CNY 2013 - Philippines

The best part about Chinese New Year is leaving China.  Recently a friend moved to Shanghai and was really excited to be there for CNY and asked us what the most exciting part was.  Jen and I looked at each other, smiled, and then tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't crush their hopes.  CNY in China is one of those things that you should experience once, just once.  Been there done that and now we look forward to leaving.  This year we found a deal with frequent flyer miles to go to the Philippines.  It's warm and looked like fun so we booked it.  

Here is Will enjoying his in-flight entertainment and getting ready for his meal.  We flew on a Korean airline so the service was very good and Will was milking it.  Jen took June to the bathroom and she came back to find Will with a glass of chocolate milk.  How'd he get it??  He just told the flight attendant that he'd like some chocolate milk and that he was hungry.  This is what happens when a three year old is a Silver Medallion frequent flyer, yes he does have his own Silver card.  

Here is June at TGI Friday's eagerly awaiting her milk shake.  If this girl could drink all of her calories she would.  You'll notice that her curly mullet is getting ready to have its own website.

Since we were going somewhere warm with hills I decided to bring my bike along for some training.  I got up early and rode 4 hours each morning.  This is a random river somewhere outside of Subic Bay which is somewhere outside of Manila.  We had just ridden through a former Vietnamese refugee camp from the Vietnam war times.  They would process the refugees here before sending them on to the US. Subic Bay was a former US military base town.

Nice little tan lines from the first day's bike ride.  I actually ended up buying white arm sleeves and wearing those on the next days to protect my arms.  

June starting a chocolate milk shake...

June getting more involved with the milk shake...

June trying to get every last drop of the milk shake...

A very satisfied little girl.

This is Rambo.  He is a 21 yr old Filipino triathlete.  He is on the Philippines National team and is quite the athlete.  I rode with him on one of the days I was there.  It was very painful.  His 110lbs compared to my 158lbs made a big difference when going uphill. I was able to stay with him the whole time but I think he might have just been being nice.

This was a really old church we saw on one of the bike rides in the middle of some mountain villages.  The Philippines is predominantly Catholic.  Although the Philippines is in Asia it often feels more like South America.  

June downing a mango smoothy.  Philippines is famous for their mangos.

Will on his first ever horse back ride.  Not too many horses in Shanghai.  He thought this was pretty cool.  Later When June went for a turn together with Jen she looked at me and said "Baba, help me!" with outstretched arms.  She quickly got off the horse while Jen went for a solo ride.  

June always has a mouth full...

Overall the trip has been pretty good.  At the beach we were able to see a baby turtle hatch and crawl out to the sea for its first swim.  It was tiny and it felt like we were on the Discovery Channel.  We saw monkeys on the side of the road.  It wasn't all mangos and chocolate shakes though.  There were a few casualties along the way.  Jen got in a fight at the mall, I got food poisoning, June got eaten alive by mosquitos one night and broke my iPad, Will had growing pains in his legs and feet one night and spent the midnight hours crying.  But as Jen and I just reminded ourselves.  It's 90 degrees here and 30 degrees in Shanghai so we'll take the good with the bad.  We were able to spend a few days together as a family and that's what matters.  

I wanted to post a few more pictures from our October holiday Taiwan trip. We visited our close friends who used to live in SH, and then moved to Taiwan. I took some of these pictures from my friends blog.

June and Emma. June is very excited! Her and Emma had fun.

Will and Nathan. They are having fun together, if you can't tell by those big grins.

Tay and Ken. They had many long hours of biking fun.

Jen and Alli. We were excited to be kid free this one night. We painted the town red, went wild and crazy and bought late night slurpees while walking the night market. 

The beach was perfect. They stayed like this for a long time- hanging out floating in the water.

Will loved the train table. 

I also wanted to post more pictures from when my sister and mom came and visited us in the summer. It was such a blast to have them visit. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

cousins.

About to eat some really good Thai food.

Forbidden City. It was super hot and humid that day, but that didn't keep us from having a great time.

Temple of Heaven. Will was nick-named "The Boss". At one point he was walking through the forbidden city in his knickers. June was nick named "Ya Ya". All she would say that whole trip was "Ya Ya".

We tried to get a photo together. Only problem--no one to take the photo (my mom had left by then). This is the best we could do.

This is why I love China. Look closely. This man is sitting in his outdoor kitchen. This is pretty much all he owns. Look how happy he is.

I love these women! Thanks for a great visit Mom and Jaime. We laughed so hard. It was a great 10 days. Jaime took some really spectacular photos of the Wall. I need to get those from her. I have none.

"The Boss"

June turns 1! She is a beautiful little girl.

"I'm the boss!"

We haven't posted in MONTHS! Here are some photos of our time in the USA. We have had such a blast so far, and we are SO excited to see Tay this week. 

Will loves the snow! 

 June and her 2nd cousin, born 3 days apart. June and Ariella both have German blood running in their veins, but June was born with her Dad's olive coloring, and Ariella was born with her mothers South African coloring. June and Ariella became fast friends.

 I was so excited to take the kids to Temple Square. Will was excited that 'his' temple was the same as the one on his pass-along card. 

This is such a beautiful temple. It was pretty darn neat to hop in the car and drive a short 20 minutes to this beautiful place. They were setting up the Nativity that day on the grassy green as we were walking around, so we got an up close view of this peaceful scene.

 Halloween with Jaime and her kids, and my dad. Buzz Lightyear's favorite was the can of soda someone gave as a treat. He sipped that can the entire trick-or-treat walk. He didn't seem to care much about the actual candy he was so involved in that soda. 

"To Infinity, and Beyond!"

Papa B. with June Bug

Will helping June get her final touches on her costume. 

 Since we landed in SL, and for the first 2 weeks we were here, Will was obsessed with the mountains. I still am. After not having mountains for so long, flying into Utah was nothing short of spectacular. Will kept asking me to take him to the mountains. We finally went with a friend to lunch in the mountains in a cute, little secret cafe we found. This didn't fill his mountain craving, so after we went on a short hike up Olympus. We climbed until he was done. He's one strong hiker.

We went to the Red Barn in Santaquin with my sister the first week we were here. We took a tractor ride to a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, huge slides, kids sandbox, etc. Being out in this crisp, fall weather was just the Utah welcome I had wanted.

Bill and June

Will is thinking, "Where is everyone?" He's used to seeing crowds of people, and high-rises instead of empty fields.

While we are having our UT fun, this is what Taylor is doing...Look at that focus in his eyes. 

Lookin' good! And fast!

At our home, reading to Will. Will loves to be read to. There are some books in our home, like these, that can only be read by Taylor or our nanny, Xiao Wang. I don't read Chinese.

 This October our family was really fortunate to be able to travel to Taiwan. The lady pictured below runs this rice shop. When Taylor served his mission in this area, he would get his rice lunch every day from this sweet lady and while eating he would run through his Chinese flash cards. Her shop is called Peng Ge. On our way back to the airport we stopped here for lunch, and of course, to say hi. I was outside taking a picture of her stall when Taylor walked in. All I could hear was her screaming inside she was so surprised and excited to see her good foreigner friend again.

In the pumpkin patch.

In Taiwan, on the beach. Will LOVES the beach. No surprise since he loves water.

Will and June, relaxing on the beach together. I kinda chuckle at these couple photos. They look like an old married couple enjoying the warm sunny weather, shaded by the umbrella. June's namesake comes from Taylor's grandma, and Tay's grandpa's name was William (Bill). I never met either of them, but I can picture them together on the beach just like this.

Lookin' good, as always :)

When we first got to our hotel we hurried out the door for a quick walk on the beach. We should have changed into our swimwear, but didn't think we'd swim. Will had to get in, of course. We didn't mind letting him swim in his undies, this is common in this part of the world.

View from our hotel. You can see the pool where I would swim laps, and then just beyond you can see the ocean. There is a road running between these two bodies of water where Taylor would pass every morning on his early morning bike ride. If you were to drive 10 min. south you would hit the Southern tip of Taiwan. 

Here are the kids in front of the Grand Hotel, Taipei. The Taiwan mission was re-dedicated at this same hotel when I taught English here in 2006. Taylor was also visiting me in Taiwan at that time, so we attended the dedication together.

The Taipei city view from our balcony at the Grand. You can see Taipei 101 in the distance. Isn't it a beautiful place?

Wills birthday gift. Specialized was able to help Taylor get a Will sized jersey to match his Dad's. Will is proud to look just like Dad.

Will-3 years old.

Will and I on a bike ride. We live in the 'suburbs'. There is space to run, bike, and swim! Through pretty landscapes too, but as you can see, still lots and lots of buildings, and high-rises in the distance.

This past summer-heading to our pool for a quick swim.