He Eats Like a Man

Before I give you the low down on our Thanksgiving, I have to post a couple pics of Ander. He is such a great kid, I feel really lucky that he has been so chill. He is forever patient with being drug all over town, through nap times and the occasional bed time. 

 I had to include this pic because, well, Ander eats like a man. I never had to cut up sandwiches for him, he just picks them up with two hands and eats them. My 4 year old doesn't even do that! She prefers to open it all up first. He eats pizza like this as well. And he eats a lot of it!

Lastly, this boy is on the move! He is more of a climber than we've had before- end tables, kitchen table, the kid's fort, and the latest was the ladder to the top bunk! He was calling out and I knew he needed help but I was still surprised to find him so high up. As long as he doesn't decide to climb out of his crib any time soon, it's all good.

As Good As It Gets

How was your Thanksgiving?
This year, this ^ Kindergarten spread was as close to a traditional Thanksgiving meal as I got. And I have to say, it was actually really good.

 Kennedy was in tears that Kohen was teasing her by saying he "massaged the turkey". But turns out each kid in his class really did get a chance to massage that turkey, put in stuffing and make cranberry sauce from scratch. It was just delicious, actually.

Some of the fun randoms brought in for the potluck portion are McDonalds chicken nuggets, soy eggs, "sandwiches" from 7-11 that had a thin layer of egg rather than cheese, and other undecipherables. Always an adventure.
But the food the Kindergartners made was truly delicious. My son has now made more of a Thanksgiving dinner than I have. True story.
More on our non-traditional Thanksgiving to follow...

Just Too Much

There was just so much that we did that I am having a hard time calling it quits :) After we got back from Toroko there were several nice late dinners out without children. Mmmm, Thai food. (Not to be confused with Taiwanese food.)

One of many advantages of having guests for so long was that our children got so much time with their grandparents. And their grandparents got to come to school several times for special events. Like Kennedy's Writing Celebration where she got to read out loud her first published piece this year. 

And Grandpa and Dad got to swim with Kohen at the end of his first swimming unit while Gma and Aunt Tara and Laynie and I watched. 

 There was lots of sight seeing while kids were in school...

 A trip to the flower market, I love that place.

 And the Grand Hotel.
And since we were unable to fit in a trip to PingXi to let off lanterns, Nathan of course figured out a way to bring the lanterns to us.

 On everyone's last night we painted and let off our lanterns from our top balcony.

 It was the perfect way to finish off weeks of fun.

I had to add this picture, I love it. Especially Kohen, note he is holding his chinese queue braid out for you to see and appreciate. Love it!
Miss you Bonnie, Norm, Tara and Laynie!!!!!

Kennedy's Baptism~

A few weeks ago Kennedy turned eight. We believe 8 to be the age of accountability and that also means that she is now old enough to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You can read more about our beliefs on baptism here.

So November 11th was the day. It was a little different in that it wasn't a Stake event. Kennedy was the only one being baptized on this night and so we had to make sure we let everyone know when and where and have everything in order. Our ward is awesome and lot's of family and friends came to support Kennedy.

 Even more special was her Grandma and Grandpa Jensen and Aunt Tara and cousin Laynie who came all the way from Idaho. It meant so much to Kennedy (and her parents) to have them here! It was hard not having all of our family with us but it made such a difference having these special guests here. It felt like the special event that it is.

 As I helped Kennedy get dressed I couldn't help but think about how it seems like the last 8 years have all gone by inexplicably fast. We are so proud of Kennedy and the girl she has become. She is a kind, smart and thoughtful girl who I know will continue to make us proud.

Love you Kennedy!

The Rest of the Story

Through out all of our fun trip to Haulien and Toroko Gorge, there were a couple moments that are worth mentioning: Nathan got a hot new hairdo. It's called "The Tara". (laughed until tears from this one)

Due to a typhoon washing out the road to Toroko we had to change our plans and take a train. Our trip home was not a straight shot and we had a typical experience in that communication is often spotty, no matter how clear we are. And everything takes two times as long here!!!

Case in point:

Upon following specific directions we find that after all 10 of us (sporting a stroller, wheel chair and a gaggle of kids) walked several blocks in the rain from the train station headed to the bus station, we had been told the wrong direction to go when leaving the train station. 

So the traveling circus tuuurned around and made our way back to the train station, up the elevators (spent 10 minutes trying to get the possessed doors to close), across the station, down the elevators, and out the other side. 

Several more blocks in the pouring rain to the bus station and we arrived soaking wet. 

                                

 What? what's the matter? do I look wet?

Why? Is it raining or something?

Notice the kind bus station lady taking pity on us and breaking out the 1 ply toilet paper for us to dry off with. This was actually a generous gesture considering Taiwan is notoriously stingy with all paper products. (ie: not standard in all public restrooms).

Unfortunately, the t.p. just kind of disintegrated as we gingerly patted ourselves off. By now we had come down with the giggles and the situation was pretty hysterical to everyone....

Except this poor guy.

Not fun being the ring leader in charge of the traveling circus. Nathan, you did amazing getting us from place to place. And by "place to place" I mean, hotel to van, van to train, train to bus, bus to 2 taxis, 2 taxis to 2 cars to (hallelujah!) home!

A weekend to remember!

Toroko Gorge Marathon 2010

Because we were really excited for this race we nailed down our babysitter for our 4 kids + 1 cousin, about 3 months before the race. That is why it was seriously frustrating when she fell through two days before the race. In the end Bonnie selflessly offered to stay at the hotel with the 4 older children for more than 8 hrs. (thank you, thank you, thank you Bonnie!)

Aaand I woke up Ander to go with the rest of us runners at 4am. Poor baby! We stayed at an amazing hotel up the gorge and so we had a 25-30 min bus ride down the mountain to the starting. Well, our bus driver decided he was gonna give us a 'special' treat by recreating a prolonged Space Mountain ride. The lights were on in the bus and it was black outside and you couldn't anticipate which way we would jerk next. It wasn't long before I  needed one of the barf bags on the bus... and I used it. Great way to start a race eh? 

 We got off of the spacecraft bus and made our way in the rain into the park. It wasn't long before we met up with our friends and you could feel the excitement in the air as race time approached.

 This is most of us who were running.

 Tara, Nathan's sister, was running her first official half marathon and Nathan was running the full marathon.

 The mother's who were running had special shirts that said in Chinese, "I am a mother of X number of children... And I can still run!" In a country with a negative birth rate, we really turned heads with our numbers.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to wear the shirt considering I would be pushing a baby for the first time and in a non-jogger stroller, lest I become an embarrassment, but in the end I decided to just go for it.

 Look at this picture of the starting line of the 1/2 and Full. It is just so cool!

 I actually found Nathan and Tara in the crowd ^ if you want to play Where's Waldo, Tara is in the pink shirt with blonde hair and Nathan is to her right. A couple helps, the tall guy with the blue shirt was with them... I was surprised to find Norm -who I had been running around looking for- had disappeared down to the starting line to see Nathan and Tara off. He's the blue hat.

 I will say this repeatedly and I will not apologize. Toroko gorge is AMAZING. It's huge and the above and below pics illustrate that, in that the runners,who you can actually see, are about the size of ants.

As the 5k-ers were getting ready to start I was desperately trying to get pictures of my FIL really getting into the warm up exercises with the rest of the crowd. Only later when I looked at the picture did I realize that someone had desperately been trying to get a picture of me.
 Oh Asia... how I love thee :)

 Our 5k started and Ander and I were off. The scenery was so incredible. Everyone was full on stopping to take pictures.

 My run was hard at times but good and I became very grateful I was wearing the shirt about 1/3 of the way in when I realized most of the racers were giving me big smiles, thumbs up and shouting encouraging "JIAYOU!?" (an idiom that literally translates to "add fuel"). Some even ran next to me for a bit to ask if my shirt was true. One just ran ahead of me, turned around and ran backwards while giving me a big, cheezy, thumbs up. It was hilarious and helpful.

 We did it! Not gonna lie, I was pleased with my time considering the circumstances.

 Next Norm and I waited for Tara. She did so awesome!! She finished strong and spent the next few hours telling people that yes, she does in fact have 5 children. I was so proud that she ran such an awesome race and made great time. Way to go Tara!!!!

 Meanwhile, miles up the gorge, Nathan was making his way up to the turn around point which happened to be at our hotel. So Bonnie and the kids waited outside to see Nathan and cheer him on. They gave lot's of racers high fives and "Jiayou!"'s while waiting.
Unfortunately by now, Nathan was in misery, having cramped up going up the mountain. Kohen was like, "We've been waiting an hour dad, go faster!"

And because Nathan was in so much excruciating pain and I like to keep things light here on the blog, let's take a moment for some comic relief.
HERE'S TO YOU MR. (& Mrs.) ROBINSON:

 When I saw it coming my way, and I actually had my camera ready and the darn thing actually worked... it was a FESTIVUS MIRACLE!!!
After all of our speculation last year on this character, I think it's safe to say this drafty getup is his M.O.
I get the giggles every time I look at it. I still can't believe, out of 10,000 people, I got this picture!!!
It was a message from the god of friendship, reminding us how much we love and miss the Robinsons. :)

 Back to the agony and the pain.
We waited a long time for Nathan. And after an ambulance went up the gorge I was waiting quite nervously. But nearing 5 hours -an all time worst for my sweet husband- a broke down Nathan came out of the tunnel. I was so grateful he made it!!! I was so proud he finished! Especially after he told us about how at one point he was just dragging a cramped leg along. I love you babe xoxoxo

A day that started off about 4 hours too early, followed by an up-chuck and cold, drizzly rain turned into a day full of self satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment and a little sunshine to highlight the beauty all around us.
The full body massages back at the glorious hotel didn't hurt either...

Halloween 2010...

...And no, just because it is now nearing Thanksgiving does not mean that I can't blog about Halloween. 

First thing you need to know is Nathan was able to help me with the gauntlet of Halloween parties at school (quite literally running back and forth between 3 classes) before leaving the country for the official holiday. If you want to see scary it's me pulling off Halloween on my own. I was a Witch for Halloween. No costume needed ;)

I was feeling guilty that I had no costume for Ander until I remembered this gem of a hat.

Aly chose to be Cinderella (please note all poses were completely crafted by the child w/o mom input)

Kohen was a Knight. His armor was shining.

Kennedy was a cat. I suggested perhaps she was Kiefer's girlfriend -Ashley- she LOVED that idea.

My favorite thing about Halloween is the terrible group shots that usually require at least one child to be in tears. I loathe taking the picture but it always makes me laugh after the fact. We did pretty well this year, I bribed Ander with a treat to keep his hands off of the hat, then snapped the picture as he charged me for more. Is it me or did Ander morf into Elmer Fudd here? where's dat wascally wabbit?!

It was a mostly lovely evening up on Yangmingshan where there were around 20 houses participating in trick or treating. That turned out to be the perfect amount for me the kids.

We met several of our friends up there and enjoyed the evening as the kids sprinted from house to house. Most of the houses were decorated to the nines and it felt like home.

This cute Cat is sure happy about her bag-o-catnip

Happy Halloween!