Half Marathon in Taroko

 Saturday morning while all the runners got up at 4am to head down to the race, the rest of us slept a few hours more.

Silks Place is the most beautiful hotel in Taiwan I'd venture to say. Pictures don't quite do it justice.

 We got up and had a leisurely breakfast and the kids went out butterfly catching.

 There were hundreds of beautiful butterflies all over the grounds of Silks Place.

 Kohen was the butterfly hunter. He had skills. He even managed not to mangle them as he caught and released them.

 Stunning scenery every where you look.

Meanwhile, Nathan was running a half marathon. Love this picture.^He is over the YM in our youth group and they had all been training together for the half. Pretty cool for them all to accomplish such a huge goal together. For you runners who might care, Nathan's time was 1 hr 56 min.

 Nathan, Ross, Jeremiah with the YM.

Back up at the hotel... Silks is the turn around point for the marathon runners and though none of the 42 runners we knew were running the marathon this year, we went out front with our neighbors and friends and let the kids cheer on the runners for a while. Jia you!!! (give gas!)

 The runners loved the little cheerleaders and one runner came up and motioned for Kohen to come run with him and off he went. K, bye?

 I started walking that direction when they took off and after they ran across the bridge the guy helped Kohen onto the sidewalk headed back to me. Kohen thought it was "pretty cool".

 All the runners would come by and give the kids 5's as they ran by. It was so hot out, they'd been running uphill for miles; I think it lifted their spirits.

 Next we took the kids swimming, indoors since we didn't bring sunscreen. In one pool there were hundreds of rubber duckies which inspired a few games.

There were about a dozen kids from our ward swimming and they spent quite a bit of time throwing the ducks all from one pool to another. I hope they got the sense of satisfaction they were looking for. I just wanted the activity to poop em out and I think it worked.

Speaking of poop. This is Brandie snuggling with Ander, teaasing and holding their noses after he was showered off. It's all fun and games till someone poops in their swim diaper. I do not wish to clean something like that ever. again.

 I love my sister Natalie's eye in photography. She takes the coolest shots at the coolest angles.

 The view from our room.

 The next day when we headed down the gorge we stopped on the rope bridge again. For some reason I was 10X as scared as I was last year. The space between the rope and wood seemed to gape open in a way I don't remember and I was worried that Ander would... I don't know. I was just worried.

So we took a quick picture and Ander, Scarlett and I headed off of the bridge.

Auntie Natalie and Kennedy

 Aly climbing on the wires that (hopefully) secure the bridge. As we walked onto the bridge Kennedy said, "Mom, why do bridges like this always fall down in the movies?" Um... that's an alarming and untimely observation, right?!

The gorge is stunning and the water is a very unique color. There is marble all over in the gorge walls. 

Meedle and Beeg

Up at a Buddhist Temple

Can you see the marble?

 The shrine for all those who died building the road through the gorge.

 This gives you some perspective on how ginormous that marble boulder is when you see the person on the platform!

 Between Natalie and I, we took hundreds of pictures. I tried to narrow it down. I really did.

 On the way home the weather turned quite nasty. The roads are already treacherous so we pulled out for a few minutes to let it pass. The "I have to pee!" alarm went off several times over so Nathan earned the Father of the Year award by taking turns escorting the girls out in the down pour and holding an umbrella for them while they did their business. (ps- everyone was decent at the time the pic was taken.)

Basically, if you have visited us in Taiwan and we didn't go to Toroko, you need to come back cuz you haven't seen the best Taiwan has to offer. And if you haven't come yet, put it on your list!!