Always HARD to say Goodbye!

It's the eve before our last full day in our home of the past 4 years. I have been very emotional today. I'm excited to see family in Vegas, and I'm thrilled to get settled in to OUR first home, but I am really going to miss Taiwan. It is a beautiful island with beautiful people. Even though I despise driving here, my heart has been touched by Taiwan and I'm afraid I'm going to leave a piece of it behind after we leave. Our family has been blessed by getting to know lots of wonderful people that have become a part of our "Taiwan Family." For the past 3 summers, I've had to say goodbye to great friends, and now that it's our turn to go it's even harder. We've had another fun week though, and here are some tidbits:


Window on China AKA Little People Kingdom


In love with a red lantern

Calling all Knights and Princesses

The 3 Musketeers and the 2 Sidekicks

After 3 weeks of playing hard, tomorrow will be a full day of working hard. We've got to get the house clean, all the laundry done, and everything packed in our suitcases. Tuesday, the packers come to box everything up and we're off to the hotel. Wednesday, we'll do the final walk-thru of our apartment (and hopefully fit in a massage at the hotel). Thursday, we're flying to Tokyo, San Francisco, and finally Las Vegas. For those of you in Vegas, let's get together! We wish you all a Happy Canada Day! and a Happy 4th of July! I have to leave on a happy note, so enjoy my all-time favorite song of the summer MINT CAR!

Another Preview

We had another fun mini vacation in Kenting this week, as well as some significant events here in Taipei. We are now home for good, but it is crazy to think this will only be our home for the next 10 days! I have lots of blog posts to do, but all I have time for is another sneak peek. Hopefully, I'll get caught up before September!


Paths DO Cross Again


Tropical Kenting


Boss and Anna

Jacuzzi Villa (It doesn't pay to have connections- it saves!)

The best aquarium in the world!

First Shiner

What she wants for Christmas

Makenna and Kaleb play "I Do!"

Actually, Tim and Yvonne say "I Do!"

Best Daddy in the World!

Such a nice way to start people

First day of Summer dinner

Mini Hualien

We just got back from 4 fabulous days in Hualien. We're home for the weekend, then off to Kenting next week. This is another "sneak peek" post of our Hualien adventure.


The Park View


Ocean Park


Life-long Dream

Taroko Gorge

*More pictures and details coming later.

Coming Soon!

For being a home-body for most of this year, this past week has been crazy busy! I have lots of blog posts to make, but as we're going out of town tomorrow I've got to get ready for that. Here's a sneak peek of upcoming entries:


Mall Rats


It's a Jungle in Here


The Best Pets Yet
For a balanced life you need a dog to adore you and a cat to ignore you.


Big Tom


Ice Cream Parties

One Car Garage

Len's 34th

Farewell First Grade

Shannon & Wen say, "I Do!"

Antique Shopping

We're heading out to Hualien tomorrow and when we get back I'll have more to blog about. I'll eventually get all caught-up!

Nicknames

My Baby Love is back! His stint in the "terrible two's" didn't last long. He still can get frustrated, but for the most part he is his usual happy-go-lucky self.


He has adjusted to having a new baby in the house very well. Whenever Teague is crying in the other room he tells me, "Mommy, Baby Teague's crying." If Teague's crying in the same room as Gavin, Gavin will always run over and pat his head and try and comfort him. Gavin's yet to let me take a "posed" picture of the two of them, but I love this candid one I caught of them. Gavin always loves to give Teague kisses, and Teague loves it too. I tell all 4 of my kids they will always be my babies, but now that we have a big brother, little brother, and middle brother in our family, I think it's time for Gavin to graduate from his "Baby Love" nickname. I've thought of a few others for him: G. Love & Special Sauce (after one of my favorite bands back in college), Tippy Toes (as he is always walking on them), and Mr. Sugar Kisses (as he gives the best lip smackin' kisses all the time now).


I've also been thinking of some nicknames for my new little one: Sir Leaks-a-lot (as he's always spitting up and pooping- I can't believe the loud burps and toots this little guy can make too), Fuzzy Peach (as he has the softest little head I love to rub with my cheek when I'm snuggling him), Baby Jaws (as nusing is still so painful at times), Slippery Frog (as he is SO slippery at bath time) and Mr. Sweet Cheeks (they're just so chubby I'm kissing them constantly).


Kaleb is still my Sunshine Boy. He can be cranky (especially with his sister), but for the most part he is a very kind boy. He's also: Coppertone Kid (as in the summer his skin tans to such a lovely golden color), K-K (gotta love his initial), and he's also Mr. Why (as he has a million questions for a million topics, I love his inquisitiveness).


Noe is our only girl (who still asks for a sister) and is our Princess. She is a girly-girl who loves all things Princess, Ballerina, Fairy, and Mermaid, but she has a touch of Tomboy in her too. She's also: Freckles (every summer she gets more and I've already noticed more from this season), Boski (thanks to Auntie Erika- it's stuck), and Miss Tootie (she had a pair of tights with that written on the bottom and it just fits her).

Enjoy some tunage with "My Baby's Got Sauce."

Mini Staycation

The kids didn't have school on Thursday (for the dragon boat festival) so we gave them a little surprise on Wednesday. As soon as they got home from school we loaded everyone up in the car and took off for a long 20 minute drive to the Grand Hotel Taipei. We had stayed at the Grand Hotel in Kaohsiung 2 years ago, but hadn't stayed at the one in Taipei yet, so we figured now was as good a time as any. After we checked in, we toured the grounds, had a fabulous dinner in their lounge, then hung out in our room for the rest of the night watching "Friends" re-runs on TV.


The next morning we had a fabulous buffet breakfast that was included with our stay. We brought our swim suits, but the pool is only open in July & August, so we hiked for a couple of hours around Yuan Shan Mountain and finished up at Jian Tan Park. It was a fun little get-away and I took almost 150 pictures. Here's a few of my favorites.


The huge orchid bouquet in the lobby (yes they're real!)

The big kids posing in front of the Golden Dragon Fountain which commemorates the original Japanese shrine that survived WWII.

I have to include a shot of my little one too!

The pretty fish pond in the back.

The Grand Hotel also has 2 annex buildings. This was part of one of them and it looked like a cool hideaway to me.

I love the attention to detail in traditional Chinese architecture. This is one of the ornate posts on the stair case that leads up to the Grand Hotel. The tree behind it is one of my favorite species, but it is originally from Australia.

A cute little ting.

This is the kind of mountain hiking I like to do with kids- stairs, hand rails, and they even had street lights with electric cables strung through the canopy of trees for night hiking. Don't let Gavin fool you though, most of the time he was on Daddy's back during the hike (cute little stink!)

Kaleb and Noe were our scouts leading the way. Of course, sometimes they got too far ahead and we had to rein them in.

Gavin was exactly where he wanted to be- in Daddy's arms.

I carried little Teague again, but I prefer it in the snug sack- tee hee!

We saw a few crazy flowers we had never seen before. This one looks orange, but up close you can see the petals are actually yellow, but the huge red veins give it the orange tint. We also saw old stone arches, several temples, a tree growing out of an old moss covered wall (very Indiana Jonesish), lizards, and even a huge horned beetle being eaten alive by an ant army. There were also tons of butterflies everywhere.

The final leg of our hike commenced at this circle arch. Our path was right next to Zhong Shan Road and I've wanted a picture of this arch for the past 4 years. I've finally got it. We had a fun 21 hour vacation and were able to put another check mark on our list of Taiwan's To-Do's before we move!