People of the homeland

We had delicious dumplings with tea leaves in them. This was Spidey's favorite meal. Thanks Ju-ju and Ju-ma.

Thought this was fun - It's Jun Plaza - dedicated to you, 'Neighbor'.

A huge, scrumptious vegetarian buffet - you wouldn't believe all the things that look like fish, bbq pork, sushi etc. but aren't. It was nice sharing many meals with our relatives - wow, too much good food.

Of course, we stopped at the zoo - one of our favorite places - this time Cashew was awake and naming all the animals that she knows.

Cashew found a deer at the 101 building. Too bad that it was rainy and cloudy so we didn't go up to the top to see the view of the city.

Auntie Yingtao - best wishes for your wedding in April. Sorry we can't be there but we were so glad to see you.

Great grandfather! Maddie took to him really easily.

Great Grandmother - young looking A-zo isn't she?

The homeland continued...

How was the flight you ask - tough. Our flight was at 3am so we arrived at the airport at 1am, the flight was delayed and then delayed again while we waited for the de-icing machines - we finally took off at 6am and we were already so tired with a 12 hour flight still ahead of us. Cashew slept maybe 4 hours - was hard holding her while she slept - Spidey is now known as the Human Mattress. During our day trips, she often fell asleep on his shoulder. The 16 hour time difference was another challenge - Cashew woke up at 4am the first morning - and there were many early mornings to follow. It's been awhile since we've been awake for over 48 hours.

A whole new look for Cashew with her new Hello Kitty pigtails - wingszzz and olivetheotherreindeer would be proud. It was fairly warm weather with some rainy days but overall great for our sightseeing adventures.
Here are those outdoor elliptical machines - just right for working off that lunch.
A trip to the south on the high speed rail brought us to this city which is known for its lighthouse - which you get to after a ferry ride and hike uphill. Cashew loved hanging out with her A-Gu - now that we're back she still asks for him somtimes.


A visit to their beautiful lake - here the boys decided to take a leisure scenic jog.
The nine cornered bridge...

The vibrant colors from these buildings for the gods decorated the area.

This god was a character - he's sitting with one leg up and both feet are barefoot.

In the homeland...

Here we are on an afternoon walk. We stopped by the park where they had outdoor elliptical machines - Great Grandma and Great Grandpa tested them out for us :)

In our first week, we visited the CKS Memorial Hall - Cashew, AKA little Rocky, climbed up all those stairs. What an athlete! Grandma and I stayed down at the bottom. We've done soooo much walking here and eaten sooo much good food. If you choose, you can get really cheap food but you can also have really expensive food. We've had so many different kinds - stinky tofu from the local street vendor, dumplings made with tea leaves, milk tea, delicous pastries, niu rou mian, traditional Taiwanese etc.

Whee! Spidey and Cashew practicing their new act.

Chaos!

We lost power for a couple days during the windstorm. As a result, the chain on one of our garage doors came loose. But, since we escaped up north during the power outage, we still had to deal with it when we came back. Then, on Monday morning, after I had packed Cashew in the car and all our gear, I heard a snap! The spring on the other garage door had snapped! Agh! After calling my emergency service, Spidey, Cashew and I went back into the house and waited for him. This past weekend, Uncle Pushi and Spidey worked on both garage doors and after some trial and error, we're dual garage-operational again - what you see above is the new spring in place! Hooray! Thank you so much Sushi family!


Ever wonder what the inside of your freezer looks like...or how it works? Well, we hadn't either until I noticed that after that dreaded power outage, our fridge/freezer didn't seem as cold anymore. Cashew's milk turned bad twice! Plus, my pickles didn't have the same crispy crunch. Finally, after some research, we fixed it a couple nights ago and now everything is
back in our fridge again- and not outside on the deck or at our trusty 'neighbor's' - thanks so much for lending us your fridge space for a couple days.

Here's Spidey preparing for the cold weather - rigging some sort of homemade contraption to protect the faucet - the store bought one didn't fit down there. What crazy weather! Yesterday I was tortured driving home - took over 3 hours! Thank goodness I didn't have to drive in it again cause today is a snow day so I'm hanging out with Cashew!

Cashew and Sushi at their girl's sleepover this past weekend. Sushi's hair seems more tamed - we'll have to do something about Cashew's wild mane - maybe a new do while in TW?