here are some pictures from our Taiwan trip so far. It’s been a great trip! And Lachlan is a very sweet and happy baby boy. My very limited Chinese has come in handy, and we’ve seen many of the notable sites within Taipei.

Yvonne picking up the baby from his foster home.

Lachlan’s foster home in Taichung, where he spent his first six months.

me and some cool dudes at the Maokong Gondola.

Yvonne and a sleeping baby in the Maokong Gondola.

a view of Taipei from the gondola.

Lachlan in the hotel.

you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose…

you’ve awakened the gazebo, and it catches you and eats you.

so we finally made it to Taiwan!

the how and why of it all can be found here.

time for bed now… though it feels like midday to me…! Long, but good, days to come.

pineapple juice is the most refreshing of all juices.

there, I said it. I can hardly take it back now.

so I know I said I’d never ever get one, and I’m probably going to lose all my cool points for this (at least whatever cool points I have left), but the other day we bought at 2008 Honda Odyssey!

the Odyssey primed and ready for some heavy duty grocery getting

it is going to be Yvonne’s daily driver. We spent a good deal of time looking into SUVs and also larger sedans, but the third row seat in most SUVs seemed pretty unsafe (too close to the liftgate), and in the end the van was what Yvonne really wanted! I practically had to force her to try it at first, but once she did, she loved the visibility, the smooth ride, and the higher vantage point it offers. Plus, there’s a little camera at the back that shows you what’s behind the van when you’re backing up, which is great when you live in a neighborhood full of kids.

soccer mom-mobile-in-training

though at first I had my reservations about cruising town in a van, in reality, the Odyssey is pretty pimpin’, with a leather interior, sunroof, three-zone climate control, heated seats, XM radio, and airbags a’plenty. Plus it drives like a car – it’s not truck-like at all. So I’m very pleased that my family will be zipping around San Antonio in something so safe and easy to drive. Suburban lifestyle ftw!

details behind the cut…

today marks seven amazing years of being married, and I’m looking forward to many more. Happy anniversary, Yvonne!!

part 1: Chinese food n00b

today at lunch while eating Chinese food I squeezed the little plastic tub of sweet & sour sauce a bit too forcefully and it cracked open and a’sploded on me.

later, while chuckling at myself for splattering myself with sweet & sour sauce, I accidentally ate my fortune.

part 2: by the way

I have in fact eaten Chinese food before!!

part 3: charismatic dudes

this evening at the nearby Barnes & Noble, Jenna Bush is doing a book-signing for her new book. While I was over there this afternoon the secret service vacated the building and then let everyone back in after going through security checks. I was amazed at how charismatic and friendly these guys were (I’m not being sexist, I just didn’t see any women among them). They were apologetic for the inconvenience caused, very polite and friendly, and I even saw them buying coffees for the local police force who were in attendance. I learned a thing or two from them.

part 4: five little pumpkins

can be heard here.

part 5: and speaking of Chinese

I’ve been back to studying Chinese every day. It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Today I spoke to the lady serving Chinese food at the local HEB (where I bought lunch) and managed to understand most (albiet not all) of what she said!

one good resource for learning languages is Livemocha, which is a community site with language resources for learners. The online lessons are well put together, and free! Highly recommended.

part 6: yes it’s a total waste of time

and I got my warrior in World of Warcraft to level 50!

I really like fruity salsa. The other day I had some peach mango salsa, and today it’s raspberry chipotle. Note that these are spicy salsas – none of that “mild” stuff. The combination of sweet and spicy really agrees with me.

and in other news, there is no other news!

meanwhile…

• I have been playing a little (but not too much) World of Warcraft, on the Illidan server
• I finished the last Harry Potter book
• I watched (over the course of several weeks of date nights) Ratatouille, the latest Harry Potter movie and the Transformers movie with Yvonne; the Harry Potter movie was on IMAX and had 20 minutes of 3D, which was cool! The Transformers movie was pretty good – an all-out, everything-gets-destroyed CGI-fest from start to finish
• I have been writing and attending a local critiquing group (for the San Antonio Writers Guild)
• I have been getting in touch with old high school (and even elementary school) friends on Facebook – it’s been quite a trip down memory lane
• my allergies say: “Texas is full of allergens”
• it’s been raining almost non-stop here in San Antonio, but at least our grass looks great!

since my last post we have moved to San Antonio, Texas, where we are living in the same neighborhood as Yvonne’s sister’s family – a short walk to their place. We bought a new house, sight unseen (though we knew pretty much what it would be like as it shares the same floorplan as Yvonne’s sister’s house, only in reverse), and after closing on the house via UPS in Ontario we drove down with only a carload of stuff, buying furniture upon arrival in town.

so far we’ve been having a great time, and the kids have really benefited from living near their cousins – Yvonne’s sister and her husband have three kids, a boy older than Callum, another boy of an age in between Callum and Amelia’s, and a girl younger than Mia. So they are perfectly spread out! We have been taking advantage of living in the area – we’ve been to Sea World and Six Flags Fiesta Texas numerous times, went peach picking in Fredericksburg, walked along the Riverwalk, and of course eaten our share of Tex Mex.

here are a few pictures from the past several months:

Callum and Mia pointing at me as I walked through the door of my parents’ place. My father took this picture right as I walked through the door. It’s nice to be appreciated!

Callum, Mia and I at the Festival of Lights parade at Disneyworld. We went to Disneyworld for a week and a half over Christmas and had a great time.

Callum and I on a CN steam locomotive in Haliburton, Ontario. From when we were staying at our cottage earlier this year.

Mimi getting acquainted with some horses in Faraday, Ontario. We went to a winter fair in early March where they had, among other things, free sleigh rides – it seemed fitting!

Mia in her apple outfit at a presentation at Callum’s pre-school. Callum attended pre-school for two mornings a week here in San Antonio and all of the pre-school classes performed in a little show when the spring term was over. Mimi was just happy to see all the balloons.

Callum and the Geotrax trains. These trains actually on loan from Yvonne’s sister’s kids. Callum loves playing with them! And as our house is a lot bigger than the amount of stuff we have to put in it, the “living room” is serving as a train and toy room.

and that’s all for now!