Ever since re-entering the workforce a couple of months ago it seemed like Craig's Mum has had work to do every weekend. Last weekend was the first time for a long time that she could just enjoy her free time. The first thing done on Saturday morning was brunch at L.A. Cafe (no pictures). Then, it was time to go for a walk with Craig helping to push Graham's pram.
The rooftop jungle gym was the same as ever. Craig played there quite happily for a while but the jungle gym is for smaller kids and Craig is becoming a big boy now. He'll soon turn four! While he was standing around looking at the little rocking train that is beside the jungle gym Craig's parents decided he should go for a ride. He wanted his Mum to go with him.
It's not a long ride, just a couple of minutes and Craig has never become very excited when he's on it. This time was no exception.
Inside the department store, next to the incredibly expensive childrens clothing is a little space where people can sit and watch their kids draw on little blackboards. It's just outside of a classroom that Craig's Dad has never taken any notice of......... most of the classes seem to be about parenting.
When it was time to move on they went to a nearby school that had some more challenging stuff for Craig to do. He seemed to like the increased degree of difficulty. The department store slides are too small for him now.
Craig seemed to really like the school's more difficult climbing equipment. It was very quiet inside the school and that was also a pleasant change after all the noise in and around the department store.
Craig's Dad tried to teach Craig to hold the rope and lean back while walking up this little doer but Craig preferred to use his own method.
On the way down the rope once again became mere decoration.
The school was a perfect place for Craig's parents to sit somewhere quiet and watch the boy play but there was a lack of playmates for Craig.
At a park right next to the school was another jungle gym and a very friendly little girl. As soon as she saw Craig she followed him everywhere. Then, much to the embarrassment of her mother, the little girl insisted on giving Craig a hug. Craig responded by messing up her hair. After that, every time they slid down the two slides they would hug again.
After all that running around, Craig relaxed in the evening with a movie.
The next photo contains all the important elements of what it takes to make a fussy almost 4-year-old boy happy. In addition to the actual breakfast composed of Craig's favourite omolette and soybean milk there must also be a mobile phone that is playing music, paper for drawing plus the red crayon normally used for writing down customer orders, and last but least, the empty creamer sachet that contained the creamer that was put into Craig's Dad's coffee. When all of these things are present and accounted for Craig will eat his breakfast happily.
After breakfast on Sunday it was decided that a trip to Danshui would be a good idea. The trip was uneventful with Craig happy to sit on his Mum's lap.
After arriving in Danshui they stopped for lunch at a cafe that had outdoor seats. Craig's Dad is a bit sorry that he didn't get a picture of the group of teenage girls that simply had to take turns at having their photo taken with Craig. It was really quite mad!
It had been cool and cloudy back at home but after crossing the river on a ferry to Bali it was hot and sunny. It was a good thing Craig wore a broad-brimmed hat.
Craig saw some bigger kids doing some tricks on a horizontal bar so he tried to do the same and pull his feet up onto the bar. Unfortunately, his toes never seemed to be far from the ground.
Perhaps Craig's Dad should have helped or provided instruction rather than standing around taking photos.
So, the little family sat on the grass beside the river to enjoy the nice cool breeze.
But there wasn't much to do except take pictures of each other while looking at the view. The lack of shade annoyed Craig's Dad a bit as well. No shade in parks and public areas is a common problem in Taiwan.
So, not long later it was back on the ferry for the trip home. Craig's Dad saw some kids having great fun trying to catch little fish. This is a common scene in taiwan especially in night markets but Craig's parents don't go to night markets much so Craig had never tried it before. He had some trouble to begin with but he persisted long enough to catch one fish without any help whatsoever. That was pretty cool.
The view from Danshui MRT Station platform in the late afternoon is often quite nice.
A small side note: After returing home, dinner on Sunday night was at TGI Fridays for the umpteenth time. However, for the very first time Craig's Dad checked out how much the cost of the meal for three would be if converted to Aussie dollars. At this time, when the exchange rate is NT$30.1 to AUD$1, the bill for just over NT$1,300 worked out to AUD$42.88.That looks pretty cheap for dinner for three.
Meanwhile, some parents tried hard to win the "Recycling" prize for the most environmentally friendly costume.
In Craig's Dad's opinion, the best costumes were those that combined off-the-shelf look-a-like stuff with individual touches. The little bloke in the following picture had a vest and breeches purchased at a nearby supermarket. But his mum had found a really good looking hat and drew an excellent moustache and goatie to make him look like a real cowboy.
Craig was the last one in class to take to the stage. Other children walked to the front with the simplest of instructions.
But Craig needed to be pushed firmly in the right direction. He's still very shy and doesn't enjoy being the center of attention.
He only took a couple of steps after the first push so the MC had to move forward and push him again.
Eventually Craig moved to the front of the stage. His mask was never pulled down over his face for some unknown reason, maybe next year.
The biggest and most amazing costume was a police car made of four separate pieces. Two side pieces joined together at the front and back. There was a also headpiece and then a huge piece that made up the body of the car that can be seen in the background here. It must have taken hours of effort to make and was only onstage for a few minutes. Amazing!
