Daan Park or is it Da An Park?

Maylin watching Dora in Mandarin while we finished getting everything ready for the appointment.

Today was "consulate day". We had to be at the US Consulates office at 8:00 for our appointment. Little did we know the consulate's office was extremely busy, crowded and we had no clue where to go. there was a long line waiting outside to get in so we naturally got in line with all of the Taiwanese residents who had been there for a long time already (judging by the length of the line). Adam then had the bright idea that he would go check things out and make sure we were in the right place. He quickly came back and we were ushered inside into another line with more Taiwanese people. Then a guard spotted us and (I guess we stuck out) and asked us why we were there. He then told us to go sit in the VIP area and wait for our appointment... so we did, but within a minutes time we were ushered away by someone else and told to go to the third floor... It was all a bit overwhelming but sure enough the third floor was where we were supposed to be. So we down we sat again... waiting... In all it took about 2 1/2 hours with four trips to the bathroom (mind you there was no elevator), three trips to the "window" where our interview took place, and many many squirms... it was an interesting morning! But it was over and all we had left to do was pick up the children's visa's at 2:30. So feeling a bit overwhelmed we went back to the hotel to regroup then decided the kids needed to get their wiggles out so we headed to the park.
(these photo's are from two different park trips. I thought I would just put them all in one.)
what is a park trip with out some good ole' street vendor donuts?! Thanks Ba Ba!

My two clowns standing in front of the sign for the park.

Pierson was brave and would shoot down the slide head first. He kept doing this over and over even after a few face first landings.

Maylin loved the swings.

Pierson was very brave and tried everything. This apparatus was funny to watch him on. At the bottom he was actually just climbing down the net. (keep in mind he is thinner than we thought so his pants were too big) by the bottom of the net his jeans were around his ankles and his "Car's" undies were shinning to everyone. He laughed and laughed and laughed!!! So did I!

They enjoyed going down this slide together. They wanted me to but I wasn't sure I was small enough for it so I insisted I 'had' to take pictures. lol

Daddy made the swings into a ride. Before he would pull them he would say, "Put your goggles on" and make a 'Shick Shick' noise that they would mimic him. Then they would put on their helmets, wiggles their noses... and so on and so on... Finally he would pull them back clicking and "shick"ing the whole way before he would let them fly. They were VERY amused by this.

Da An Park (we saw it spelled different ways so in fashion with that I'll spell it different ways through out just to confuse you as much as we were!) :) had a lot of exercise equipment. Asians seem to be very health conscious. It was not unusual to see people all of the parks doing Tia chi". Pierson and Maylin thought this equipment was just as fun as the children's play area.

Then of course there was wrestle mania in the field. Daddy is so much fun. Although this incident ended in tears not because someone was hurt, but because Pierson lost one of his tic-tac's he had been storing in his coat pocket. We searched and searched for that orange tic-tac to no avail! Sad, sad ending.

Pierson tends to keep things in his pocket's instead of eating them. I think it is to make sure he has something for later if he needs it. I believe it is a survival instinct. He doesn't know us well and doesn't know when the next time we will feed him or give him candy so he is going to make sure he is prepared always. Maylin on the other hand wants to eat and eat and eat and eat... The girl is a bottomless pit. I think she is just planning on keeping her belly full for the same reason's Pierson holds on to his food. It is sad, but something we were prepared for. If anyone is adopting a toddler or older child we recommend "The Connected Child". It has been very helpful. I still haven't finished it,but what I have read has been very enlightening!