Remembering Until now

Chinese New Year and stuff

2012-01-29T23:02:00.001+08:00

Last week was Chinese New Year and we were invited to spend the New Year's Eve with Andre and his family. The kids were super excited as they love spending time with him and his mom had bought them each beautiful Chinese jackets which are reversible...i loved the red and pink sides but the kids loved the gold as they were apparently the king and queen for the night:) We had a delicious hotpot meal and the kids got spoilt rotten with red envelopes(hong bau) which they went shopping with the next day. Maya was not too impressed when it came time to leave though...just ten more minutes...just ten more minutes....

The Art museum has a special Astro boy exhibition on which has some great original works and displays. of course Dylan loved the exhibition and although she is a big fan of the movie Maya was a bit scared to go in..although once in she was fine albeit reluctant to admit it that she was fine:)

And with the Chinese New Year dragon...Maya does not like people in costumes like this and the girl above:)

Elsewhere in the Art museum you can walk over this projection and drag colour to paint the picture which refreshes every few minutes with a clean picture...kids loved it.

Naussica and Ciro napping at home:)

Maya went around the house taking hundreds of pictures the other day (literally hundreds) this was one of the better ones..a self portrait:)

Ciro and Dylan playing Super Mario brothers with some feline assistance.

Lantern festival is coming up so they are busy constructing all the displays at Wen shin park. We went for a walk around but will return when it is all done and lit up.

At the Science museum Dylan wanted a family pic taken but Maya was a bit nervous to get close to the dino.

The kids are super proud of the tulip that they grew from a bulb!!

Maya's birthday

2012-01-21T17:19:00.003+08:00

Maya had an extended birthday. It started last weekend where we went to the new department store and she chose what she wanted for her birthday.

Playing with her Sylvanian families restaurant.

Dylan pulling funny faces.

Dylan's portrait of me.

Dylan was so excited about Maya's birthday, barely awake he leapt out of bed and ran to give her the card he had written for her:)

She wanted a heart cake so that is what she got. Pink icing made with natural colouring...strawberries:)

At school.

We had a long day at school because of making up time before the holiday so we went off to starbucks for the lunch break.

Election fever

2012-01-21T17:00:00.003+08:00

The weekend before the elections there was a big parade that went right past our house. Fireworks, drums, large balloons and the works. So we went down to have a look..on our way to the park and the kids were all excited to see the dragons and they wanted to join in. They were given so much paraphernalia including a noise maker which we thankfully were able to give back to one of the supporters.

Ciro was fondly remembering the orange cake his mom used to make.We made an attempt....this is before it had the yummy syrupy sauce poured all over it.

It's a new year!!

2012-01-08T12:12:00.002+08:00

A new year. Lots going on, coming up to the end of the semester so very busy. Looking forward to the 20th when it is our Chinese New Year holiday. It has got quite cold over the last week or so but nice and sunny on the weekends so lots of outdoor goings on. Here are some pics from first days of 2012.

I heard Maya chatting about her 'make up' bag and she knows she is not allowed to use it without me...so i quickly went to see what she was up to....seems she got her brother to assist while I was cooking.

Princess Maya:))

At the Science museum (again)we love going there. Dylan in the jersey and hat i made him:)

Playing at the school across the street.

Naussica has learnt that blankets are a good thing:))

We went on a field trip with the school to the Earthquake museum..i'll get more pics from that up soon. Great fun!!

Yesterday we were going to go to play at the school again but they were spraying for bugs so we went to the high school...found they have soccer nets. Loads of fun!

Maya the little track runner went round two and a half times!!

Christmas fun!!!

2011-12-29T11:23:00.004+08:00

We had a fantastic Christmas this year..it certainly helped that it was on the weekend and so we did not have to rush things (it is not actually a holiday in Taiwan) On the Friday we had a Christmas party at school. The kids made cookies and Santa arrived.

Maya wanted 'Princess Leia' hair for the occasion...my attempt:)

The kids made cookies and then watched a Christmas short while waiting for them to bake. I decided to make an extra batch for teachers so the other teachers joined in.

Amanda making her first ever batch of cookies.

Santa arrived and at first Maya was very apprehensive..then warmed up when the gifts came out.

Dylan was super excited about Santa and loved the giant bubbles!!

Saturday morning amongst all the other prep things on the list we had to go and use our giant bubbles:)

I caught a little elf nibbling on the finished cake:)

After dinner we played some games..Paul lent us his PS3 for the season....super fun games:)

Time for bed but first cookies and 'dwo dwo' (yoghurt drink) for Santa. (figured after all he's eating on his journey he could do with some probiotic)

WAKE UP it's Christmas!!!!!! First thing Dylan checked was if Santa ate his cookies.

Santa was very nice to us this year:) Later on in the day Andre came and Santa had left him something under the tree too. The kids had fun playing and then it was all over.

I took these two pics yesterday Maya in a dress her friend Dora gave her and Dylan in the sweater i made him.

Almost Christmas

2011-12-18T23:16:00.003+08:00

Almost Christmas and the kids are getting super excited. Looks like we are going to have a chilly Christmas. Here are some piccs from the past few weeks.

Playing around at the park......

The kids wrote their letters to Santa so walked down to the post office and sent them off...very excited and counting down the days to Christmas.

The Christmas tree is up downstairs in our building's garden.... blurry pic but u get the idea:)

We went on a field trip to the Science museum witht he school...was a perfect day, hardly anyone there....a rare thing:) We went to the interactive science side so lots of touchingandpressing buttons.

Maya and Angel in the bubble maker.

Dylan's turn...

After the trip we went for lunch and Maya loves the dog at the restaurant.

We went to the museum gardens today and as we drove by we passed Santa crossing the street...the kids were so excited. We cameacross him outside the museum....happiness:))

Running from the dinosaurs:)

Playing around in the car:)

See-sawing at the park.

Christmas tree is up!!!

2011-12-03T13:14:00.001+08:00

Dylan and Maya's friend Andre came round last weekend to help put upthe Christmas tree and his mom brought along pressies...super excited kids.....roll on Christmas!!!

Lights on...goodjob everyone! Now onto playing Super Mario Kart.

Belated Birthday and stuff

2011-12-03T12:56:00.001+08:00

I have not had a chance to update for a whle. It was my birthday last month and we made a weekend of it. That included a quick day trip upto the zoo. Lots of fun and i was spoilt rotten:))
Some pics from the past month follow....
Maya posing in her new dress:)

Naussica has fitted right in adn the kids love having a pet. She is pretty patient with them adn lets them carry her all over the place. In the absence of any mice in the house she has resorted to catching Mickey!!

On our way and at birthday lunch.

At the science museum we were accosted by a group of students dressed in costumes. They were going around talking to people and asking them something. The kids wanted a picture with Stitch and when i asked they quickly (couldn't believe their luck) explianed they had to take a picture jumping in the air with people...so Ciro and the kids joined in...the shot i took was too dark but you get the idea.

At the zoo..Maya and her rabbit hat.

Playing around at home:)

Birthday cake:)

Cooler days

2011-11-10T09:50:00.001+08:00

The weather is slowly (perhaps too slowly) becoming cooler. We went up to Metropolitan park to fly kites....the kids love the park and it was a fairly windy day so they could even fly the kites themselves:)

There was a little toddler who was completely enthralled with our kite. Maya was just as fascinated with him:)

With winter coming I finally got around to knitting..which i thoroughly enjoyed and with the left over wool i made Maya a hat..she wanted one for her dolls too..so here they are:)

Last night we went to Mitsukoshi where they had an exhibition of toys. Dylan was in love with the iron man toys. There were some amazing figurines!! Maya enjoyed the smaller figurines but went running from the bigger ones:)

Part 2

2011-11-10T08:59:00.002+08:00

Informal photos 1

2011-11-09T22:57:00.003+08:00

Two weeks ago Amanda arranged for her friend who is interested in photography to take some informal pics for us. It is rare to get pics of all four of us. He basically just followed us around while the kids played in the CMP block area near Parklane department store. Below are some of the pics where he played with the colour. I will put up another post with more of the pics:)

Halloween and field trip

2011-11-02T10:53:00.001+08:00

Halloween and a field trip in one week...crazy busy week. Dylan and Maya were very definite in what they wanted to dress up as for Halloween... Optimus Prime and a fairy princess. Their friend Andre dressed up as Bumblebee so Dylan and he made a good transformer duo.

There was a dress up competition. Dylan did his best robot impersonation. He won a prize and was so happy with it. Maya also enjoyed "flying" like a fairy:))

Maya got hold of my pirate accessories and gave it her best "ARRRRR"

Yesterday we went to the Children's Art museum in Dali for a field trip. Fun was had by all!!!

Maya the little pumpkin in the dress up corner.

Dylan running the kitchen in the mock restaurant.

Dylan and Andre performing a duet

October fun

2011-11-02T10:53:00.000+08:00

We went for lunch with Andre and his mom. Dylan LOVED the ipad:))

Digging in the toy bag

There is a steak restaurant nearby that we walked past that has this macabre sort of display. A cow sitting to eat a steak...hmm...no comment.

It was the jazz festival this month and we managed to make it there both weekends. The location was slightly different situated in the cmp block on a grassy patch. The start of the first day was quite quiet in a sense of people but the group performing was good. On the second weekend we went to see a latin band perform They were really good and even managed to get people up dancing. Behind us i heard a young girl talking about asking us if they could take our picture but she never did ...too shy. I knew she had taken a few pictures so..my new strategy is..as this happens a lot here....ask them to send the pictures to me:)) When i initially asked she looked terrified. Perhaps starting the sentence with "Were you taking pictures of us? made her nervous:)))). She sent them to me and there were some nice shots.

Naussica has settled right in. She now sleeps with the kids or us...depending and when i start getting ready to go to bed she quickly follows along

We went to the science museum botanical garden...hadn't been there in a while. Always a fun time.

Naussica

2011-10-14T23:26:00.001+08:00

So for a while now we have been thinking about getting a pet and as Ciro and i both love cats it was definitely going to be a cat/ kitten. I follow a site on facebook that does rescues and adoptions in Taichung and someone posted a link with three kittens they had rescued. Turns out they were locked in an abandoned restaurant and they managed to get them out. All three are so cute , quite wild but so cute! The one little one has a damaged foot...perhaps from a trap or something like that..the end of one of her hind paws is gone. We went round to see the kittens and they were a bit freaked out with all of us in the room. Jennifer, the woman who rescued them, had named them and the one she named Gululu was the one that seemed most approachable. Ciro and her had a moment where she wanted to bite his finger and he told her she could ...just like in one of our favourite movies Naussica....so we ended up taking her and renaming her Naussica:)

The kids fell in love immediately and she has tamed so quickly. She was already used to using a sandbox (thank you Jennifer) and within two days the kids could carry her and hold her. She purrs like an engine as soon as you pick her up and loves to play. Maya has made me take a picture with her everyday to show her classmates and Dylan drew a picture of her when he had to draw a picture of a land animal:)

This is the picture Jennifer sent me at first. She is about 3/4 months old.

Happy kids!!!

Ciro's birthday weekend

2011-10-03T11:23:00.002+08:00

It was Ciro's birthday on Saturday so we decided to head out to the Formosan Aboriginal village near Sun moon lake. We have not been there for a couple of years. It was a fantastic day. The kids loved the rides. Maya has no fear!!! We went on the cable car ride over to Sun Moon Lake. Stunning views.

At the indoor rides section.

On to the mine "log" ride. Maya was just too short to go and cried buckets while Ciro and Dylan went but then they said she could go and Ciro having been already felt it was okay...prof pics will follow. Of course i am usually terrified of those kind of rides and had to go so that both kids had someone with them...why do i have such a brave 3 year old:))

Dylan loves the Japanese characters from One piece so the fact that they have a huge display area etc at teh park made his day!!

The cable car ride was another highlight. Once again i had to face a fear:) Ciro proposed to me on a cable car and so with it having just been our tenth wedding anniversary we thought it a fitting place. It was not as bad as i thought it would be though. certainly not the cable car at Hartebeespoort dam.

Ciro got a birthday phone call from his brother Alex while up at the top.

More One piece stuff and the "Caribbean splash" ride. Dylan could go and wanted to go. Maya couldn't go and WANTED to go. I spent the whole time they were on the ride with a little girl crying her heart on and shouting "I want to grow taller now!!!"

All tired out...hometime!!!

On Sunday it was lunch out and birthday cake.

Autumn/ Fall.....kinda

2011-09-26T23:06:00.002+08:00

It's Autumn...or is it. To our dismay they closed the pool at our building at the end of July...when it is still 30 degrees out...no lifeguards available ...aargh!!! The weather has cooled off a little though over the last few weeks and so we headed off to the flying cow ranch to do the usual feeding of goats, rabbits et al and riding the pony. Maya was a lot more settled this time...considering it is only the second time she has been on a horse since she was thrown off...she did so well!!

Giant spider

Our school went on a little field trip to the paper place up near Metropolitan park. Everything there is made of paper....they also have a lot of honey paraphernalia....the kids had fun and got to do a DIY money box.

Cheers

And then for something completely different. I turned around int eh car to find my kids had been replaces by Spongebob and Doraemon. The two of them thought themselves quite hilarious...the kids that is.

Pretty as a picture:))

A photo catch up.

2011-09-06T22:26:00.000+08:00

After a lovely holiday we have been back at work for a few weeks and it has been a crazy, busy couple of weeks. It is moon festival this weekend and that should indicate the beginning of autumn....there has been a feel in the air that it is on its way. It really is the best time of year in Taiwan. Both kids are doing very well! They are even starting to gang upon us sometimes:)) Our building closed the swimming pool (ALREADY!!!!) so they will miss that. They have enjoyed the swimming so much this year...

We went to see Cars two..unfortunately they only had the English version in 3D. I say unfortunately because the glasses are quite big and don't fit Maya well..she spent most of the movie with them off...but Dylan loved it and keeps trying to get us to go again:)

It is Pomelo season here...and of course what is pomelo season without using the peel as a hat.

One of their favourite games is to run around covered in their sheets as ghosts....which then turns into a chasing game followed by a tickle game:))

Picture posing at the science museum park.

At least once on the weekend we head over to the nearby elementary school ..which is open for people to use to exercise, play basketball etc... Here are the boys running the track:)

In the playground area ..Maya made a little friend. They were inseparable.

2011-09-03T10:06:00.000+08:00

I put this on fbook but it was a bit big..hope grannies can see it here:))

Maya sings arcade fire from Heather Correia on Vimeo.

Taipei trip

2011-08-13T10:24:00.015+08:00

So our holiday is winding down. We have been wanting to get up to Taipei and take the kids to the zoo for a while so we went up last Wednesday. What a great time to go to the zoo...hardly anyone there!!! People queued up for hours to see the Pandas when they first got here and on the weekends it has always been busy but we just went through nice and easy:))

Maya insisted she needed a stroller...big brother lent a hand

Dylan loved the flamingos

The three loves of my life:))

The water buffalo in the petting zoo took a liking to Ciro...it was across the paddock and he said "lai lai lai"" ("Come" in Chinese) it came walking over and then when Ciro scratched it on the back it moved around to make sure he got to where it was itchy. The buffalo looked most forlorn when we left and watched us for a while.My husband...the buffalo whisperer:)

Dylan loved the petting zoo part, took a liking to the pigs. Maya was not so sure about the zoo at this stage..a little nervous.

Inside the Panda enclosure with Panda in the background.

Dylan called Maya and myself onto the suspension bridge so he could bounce us.

This is the first time we have seen the Tiger so nicely..probably as there were no crowds of people he was out and about enjoying the quiet.

The Hippos were putting on quite a show:))

We went to 101 and this time we went up to the top. Ciro went up when the family was here but i was pregnant so did not go, neither did Dylan...so we all went up. Being that i am scared of heights I was super nervous but it ended up not being as bad as I thought it would be.

Happy with our purchases.

The outdoor viewing deck is on the 91st floor.

When people ask if they can take a pic with the kids I always let the kids decide. Maya always says yes, Dylan sometimes does but sometimes opts out....here is Maya with the lady who helped us take the pic above.

Playing with the interactive map.

The view from the top.

The massive wind damper which basically holds the whole structure steady.

At the children's rec area..our favourite place in Taipei which was closed for a while but thanks tot he floral expo it seems to have got new life.

Inside the Science hall

At the playground

On the merry go round....just before the rainstorm!!!

At the astronomical museum which has upgraded a bit since we were last there. It is great to see that during the summer vacation all the museums etc are free for kids under 12 . A really great idea to encourage parents to take their kids to these places!

Getting ready for the space ride. At the children's rec science hall Maya was busy elsewhere when Dylan and i went on the ride and the woman gave him another turn when Maya went. Then on this space ride when it was coming to the end they informed Ciro that the pod had not been working correctly so he and D could go again. Dylan's lucky day for rides:))

Just after getting back from Taipei Dylan's second tooth was so loose, he let me pull it. The tooth fairy delivered the next morning.

Fun today

2011-08-09T16:52:00.002+08:00

This is from our walk the other morning...the kids getting sunglasses on.

Maya looking a little Minnie like.

It was father's day in Taiwan yesterday. Happy father's day Ciro!!!

We drove out tot he Taichung Children's Art Museum in Dali today. We have been meaning to get there for a while but always think it will be crazy busy on the weekends so today was the perfect day.
On the way there we passed the hospital where both kids were born...*memory lane*

First up was the Alice in Wonderland room....lots of fun.

The over sized table was in a tiny little room

In another of the rooms was a restaurant and cooking station...Dylan and Maya love playing as chefs so they served us up some lunch:))

The reading room had a replica of Van Gogh's room in it.

Then onto the musical instruments room...lots of fun was had there!! The place was so empty today that most rooms we had all to ourselves.

Back in Taichung we stopped to have a look at the giant stitch...turns out it is a photo studio.

On the way back we passed what i initially thought was a wedding photo shoot but later decided it must be a model's photo shoot. They asked if they could take some pics with Maya...when i asked her she agreed. Here she is with the model.

Summer vacation part 1

2011-08-08T10:41:00.014+08:00

We are off school for two and a bit weeks. It has been a very laid back holiday for the most part. We did manage to go down to Kenting for three days last week and we are hoping to get to Taipei this week.
Here is a pic of the kindergarten at school.

Maya insisted on having a pony tail on the top of her head..her hair is still a bit short to do that but she was happy with the result:)

On the way down to Kenting we stopped at Baisa beach just before getting to actual Kenting. I read about it on a blog and we thought we would check it out as it was a little out of the major tourist area. Great place. We decided it was worth driving out to on the second day too.

The little road down to the beach

We stopped at the lookout point along the winding road from Baisa to Kenting.

Doctor and patient in the hotel.

Very serious evaluation of the new transformer cards.

We LOVE this hotel for the kids pool..i know i have posted pics of it before. The kids have such a blast there...okay so do the parents:))

We stopped for dinner at a little bistro and Maya was insisting that she wanted clams..she always seems to insist on clams down at the sea. This dish combined her two favourite things clams and spaghetti....the before

and the after....Ciro had to help (not that she wanted him to but that would have been way too much for her....she did not think so though.

On the beach across from the hotel after an early dinner. Ciro and Dylan were off paddling while Maya was building.

At the aquarium

And more beach...

Sunset on the way back to Kenting.

Early morning examination of the previous days shell collection.

We got up early to hit the beach before the heat..hardly anyone there.

Coming out of the water spa at the hotel...time to go home.

Maya's nursery rhymes

2011-07-17T23:08:00.000+08:00

Untitled from Heather Correia on Vimeo.

Bits from the last couple of weeks.

2011-07-17T22:39:00.008+08:00

So the pool is open and our two little fish Dylan and Maya are super happy. They would rather swim than do anything else. More swimming pics to follow.

Even when the pool is not open Maya loves her tubes.

WARNING: The image below may offend sensitive viewers:)))))

I just had to put this one here to record the crazy accident. I ran onto the balcony and did not see the bag of trash on the floor...a wooden disposable chopstick cut through the bottom of my foot. 7 stitches later.... I have since had the stitches out and it is healing nicely although slowly being that it is the bottom of my foot and i still walk about:))

Below are Maya's portraits of Ciro, Dylan and myself. Pretty cool for a little three year old:))

Princess Maya having a snack before "helping" with the dishes:))

Fooling about at *bux

All ready for the pool again!!

Maya got this new dress and couldn't wait to have her pic taken in it.

Some extra pics from the graduation practices.

A few weeks ago the kindergarten went to the science museum and I tagged along. Here is Maya and her friend Dora. She loves Dora to pieces.

They're checking out the croc..

And Dylan and Ricky checking out the video display.

Maya and Dora leading the pack with Dylan in the middle there.

Group shot.

Oh yes and let us not forget that the Mayor declared a Lady Gaga day when the singer was in town. This is where it was all going to happen. We drove past in the morning but stayed far away for the rest of the time. Apparently 40 000 people were on the outside of the stadium while the 4000 inside saw the show.

2011-06-27T22:52:00.001+08:00

Maya in the frog dance from Heather Correia on Vimeo.

A student helped me video so at times Maya is off camera to the left..will try get another version of the video:)

Where did June go?

2011-06-27T22:24:00.007+08:00

June has been a hectic month. Kids moved schools and are now both at our school. I have had a crazy schedule for the month which has in turn affected the whole fam's schedule as i have had to work mornings so some days have been 11 hour work days!!! I was squashing my curriculum as a bunch of my students will be going on a camp overseas and so we had to finish their semester a month early..it does mean that i have less classes in July though and shorter days! Mid month we decided that we needed a breakaway at the sea so we headed down to Kenting for a break!! So nice , sun, sea and sand always rejuvenates!
Here are some pics from the month:

I am usually behind the camera but Maya took this shot:)

The two little monkeys hijacked the foot spa.

Maya at the Science museum.

There was an exhibit about sleep...thought it was funny some people took things literally and stopped in for a nap.

Dylan in the grounds of Hui wen school. The school is open for people to go and exercise, run around in.

From our room in Kenting.

Maya loves the clams they make there.

Family shot on the balcony.

The kids love the pool at the hotel...it really is the perfects depth for them.

Dylan edging Ciro under the dunking bucket..with a board to protect himself....

..and the dunk.

It was Plato's graduation this weekend and Maya joined in as a frog. Dylan had practiced to take part too but backed out when he saw the costumes and instead danced it off stage.

Big news...June 21st Dylan lost his first tooth!!!! It has been wiggling for ages and finally he pulled it out himself. He has not wanted me to take a picture of it so i finally sneaked this one:)

Today.. out and about

2011-05-22T16:33:00.004+08:00

The weather has been hot and sunny this weekend so we got in a lot of park time.

More bubble gun fun at the botanical gardens.

Moments after this shot they collided into each other...

Inside the science museum activity center.

Kenting breakaway

2011-05-22T16:05:00.010+08:00

Last weekend, late Friday night we made a spur of the moment decision to go down to Kenting for the weekend. Weather was gorgeous, hotel was great and the kids had an amazing time! Will definitely do that again soon.

Completely covered in sand!!

More burying.

The water was like a big swimming pool...really hardly moved.

Flopping down on the bed after check in.

The hotel had the most amazing kids pool especially for our aged kids..the water was shallow enough for Maya to walk and there were slides and sprayers...lots of fun.

Dylan and Ciro going down the bigger slide...Dylan roped me into going with him...I remember now that I do not like those slides..half way down it all came back to me ...yikes! Luckily I didn't give Ciro the camera:)

Always thing of my granny when i see Frangipani flowers.

Sunday in the ocean again.

Dylan giving Ciro a massage at lunch.

Nothing like ice on a hot day.

At the aquarium on the way home.

On the road just outside Kaoshiung.

May stuff

2011-05-11T11:30:00.007+08:00

It has been a while..so here is a catch up. At the beginning of the month we all had a bit of a cold and Maya had a stomach bug. All recovered quickly. Was the first time in ages that the kids were sick...glad its over:)
Dylan(pumpkin) and Maya (ice cream) made these one rainy day.

Dylan loves painting and i love the masks etc that i can get at the bookshop...always good for rainy days.

Crazy pic...Maya as seen through her kaleidoscope viewer.

Asleep while on the "phone", can't have been a riveting conversation.

Playing with mom.

Their school sent home flowers with pics for mother's day.

Maya had her first professional haircut..she was quite excited about it and very happy with the result.:)

The weather is heating up so early morning and late afternoon is the best time to be out in the parks.

On mother's day we went to the Science museum park and the kids got bubble guns...great fun was had.

April bits and pieces

2011-04-16T19:25:00.005+08:00

On the slide downstairs the two of them have a great time. Dylan loves waiting for Maya to catch her at the bottom of the slide.

Maya LOVES the movie "Despicable me" The little girl wears her hair in a ponytail up on her head so Maya wanted to try it..the results:)

We went to another garden/restaurant/take photos area in Daken last weekend...Beautiful weather that day.

Portrait of mommy and daddy by Maya:)

And..some more photo ops

The company Maya modeled for when she was a baby did a new pamphlet for mother's day...using an old pic of her:)

Chunghua and Daken onthe long weekend

2011-04-16T19:02:00.011+08:00

We had a four day weekend at the beginning of the month (a very rare thing here) So we went did some kite flying at the metropolitan park, visited the Giant Budda and the old airplane in Changhua and did a trip into the mountains. The thing about that weekend was that it started out nice and warm but the last two days we were really cold again. You can see by the pics literally one day in T-shirts and the next in heavy jackets!

The kite flyers...

There is a really nice area near the Park Lane shopping center with some art exhibits up at times..they have a great hill for rolling on (have posted about ti before) The kids love it and the locals think we are a bit nuts i think letting them roll all over the place:)))

At Sbucks:)..the one with the park:)

In Daken at a little restaurant/ garden/ lake area.Notice umbrellas...drizzling and cold when we arrived.

Maya with a group who asked to take a pic with her. I let the kids say whether they mind or not...Maya actually loves it:))

Posing:)

Maya with some cosmos..i think :)

Inside the airplane on Bagua mountain.

April soccer, science museum

2011-04-16T18:54:00.005+08:00

Last weekend and this, the weather warmed up so we spent a lot of time at the Science museum park playing soccer...great fun.

And of course the ball ended up in the tree..Daddy and Maya pondering how to get it down:)

Hat in mid air being flung my way.

Inside the museum with the microscopes.

March doings...

2011-03-27T15:18:00.010+08:00

A catch up of what we have been up to over the past few weeks. Everyone had mild colds...snivels etc but came out of it quiet fast. The weather here has been so strange....18 degrees today...was 30 two weeks ago and it is raining..cold and wet outside!!! In March!!

We went to the kids recreation center a few weeks ago...the kids love the place and they have converted one of the play room areas into a great little library/reading room.

In mom's headband

Outside the Science museum after another great time inside and some toy purchases.

Maya saw this skirt and had to have it..she then paired it with her ballet slippers (no she doesn't do ballet but she was given the shoes:) She loves to dance like the girls in "Despicable me"

We went to see Rango..Kids loved it although a little scary at times...Maya, "Rango scared me" and in the same breath "I Love Rango"

Last weekend we went to Flying Cow ranch..it was a perfect day to go, in part because i think most people thought it was not a good day to go:)) The weather was overcast and quite cool...hardly any people there...Beautiful place and the kids love the animals. Very proud of Maya..she got back on the horse..first time on a pony since the fall. She was a bit nervous and the lady suggested Dylan ride with her. She was fine for two rounds and on the third she had had enough but she got on!!

At the park..

Dylan's self portrait in mom's specs.

Maya the adventurer..all ready to go across on the bars..thankfully waited for daddy to give a hand.

As soon as Maya heard it was raining today she wanted her raincoat on....

At Starbucks this morning for coffee and pop pops.

Pre-birthday Birthday

2011-02-27T22:41:00.006+08:00

It is Dylan's birthday on Thursday but we decided to celebrate this weekend and until Thursday.. everyone should have a birthday week after all:)) We went pressie shopping at Mitsukoshi and let him open one while we had lunch there...of course Maya got a little something too.

At home Maya gave him his other pressie...excitement all round as it was a train yard that he could connect to his Cranky crane.

Today we went to the park..a beautiful day with very spring-y weather. They love the swings and today Dylan wanted to help push Maya which she loved too.

Kisses for the birthday boy...

Pablo from Backyardigans dug up our cake in search of treasure ;)

He'll be taking goodies to school etc on Thursday so I'll put up some pics then.

Bits and Pieces

2011-02-27T22:28:00.005+08:00

These are pics from the last couple of weeks. One of our favourite places to go is the science museum and Dylan loves the dinosaur section...Maya says she loves it then nervously watches the large mechanical dino from a distance..

Maya and her doll Annie....she came along for the ride that day.

At our staff lunch with Kelly and her daughters.

We were having lunch when Maya insisted on using her chopsticks and she did quite well with them too:))

At the park on Dongxing road..

Ciro and Maya's Eskimo kisses.

In Costco Dylan insisted on buying me flowers...so cute!! ( gets it from his dad:))

P.S...more from the seaside

2011-02-27T17:19:00.005+08:00

Finally got round to getting pics off the video cam... used it a bit more at the beach after losing one camera to sea sand grit....so here are some of the pics.
First thing in the morning...Maya

And Dylan...

New beach toys...

Maya on one of her many walks to collect water.

First play on the beach in Kenting.

Maya was nervous at first but then loved being in the sea.

More vacation

2011-02-17T22:21:00.011+08:00

We have been back at school for a week and i have just not managed to upload anything so here goes...the rest of the holiday.
Around the actual dates of Chinese New Year we did not travel out of Taichung...the rest of the country is up and down the highways at that time) so instead we were around the place and we got a wii.....Family Chinese new year gift :))

Messing around at the Art museum.

Wiiiiiiiiii

The kids got red envelopes(Chinese New Year tradition..red envelopes with money in them)...which they went right out and spent:)

Playing around at the Wen-xin park.

Just a funny pic..got a fright when we turned round quickly...:))

In the second week we went away. We drove round to Taidong for two nights and then back to Kenting for two nights. The weather was great and we had beautiful days on the beach in Kenting. Got cold the morning we were leaving so headed to the aquarium and back. Great to get away and really good to see a part of the island we have not seen. Taidong is always battered by the typhoons and the last big one battered a lot of the city..the tourist industry is suffering but the coastline is beautiful and well worth seeing. Hope things pick up for the locals again!

Sunglasses on and ready to go....

Along the east coast..

Taidong seashore park. (Maya's hat awol so wearing mom's.)

Posing in the car....

...and refusing to pose in the car:)) "I'm busy!"

At the Taidong railway art park...this is the oldest train (turntable ) station in taiwan.

At xiaoyeliou. We went to Yeliou with Peggy and Vincent when mom was here a few years ago. This is the small version...where the rocks have formed weird shapes like mushrooms etc due to erosion.

Then in Kenting. I have a bunch of pics on the video camera still so will post later ( was reluctant to use the camera as my last camera died because of beach sand:) IT was hot and the water was nice, a beautiful time!!

Late afternoon rock pooling...

Last play on the beach....

Arcade fun.

At the aquarium. It was so windy Maya was struggling to walk...which she thought was hysterically funny.

On the way home..with Annie the doll.

Missy with her Minnie mouse bow:))

Yuku fun at the start of vacation

2011-01-29T16:13:00.005+08:00

Chinese New Year this week so we have some time off..finally!! Went to Yuku play space this morning..have not been there for ages!!

Was my mom's birthday last Wednesday..Dylan made her a play doh cake...she couldn't skype so only got to hear about it on the phone... here is the cake that he made mom :))