Zoo is such a great piece of greenery it makes for a wonderful walk, especially with kids... so we go as often as possible! One week we even went two times!!! Wednesday we went with a couple of friends and then Saturday as a family! How spoiled are we?!? It will be even more appealing when the weather cools down a notch!

Up close and personal with the elephants

Hunter and his buddies

Ever seen a Taiwanese Black Bear??? This is the only place I'd like to see one.

Funny flamingos

A pre-zoo joyride

They're Just So Cute

I know there are plenty of 21 month old kids who've been eating at the table for a long time by now, but our little man has just started ditching his tray at dinner time to join us at the table. It's only one meal per day to start, but it's been a pretty good start, so I've upped his booster seat to the highest level for easier reach. He's loving it!

Mike & Anne's latest gift design

Girls with mirrors... it starts pretty early, eh?

As does thumb-sucking.

For all who were wondering how Hunter is doing with a sibling... so far, so good!

What a Week, What a Day

Considering the fact that Aunt Amber went back home, Tony went back to work and it was our first week without our two most called upon play dates - Hunter, Helena & I were so busy we hardly had time to notice they were gone. Monday was spent at the Private Care Clinic (PCC) with Helena's 2 month check-up + vaccines and a whole list of frinkly ailments for Hunter... which then led to Wednesday morning at the PCC for Hunter's 'ingrown toenail repair procedure'... which led to Friday morning back at the PCC for the follow-up. Thanks to all the doctor appointments we really only had time for meals, naps and brief trips to the playground. But since the toes were feeling better and the runny nose was on hold - Hunter and I had some fun together out and about around City Hall and beyond...

The little guy bounced back pretty quickly (if not immediately) from his little procedure and was pretty much all smiles the rest of the week.

A remnant from the 'Year of the Pig' Lantern Festival, this miniature MRT train on the grass near the Taipei City Hall has often beckoned me to come have a look. This particular day we finally crossed over the grassy hedge right past the sign that my gut thinks says "Stay off grass" and "Don't touch the MRT model" in Chinese (but because I don't really read characters very well I can't guarantee it says that so we went anyway). Oh the things we do so our children can have a little fun, eh? Needless to say he loved it!!

It was Elvie's birthday so we all went to Chili's to celebrate her!!! She has been a tremendous blessing to our family and we will miss having her as part of our daily lives! And we were all blessed with a delicious meal that included a bit of indulgence - don't worry, I haven't changed our family rules yet - Hunter only got to lick the spoon as I lightly tapped the edge of the ice cream - he's still mostly sugar-free!

There's always some kind of promotion going on around here... the latest is this number from Honda - though I am not sure exactly how it all fits together with cars, motors, etc... it was fun for Hunter to get his photo taken and hear the propaganda in stereo.

Tony didn't quite make it to Chili's but Hunter & I hung out with him while he quickly ate his lunch then took turns playing around the arcade. He's already drawn to moving vehicles and any game using balls.

Aunt Amber's Visit

What a treat - my sister came for her 3rd visit to Taiwan. Though the weather was unpredictible, my two favorite guys were a little sick and two of our favorite families left the country at the same time it was a great 8 days spent kicking around town (and home) with Amber. Thanks, Jason, for sharing your wife with us - we missed you, but really enjoyed having her in our world!!! Unfortunately, our computer went down before we had a chance to transfer her photos, so some of the following entries will be a little light on images... we'll add a few when I get them from her.

Everybody's Goin' Surfin'

After a delicious buffet breakfast at the Royal Jiaoshi Spa with the Vanderspuy's (thanks, guys), we headed out to the east coast for a little fun in the sun. Well, thankfully the sun wasn't blazin' too brightly otherwise that black sand would've been unbearable! As it was, we landlubbers had a good time splashing around in the sea and managed to avoid collision with any of the novice surfers that crowded the coastline. Hunter was in his prime!!! He absolutely loved the sand and salt water.

Kristin didn't seem to feel the rush of the buffet... she savored every bite!

The place had amazing pools - too bad they don't let non-residents use it on the weekend! We'll have to go back during the week for the pool/lunch special...

Aunt Amber and happy Helena

Helena was such a thoughtful girl, she slept through the whole car ride and my whole breakfast so I actually got to enjoy my food. We sat next to the pools while I fed her... let me re-phrase that - I fed her by the pools while Tony & Amber took Hunter exploring around the grounds. Poor kid doesn't understand why he wasn't allowed to play in the pool when other people are splashing and having a good time...

Dangerous, eh? A dense population of amateur surfers could make anyone without a board or a shield shudder.

Taiwanese beaches are so un-Californian...


That's okay, Hunter doesn't know the difference and enjoyed it all the same!

Yep, he enjoyed it alright...

Wonderous Wulai

After our trip to the beach, we had the 'outing itch' (plus access to a car), so it was off to Wulai for us! We originally planned to take the cable car up past the waterfall, but it was closed so we settled for an aboriginal lunch and a dip in the hot spring river.

The roadside restaraunt had a great view and a much appreciated breeze. We feasted on wild pork, egg w/shrimp and a few local veggies... Hunter was happy - he had juice!!!

It's thermal under them there rocks - so mixed with the cold river water you get a lovely, though sometimes surprisingly too hot, personal hot spring bath.

Helena was none the wiser

Wet Tuesday

We were exhausted after all the weekend activities so Monday we took it easy... but after one day at home we were ready to hit the road again on Tuesday! What better place to wander than the Taipei Zoo!? So we packed up all our gear, got a taxi over and entered the park on a somewhat empty weekday... 20 minutes into our zoo adventures (15 of which were spent in the gift shop looking for a hat to keep the sun off of Hunter's face) the rain started...


Obviously Hunter was affected... poor guy wasn't thrilled about the prospect of sitting in his pram under cover for long... he wanted to run wild & free!!!

But there are still interesting things to look at despite the weather...

The monkeys got excited about these bananas.

Like all parents aspire to - we brought everything the kids needed for the outing - but forgot to prepare as well as for ourselves - thus the yellow 'humidity suit' we're modeling and Tony's new umbrella.

Helena's happy anywhere as long as she still gets fed... so she enjoyed lunch with the leopard.


The monkeys didn't seem to mind the rain.



Strangely we made it through the outing without any ice cream... Amber had a momentary lapse of self-control, but pulled it together in the end.


Later that evening we had a Sister Night out at the Tong Hua Night Market. I got my eyebrows "strung"... she did far more tweezing than stringing, but the result was clean & tidy eyebrows - high on the priority list...

Just Hanging Around

And of course there was a whole lot of just hangin' around together...

Amber roomed with the little man because Helena's still a bit unpredictable as to when she'll wake up (plus she makes lots of noise while sleeping). Hunter loved having someone to chat with/to in the mornings (and we loved having some time to sleep in). He even started a new trick while she was here - notice how his pj's are down to his ankles? Yes, he's finally figuered out how to undress himself... let's hope this stays inside the house for a while... I've heard of several parents chasing around half dressed toddlers in public... Hunter already gets enough attention around here!!!