Barbecue, 10/10, & Taipei Zoo
Hey, y'all. (husband post)
Real quick post sense I'm at work.
Still don't have internet - hopefully by today I'll find out when we should be hooked up and the horrible isolation of Kimberly comes to a close. She's holding up really well, you should all be proud of her. :)
For the weekend, Saturday we cleaned up the apartment a bunch, it's looking quite liveable. It's just about totally done as far as being squared away. Beautiful day, so we went for a walk in the afternoon, went pretty far, stopped in one of the tiny pet stores they have everywhere. Very cool, bunch of rabbits (which Liz really loved), turtles, fish, etc... They had clown fish, saltwater fish tanks, lots of live corral - some of which you just don't see in the U.S., had to be illegal, or something. Quite beautiful, even had puffer fish in one tank, and some other weird things. Went to a downstairs grocery store on way back (had to carry damn stroller all the say up - probably 30 steps), got back around 5pm, when babysitter showed up (Francis). Kimberly and I went and saw movie at Living Mall. Had dinner first upstairs, then to movie (Sky Captain & World of Tomorrow). They had 'VIP' and normal tickets. We went for VIP. It's about 10% more ($10US vs. $9US/ticket). It's a totally separate section of theatre, with different concession, theatres, and bathrooms. Nice and clean. Comes with free popcorn, smaller theatre with leather seats (swear to God). Quite remarkable. I think we'll be back. :)
Back home, got in right around 9:45pm or so, Ashley was still awake - obviously tired but nicely enthusiastic to see us.
Sunday was 10/10, celebration of independence day or equivalent for Taiwan. We went to CKS memorial, saw the presidential motorcade being prepared. Two convertibles and about 50 motorcycles with officers all riding. They got the bikes, mounted and road off to whistles from an officer with military precision (btw, no president at this point, they were leaving from CKS to go pick him up, I believe).
Then back to apartment for naps for girls. At 3pm, went to Angie and Jason's house for barbecue on their back deck. Very small by Texas standards, but nice regardless, and first well maintain grass I've seen in Taiwan. Great steak, fun time, and the kids had a blast. Liz likes playing/fighting with Joseph, their son who's same age. Stayed there pretty late (Liz was asleep in pack 'n' play by the time we left).
Monday morning went to Taipei Zoo, took MRT there (the subway). The zoo is quite huge with some very nice exhibits. Lots of animals - and the cost? $60NT ($1.80US) per person - kids under 6 free. Drinks and other toys and stuff were cheap, too! Ashley got an elephant hat from vendor ouside gates for $4.50US! And then the lady gave her free thing of bubbles. Guess she thought she was cute. Had lunch at McD's just outside zoo, met Angie and Joseph there, then back to zoo. Walked around for about 5 more hours. Ashley walked the whole time, and only had 1 time out (that's got to be some kind of record, especially with all the possible distractions). Kimberly will be back, no doubt. They had parts closed, including lion area. But plent of monkeys, elephants, zebras, tortoises (sp?), fish, penguins, tigers, leopards, bears, bats, giant flying squirrels, deer of all kinds, camels, snakes, lizards, kangaroos, koala bears, couple of wolves, etc, etc...
Had dinner at Zoo mall after, at Ponderosa (like Golden Corrall. Toddlers made a huge mess but had fun. Back home, Liz slept most of way, gave 'em baths and put them to bed. All in all a very good weekend. I'll post short note when I find out when we should expect internet access. Until then, take care!
-Anthony
Real quick post sense I'm at work.
Still don't have internet - hopefully by today I'll find out when we should be hooked up and the horrible isolation of Kimberly comes to a close. She's holding up really well, you should all be proud of her. :)
For the weekend, Saturday we cleaned up the apartment a bunch, it's looking quite liveable. It's just about totally done as far as being squared away. Beautiful day, so we went for a walk in the afternoon, went pretty far, stopped in one of the tiny pet stores they have everywhere. Very cool, bunch of rabbits (which Liz really loved), turtles, fish, etc... They had clown fish, saltwater fish tanks, lots of live corral - some of which you just don't see in the U.S., had to be illegal, or something. Quite beautiful, even had puffer fish in one tank, and some other weird things. Went to a downstairs grocery store on way back (had to carry damn stroller all the say up - probably 30 steps), got back around 5pm, when babysitter showed up (Francis). Kimberly and I went and saw movie at Living Mall. Had dinner first upstairs, then to movie (Sky Captain & World of Tomorrow). They had 'VIP' and normal tickets. We went for VIP. It's about 10% more ($10US vs. $9US/ticket). It's a totally separate section of theatre, with different concession, theatres, and bathrooms. Nice and clean. Comes with free popcorn, smaller theatre with leather seats (swear to God). Quite remarkable. I think we'll be back. :)
Back home, got in right around 9:45pm or so, Ashley was still awake - obviously tired but nicely enthusiastic to see us.
Sunday was 10/10, celebration of independence day or equivalent for Taiwan. We went to CKS memorial, saw the presidential motorcade being prepared. Two convertibles and about 50 motorcycles with officers all riding. They got the bikes, mounted and road off to whistles from an officer with military precision (btw, no president at this point, they were leaving from CKS to go pick him up, I believe).
Then back to apartment for naps for girls. At 3pm, went to Angie and Jason's house for barbecue on their back deck. Very small by Texas standards, but nice regardless, and first well maintain grass I've seen in Taiwan. Great steak, fun time, and the kids had a blast. Liz likes playing/fighting with Joseph, their son who's same age. Stayed there pretty late (Liz was asleep in pack 'n' play by the time we left).
Monday morning went to Taipei Zoo, took MRT there (the subway). The zoo is quite huge with some very nice exhibits. Lots of animals - and the cost? $60NT ($1.80US) per person - kids under 6 free. Drinks and other toys and stuff were cheap, too! Ashley got an elephant hat from vendor ouside gates for $4.50US! And then the lady gave her free thing of bubbles. Guess she thought she was cute. Had lunch at McD's just outside zoo, met Angie and Joseph there, then back to zoo. Walked around for about 5 more hours. Ashley walked the whole time, and only had 1 time out (that's got to be some kind of record, especially with all the possible distractions). Kimberly will be back, no doubt. They had parts closed, including lion area. But plent of monkeys, elephants, zebras, tortoises (sp?), fish, penguins, tigers, leopards, bears, bats, giant flying squirrels, deer of all kinds, camels, snakes, lizards, kangaroos, koala bears, couple of wolves, etc, etc...
Had dinner at Zoo mall after, at Ponderosa (like Golden Corrall. Toddlers made a huge mess but had fun. Back home, Liz slept most of way, gave 'em baths and put them to bed. All in all a very good weekend. I'll post short note when I find out when we should expect internet access. Until then, take care!
-Anthony
posted by The Armstrongs at
10/12/2004
