Taipei

We got back from Taipei yesterday. Just went up for two nights. On Monday we got there in the afternoon and were going to check out the Taipei Children's recreational center only to find that , like most things in taipei on mondays, it was closed! So headed for the old favourite ...the zoo. Dylan loved running around and at least it was fairly empty so we could ride on the "train" and he had plenty of space to run. We did get to the rec center on Tuesday though, which was GREAT!! It covers a huge area. There is a cultural centre which consists of old houses set up to show case the way life was in old taiwan , there is a science center (which we left out, looked a bit advanced for Dylan) and then the amusement park (which is all Dylan cared about). There were a few rides for little ones and then about three or four different play areas with slides and swings etc... there was a larger selection of rides for older kids too. Dylan did his usual shaking with excitement at all that lay before him when we came down the hill towards this section. Needless to say we had a lot of fun and he was tired out enough that we managed to walk through the fine art museum with a fairly contented tod. Later that night we met Peggy and Vincent in Shilin for dinner and as we were leaving saw one of the jumping, barking dogs (like Ivo's) couldn't get passed it, he had to have one. A good time was had by all. I think that i am catching up on the sleep i have lost over the past semester, passed out with Dylan last night and have been struggling to wake up and get going today, one of those days where you wake up and start counting the time till naptime and then till bedtime!This too shall pass.On the rides at the Taipei kids rec center.


Running in the park close to Zhongshan market.

At the Art museum, they had a room set up with felt walls and lots of these purple feet (big and small)that you could use to create pictures. Dylan got the idea at first but then decided it was more fun to empty the whole box on the floor!



With Peggy and Vincent after a very long day. With the VERY noisy puppy!

At the zoo, there was a cat in the area between the zebras and giraffes, seemed to be quiet at home there, so strange. Bought ice creams, Dylan wanted to eat the cone before the ice cream...the law of gravity intervened.

Mummy really likes ice cream.

Dylan was born in the year of the rooster!

Time to go home.

New camera..

Pics of Dylan , Ivo, Sandy and Gail in the yu ku island at Carrefore

Finally went and got my new camera today! Hoping to post lots more pics now --once i have read the manual of course.. After we got the camera, we met Sandy, Gail and Ivo at the play area in Carrefour (hyperrmarket )the boys ran around and had loads of fun playing which meant Dylan passed out nicely while we did some shopping. Sandy is due any day now, we are all eagerly waiting for baby Burl to make his appearance.

On the home front, forgot to mention last time. Ciro is now oficially a European citizen, very excited about the news and we can now begin to process the paperwork for his passport. We are heading up to Taipei for two days tomorrow looking forward to this break.

I was playing around with some of the software that came with the cam. Dylan in "oil "

Winter Vacation starts

Finally!! winter vacation has begun and as i say this we are all sitting around in T-shirts in a sweltering 27 degrees....so much for winter. Murphy's law i finally get zips put in to the sweaters i made Ciro and Dylan and the weather turns cold. This morning we had a very slow start to the day as i had to go into work , but only for a few hours in the afternoon, so we went to the park by the temple. They were rehearsing for a puppet show which held Dylan's attention for a little bit then all he wanted to do was climb up the very big slide!!!

He is teething again. So biting into everything he can get his hands on or should i say anyone. We all went on an outing to the Earthquake museum on Wednesday, fascinating place documents the big "921" quake. It is built on the site of an old school that was on the fault line. The sports field is raised 2m along the line. Dylan had loads of fun with the bigger kids and when we got back to school he was playing with them all ..big and small. In fact he wrestled a 7 year old to the ground for a soccer ball...oh dear!!

A hectic week

It has been a crazy week. I worked all day and so Dylan went to the babysitter and his schedule was all confused. Consequently he slept most of the morning away today, because there was no need to jump out of bed and do anything.This coming week is better and then our vacation starts on Friday..yay! Good news from the family back home. My brother got a new job so things are looking up for them! Congrats Ian.
I am posting some pics i got from Sandy from Dec and Jan. Dylan and Ivo really enjoy playing (co exisitng ) and it seems especially if we stay on the sidelines. Ivo's little brother Burl is due any day now , hopefully in the vacation.

Dylan loves this barking jumping dog at Ivo's house!!

Having a chat over some juice when Sandy and Ivo came to spend time with Dylan. Ciro and I had to be at school so Sandy very kindly offered to babysit! We are so lucky to such great friends! Will really miss them if/when they move back home.

Art museum

We had our staff dinner last night at a Japanese barbeque restaurant, Dylan still doesn't seem too keen on meat but loved the rice/seaweed porridge! We have had a lot of meetings recently and next week is going to be really busy so we tried to get out for some relax time today. Went to the art museum because Dylan loves running on the grass there and there is a really cool play area inside for the kids. Only problem is he likes to destroy the pebble displays in the museum. Amused the locals running around and jumping in puddles , in winter!!! Still after lots of running around he passed out on the way home..there goes any kind of early night for us!!

At the museum he was following these three beautiful girls around...already!!

Thursday

I hate it when i have the most convincing feeling that is is Friday when it is actually Thursday. Have been off with the days most of the week. Something must be out of alignment. Oh well, it is getting really cold in the evenings now but that does not seem to concern warm blooded Dylan..still throws his covers off most of the time (i can hear my mom laughing as i know I was the same) Got these pics in the bath the other night ...a real typical Dylan look!!

He was actually such a trooper when i decided to pop in at the optometrists yesterday as it looked so empty (usually busting at the seams in the evening) had my eyes checked and everything with him on my lap...and he stayed there happily!!! with no incentive!!! Turns out the reason my glasses not so effective is partly because my eyes are worse and parlt becasue Dylan has bent my glasses so out of shape that with my stigmatism that makes a big difference.."oh can i get contacts then instead?" I ask thinking that would be a good solution. Apparently my stigmatisn is vertical not horizontal and also at an unusual angle..so not advisable... Really unhappy about that becuse was looking forward to getting rid of the glasses..

A real "Sunday drive"

Woke up this morning and just wanted to roll over and do nothing for the rest of the day. It looked cold and miserable outside. BUT... our mechanic fitted the car with a new radiator to "try"for a week before paying for it. So today was the day we would have time to do that... we had to get up. Decided not to go too far as originally planned and headed to the Daken area north -east of Taichung. There are loads of scenic stops along the way. We stopped at one place that had baby pigs ( Ciro waxed lyrical about the fate of these poor piggies) Dylan enjoyed shouting at them for a bit until he spotted a ten dollar ride and then that was all he wanted.

Carried on a long and winding road to Lavender cottage which produces lavender goodies and has a large garden area to walk around in ..fun for Dylan we thought...he fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep until we got back in the car. Plan was to have lunch there until the waiter said we would ahve a 1 hour wait..uh...no thanks. The place is very popular and I guess Sunday is an especially busy day.Carried on to a place called Annies garden to have lunch...very scenic area and the food was good too. Even Dylan who has not been too happy about eating the last few days(teething..we think) ate a bit of everything and loved the tomato pasta ( we have never managed to get him to even try some before) so were very excited. The garden was nice to run around in too. All in all a good day was had and hopefully Dylan will go to bed early after having such an early nap...we'll see!

Dylan in the park

Okay so this is take two...pc crashed on me. After gym yesterday my back was really sore so went off to the twei na doc (chinese meds)Feeling better and the l;ingering smell of chinese meds is very soothing. We had some errands to run today and took Dylan to the park in between..he had a lot of fun (see pics). We also took him to a play area in the dept, store where he smacked another kid for no reason what so ever...oh dear, had a talk to him adn he was better after that but of course the other kid stayed far away. He was exhausted afterwards and has been asleep for the past 3 hours...oh dear there goes sleep tonight. We tried to get him to go to sleep early last night, thinking he would pass out with us and then we could watch a movie or something. He just really is not sleepy and so the con backfired...while waiting for him to fall asleep we fell asleep... my punishment for always taking long to fall asleep myself at that age.

Paul coming round later with his nintendo wii game system...wants Dylan to try. hope i don't have to run around looking for a replacement controller tomorrow.

More from christmas

Right..everytime i post something happens...dylan played witht he mouse...computer crashed... so here goes the last pics from christmas...

Around the table, all the kids (dylan was not in the mood for a pic)with auntie Leigh-ann. Ciro with Daniel and Dylan and Gabs playing soccer.

Dylan's christmas

Just back from a great christmas hol in SA. It was great to see the family especially at christmas time. Dylan was teething and got tonsilitis so grumpy at times, but overall had a great time at granny and grandpa's house and at granny's house. He loved playing outside and enjoyed the dogs at the two houses.Posting pics from the trip.

Lots of playing in mud and with water.