The chilrens's recreation park was closed...

Today (well actually about a week ago, but i am behind) we thought a great treat for the kids would be to go to the recreation center. It was supposed to have rides and indoor stuff kind of like a Discovery Place/ Carrowinds (for those of you in the Charlotte area you know what I mean.) So we hopped in a taxi and off we went. only to find that it was closed for some reconstruction... boo! :(

So while we still had a cab we pulled out our map and there was a fine arts park nearby so we told him to take us there.

If you read "Fine arts Park" with a big green area marked off on a map wouldn't you think that it was a park like we in the Western world think of as a park... Yeah we did too... However it was a Fine Arts Museum with a few sculptures outside... Figuring that the kids wouldn't be interested in the 'fine art' we decided to walk around and look at the sculptures. The first few pictures are us teaching the kids how to become one with the arts. :)

Daddy is teaching them how to imitate the sculptures... this one must have been particularly strange.

Getting a hug from 'grandma"

Pierson was trying to stand like this woman. Neither one of the kids seemed fazed that she had no clothes on.

Don't conform to the world but become one with the arts.

"This egg looking thing is fun Mom!"

walking up steps backwards. How is that so much fun?

After we had exhausted all of the sculptures we could see the Grand Hotel. I had read about this place and knew that it was also a major tourist destination so I thought while we could walk there we probably should. It didn't look that far... About 45 minutes later we got there! (things are always deceivingly farther than they appear! We were glad we went though. It was a beautiful place. Apparently many emperors came there and they still have state dinners there as well.

(From here it really doesn't look that far away!)
We thought that a picture in front of the hotel would be nice so we told the kids to hug and this is what we got! It was good for laugh or two of passers by!

Maylin decided to take a load off of her weary feet and plopped down on the sidewalk..

Once she was rested up she wanted to pose in front of everything.

And of course monkey see, monkey do! (I know you like the hello kitty band aide on the forehead! That was purely for looks by his choice.)

Of course Daddy is a good sport and joins in the fun!

Inside the hotel. This was an amazing display of real orchids! It was absolutely beautiful. The kids were impressed too can't you tell?! :)

Our little princess making her way down the grand staircase.

So after a long day of walking we decided we would walk back over to the Hello Kitty restaurant. this time we got to sit in the cool seats... But the cool seats weren't really practical for two squirmy children... It was fun though.

Maylin likes to pretend she is asleep in her pictures.

So there you have it. Our trip was nearing an end and we were soon to be going home as a family of four. We'll keep working on posting the trip and the aftermath of the trip so stay tuned!

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!

Heading Out!!!

Well it is 10:38 and the kids are "cooking and serving" us food while we try to pack around them! So needless to say I am not going to get many photo's up but I will leave you with these few from the top of Taipei 101 (Taipei's version of the Empire State building)
My hat is off to my sister who keeps her blog updated so well... I am trying.
We leave the hotel at 7:00 am in the morning! :0 Much to so little time.
I'll catch up when we get back on the other side of the world!
Love you all!


PS Maylin's first breakdown was here. It lasted about 4 minutes seeming like 4 hours. She screamed, flailed and cried. I am pretty sure she was saying you aren't my mommy and I hate you... but one can't be sure when it is screaming Mandarin and I only understand English! Oh well we made it through and now we are settling in as a family of four... not to say there haven't been more tears, but nothing to that extent! Praise GOD!!!

Hello Kitty Resturant

If you don't say these are the cutest Tiawanese kids you have ever seen I don't believe you!

This is the entry way to the Hello Kitty Sweets resturant which had the best burger we have had in Taiwan! The kids eyes were wide open when we walked in the door. To your right as you walked in was the bakery with beautiful cakes and desserts. Of course that was the first thing they saw and stood and looked longingly into the display case. It was adorable!

This is to the left of the entry way. My two silly heads wouldn't take this picture seriously for anything! I thought it was pretty funny though.

Maylin was amazed that everything had Hello Kitty on it! She was so proud of her napkin.

Pierson (who had a stomach bug when we picked him up had only eaten white rice and bread for 4-5 days) was so happy to eat something with flavor! Apparently all of our meals were served with pumkin soup first, and it was VERY good. And Pierson was thrilled! I wasn't sure if he would really appreciate all of the Hello Kittyness, but he seemed to enjoy it as well. Mostly for the design of all of the food if nothing else.

Mama and Baba's hamburger and fries!!! We were soooo happy!
Pierson had a chicken sandwich which looked exactly like our burgers. Maylin insisted that she wanted a noodle dish, but as you can see below she at mostly from everyone elses plates! :) I couldn't blame her.

Seriously it is hard to say no to her. Don't worry we are learning quickly how to say no in Mandarin. The spelling is unusual but it sounds like 'boo yow'! :)

The waitresses were dressed all in pink Hello Kitty. Even the chandalier had a little stuffed Hello Kitty sitting on it.

Pierson thought it was hilarious to show me his jello. It too was shapped like a Hello Kitty face of course!

One of the many cakes in the display case

Random shots. This is Pierson's deep in thought look. This is a common look for him. He likes to process every little thing.

This is Maylin's "who, me?" face. We see a lot of this! She typically follows this up with a very fake "hahaha" with a little chicken neck to go along with it. It is hard not to laugh at her!

Well the natives are restless and we must leave the room before we tear it apart! Two more sleeps until we head for home! Yippie! It will be easier to wrestle these two on our own turf! :)

Taipei Zoo Trip

Both kids were amazed by the MRT

Wednesday we needed to get out and let the kids run themselves tired. They were up half the night the night before. Not crying or anything just fidgeting blowing noses, going potty, getting drinks, anything to help them not sleep. So we packed up the stroller and headed for the Taipei Zoo.


We have two clowns!

The first exhibit we came to was the pandas, which the kids were very excited to see. Pierson would walk up to a statue acting as if he didn't see it, then all of the sudden he would gasp and jump back as if it were real and were coming after him... he did this over and over. It was quite funny! They wanted to climb on everything that stood still.



Pierson and Daddy looking at some deer-ish things. He would look all day if we left him to. Maylin -- not-so-much -- she was quickly ready to see what was next, or get back in the stroller. The zoo was pretty nice all around. Not quite the Ashboro Zoo as far as the animals captivity, but very nice in cleanliness and presentation.



Wrangling the hippo's! Giddy up HIPPO!

Maylin was not very impressed by the smell of most of the animals.

Anytime there was a slight smell of poop this was the face we got! She is definitely FULL of personality! I think she will give her cousin Caleb a run for his money! Pierson on the other hand is more laidback although he has his moments of wildness too!

Another funny! The zoo was very proud to display how they recycle all the poop! I thought this picture was quite hilarious! If you can't see it well enough it is a pig pooping (in the potty) while drying his hair with a hair dryer that is obviously powered by his droppings. LOL

Daddy with his little ones. They were looking at white rhinoceroses. Pierson often looks to see what other people's reactions are and then reacts accordingly. Maylin on the other hand is more concerned with her stuffed panda -- at least in this picture.

This was the best picture we got of the two of them together. I am feeling my sister's pain just trying to get both of them to stand still and look at the camera is hard!

Mommy and Pierson waving to the Elephant's.

This was Pierson's highlight of the day! He loves elephants! We saved the best exhibit for last. By this point Maylin was done and wouldn't get out of the stroller. I am not sure she could even see them but she wouldn't budge!

Maylin posing in what we think was supposed to be a pile of poop, which was next to the toilets on the way out. Kind of funny. The kids thought it was the best thing since sliced bread!

Pierson was very proud of his discovery of the pile of poo! HAHA

That is it for now. We'll post more about the Hello Kitty resturant and the the visit to Taipei 101 with our first meltdown on top of the world! :)

Love everyone and can't wait to see you guys!