A Mermaid Party, No Ariel Allowed.

For Kennedy's 8th Birthday she invited 3 friends over for An Under the Sea, Mermaid themed party. Kenna told me about a year ago that she really wanted a Mermaid themed party so I've had a long time to prepare. Which makes one wonder why I waited until about a week before to get to work on it. 

I don't know what possessed me to make not one paper mache' fish for a pinata, but four more, for decoration. Maybe someone needs to hit me with a bat, I dunno. Paper mache' is time intensive ya'll! And then I pulled out my paints to find I had about 3 colors that were usable, but all now in gel form. So I hopped in the car and ran to Target and picked up some more. *SNAP!* Oh hi reality. Yeah, I had no idea where to find more paint so I made do with what I had. "Making Do" is not a favorite activity of mine, fyi.

As the girls arrived we put a flower clip we'd made in the girl's hair and a shell necklace around their neck and each of the girls set out coloring their own mermaid. 

This party was an Ariel free zone, largely because Ariel is a naive, disobedient, tantrum throwing, heaving-bosomed 16 year old child bride who pitches a fit and then gets her way-  HOW I DID NOT PICK UP ON THIS when I was obsessed with the movie, and sound track I had on cassette tape with which I would force my sister and neighbors to reinact scenes, with me headlining as Ariel, of course- I will never know.

 Anyway, at some point years later it dawned on me the lack of values in the story and so, though my kids watch the movie once in a great while, I wasn't about to dedicate a whole party to her. Not when Kennedy and her friends would make better mermaids just being their cute selves. 

 Cute Selves Exhibit A

 We used the Mermaids the girls colored and cut out for "Pin the Mermaid on the Shell Throne". When I told Kohen he didn't have to color a mermaid, there was actually such a thing as "Mer-men" he made a face like he'd smelled stinky socks and said, "No thanks, I think I'll just be a shark." So there was quite a scene when Kohen planted his shark right on a mermaids head (you can see, above). He couldn't have been more satisfied with himself or the room full of squealing girls. 

 Giving the fish some love before they smash her face -and my 5+ hours of work- to bits.

 I've seen enough America's Funniest Videos to know that it isn't so smart for Nathan to hold out the pinata while a bunch of kids swing at it with a bat...
Here is Kennedy with the first crack, which thankfully only made contact with the pinata.

 And a great action shot of Maddie gutting the fish.  

This ^ was a party favor, and all I will say is that I was doing more of that "making do" again. Luckily, I had the girls at M&Ms.

 If the paper mache' fish weren't proof enough of my desire to inflict unnecessary pain and stress on myself, I offer you this. A cake complete with fondant frosting (my first time ever working with it) and the sugar I made to look like seaweed which took three tries to get how I wanted it, and I also didn't have the cake pans I would've preferred. Taking all my disclaimers into consideration, I feel fine about how it turned out.

 So did the birthday girl. I think having a birthday party, and more importantly, having friends to actually invite to her party, was a really big deal for her. And in spite of all my complaining about party prep, if I'm being honest, I really enjoyed doing it. It was a labor of love. (Except for the part where the fondant wasn't working and my kids were swarming me in the kitchen and I closed my eyes and yelled, "GET OUT! AND DON'T COME BACK FOR AT LEAST 5 MINUTES!!" except for that, it was all love).

 Happy Birthday Kennedy Jolee!

xoxo

Kinmen

What does this mother of four have to do to get one night, I repeat, one night away alone with her husband?

I'll tell you what. 

I had to agree to eat Fear Factor caliber food, wake up at 4:30am and run further than I have in at least 5 years, not to mention stressing myself silly arranging care for our children. All in the name of love, baby.

Nathan and I recently went on an overnighter to Kinmen Island. We were able to go with our friends Carrie and Ross and we thoroughly enjoyed our 28 hours (you better believe I counted them) away from our crew. We went to Kinmen for a race and so we were with a Tour Bus group and kind of at their mercy that first night. But it was fine, while everyone else went in to hear like an hour long pitch on Tea that we don't drink, we enjoyed some adult conversation instead. Uninterrupted, I might add.

Seesters! Look what I found! A rare and exceptional Asian Afro coupled with what I suspect is a straight ponytail of extensions. The juxtaposition of the puff vs. the pony really had me pondering. Real or not real? It's still a riddle to me. An afro on an Asian... doubtful. But the color is unmistakably what you get when you bleach very dark hair. Just ask my sister, ha ha! No but really, it's a conundrum.

(In his head I imagine he's got a loop of Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful' with the line-  "Humidity won't bring mee-ee down!")

ANYway. Eventually they took us to the race site. Heretofore I was not excited. But I started feelin it a little at this point. Nathan went in and worked his Nathan Magic and got he and Carrie signed up for the 1/2 Marathon even though it was full. 

Next we were all herded to dinner. Now, how do Asians carb-load you may be wondering? 

Uh huh. They set this gem down in front of me. And guess what surprise is under the whip topping and sprinkles? I'll never tell.......    

Okay fine. Shredded cabbage. I know, I can't explain the thinking on that either.

But wait! There's more! And it's gray! 

I don't eat gray.

S.O.S.! 

It was at this point I questioned just how much I loved Nathan. Thankfully I thought on it so long I didn't have much time to eat the array of horrors in front of me. I ate white rice with a few tentative bites of "fish" and "pork". I was still hungry when we left.

We headed to our hotel which was slightly nicer than I was expecting so that was a pleasant surprise. We had two twin beds, it was very "I Love Lucy".  Except the beds were hard as rocks as usual. You might as well be sleeping on a box spring. Or the floor. But again, it was clean.

Wake up call was 4:30am. Breakfast was not so gross but not really good, either. Lesson definitely learned to bring our own food for this kind of stuff! 

It was the perfect weather for running. Overcast and warm, with an occasional cool breeze. The four of us were 4 of 7 non-Asians that we saw which was kind of fun. It made me realize how cool it was to be  there. 

We enjoyed watching all the other runners do their warm ups and stretches which are nothing short of comical. Lot's of gyrations, some slapping, unabashed hip thrusting... it's good stuff.

Before I knew it the race had started and I was officially running my first race ever. Never mind that the 4.5K was called a "fun run"-which me and my huffing and puffing resent, btw- it was still a race. 

And even though I had never actually ran that far in my practice runs my goal was to not stop running. When I discovered about 8 min. in that at least half of the course was uphill, I was even more proud of myself for meeting that goal. All 4 of us met our personal race goals so I'd say it was a success.

Carrie especially had success -she came in 2nd place for her age group! She was pretty frustrated when she realized she was beat by only 42 seconds, and had she only known she would have kicked on the after burners. After all, her legs are about twice as long as little ms. snuck into first. 

I love this picture because while both women are giving the "V" for victory per requirement for any picture on this side of the hemisphere, Carrie kinda looks like she's giving the other lady rabbit ears... was that on purpose? :)

Next our taxi driver took us somewhere "special" to buy some of the peanut candies Kinmen is famous for. I had to include a few pics because this is typical. We pull up to some suspicious looking building and are told we have arrived. We went inside and checked out the goods and where they were made. I didn't see any hair nets or gloves, for the record.

This little old lady was cute. Her family was behind this peanut operation *punny* and Nathan bought candies to take back to his assistant and other Chinese friends who might appreciate them. 

After we went back to the hotel and showered up it was time for lunch. Maybe it was just because I was starving by now but lunch was a few notches up from dinner. 

There was still some less than appealing dishes swinging around the lazy susan though. ie:

We tried to rent scooters to drive around the island but they were all rented out so we settled on our quirky taxi driver. 

First stop was to get some fruit, Carrie and I let the boys handle it.

I was starting to rethink that choice when Nathan got back in with a bag full of plums. I think this speaks to his hunger level as well- we were supposed to be getting on a plane shortly- who did he imagine was gonna eat all those plums? lol

Our driver took us on a tour of the island. We saw some riveting sites including but not limited to his Elementary School, High School, meeting his Wife etc.
We did get around to a war museum where I realized exactly where we were. Kinmen is technically Taiwan so I assumed it was right off of the main island's coast. I was shocked to see we were literally on mainland China's front porch. Crazy.

If you are interested ^ is a little info on Kinmen's importance in the war. From what I gathered, if Kinmen had fallen, mainland Taiwan would have as well. It was neat to learn a little more history about it.

Before we headed to the airport we stopped at the beach. It's hard to resist the urge to do the Crane, of Karate Kid fame, when you are on cement stumps on a beautiful beach.

So, it wasn't exactly a romantic gettaway. But the scenery was lovely, the race was fun and the company was great. And if all else fails, we did see that Puff v. Pony. It made my day anyway.

Goldfish Sandwich

I really do love and appreciate when Nathan packs a snack for Ander for church. Because then I get a laugh as well as a new favorite snack choice, A Goldfish Sandwich (???).

Ander Video

Some Ander videos by request. First we have Ander trying to keep up with his siblings. He doesn't even flinch at the sword wielding, stampeding herd he has obviously grown accustomed to. 
Couple quick items: please try to ignore any weird voices or sounds I make during these videos.
Also, the same outfit appears in most of the videos. This is purely coincidence. The videos were shot on different days, and I change Ander's clothes at least once a week, I swear!





Next we have Ander copying my clicks. Either that or he is becoming truly Asian, unable to chew unless one's mouth is open. I'm hoping he likes the clicking sound.





A favorite family dance song is "Beggin" and you may catch that Kohen likes to interpret music literally, as he gets off of the floor in front of Ander. Did I mention Ander get's down to this song too? Even when strapped in a seat...





Ander's new favorite place to climb is this random box seat. And his new favorite song is Jesus Wants Me for a SuuunBEAM! In this video he is trying his darndest to jump to the song. Just try watching it without moving yourself. 
The impressive spill at the end? Don't worry, he rolled out of it like a ninja. And proof that modern day miracles still happen, I video'd this with my hand over the microphone. You are welcome.





Lastly, we have Ander laughing his head off as Kennedy shouts his favorite song. Nothing better than those belly laughs!

A New Saturday Morning Tradition

We have started a new Saturday morning tradition. It has finally started to be a few degrees cooler in the morning and evenings and if it's early enough it's bearable to be out in the mornings. We headed out down our hill past the fruit/veggie stand right down from our house. Note the narrow road that is in fact a two way road. Pretty common in these parts.

Ander was in the carrier on Nathan's back and quite enjoyed his ride. The rest of us made our way walking down the mountain we live on. There are several parts that are very steep (some taxis refuse to even go up... wimps) so we took our time going down carefully.

It actually only ended up taking us about 15-20 minutes to get all the way to our breakfast destination which ain't bad at all.

It's kinda fun to walk through a jungle to get to breakfast.

This is a typical local "restaurant" in Tianmu. Very open air and everything is made right there.

My new favorite -thanks to Nicole- is Zaobing Jia Dan. It is egg with green onions in a sesame seed pastry-ish thing.

Actually, all the girls really like it. Yum.

Ander enjoyed some fresh soy milk, as told by the white rivulets of milk running down his chin.

Kohen and Nathan both really like this scary looking fried food called Huotui Dan Bing. Not my personal fave. But the boys put it away.

On our way out this gma was on the corner selling some fresh vegetables and was chattering in Chinese about Ander and how you can tell who the dad is etc. We actually hear the part about "Baba" quite a lot, paternity is obvious to most. Anyway, when she clapped her hands twice and then laid them open like a book (evidently the international sign for "come here baby!") to my surprise Ander leaned out to her and let her hold him for a minute. Nathan grabbed the camera and I could have kissed him for having my proverbial 'Blogging Back'. The picture makes me happy.

Come visit and we shall go get some breakfast- any takers?

Halloween Costumes etc.

This will probably not be a post to interest all, but Grandparents and family might enjoy a few peeks at the latest "modeling" the kids have been doing.

Nathan and I have recently been roped into several photoshoots under the guise of getting to shoot with Kennedy. These were taken off of the monitor at the shoot but are pretty much what they used in the catalog. Though it was interesting to try Nathan and I are retiring as models for the time being. Takes too much time that we don't have.

Here are several sites where you can see the kids. The first is Ander's first shoot ever.

Chickabiddy- two pictures of Ander

Thanks to my awesome friend Kay who actually found Kennedy on a costumes in Kmart. So crazy to see! We realized we could find her on Kmart.com and I have linked the costumes she is wearing.

Kmart.com Cowgirl

 Kmart.com 50's Girl

 Kmart.com Angel

Kmart.com Little Red Riding hood

Kmart.com Milk Maid

Kmart.com  Pink Witch

Why & 1/2 - Kennedy's was on the latest cover - the one where she is wearing the Eiffel Tower. Kohen was on the back cover, the one where he is wearing the bowtie.
To find pictures: When page loads, at bottom there are chinese characters divided by stars. Choose 2nd one in. A list will appear, choose the 3rd one down starting with 2010. Another list of chinese will appear, choose the 4th one.
To see Ander: at bottom of home page choose 2nd one in. A list will appear, choose the 4th one down. Another list will appear, the first one will be chosen. Scroll to the bottom of pictures to see two of Ander.

Festivities for Ander Man

This video is what Ander woke up to on his Birthday- it was a good way to start off his big day.

After breakfast we headed to the first place in Taiwan that actually met, nay, exceeded my expectations. Welcome to Formosa Fun Coast. A ginormous, awesome water park. The best part was that the normally crowded park was nearly empty due to a Chinese holiday- thank you random spirit or Chinese myth!
It was Ander's first water park experience and the smile was pretty much on his face from the moment his toes touched the water.
He loved the slides, we had to watch him carefully because he would try to climb up the slippery stairs the moment we set him free.
A quick ride on the tire swing with Aly...
Please, how cute is she^?
Kohen jumping out of the water like a dolphin... no pics of Kenna as she ran off with friends like a big kid.
Ander and I going down a water slide, I swear he actually loved it :)
And then he promptly fell into a deep sleep... sweet boy.
Meanwhile, since we were enjoying this gorgeous day with several other families, the men and the women took turns riding the waterslides since the lines were so unusually short. It was the most fun I've had since I can remember at a water park. It truly seemed like we were on a vacation in some sort of paradise. I guess Taiwan is an island...

What a rare treat this kind of day is.