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!

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!

Breaking news: Giant pig roams the streets and Girl rides dog...

We spotted this massive pig, some one's pet for the year of the pig we suppose, on the way to the foreign food fest. So I ask Heather to take a photo and as if the picture could get any more bizarre than it was already...this girl walks up to the chow next to the pig and tries to ride it like a miniature pony...some things you just got to see to believe. I'm thinking the pig is going to be dinner come chines new year...what do you think?

Below: Massive pig and girl tries to ride dog

Above: Le pig

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.

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

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..

On 'Tomb Sweeping' long weekend.

It has been a cool weekend thus far...hanging out with Heather and Dylan around the greater Taichung area. We went to Chingshui on Thursday to the Sea Port Art Museum. It was closed...but the grounds were open and we had a great time... So much so that we have decided that we will go back. The grounds were filled with children's art, Heather thought it was because of Children's day on Wednesday...any case Dylan had a very cool time running and wandering around touching and playing with things. We had coffee at the little restaurant on the grounds, we're lengthening the 'leash' on Dylan...giving him more freedom to explore the environment by himself...he doesn't just sweep around like a baby tornado much anymore but still has no concept of what could be potentially dangerous...what worries us is his concept of height...He is so cool though and we were very proud of him...he is listening to us and responding to what we say. We rode off to the harbour afterwards...tons of fish at the Wuci fish harbour...market thing place. We had our favourite...barbecued squid on a stick...some deep fired calamari and crab....yum...yum.

Above: Dylan in the garden of earthly delights...

Riding past some cemeteries is always interesting but on these few days there is the added activities of the local people cleaning and tending the tombs of their ancestors...lots of smoke in the air and ghost money pinned tot he tombs.

Yesterday morning we went to metropolitan park for a run and 'mini picnic'...we had some juice and two bags of crisps. Very cool place...and its huge...Dylan got so tired and grumpy by the time we had to come home after all the running around...We decided to get some steak and noodles for lunch at a favourite place near Art street.

Today were going to go see a house that a friend found...we are not looking to move but if its really nice will probably consider it...the house is in a cool and vibrant area not too far from where we are now so it will be a nice change.

On a walk in the park after dark

Winter is going...gone and we three bears are out of hibernation....Friday nights are cool....the weathers becoming warmer and spring is in the air...its lovely to stroll in the evening with Heather and Dylan along the many park walkways. A nice little family tradition is forming...Heather comes home from work at about 7:30...and we set off. This park is across from the science museum and is always nice whether daytime or night. Some wild skaters were ruining the mojo a little but still nice..still polite and very hip and cool...

Above: Heather the gorgeous and Dylan the cool...

Taiwanese people are amongst the most polite and friendliest people in the world...We love them and their open 'heartedness'.

On Dylan the beautiful

Came back from work today and took Dylan for a walk up towards Donghai University. There's this amazing open area of nature surrounded by the urban sprawl of Taichung. It was a tiring walk/run up to the cows, we sang Old McDonald all the way, but well worth it. Dylan was mesmerized by the dairy cows having supper. He has been hum-sing-mumbling Old MacDonald with the song on Baby Einstein so I thought it would be cool to see the real life version. Dylan gets cooler by the day, we're installing more routine and boundaries in his life and he seems to be flourishing from this. I just think he is the absolute best. Here are some photos of Dylan in a posing mood...Dylan the Beautiful....

On strodding with the D-man

It's cool just being with my son...just strodding down the road and checking out things.

On Taichung Art Museum

We love the Art Museum in Taichung. It is one of the best places in the city. There's an extensive garden-like park around the museum full of interesting sculpture by renowned artists. I love how these are accessible to the public to interact with; Dylan loves the sculptures and often climbs over one or feels the textures on them. We set off to visit the art museum this Sunday in our new car...well old but new to us car...our little mini-minivan had to go for a few reasons, all of them due to the fact that it isn't really a family car...Any case we had a great time...We let Dylan run there and he just goes and goes and goes...whilst we try to keep up with his pace.

Above: Heather, seven years and she still takes my breath away, with Dylan at an exhibition.

One thing I find quite interestingly bizarre is what I think are photo clubs. Obviously a club or class of some sort they get together and take photographs of places and at times they seem to organize a model for a shoot. Today there was this particular group which I thought was quite amusing...everyone pushes and presses forward to get their shot without much consideration for each other while a guy shouts at the model from the back of the group and directs her. Of course... perhaps... it's a "How to be a paparazzi" class.

Above: Paparazzi in training

The art in the museum is great, exhibits change quite often and are of a fantastic quality. There was an interesting exhibit on, comparing art during the martial law period and post. Some fantastic art and artists...I was happily snapping away, while Heather was having an interesting conversation about child rearing, when I was accosted by two ladies who nearly wrestled me to the ground, saying I wasn't allowed to take any photos of the exhibit. It always astounds me that there is a photo ban on some exhibits since they're for public view. In any case I got a few photographs, before being clamped down on, which I will post later. We have a little family ritual developing whenever we visit the art museum we usually end up having waffle and ice cream...western style....and the coffee...the coffee...wow!

Above and bottom: View from the skybridge.

Below: One of my favourite sculptures.

On Dylan and party number 2.

So we planned this party on the 3rd of March...cause that's Dylan's birthday...and it crashed cause Dylan got sick, one of his buddies, Adriaan, was sick and the other one, Ivo, had just got a baby brother. So we thought its okay we'll just do a rerun...so we finally did it on the 17th of march...yes I'm posting a little late. It was really cool...with Dylan acting all important, he was super excited. The boys played well together and its always fun to get together with this particular group of friends. We went for a morning party cause little people have a nap around about twelve or so. Here are some photos of the event. NB...the chicken little cake is the second one in a month since we had made a cake for the first event and then didn't have the equipment to freeze it into a cryonic state for party number two...sigh...so low-tech at the moment.

Above: Little Lord Dylan orders his subjects around from on top of his toddler throne.

Below: The playroom...a toddlers dream and a parent's nightmare.