Adoption Picnic

Every year for the past few years, we go to the annual Adoption Assistance picnic.  They are the agency that helped us with both adoptions, and we love to go there and talk to the friends we have made at the agency and among the adoptive families.  Julie and her staff are more like family at this point.

The children had great fun as usual, riding the ponies, bouncing in the inflatable and getting their faces painted.  Can’t wait till next year!

Ahh The Wonders Of Jet Lag

Waking up at 4 AM – falling asleep at noon – waking back up at 6 PM and still wide awake at midnight. That wonderful little thing called jet lag.

The family is home and happier now that we’re getting the right amount of sleep (even if it’s not at the right times). Tomorrow we begin to fight the jet lag in earnest. But for today – naps and haircuts were the order of the day. We also went to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner and were disappointed after having the real thing just a few days ago.

So now we’re planning on spending a week getting acclimated and settled in as a new larger family – should be a lot of fun.

A Reason To Visit Taiwan

Yes, it tastes like both beer and green tea – but not in a good way. I saw it in the store and had to try it.  I guess it’s an acquired taste.

Day 7 Taipei

We spent today seeing the sights in Taipei and acting out on our frustrations. Joshua began the day a little sad, which is completely normal – and then like any other family he promptly passed on the sadness and frustration to everyone else. But also like any other family we hung in there together and by bedtime it was all hugs and smiles.

We started the day at Taipei 101 the tallest building in the world open to the public (soon to be passed by the tower in Dubai). Thanks to the wonders of technology we lost all of our pictures from there.

We left 101 and had a nice long talk (with some translation help – thanks Nick) about how misbehaving only means that we will no go have more fun. We will keep repeating the same message over and over because it is true – we are a forever family and nothing can change the love we have. After a little while, we went on to the martyr’s memorial and watched the changing of the guard. It was great to watch the precision and dedication of the soldier guards as they honor both civilians and soldiers who died in defense of Taiwan. In addition, Taiwan maintains much more of a sense of reverence about the memorial as opposed to America’s “tourist” mentality at our monuments.

Next we went to see the Grand Hotel, the first 5-star hotel built in Taiwan. It truly is “grand” and of course very expensive. Inside, we took a look around and learned how to play “rock, paper, scissors” going up a staircase – simple fun, but a big source of smiles.

After a quick trip through the Handicraft Promotion Hall, we went to dinner at another restaurant with no forks. It seems that we’re now a family fairly skilled with chopsticks. Jordan even sang the praises of a meal that did not consist of chicken nuggets but instead was made up of dumplings and noodles.

All in all, it was an interesting day filled with both tears and laughter. Pretty much as we expected – lots of work, but a lot of love too. It’s definitely worth it.

Day 6 Keelung

Tuesday saw us getting our final paperwork completed without much hassle so we’re now officially ready to come home – at least according to the US Government. Soon enough we’ll be on a plane.

We wanted to see some of the island in the time we have left, so we went to Keelung – a smaller city – to see some of the island’s culture and history. Taiwan has a unique geography, a long history of being fought over and occupied, and a rich Buddhist tradition which all have their effects on the country.

First we went to the sea coast near Keelung. Taiwan is very mountainous and seeing mountains running right down to the sea was beautiful. Keelung Island is just off the coast and is beautiful as well.

The children enjoyed getting out in the sunshine and running around. They tried the binoculars to look out at the boats and generally did all the great things kids do on summer vacation. They seemed to enjoy their Nintendo DS Lite games for the majority of the trip, but eagerly dropped them as we got to each stop.

The city of Keelung was the next stop – and we took the rest of the day exploring the area. As we came into the city we could look out over the harbor and see the “Hollywood” sign – or at least the Keelung version. We went through the city with our friend Nick pointing out special buildings and interesting things. We headed out to “The Queen’s Head” which is a place where wind and water have eroded rocks in interesting patterns – one which looks like a Queen’s Head.

When we got there, it was as hot as the surface of the sun, only more humid. We walked out to see the rock shaped roughly like a head and were warned that future generations may not get to see it since the “neck” is wearing thin. It’s probably because the queen is sweating so much.

We drove into town for a quick lunch at a place that had no forks or knives to eat with. Taiwan is so westernized that it was great to eat authentic local food served in an authentic way. We had beef noodle and vegetable noodle – and Daddy and Joshua also had some pig ear.

Next (as we drove we talked about the fact that only the high mountains in Taiwan ever get any snow) we stopped by a temple that is the center of the annual ghost festival. The local people prepare foods that are very artistic – rice and vegetables that are formed into miniature animal sculptures. These are to get the ghosts to come out. The temple senior people also can do incantations to keep ghosts away from a place. We enjoyed looking around – and finding a nice place in the shade to sit and relax. The beliefs of the local people were interesting as well, and Nick did his best to translate exactly what the belief and practice are.

Further up the mountain – at the top in fact – we came to a large Buddhist temple. You can actually climb up in side the Buddha – at least when it is open – and see the countryside. There is a huge bell there as well and Sarah, Joshua and Jordan took turns ringing it using the huge log striker. They needed a little help to get it going sometimes.

After walking around the temple, we went down to visit a military park and looked at the encampments that have helped defend northern Taiwan for hundreds of years. There are still cannons there and the local people know that this is still an important place to defend their homeland. For our part, the boys seemed to enjoy running up and down the steps and playing war. Sarah seemed to be running out of steam so Daddy carried her up the last steps and hills back to the car. By my count there were about 11,000 steps.

Finally, on the way back to the hotel, we stopped by a local coffee shop. Like the name says, it was very Nice Coffee. In Taiwan in the summer (did I mention it is hot here?) they drink a lot of iced coffee and iced tea. Everyone had a nice cold drink except Mommy who only likes coffee hot.

We’ve had our share of problems here, sadness at all the changes, but we’re holding together pretty well. We can’t wait to get home!