Week 38 crawling

Dear Children,
We started off this week with going to a hot pot restaurant. My mom's friend invited us out to lunch. It was the perfect meal for a toddler and baby because you could cook whatever you wanted. Nathan thought it was pretty cool that he could cook his own food.

 Another day we decided to walk around to find some good street food. Nathan really liked the liver soup that they were serving at this little stand.

 Next to the playground that we usually go to is a green house with lots of orchids. Volunteers maintain this park and I assume they also raise these orchids. These are my favorite flowers.

 We probably spent about 1/4 of our time awake traveling via public transportation. The people of Taiwan are super nice. I have always been offered a seat and almost always get a helping hand when taking the kids up and down stairs.

 One day we went to the Ling family mansion. I didn't get a chance to read the signs throughout this historical site, but they used to be a prosperous family in Taipei. Their house is beautiful and the gardens were pretty amazing as well. I definitely wouldn't mind living there.

 We stopped in a little pagoda and found a boy feeding the fish. He was nice enough to share his fish food with Nathan.

 While we were there, we came across a group of people who came over to see if they could take a picture with Nathan. You said "yes" to most people, but for some reason, you denied some others. Everyone thought that you were really cute and you aim to please. You were totally showing off by jumping off stairs, dancing, and giving everyone in the group (40ish people) high 5's as they went through a door.

The funniest thing happened after I took this picture:

 I saw you lean over and give this lady a kiss and then you giggled and pointed both of your pointer fingers in the air and did a little dance. #whotaughtyouthis?

Here you are posing with Ama. This is a common spot for people to take a picture. You pose like you are carrying 2 huge coins.

 After walking around in hot and humid conditions, it was nice to be able to cool down with a bowl of shaved ice. You liked just eating the plain ice and not so much the other sweet condiments that it came with.

 That day you were so tired that you fell asleep on my back. I ended up carrying you home and pushing Hannah (who also fell asleep in the stroller for the first time) about 1.5 miles.

 Hannah loves to snuggle with Gong Gong before bedtime. If she is ever fussy, a little time on Gong Gong's chest calms her down.

 On Mother's Day, we went to Chang Kai Shek Memorial. They have a beautiful garden with a pond of huge fish. I think Gong Gong really liked spending time with you guys there.

 

 Nathan and I climbed all the way up to the top to see the huge statue of this great leader.

 We were pretty lucky to reach the top in time for the changing of the guards. Hannah hung out with Gong Gong in the shade. Poor Hannah got pooped on by some pigeons.

 While Nathan can be pretty rough with  Hannah sometimes, there are times when I find you two playing side by side. I think it is pretty sweet.

 On a spur of the moment trip, we went to Taiwan's northwest coast for the morning. We walked around the boardwalk and Nathan got to eat some food on a stick. Here you are holding a skewer of quail eggs.

 Talk about fresh squeezed OJ. Squeezed right in front of us.

 And then one of your favorite, Sweet sausage.

 On the boardwalk Nathan ran into an arcade. You played a few games like this.

 On this whack a frog game, you seemed to be just a hair too slow. But then you saw this and played this game forever. (I didn't mind because I got a chance to eat while you played)

 Taiwan's air pollution is pretty bad. It is always "foggy" like this. Granted that the day was cloudy when this picture was taken, but I have never seen a really clear day in Taiwan for a loooooong time.

 I had to bribe Nathan from running back into the arcade with a giant ice cream. I was going to get you one anyways because these monstrous ice-cream cones are a specialty of this area.

 Another day we went to a local super mart. To get there, we had to use a pedestrian bridge to cross a busy street. Nathan thought it was pretty cool that he was walking over a bridge with cars rushing past us underneath.

 We had Japanese food, which both children LOVED.

 Nathan is napping about every other day,

Hannah crawled forward fire the first time today. She has been scooting backwards for some time. Hannah is absolutely loving all of the yummy foods here while Nathan is sticking to a strict diet of foods on sticks and rice with braised pork sauce when we eat out.

Our day it's starting at a more manageable 7 am, with Nathan waking up a bit later than Hannah.

These are a few parakeets that we pass by. Nathan likes to stop and say "Hello" Sometimes they respond back.

We took Daddy to the zoo. 

 Nathan is now a pro on escalators.

Now that Daddy is here, I feel like a huge load has been lifted off of my back. I feel like I have 5 times more energy at the end of the day. I'm happy that our family is back together.

Until next week,
Mommy