Rollerblading Class! (Zhi Pai Lun)

Ever since the start of school LAST year, Ellie has been asking, begging to join the after school rollerblading class that her school provides one day a week.  We reluctantly said, "No" in attempt to figure out if her excitement was a fad, or true interest.  She had, after all received ice skates the summer before leaving Taiwan, so we knew she was excited about things of that nature, but she also grew tired of ice skating within minutes of hitting the ice, claiming it's arduousness.

So after a full year of persistence and an agreement with Lola and Baca, we decided her birthday present from Baca and Lola would be new rollerblades and we would pay for her to attend the class weekly.  Needless to say, she was ecstatic!  We waited until this week to really talk about it with her as we knew she would hardly be able to deal with her own excitement.  Well, this has been a long week for her, waiting until her first class on Friday when she would finally see her rollerblades for the first time (we ordered them through the school) and THEN put them on and try them!  

So as you can imagine, Friday came and at 6am Ellie came bursting into our room fully dressed and ready for school shouting, "It's Friday!!"  Haha!  Good morning!  And after waiting an entire school day she finally had her first rollerblading class which was a complete success!! She enjoyed it so thoroughly, in fact that she went home and put on her helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards immediately (and would also have put her rollerblades on if I would have allowed her)!  And so, here are the pics to prove her success.

The class was 1 1/2 hrs long and they spent the first 30 minutes applying equipment, sans rollerblades.

Little mei mei waiting patiently to watch Ellie in action.

 Then, they began practicing the art of falling and getting back up again safely.  Really a good idea!

And FINALLY, they put on their skates!

The remainder of time on skates was also spent practicing falling and getting back up again!  Haha! it was really brilliant because the kids learned how to do it successfully and they weren't scared to fall as they had spent most of the time doing it on purpose! 

Can you guess what we will spend our Saturday doing?

Typhoon....here?

Well according to the radar, we are currently IN the typhoon but according to our backyard, we're just experiencing a maybe-slightly-more-windy-than-normal day!  There's actually some sun attempting to peek through the clouds, though there are lots of clouds!  So here's the latest satellite picture:

We are on the southern half of Taiwan, so our city is definitely in that orangey area!  And for the record, we DID experience some rain and wind last night, but nothing that left any lasting impressions!

And here are the views from our apartment.  To the north:

 And to the south:

If things escalate I will let you know, but it seems for now we are in the clear!

Typhoon coming!

We've been anticipating a Typhoon since early this week and I think it's finally almost here.  I just heard on the news more than 3,000 people on the east coast have evacuated, but thankfully we seem to be safe from evacuation here on the west side of the mountains.  With that said, the typhoon will still hit us and it looks like as hard as a category 3 out of 5!  We will see if the storm weakens as it passes over the mountains, but regardless, we will be getting lots of wind and lots of rain!  Two years ago around this time a category 3 hit taiwan, which caused lots of water to enter into the apartment building we live in.  So it looks like we may spend Joe's typhoon day tomorrow mopping up water, attempting to keep as dry as possible!

What complicates this already complicated storm is the fact that there is another one right behind it heading north which apparently will cause "our" typhoon (typhoon Tembin) to actually make a "u-turn" after passing over Taiwan and head BACK towards us, possibly only as a tropical depression. SO, it looks like this will be a lot of rain for possibly a long time!  Please pray for those who have evacuated (my understanding is that it is the landslides in the mountains that are so deadly)!  Here's a look at the radar as of about 1/2 hr ago:

Healthy update!

I went to the doctor today for a baby check-up and all is well!  Two weeks ago I had my gestational diabetes screening done and thankfully that came back normal!! Phew!!  I'm always nervous for that test because with Ellie I was borderline the first time and so I had to take a true fasting glucose screening in which they found my glucose levels to be normal (I'm pretty sure the apple I ate on the way to the screening the first time was NOT a good idea!).  And I was especially nervous this time because I didn't realize I'd be having the testing done at that appointment and made cinnamon rolls before I left and ate WAY too much of the sugary, caramel before hopping in the car to my appointment!  But, alas, it was normal and I am off the hook!  So in celebration of my normal glucose levels I went out and had a bubble tea!  (That is no joke!)

At every OB appointment in Taiwan, an ultrasound is done to check growth, heartbeat etc.  And this time my doctor decided to pull out the 4D ultrasound probe and get some SUPER clear pictures of our baby's face!!  And so without further ado, here is the most clear shot (that's her arm covering half her face):

If I get around to it, I will scan in the others and post some of them, but some are weird as she moved a little.  ISN'T THAT AMAZING!?!  

In preparation for this new little one that now has a face, we have moved Siri out of the crib (finally) and into a twin bed.  In fact, Ellie also advanced to a twin bed as she was in a toddler bed before.  So here is what their bedroom now looks like:

It's basically the same picture, just from different locations!  Do you like the siderails?  That was all Joe (oh yes, with Robb's help!).  

We are basically ready for this little one to arrive, but she is not so we are hoping she does stay where she's at until 10/10!  But after seeing her face, that 8 week wait just got harder!!

Growing Up

Ellie's response to a baby book I was reading to her this afternoon:

Book: "Dream your dreams of moonbeams. Let the night become your friend."
Ellie: "The night can't be your friend!!"
Book: "The twinkling stars will keep you safe till morning comes again."
Ellie: "Are the twinkling stars angels?!"
Kim: "No."

Ellie: "Can stars *really* keep you safe?!"
Kim: "No."
[Clearly our summer trip to the Adler Planetarium did a number on Ellie's view of the cosmos]

And Ellie got her first mani/pedi the day before we left for Taiwan! :)

We're Back!

After a very exciting summer away in America (with our first week in Hong Kong, actually) we are back!  We've been back for two weeks now.  The first week back we got to entertain Jamie (Joey's sis) and Robb (her hubby) and the second week the girls started school!  They were so excited to get back to school and after one full week, they are still excited to be back!  So far, so good! :)  And this Monday, Joey starts school!! Hopefully now that we are back, we can have some more regular updates!

Family pic from this summer:

ps.  As long as everything goes well, baby #3's birthday will be October 10th at 8:30am (the joys of having a c-section is knowing in advance the birthday!).