Travel Plans
Wow – I am going away for a weekend! I am so excited! To Hong Kong! It’s a girl’s weekend, with some of the women I’ve met here and some I don’t know. We are going in April. I just made my reservations and I am thrilled. It will be strange, flying with no children and three nights without children or husband. I am going to have fun though!
We are also taking a little family vacation next week to Hualien here in Taiwan. It’s on the east side of Taiwan and has an Ocean Park and is close to a supposedly gorgeous gorge which we will visit. We will all be going with another family, which will hopefully make it a bit easier on the kids, since there will be a friend for both Ashley and Elizabeth. It looks like April is going to be a BUSY month for us. Anthony also has some coworkers coming into town in April for a work visit, but it will still be nice seeing them and having some American visitors. Anthony may also end up going to China for a few days for work in April, although he doesn’t know for sure yet.
We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday, we wanted to go hiking and last minute decided to try driving up North to Yeliou GeoPark. We had visited this place last year when we came up for our scouting trip to Taiwan, but didn’t get to go to the aquarium there so thought we’d try that. We drove up there, only taking about an hour to get there, with no traffic it would have only been about ½ an hour! The drive was great, going through long tunnels and mountains. We went to the aquarium (called Ocean World) and saw a show with dolphins, sea lions and divers. It was fun, although I think I definitely enjoyed it more than the girls. They seemed rather bored with the actual show and just loved running around up and down the bleachers of the stadium.
After walking through the aquarium, we decided to walk through the GeoPark, which is basically a REALLY long point sticking out into the ocean, with lots of really neat rock formations. It was an experience being that close to the ocean. We didn’t really talk about it at the time, but we both (Anthony and I) kept watching out for escape routes - ways we could run up the “mountain” and away from the water. I know for me, I didn’t really look at the waves much, I just couldn’t do it. I could look out at the ocean, in the distance, but found I would watch the boats to make sure they weren’t tipping over or moving around a lot. The girls did fine, Ashley wanted to be near the ocean and play in the sand and Liz just had fun riding around in the backpack carrier and occasionally playing on the rocks if we felt it was safe enough. I made us walk all the way to the end, not realizing how far it actually was. It took us about 2 hours to walk all the way, but it was SO worth it. No only physically – the view was absolutely amazing, but emotionally too, I needed to do it for myself, to be that close to the ocean and waves for as long as possible. At the end, there were some rock stairs leading up to a “gazebo” type structure overlooking the ocean and the bay. We walked up it carefully as the stairs were little, skinny and almost straight up. Anthony did really well considering he was carrying Liz on his back! He’s so brave! The view from up there was astonishing and we were so glad we did it. It was just gorgeous looking out over the ocean from that high up, seeing the bay, the mountains, the islands, the rock formations. We’re really glad we went out there and we had a great time.
On Sunday, there was a playgroup get together for Easter at a park here right next to the domestic airport (so planes fly right overhead). There was a maze there, so a few of us moms brought Easter treats for the kiddos. We “hid” them in the mazes and the kids went around “finding” them. They, of course, were all out in the open so the kids didn’t have a hard time finding them. The girls had a blast – getting together with friends and getting treats. One of the ladies also brought hard boiled eggs and decorating items for the kids to decorate. The sun was out and it was a wonderful day. The girls were exhausted after the Easter trip and took really good naps that afternoon!
Liz isn’t feeling too well today. Don’t know what’s going on, but this evening she had a fever and I rocked her for a long time while she just lay there. Poor baby. I hope she’s feeling better tomorrow. It was raining most of the day today – we got soaked when we walked Ashley to school and picked her up (Anthony took the car today). Ashley sure enjoyed it though – she loves getting wet in the rain, even though the Taiwanese frown upon that – they even dried her hair at school with a hair dryer when she showed up there this morning! I am so glad to have found her school with teachers that really do care about her. She gives them hugs everyday and is so happy going to school now and talking about her friends.
Yesterday was her ballet/dance class. She was so excited – all day – and kept talking about her friends, Claire and Tiffi, that would be going with her. Anthony joined us at her class so he could see her dancing and running around with her friends. He even brought her a bouquet of roses, which she loved and handed out to her classmates and teacher. He also brought me flowers, which is a nice treat!
I think I’ve written a book by now, so I should sign off – time to relax a bit before heading off to bed.
We are also taking a little family vacation next week to Hualien here in Taiwan. It’s on the east side of Taiwan and has an Ocean Park and is close to a supposedly gorgeous gorge which we will visit. We will all be going with another family, which will hopefully make it a bit easier on the kids, since there will be a friend for both Ashley and Elizabeth. It looks like April is going to be a BUSY month for us. Anthony also has some coworkers coming into town in April for a work visit, but it will still be nice seeing them and having some American visitors. Anthony may also end up going to China for a few days for work in April, although he doesn’t know for sure yet.
We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday, we wanted to go hiking and last minute decided to try driving up North to Yeliou GeoPark. We had visited this place last year when we came up for our scouting trip to Taiwan, but didn’t get to go to the aquarium there so thought we’d try that. We drove up there, only taking about an hour to get there, with no traffic it would have only been about ½ an hour! The drive was great, going through long tunnels and mountains. We went to the aquarium (called Ocean World) and saw a show with dolphins, sea lions and divers. It was fun, although I think I definitely enjoyed it more than the girls. They seemed rather bored with the actual show and just loved running around up and down the bleachers of the stadium.
After walking through the aquarium, we decided to walk through the GeoPark, which is basically a REALLY long point sticking out into the ocean, with lots of really neat rock formations. It was an experience being that close to the ocean. We didn’t really talk about it at the time, but we both (Anthony and I) kept watching out for escape routes - ways we could run up the “mountain” and away from the water. I know for me, I didn’t really look at the waves much, I just couldn’t do it. I could look out at the ocean, in the distance, but found I would watch the boats to make sure they weren’t tipping over or moving around a lot. The girls did fine, Ashley wanted to be near the ocean and play in the sand and Liz just had fun riding around in the backpack carrier and occasionally playing on the rocks if we felt it was safe enough. I made us walk all the way to the end, not realizing how far it actually was. It took us about 2 hours to walk all the way, but it was SO worth it. No only physically – the view was absolutely amazing, but emotionally too, I needed to do it for myself, to be that close to the ocean and waves for as long as possible. At the end, there were some rock stairs leading up to a “gazebo” type structure overlooking the ocean and the bay. We walked up it carefully as the stairs were little, skinny and almost straight up. Anthony did really well considering he was carrying Liz on his back! He’s so brave! The view from up there was astonishing and we were so glad we did it. It was just gorgeous looking out over the ocean from that high up, seeing the bay, the mountains, the islands, the rock formations. We’re really glad we went out there and we had a great time.
On Sunday, there was a playgroup get together for Easter at a park here right next to the domestic airport (so planes fly right overhead). There was a maze there, so a few of us moms brought Easter treats for the kiddos. We “hid” them in the mazes and the kids went around “finding” them. They, of course, were all out in the open so the kids didn’t have a hard time finding them. The girls had a blast – getting together with friends and getting treats. One of the ladies also brought hard boiled eggs and decorating items for the kids to decorate. The sun was out and it was a wonderful day. The girls were exhausted after the Easter trip and took really good naps that afternoon!
Liz isn’t feeling too well today. Don’t know what’s going on, but this evening she had a fever and I rocked her for a long time while she just lay there. Poor baby. I hope she’s feeling better tomorrow. It was raining most of the day today – we got soaked when we walked Ashley to school and picked her up (Anthony took the car today). Ashley sure enjoyed it though – she loves getting wet in the rain, even though the Taiwanese frown upon that – they even dried her hair at school with a hair dryer when she showed up there this morning! I am so glad to have found her school with teachers that really do care about her. She gives them hugs everyday and is so happy going to school now and talking about her friends.
Yesterday was her ballet/dance class. She was so excited – all day – and kept talking about her friends, Claire and Tiffi, that would be going with her. Anthony joined us at her class so he could see her dancing and running around with her friends. He even brought her a bouquet of roses, which she loved and handed out to her classmates and teacher. He also brought me flowers, which is a nice treat!
I think I’ve written a book by now, so I should sign off – time to relax a bit before heading off to bed.
posted by The Armstrongs at
3/29/2005
