Good buddies and Burl the cool...

Ivo and Burl came over to visit Dylan the other day, Sandy tagged along to visit Heather...They play so well together lately...Burl is looking so alert and with it..He has got this cool look going about him...nice play time together...good job guys!

Yoga and music...

So haven't blogged fer a while cause things are way too hectic at the moment...There's the baby, which is about 9 cm? I think...Then Heather and Dylan were sick with mega head colds for a week. Pregnant woman plus head cold not good. That was two weeks ago, last week things began to look up but work was hectic since the semester is winding down to an overdue end...lo and behold come Saturday and Dylan caught Oral herpes...Sh*te. Nothing we can do about it since it is viral...just keeping him comfortable and hoping fever doesn't occur. So I've been looking after my two beautiful patients and stressing, Heather will be off work tomorrow to look after D. At least Heather is on the up and up. I've been doing lots of yoga to keep me sane, once a day...and listening to some cool music...My current favourite 'listen to' is an indie band called the 'Silversun pickups', their album 'Carnavas' blows my mind...It's full of musical and lyrical genius that leaves me breathless most of the time. Innovative, unique and some much needed escapism.

'Wild' weekend in Taipei...

So we were off to Taipei last weekend, as the grand finale to mom's visit to Taiwan and incidentally part of the plan was to visit some good Chinese friends in Taipei that we have know for a few good years...We were whisked away on the coolest...well actually it was hotter than hell...weekend to see a part of Taipei we had never experienced before...Wow! What a beautiful place Taiwan is! We drove up to Taipei and booked into one of our favourite group of hotels...just one we had not been to before in an unknown area but we were confident that they were pretty much the same standard. From there we went to the National Palace Museum, we had previously gone there before the renovations...etc..Very cool Museum...Mom loved it...We loved it.

Peggy and Vincent picked us up from the Museum and that was it until Monday...they commandeered our weekend...We didn't mind...they were very gracious and took us to the most stunning places. We zoomed up Yangmingshan first, via a route known well by locals. The view was fantastic...Taipei is massive and very beautiful. It started raining but Vincent just continued up the mountain to some hiking trail he used to frequent as a student...I'm thinking 'there is no way we're going to walk in this downpour' but by the time we got there the downpour had passed and we went off into the hills doing the healthy nature walk thing. I later told Heather that if I hadn't been exercising and doing yoga I would probably have died on the slippery slopes down to a waterfall that apparently ended up being a squirt of water splashing over a rock. We never made it down...at the beginning of my journey had taken off my shoes since I was slipping all over the place and was carrying Dylan who had fallen asleep and would not be roused....We went down down a trail to a waterfall...thinking short walk...everyone told us 15 minutes....45 minutes later and up and down a steep and slippery stone pathway with Dylan wheezing from the humidity and we decided to call it quits...what followed next was a test of determination and parental love as we climbed back to the base camp...drenched in sweat...carrying a 15-16 kg squirming toddler up a mountain path ain't no joke...Crazy thing is we still had a great time and enjoyed the scenic and peaceful Yangmingshan with its deafening buzz of cicadas and rain forest...anyone looking for a sound track for a horror movie should record the disturbing cacophony of these grotesque bugs from Yangmingshan...they won't disappoint. Vincent took us back to the hotel, we were most grateful to catch a shower before going to 'Cha for tea' one of our favourite restaurants here in Taiwan...



Near the hotel Vincent suddenly quips in what must of been the classic Chinese way of modestly informing you of something to be wary of...first Peggy says Vincent has a hotel near his home that we can use next time...we say thanks Peggy...then Vincent says..I paraphrase....'Ahh...nice Japanese restaurants in the area that your hotel is in'...find something good to say about the area and then drop the mind bomb...and then adds without a moments hesitation.....'...yes many Japanese come here to get girls...'...end of conversation. I'm thinking...'oh'. In our hotel room we found conformation of this little factoid so succinctly dropped into our evening revelings...the most bizarre 'chair' I've seen in my life resembling the kind of chair found in a gynaecologist's examination room...only this one vibrated baby!...made watching CNN a little more interesting having my 'gluteus maximus' massaged while I contemplated the state of the world....still a cool hotel though...breakfast included and what a breakfast...I suppose all those Japanese guys need some nourishment after a wild evening plunging against the amazing vibrating contraption of a chair....(smirk)...My mother-in-law thought the chair awfully funny and took a snap of it for friends back home...

Above: Splashing about at Paiwanshan beach

Above: Beautiful coastlines and blue skies...

Anyway...next day we were off to Yeliou...We drove along an amazing coastline that left we knowing why the Portuguese called it a beautiful island so many years ago....We stopped at a beach called Paiwanshan, to see the Taiwanese at play on the beach...interesting...the ocean was beautiful and I splashed with Dylan for a while...Then off again to Yeliou...Wonderful little place with bizarre rock formations from erosion of sand and sea...actually alien like in appearance....Our friends called it 'tofu rock'...there is one rock that looks like the Queen's head in profile. We had some fresh seafood there...the best clams I've ever tasted! We went back after a wonderful but very, very hot time out n the rocks. Our evening was spent in the wonderful Shinlin night market....We do so appreciate and like our Friends Peggy and Vincent...hoping they come visit us sometime here in Taichung...

It was a sad and tearful farewell at the airport on Monday...It was nice to have her visiting us...We all miss her dearly and I'm sure she misses us and this beautiful Island.

Update on pregnancy number 2...

Yup, so Heather is entering her second trimester tomorrow,...and apparently things get better. Poor H has had a bumpy (no pun intended) ride thus far....unlike pregnancy number one which was free from nausea and other common pregnancy woes. Today I felt so sorry for her when she looked at me after a long chat and did a little exclamation of joy at the prospect of reaching the end of the first trimester and supposedly entering a less tiring phase of being pregnant. I hope that this will indeed be the beginning of better time for her.

Out and about over Dragon boat weekend...

We had a fantastic weekend over Dragon boat...though I didn't eat a sticky rice dumpling one of my favorite things to eat over this festival... We ended up going to the Art and Science Museums simply because these are family friendly spaces...D ate an ice cream at the science Museum...here are some pics...

Above: Dylan with his favorite book at the moment...he holds it up to your face to see what you look like as a lion or zebra...

Shrek the Third...

We went to watch Shrek the Third which was okay... D is a big Shrek fan...we are so proud of him sitting through another Movie theatre experience...He really seems to enjoy the expereince...popcorn....juice...it was cool!

Painting with Dylan...

So we bought D a paint set...thanks to Crayola Non-Toxic watercolours....yipeeee! We had a ball, us three playing around with some paint on a A2 paper...Dylan 'got it' quite easily thought he mostly preferred to put more and more water into the paint tray...soon however he was making his mark...kinda worried since he has been watching Curious George a lot of late and always coos in approval when George doe s his wall painting stint...

Snaps by my love...

Feeding the fish strawberry bread up at Donghai

We made the trip up to the pond at Donghai again, this time we stopped by the local 7/11 to buy some strawberry bread for the fish...they didn't have plain bread in case you're wondering why we wanted to feed fish strawberry bread...Which makes me wonder whether fish can taste different flavours? mmmm...I'll probably look that one up....of course I don't think anyone has ever been a fish and lived to tell the tale...Any case, we had loads of fun. Dylan was interested in feed the fish, he found it more amusing to throw stones into the water which the fish probably didn't appreciate that much. Another cool afternoon with my toddler and beautiful wife.

Pretty raindrops...

Pissing down in Taichung at moment. It has been a hectic week. Monday night we rushed Dylan to hospital, he had an Asthma attack. It was terrible. Heather and I were so frightened and felt like we were falling apart. They x-rayed his chest and put him on an IV. Blood everywhere, screaming baby. We spent a long and tiring night in hospital. Dylan was hyper with the medicine they gave him and only settled down after they took out the drip around about 1:30 in the morning. We both snuggled into him on the hospital bed, one on either side. Must of been a funny sight. Heather bore the brunt of the stay because she can't fall asleep with so much noise and light around her. I tend to be able to sleep anywhere so I got a little sleep. About 6 am I had to go get ready for work. They dismissed Dylan before lunch with tons of medicine and Heather has stayed off work to look after him. Since then we have rethought the situation and I think we are discovering that the episode was set of by an upper respiratory tract infection and allergies. Yup Dylan seems to be allergic to something or other. We have decided to send him for tests soon. We feel confident that we can manage the situation. We love him so much. We feel as close as ever as a family. Heather...thanks for being my anchor.

Above: The raindrops caught the flash and created this pretty effect.

Yoga at home...

Heather introduced me to yoga. She diligently read about, learnt about and began practicing yoga a few years ago deep in the sparsely populated African savanna near the small village of Mogwase. Where we one lived. She is, and will always be, the most amazing person I know...I had an opportunity to show her one of the strange and wonderful poses I learnt recently in yoga class...Here she is looking seriously dislocated as she should attempting this cool pose.

Sitting at the waters edge with D and H...

Some moments only come around once in a lifetime...sitting at the waters edge throwing stones into a pond with my beautiful toddler and my darling wife is definitely one of those moments I'll treasure forever. I love you guys...I sometimes think how can it get any better than it already is...yet it does...it does.....thank you.

Above: Moments like these only come once in a lifetime...(P.S. I haven't put on weight...the shirt makes me look poofy...hehe..that ones from ice age 2)

Dylan and the Dinosaur...

Below: Dylan and the Dinosaur

We watched 'Meet the Robinsons' a few weeks back and so we thought 'hey it would be great to go see the Dino at the Taichung Science Museum.' Alas Dylan has lost some of his bravado that he had as a younger tod. (Perhaps not a bad thing...a survival instinct is a good thing to have...and huge aggressive looking animals with large teeth should be a little scary...) He didn't cry but stood some feet back laughing nervously at the robotic dino. He did this really cool thing, he would turn sway from the dino and look at it over his back...very cute and funny...was it a coping mechanism? I don't know but Dylan is such different character.. I love him so much. He loved running through a maze on the second floor, Heather prompted him by running ahead and making him chase her...of course we have to stop at every TV or computer screen and tap the mouse or wobble the joystick. Really fun day out with my fantastic family...Heather you know I love you? Yes? ...and I think you're so pretty....*blush*..

Above: Cool day at the Museum

Tuesday morning...real early

Good morning world or good evening if the time zone suites you. So Dylan was up again before the crack of dawn...and though I'm sleepy and tired I can't help but appreciate moments like these...because one of these years he'll be all grown up and I know I'll look back longingly to these early morning wake ups...his little face looking down at me. This is part of the strange joy of parenthood...and I wouldn't give it up for the world. So I made rice porridge...it is a staple here in Taiwan for little children..etc...In my being woken up dream state I thought about grating some carrot into a pot and adding rice to make some 'tzou'. So that is what I did. He didn't eat it...Heather reassures me that he'll have it later...but I'm not so sure. I'll try again though...It's getting to be time for my morning preparations to look a little decent...so here goes...Oh! last night I watched Spirited away for about the hundredth time with Dylan....I love Ghibli studio...their story lines are fantastic...and Spirited away is about true love, the power of sacrificial love that allows a person to give of one self for another. Gehiro is so small and fragile yet has this amazing strength of true, deep and passionate love that overcomes all obstacles...I almost always shed a tear or two....and dylan seems to enjoy it too...

Road trip to Puli and back again...

New cars beg a road trip don't they...so that was what we did. I was sick and on meds so Heather did the driving. We set out on the number 74 and left again onto a familiar route up the number 14 to Puli. We thought we would go to Chingching farm but never actually got there since we had to be back in Taichung by 3:00. That kind of thing doesn't faze us cause we're journey orientated people and like to stop off places...two of which were seven eleven stops...has anyone noticed that they have added these really fabulous seven eleven stops along popular routes with uber toilet and parking facilities...cool idea 7/11 management team. We found a herb farm on the other side of Puli that was really cool...It was a really cool day. On the way back we took the scenic mountain route back through the Dalken area on the 136. We found this temple nestled in a valley in the middle of nowhere in particular though I'm sure to the residents of the particular valley in question wouldn't agree with my opinion. Heather and I have always been the explorer kind and its good to be back discovering and exploring...this time time with a new addition....Dylan is really just like us. Three cheers to our little adventurer.

Above: Lots of tunnels on the number 14...Heather and I have this crazy, amazing, cool bond...we share thoughts at times we're so close...not kidding.....we both come from families that upheld the yell through the tunnel tradition...quite funny actually cause when we went through our first tunnel together we both, to our surprise, started screaming out of the window of the car...Dylan loves this tradition...probably thinks his parents are nuts.

Above: So...there is a light at the end of the tunnel...

Above: Dylan running wild through the nursery at the herb farm.

Above: Beautiful but long and winding road... number 136...

Below: Temple in a lost valley...

Above: Dylan and the dragon.

Above: The scary dog episode...luckily a nun was about and she sorted out the canine..