2012 Chinese New Years in Nantou
Nantou for 2012 New Years. Grandma, in her 80′s, hasn’t missed a beat with yet another outstanding New Year’s dinner with 3 different soups, 2 different pork, 3 different seafood, a duck, and some vegetable dishes. All of us were stuffed to the brim with good food. Big Aunt took us to a Mochi factory where you can sample an infinite amount of sweets. The kids went wild with their appetites. We also went to the hottest Pineapple Cake Factory in Taiwan. They give out free samples of their cakes. It is reported that they give out 7,000 cakes in a single day, and sell up to 30,000 cakes on the peak days!
Dancing Dancing Dancing!
回台灣才幾週，妹妹再次為大家獻上勁歌熱舞。這次的歌我也是第一次聽到，不知道她在哪裡學的。
Happy Chinese New Year!
Anders learned the Chinese New Year sayings (吉祥話) at school. Wish everyone have a great Dragon year!
Settling into Taiwan
Despite my protestations and Apple bandwagon foot-dragging, Christine got an iPhone 4S for me. My ancient 3G has slowed to a crawl from IOS updates, and now has been commissioned as an iTouch for Arden. Oddly, I have found the iPhone eco-system comforting as it unifies life experiences no matter where in the world you are. We have been taking some quick photos with the phone camera, and it seems to be much improved experience overall; however, it is still many leagues away from the performance of a standard compact camera. I am still quite awkward holding the phone and taking pictures with it, causing many of the pictures to be slightly blurry. Christine has much more stable hands and is able to capture much sharper images. I am definitely looking...
Winter Concert for Anders and Arden
Anders and Arden had their pre-k winter concert this weekend. Fun little event with kids singing for their parents and teachers. The two little ones really got into the holiday songs and spirit. Arden went up and tried hard, despite the crying kids around her. Anders seemed to have learned: O Christmas Tree Frosty the Snowman Jingle Bells Felize Navidad Anders had a little role in a holiday play as well....
Winter Reno with a Gang of Kids
We’ve known Maria, Steven, Dominic, and Michelle for some years now, and our kids have gone from infant to toddler in around the same time. We head out to Reno for a quick weekend get-away. None of us really gambles, so this was just mostly a trip to get some fresh air and watch the kids play in the snow. Each of the couples had two kids, one boy and one girl. Maria and Steven had Caden and Cailey. Dominic and Michelle had Kendrick and Isabella. We had a total of 6 adults and 6 kids wherever we went. Luckily, the kids all got along fantastically, and we were able to navigate our way through Reno without much problems. We were even able to explore and find some good eats in the Reno area. Prior to this trip, we only knew about a kick-ass soup...
Anders’ Block and Lego Creations
Anders has watched a handful of Bob the Builder episodes, and yet whenever he launches into a building session, I can hear him singing, “Bob the builder… can we build it? … Yes we can!” Here are some of his little creations from the last year that I don’t want to get lost in the jungle of pictures and memories.