Strawberry Farm

 Kohen recently had a field trip to a Strawberry Farm and I was able to go with. I was curious about said farm seeing as Strawberries are really quite expensive here. I brought over all this Sure-jell thinking I could continue making delicious strawberry jam only to be bitterly disappointed to discover they are hard to find and super expensive.

 The farm was really well kept considering what we are used to around these parts. I was impressed. There was a pig that Kohen had no problem communicating with, he'd snort and the pig would snort back, endless fun.

 Not the best pic (he had his neck all scrunched down) but this bird was with chickens who had laid eggs recently, and it strutted around just like a rooster but that's as far as I am willing to venture in my guess as to what it is.

 When it was Kohen's class's turn to pick they were each given a little pair of scissors and a basket and they started out. While I was trying to help Kohen's buddy get the right number of the right size berry that he had chosen to pick, Kohen was clipping happily away. Before I could barely turn around he had clipped a dozen of the smallest, most jaundice looking strawberries. Luckily I knew when it came time to eat them,  Kohen would be up for it.

There really were some gorgeous berries, and they were delish. I ended up picking 12 large strawberries and by weight they cost me 200NT which is somewhere around $6. And though I felt fine about it at the time, upon reflection, it was not an amazing deal. About average, though I have never seen such large and red strawberries in the markets. 

But it's the experience we're supposed to remember, right?! And I think being out of school, eating good food, and being with Mom, is always a good time for Kohen.

Gone Shrimpin'

 On one of our days off we decided to look into "Shrimping". We had heard about it before and decided we needed to try it out. On this one random road there are a whole bunch of little shrimpin places. Apparently, the one we went to was the nice indoor one.

We got a couple of poles and some ^ bait, which was disgusting. Little dried baby shrimp and some sort of liver... or other... part. I dunno, but gross.
I will say though, that of the families that came with us, Nathan was the only one man enough to bait the hooks. I was proud of my Idaho Boy, not gonna lie. Do I want any part of baiting the hook? No. Does it kinda turn me on that my hubby just digs in with both hands? Disturbingly, yes. It must be my Idahoan roots behind that attraction.

 Anyway, after your 2 little hooks on the end of each line are baited by my Man, you simply throw your line in, sit back and wait. and wait.... aaaand wait some more. It was a very full house the afternoon we were there and I think that had to do with our lack of luck. But after a while, Nathan of course snagged one.

 Dang these are ugly creatures. Can I get an "AMEN!"?

 But it was still really exciting to pull one up out of the water. Kohen, of course, was absolutely in the middle of the action without hesitation.

Aly experienced some... hesitation. 

 To illustrate the classy- ness of the joint, I had to get a picture of the owner puffing away like a chimney right next to the giant "No Smoking" sign. Unfortunately, actions speak louder than words as the patrons had no problem lighting up either. Yuck.

 In the end, at two different times I had a shrimp on the hook but right as it came out of the water it escaped. Dang! Nathan caught two and our friends son caught six. He was the Shrimp Whisperer. In the end he was just showing off when he pulled up a shrimp and there was a second shrimp just hanging onto the first shrimp! It was crazy.
But that was it. No one else in our group had luck.

 The owners must've felt bad cuz they just gave us some more shrimp before showing us how to rinse, skewer, and salt the still live shrimp. eew.

 Kennedy was surprisingly okay with this portion of the process. I think she was glad to finally get her hands on some shrimp one way or another.

 We threw the shrimp on the barbie (said with my best Australian accent) and let em roast for a while.

 Pretty soon it was time to dig in....
Or was it?
Let's just say they also got a firsthand lesson on when a shrimp is not fully cooked. I say "they" because I  had no part in the eating. Shrimp and I are tentative friends and I only can handle them under certain circumstances. Eyes and antennae still attached is not one of them.

 Eventually the shrimp were fully cooked and a small shrimp feast took place.

 Though his face here may lead you to believe otherwise, Kohen LOVES shrimp and even ate his fair share of these questionable ones.

At the end of the afternoon there was only crustacean carnage left to show for the whole adventure. I think next time we will come back when all the Chinese are back at work and we will catch them but pass on eating them there.
I mean, it's not exactly a Bubba Gump caliber operation but it made for some memories.

Swimming at the "Spa"

On our CNY break we did lot's of fun stuff just hanging around town. We went to the high school to cheer on our team in the Rugby championship games- can I just say, that is one brutal, physical game? Honestly, I'm not sure I'm even man enough to watch the games- the way they just crash into each other with out pads or helmets *cringe* But I loved learning all about the game, I like it a lot.

Tangled also came out in theaters here (FINALLY) so we obviously went and completely loved it. The fact that it only played in English and 3D is a vent I'll spare you but hello! way to rip off the foreigners. 

One afternoon our friends invited us to go swimming at an indoor place they had some passes to. The warmer pool where the kids could pretty much touch was where we spent our time. It was the pool with all the spa/water features.

As 5 kids cannon balled into the "spa" pool, I'm sure the quiet relaxation for the other patrons quickly drew to a close. Our kids had to try out each of the water features, of course.

They had fun with all of them but I tried to steer them clear of the one at the far left of ^this picture because, frankly, I was suspicious of just what the water was massaging. 

After a while the newness of the pounding water features wore off and they enjoyed themselves just swimming around.

These bubble bath bed things were the favorite and were how they finished off their swim. It was a great afternoon with friends.

The Year of the Rabbit

For Chinese New Year the Kindergartners do something called The Red Market. Lot's of fun food and all sorts of activities in all of the different rooms. I got to work in the "Beauty Booth" and I did lot's of little heads of hair which was fun.

As usual Ander was an amazingly good sport. I was asked to do hair at the last minute so Ander had to just hang out in his stroller for a looong time. He entertained himself for quite some time with Kohen's hat, and Kohen would bring Ander a piece of pizza every 15 min or so and that helped a lot.

 Each class had made a dragon out of all of their hands which looked neat I thought.

 They had Chinese character painting, dragon tatoos, Fishing, musical chairs, a chopstick and M&M game, face paintings etc. I was impressed, it was really well run and the kids made some good memories.

Fun to see the different outfits, and I especially love Kohen's impromptu "Rabbit paws".

We have this week off for Chinese New Year so there will be more to come. But for now let me be the first to wish you Happy Chinese New Year, the year of the Rabbit. Xin nian kuai le!!!!

Don't Play With Your Food

My sister Natalie is a funny, funny girl. Not a coincidence then that she gives funny gifts. She is the responsible party behind the Handerpants, and she hit it out of the park this Christmas with my kids. Remember Wooly Willie from back in the day where you would put magnetic hair shavings on his face and head?

Well he has inspired the Fred Food Face Plates.

 Nathan made us this delicious Sunday Roast Dinner (that's right ladies, I said Nathan) and it was the perfect meal to pull out the Fred plates.

 They took so much time creating their plates I was a little concerned about what they'd actually eat. Instead, they would announce, I'm eating his hair now! I'm eating his carrot ears! or, He needs more beard! They thought it was hilarious. Nathan and I got a kick out of them too.

 Aly... well, she got stuck. She insisted she only wanted Fred to have mashed potatoes and proceeded to spend 15 minutes carefully patting down gobs of them on Fred's head. I didn't complain because she pretty much ate them all.

 The plate probably helped but the meal was pretty delicious on it's own. This is a gesture Kohen does when he is eating food and it is just sooo good. He bounces his hand up and down while doing it and it reminds me of something very Italian. Maybe it's that 1/16th Italian in his blood showing through. Makes you feel pretty good though when you made a meal and he does this. It's the ultimate thank you.

Of course what is a Sunday Dinner without Brown Sugar Muffins? Which is exactly what I am holding next to the camera that elicited a dimpled response from Ander. He's a fan.

Bend It Like Beckham

You know, I did try. I tried to find something that Kohen could do after school that he would enjoy. Unfortunately even with all of the after school options at TAS, I was trying to coordinate with what Kennedy wanted to do so that I would only have to drive back extra, one day a week. 

I put Kohen in gymnastics.

 Now before you manly men shake your heads in embarrassment, let me just say that there are lot's of boys in the class and it is plenty rough and tumble. 

But over the last month or so Kohen has made it clear he is no longer enjoying himself. So I now look forward to the weekly complaints. They should last through, oh, about the rest of the school year. 

Due to some of the struggles Kohen has had this year, we were strongly encouraged to make sure he had something that he enjoys and excels at outside of school. I believe it's important too but I have to admit I have selfish thoughts about how to accomplish this, it's just more $ out of pocket and more muddying up MY schedule and MY responsibilities. Bad I know, but I'm being honest. 

So when Nathan suggested soccer -which started in November, has an involved sign up process, and I knew was already full- I kind of said, Good luck with that babe. And left it to his persistent Nathan ways. 

Two days later Kohen had special permission from the coach to join the team.

(Kohen yuckin it up with his friends on the field)

 Nathan, being proud of his mad Dad skills, made a grave mistake in telling Kohen on Wednesday that he was going to get to play soccer on Saturday. Kohen enjoys anticipation about as much as constipation, and we got to listen to him nag, whine, and complain that Saturday was taking too long to get here! every hour of each day. How can you even nag and complain about something you are totally excited to do? It's a special talent.
Finally Saturday arrived and by the grace of God- truly- soccer wasn't rained out. I could not have been held responsible for what I might have done to my husband and/or son if it had been canceled.
Do I even need to write how much Kohen loves soccer? How much he loved the game? How excited he is to be playing SOCCER!!!

He's not too shabby either.

Not Your Mother's...

...Lemonade stand. Why? Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure your mom didn't live in Taiwan. Kohen and the girls have been nagging us for months to let them do a "lemonade stand" out front. We live on a ginormous hill and people walk the hill all day long for exercise, especially on mornings and weekends. Lot's of pedestrian traffic. So after me pushing it off on "Dad", I was surprised to come down stairs on Saturday morning to find the operation in full swing. 

 There were a few hiccups initially, like Nathan trying to 'keep an eye on them' from inside whilst his eyes were actually on his laptop. I look out the window to see Aly and Kohen holding the product in their hands, running up to innocent passerby's, essentially begging them to buy their wares. I was mortified. So Nathan was heavily encouraged to go out there and at least give them a few tips of the trade.

There was also the language barrier. But they got by. When Kohen came inside proudly holding someone's 100NT bill, Kennedy was outside realizing she needed to give the guy change. So they managed and figured things out.
 I am pretty sure we were running an illegal operation anyway. I am not positive what the rules are but I do know my kids don't have say, work visas, so I hoped that the 3 root beers they sold over 3 hours wouldn't be grounds for imprisonment.
They had a little luck out of the gate but then things slowed down as the morning wore on (they kinda had a late start) and what do ya know, one of the cans fell so many times on the ground it sprung a leak, so they did what any good sales person would do, and they shared that spraying, leaking can of soda.

I think we will try again soon with a little more preparation. Perhaps I will actually brush their hair, they may even wear clean clothes. And maybe we can find something better than soda to offer people after their arduous walk up our hill. Though rootbeer is a rare treat here. I fear part of the problem is that few people bring money with them. But we shall see.
In the end we don't even know if "Lemonade Stands" are something children do here. More likely they just work at their parents vegetable stand for real all day. So we are trying to figure out the market. And no matter how much Asians would like it, we are not offering the gross tea drinks with big floating jelly globs in them. Sorry to disappoint.

My Little Song Bird

Aly is my little song bird. She is forever energetic, happy, silly, chatting and singing in her adorable little voice. So when Tara caught this totally candid moment (as in, this is really what she was wearing/doing) where you see a very rare side of my little lark, I fell in love.

2010 had a few rough patches for Aly and I worried. I worried she might lose her little song bird song. But she is a resilient one. She is still our same spunky Alyroo. And amazingly, even this little ball of moxie has moments where she just...sits. But they are rare. Which makes this picture as special as a Rembrandt to me.

Christmas in Taiwan 2010

 Unbelievably, our children didn't wake US up until 8am Christmas morning. They played quietly down in their rooms while they waited. It was a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!! I think our traditional Christmas wrap across the stairs went a long way keeping them upstairs.

 When Nathan and I came down, they were sitting in these 3 chairs in front of the wrapping, just trying to keep their excitement down while they waited for us. This attitude started our morning off on the right foot for sure.

Even without any extended family (who we missed SO much!!!) we were able to have a lovely Christmas morning. As I sat there counting blessings as the morning went on, I started to realize I must be one of the luckiest girls in the world. Truly.
Merry Christmas!!!!

Beware...

They could attack at any time.

Christmas Cheer

We have had a difficult time keeping Ander out of the fireplace lately, as every last square inch of our house must be tested, tasted, and conquered. He stays very busy.

 "Hey guys! Come here, I think I see Santa!!!"

 "?"

 "False alarm, my bad.    ...... Um guys?....I think I'm stuck."

Sticking with the random theme, I discovered half a dozen "wrapped" presents under our tree the other day. Kohen had gotten serious choosing some not-so-gently-used items from his room to wrap for our family. If there was any question before, the supplies he used to wrap his gifts clearly proves there is Wilcox blood running through that boys veins. Didn't you know there is literally nothing that can't be fixed (or wrapped) with a little tape, and bungee cords?!
The toilet paper? well, that just speaks to ingenuity and class.

Uncalled For.

At Disney I picked this up for dinner one night. I only read "Turkey" and "Wrap" and thought, great! Let's just say there was no Turkey to be found, but plenty of other stuff.


All of your Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner needs fulfilled inside this harmless looking tortilla. Beware!

This is completely uncalled for.