Kending - Day 2

Day two was our beach day and our tour day. We spent the morning avoiding the sun under an umbrella at the beach. It was Jevin's first experience with sand. At least he didn't try to eat it like Josie did her first time in the sand at the same age. He seemed to like it but kept going out in the sun. Both Josie and Jason got sunburns. We missed a spot on Josie's back when I covered her in sunblock... And well, Jason just assumed that he would be protected under the umbrella.
No worries though. I had gotten a sunburn driving to and from Changhua the day before we left, so I had some cream that the pharmacist recommended. Everyone was set.

Digging, digging, digging.

Jevin was not too sure about those waves. Some were powerful enough to knock Josie over.

We decided to take a drive. They have a number of scenic rest spots along the road.

Josie climbed up on the rock and then Daddy took the picture.
"Okay, come down."
"I can't. I'm stuck!"
Daddy had to rescue her.

Seriously a crab crossing sign... And on the way back we heard on the radio that people should be careful in PingDong and Kending as the crabs would be on the roads moving towards the ocean.
You can read the same story from the newspaper HERE.

"Daddy, it's my turn to drive!"

NOT!

Trip to Kending - Day 3

On our third day we made or way through the Aquarium in Kending. I'm not to fond of fish but Josie sure was interested. And, having more than enough time to go through it this time, we discovered a whole other building with new wonders for her to indulge in.

And a couple of stories before you browse through the pictures... The ride home was long. Going there and coming home we played a game that my Auntie Cathy introduced to me when I was young. When we went over bridges we would lift our feet so they wouldn't get wet... and when we went through tunnels we would duck. There were many tunnels on our Kending trip and every time we would tell Josie to duck. So finally in the last tunnel on our ride home Josie announced, "I don't want to say duck anymore. I want to say turtle!"

Now, as Daddy was driving late at night on the empty freeway, his foot got a little heavy. He might have been traveling a little fast... And then it happened... The highway patrol flagged us down. So Jason pulled over. He rolled down his window and we waited. The cop knocked on my window, which sort of scared us a bit, but that makes sense not to stand on the traffic side of the road. Well, without looking in he started his ramble in Chinese and showed me the radar gun. It was then that he saw we were "Foreigners". I was like, "Ohhh, yes you were speeding, honey." The cop then asked how long we had been in Taiwan - in Chinese. In English I answered, "Oh, quite a while but we don;t speak that much Chinese." At that point, the ever helpful little Josie piped up. "I SPEAK CHINESE."
Jason, "Be quiet Josie."
Josie, "But I do. I speak Chinese."
Jason, "Be quiet Josie!"
Josie, "But Daddy I can speak Chinese."
Thank goodness the cop was too flustered with us being foreigners that he didn't hear the helpful one. He just waved us on and Daddy didn't get a ticket. Phewf!

Yo, man. Jevin in da house!

"Hello, Dolphin? Are you there?"
She asked me if I wanted to talk to the dolphin. I thought it was just some information on dolphins. I said no because I didn't speak Chinese so I wouldn't understand. I saw another parent giggle as I said that. Apparently it was just the sound of a dolphin. Oops. :P

Jason's shark pictures... I really like the top one.

Bad girl, Josie!

So this foreigner was selling ice cream at the aquarium. Perhaps he was Russian. I found it so funny when he asked if Josie could speak Chinese because his English was too poor. Haha.
And then he gave her a cone and through in two more, all for the price of one. Nice guy.



Okay... so we said, "Josie you can play in the water if you don;t get your clothes wet." Of course she agreed. And of course, she conveniently fell so she was soaked which opened up the entire pool to her. Sneaky girl.

The Twins

Josie is old enough that she gets dressed on her own. We just tell her to get dressed and she does it all by herself. Her sense of style is coming out. Sometimes she uses the most unusual combination - but it's her style. Her most recent favorite color is purple. In second place we have pink.
For some reason today she chose white... and found a jean skirt...
I put out a white shirt and jeans for Jevin and went downstairs to pack his school bag... Jason called out for me to bring the camera upstairs... and when I did... I saw this! You'd think we planned it... but we didn't. It was all JOSIE!

Father's Day

Jevin's first experience with crayons... Nearly ate them. I've heard enough stories about rainbow poo to be very watchful when he was "coloring".

We opted for a Saturday Father's Day dinner. Chili's was the place. We all had a great dinner... And surprisingly, the waitress remembered us from when we had gone there with Ron and Terry. She even remembered the ribs we ordered that time. Hahaha.

Night Market

This was Jevin's first experience on a night market ride. He thought it was great! And Josie was so excited to share her train with her brother.

I-Lan and Charles' Show

On Saturday, June 13, all the pieces of the puzzle came together quite nicely allowing Jason and Josie to go to Ilan to visit Charles for his show.

School day

On June 6th our school had a Field Day. The kids all set up booths and sold games, drinks, food, etc.... Basically it is a day of fun for the kids with the hidden purpose of allowing the classes to raise money for the needs of the class. Photocopying in school is not a free thing here. Each class pays for each copy of each paper they use. And there are other costs that each class incurs.

Here the 501 class was having a water balloon challenge. What teacher could pass up the opportunity to throw water balloons at her students? What students could pass up the opportunity to have their classmate hit with a water balloon by their teacher?
It's a pity Jims is such a good student. I almost felt bad.... almost. And the stupid balloons wouldn't break. They just bounced off of him. I took to throwing the balloons on the ground so at least his legs would get splashed.
Here my 505 class is trying to help Josie throw balloons at them. Once again, the balloons kept bouncing off them. They kept moving closer so she could hit them.

Ahhh, yes, arguably the best game. One should hit the head of the student popping up. Josie was a little nervous that she would hurt one of them. HAhahahahah... That passed!

Now... count the cell phones taking pictures.

And see the head popping up to take a picture of Josie before she gets slammed?

My student, my neighbor - Emily Ke.

Meal Time

May 31
Breakfast joys... Need I say more?

Play Day

May 30
A week after Josie's hospital visit, everyone was fine... All was good... But, alas it couldn't stay that way. Jason got sick. He got REALLY sick. He got so sick that he went to ER. He had a terrible migraine. And after returning home it turned into something worse. Basically, when he went to the doctor across the street, he was told that he had caught what Josie had.

Below are pictures from our "let-daddy-sleep" park trip. After, we went to see Jean, Andy and Roy... and came home with some rice dumplings just in time for Dragon Boat festival.Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!!!

It was hard to take the picture by myself, while keeping Jevin on the horse.

Josie exercising.

Jevin Fall Down Go BOOM!

Friday, May 22
Well, our little boy has joined the ranks with his sister. Eleven stitches! He was running outside and fell down. He slowed his fall with park bench. This all happened outside in the playground at school. They called Jason and rushed Jevin to the doctor; the same doctor that they took Josie to. Apparently he is a plastic surgeon and well known for his amazingly little stitches and his apparent ability to reduce the scarring.
The school was scared that we could sue them. I guess it is quite common for parents to sue the schools when accidents like this occur. The way we see it, is that this could have happened at a park. At least he was in a place where they spoke Chinese and were able to get him to the hospital ASAP.