On The Beach

A 4-day weekend was had in Taiwan near the beginning of April to celebrate Children's Day and Tomb Sweeping Festival all at once! The weather forecast for the first two days was good so the boys were taken off to Bai Sha Wan once again.

It felt like it was the first bit of good weather since they had come back from Australia. It wasn't quite true but it felt that way. Craig was very happy that he could have a bed all to himself.

Graham tried out the bed that he was going to share with his parents.

After trying out the beds, the first order of business was lunch. Craig insisted on having his own menu to order from.

When told that there were chips Craig didn't hesitate. Unfortunately, he had to be a little bit patient after his chips arrived because they were very hot.

But, tomato sauce is one of the best things for cooling down chips that are too hot to eat, don't you think?

After lunch, it was time for Craig and his Dad to get down to the beach to dig in the sand.

Craig spent most of his time trying to fill in the hole that Craig's Dad had dug.

Craig enjoys his work.

For reasons known only to himself, Craig decided that the hole had to be filled with sand from the water's edge.

Craig put a lot of effort into filling the bucket with wet sand and carrying it up to the hole about 20 times! It was very heavy for such a little bloke but he didn't stop for a break and treated it like it was an important mission.

After all that hard work, it was time to warm up in the beautiful big bathtub. The guesthouse is much improved since Craig's Mum and Dad first rode a motor-scooter up there many years ago.

Graham got out of the bath first and, once he was dressed, decided to help Mum unpack everything.

He probably wanted a snack but he had trouble opening the packet.

Craig woke up early ..... very early. So, Craig's Dad took him out for a walk at 6am. The sun was just rising over the horizon while they walked around the headland not far from their nice warm beds.

Later, the sun came out and the whole family ventured down to the beach. Graham stayed in his Mum's shadow even though the sun wasn't very hot.

Meanwhile, Craig went to work filling in whatever holes his Dad might have dug. The weather was perfect: not too hot, not a cloud in the sky, but the water was a bit too cool to think about swimming.

Craig left one small hole for Graham to play.

Cooler weather closed in on Sunday afternoon. Dinner was had with three other couples that had half-Taiwanese kids. Graham was pretty good about making new friends.

Craig had a very tough night on Sunday. At about 11:00pm, Craig's parents had packed up everything and were ready to rush Craig to hospital. He had a high fever and couldn't sleep at all at that stage but after throwing up he collapsed into bed and slept soundly. The weather was so cold, and rainy that rushing Craig off to the doctor was still necessary. Life can be tough when you're small.

Driving and Chewing

Some time ago, there was a warmish Saturday morning. (Well, maybe it wasn't actually warm but the rain had stopped.) So, brunch was had and then Craig was allowed to drive one the little electric animals. He got the elephant this time even though he usually prefers the dog.

Inside, Craig played with an alphabet game. He made it look easy.

Craig had no trouble at all matching up all the letters. It was really good to see him concentrate for long enough to do them all.

Meanwhile, while they were walking along Graham's gums must have become itchy.

He gave the pram some very close attention while it was on a very smooth surface. The poor boy really must have needed something to chew on.

Tomb Sweeping

Graham's Dad is not where this wig came from but he suspects it had something to do with Aunty Suprana. Everyone else had tried it on on for a laugh but when it came to Graham's turn he seemed to think it was to hot. Or, maybe he just didn't like the way everyone else was laughing. Poor boy.

Two weekends before the official Tomb Sweeping Festival the majority of the Lee family went to their ancestral tomb to clean the place up. Craig accompanied his Mum and a large group of relatives for the trip.

Plenty of pictures were taken. A day for worshipping ancestors looks like it turned into a fun day for the kids. This on shows Craig with two of his cousins.

In this one, second-cousins are joining in.





Uncle Dean and Aunty Suprana joined in the photo-taking too!

Craig Gets Sick

The next weekend the weather was dry. So, Craig's parents decided to take both boys for a lap of the local parks. Craig and his Dad do this tour of four (sometimes five) little parks near home almost every weekend, weather permitting.

While Craig had fun climbing, running around and see-sawing Graham sat with his Mum. The parents even had a relaxing enough time that they could drink coffee while Craig played! Woohoo!

But then, Craig's Dad received a call on his mobile phone to say that he was expected at work several hours earlier than he had thought. It was a real shame that he couldn't stay and play. ;(

Then, almost a week later, poor Craig was sick. He caught a stomach virus and needed to see a doctor. Worse than that was that he could only eat tiny amounts of food until the medicine started working. When it came time for the weekend trip to the park, Craig wasn't as energetic as usual.

Craig was also forced to wear a pair of pants that were much too short for him because all his other long pants were dirty.

But, he was still pretty happy about hanging out with Dad and doing his thing.

And, he did all of the usual things: climbed on this thingamajig above and rode the little rocking animals until it was time to move on to the next park.

At the next park a man was making bubbles with a little battery-powered gun. The bubbles he was making were quite heavy and were falling to the ground. So, Craig got busy popping them with his hands! Craig's Dad suggested using his foot but Craig didn't like that idea.

Then, it was time to have fun on his favourite slide before heading for home to a tiny dinner.

Digging at Neihu Sports Park

On one weekend, Craig's Dad took Craig for a ride to Neihu Sports Park on Dad's motor-scooter. The weather wasn't warm, a cold wind was blowing, but the sun was out and plenty of kids were in the sandpit digging away.

Craig insisted on using the bucket to make a "castle".

In fact, Craig's Dad's first few attempts to obey his master's instructions were immediately destroyed by Craig. He even giggled while smashing the bucket-shaped piles.

Eventually, Craig played happily, piling up sand on top of his Dad's handiwork and allowed his Dad to rest. ;)

Cold Weekdays, Warm Weekends

For a short time after returning to Taipei the weather was extremely strange. During the week it was cold and wet meaning that Graham and his Dad were stuck indoors together every morning.

Graham didn't seem to mind so lonag as he was well-fed and had plenty of toys to play with.

But, on the weekends it would warm up and the sun would shine. When the sun was out on one Saturday, Uncle Dean and Aunty Suprana came along for brunch and a walk around the neighborhood. Craig had fun driving one of the little electric dogs in the playground on top of one of the many department stores.

Craig is slowly improving at driving the dog around. He would improve faster if he was given more chances to practise.

Craig's Kindy Photos

The latest set of photos from Craig's kindergarten have arrived. There's only about 80 photos this time and many are very similar to each other but still worth a look. He's been having more fun at kindy than in the past and seems to really like his new English teacher Madeline.