Running Horse Trail
Grandfather took us on a little hike up 跑馬古道 (Running Horse Trail). This is a historical trail that was a trade route that brought goods from Taipei to YiLan. Unfortunately, getting to the entrance required a steep hike, and the kids were spent after half an hour of climbing. Grandfather soldiered on, while we took a break. Christine was able to dig out an old bar of chocolate which instantly perked up the spirits of the young ones. Maybe next time, we will get to walk on the historic trail itself.
At the Park with Kids and IPhone 4S Camera
It took some getting used to, but I am slowly getting used to the iPhone 4S camera and teased out some more interesting pictures this time. Just another day at the park with the kids when Christine was off buying some meats and vegetables at the market.
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!
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 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...
An Eventful 2011 Halloween
What an eventful Halloween this year. Anders and Arden’s school had the Fall Festival where they had the little cute pumpkin patch, games, a pettie jumpy house and face paint set up at the school backyard. All the kids dressed up, singed Halloween songs and had a circle-around parade. For Arden, it was easy since we had a nice pass-down ladybug custom and she was happy being a ladybug. However, for Anders, we’ve been thinking about the Halloween customs since a couple months ago but he kept changing his mind. He started wanting to be the spiderman, jumping to be the superman, then changing to be a dragon. Finally he somehow came across the idea of being a “ghost” and happily searched ghost pictures online to set his mind. We also went...