Our first family camping trip

In June we took our first family camping trip to WuLing Farm.  We had such a great time and were blessed to only have rain on the first day there.  The weather was PERFECT, warm but not too hot, so much less humid than down at sea level, and nice and cool at night!  

Joey trying to protect our tent from some local pests.

These are the local pests.  Cute but trouble!

Our crew.  We actually camped with Sandy while the rest of her fam was backpacking in the mountains.

The boys spent lots of time chasing monkeys away.

Mater was there, too.

We hiked 4.3km each way to see this beautiful waterfall!

It was worth the hike!

My 5:30am coffee buddy.  Man is it hard to sleep in a tent once the sun comes up.  It was worth the early morning to spend some time with my oldest.

And this is how my kids spent the majority of their time.  They love playing games!!

Happy Birthday Isaak and Joey!

There are 3 years and 1 week between Isaak and Joey.  This means that they have to share their birthday parties, but they don't seem to mind.  This year they even shared their Lego cake because they wanted ice cream balls with it....good choice! 

 My boys are growing up so quickly!  Happy 10th birthday Isaak and Happy 7th birthday Joey!

Fun in the Sun

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday....Resurrection Sunday.  What a wonderful day!  A day to remember that Christ not only died for our sins, but He conquered death, rose from the grave, and gave us the gift of salvation! 

We were blessed this year to spend the morning with our church family,  the afternoon just the 5 of us (plus a friend or two from the neighborhood who stopped by to play with the kids), and the evening with our Bible study family.

Here are some snapshots from our Easter egg hunt.  Of course the kids didn't find all of the eggs because the Easter bunny forgot where she hid them, but they found most of them (thankfully they weren't real eggs)!

 

 

 

 

Field trip to the Taipei Zoo

Last week we took a class field trip to the Taipei Zoo to see the new baby panda (and all the other animals, of course).  It was the perfect day to go....cool, cloudy, and not crowded at all!

The baby panda isn't so tiny!

Andy had to have this picture in front of the bison....of course!  He's hoping the three kids with him are future NDSU Bison.

Soon we won't be able to take a picture of them inside this hippo....they're getting too big!

My little girl turns 8!!

Happy 8th Birthday to my girl!  We love you!

Kenting Vacation

In March we took a few days off and headed to the southern tip of Taiwan.  We were blessed with cool weather, fun trips to the beach, beautiful scenery, and great hikes!

This is pretty much what the kids did everyday at the beach!

Except, of course, when they were making themselves into sand monsters.

This hike proved to be a little much for our kids, so we only made it up this first "hill."

It was so windy, but completely worth braving the wind for this breathtaking view!

We spent a big chunk of time watching these surfers.

We spent one morning at this amazing aquarium/marine biology museum.

We explored some caves.

We watched a bunch of these guys swing around in the trees above us.  They made some threatening sounds, too!

Perhaps most relaxing was watching the sun begin to set.  Beautiful (even though my picture doesn't capture the beauty).

Ladies Retreat

Last week was the annual ladies retreat for the missionaries on the island.  What a blessing to be able to spend a few days away from home with a great group of ladies.  This year was especially fun as 6 of us from Hsinchu hopped on a train and headed over to beautiful Hualien (on the east coast) where the retreat was held!

The Hsinchu group (minus me, of course)

The Hualien coastline

 I love watching the waves roll in.  They are so peaceful and relaxing to watch!

 

Cherry Blossoms and Goofy Kids

In February we had our annual field conference.  The place where we met had a BEAUTIFUL cherry blossom tree that was in full bloom. 

I also found some goofy kids up there.  Ok, they were my kids, and they had to fend for themselves for the better part of 4 days, so I guess I can't blame them for being so goofy. 

They did let me take one "normal" picture.

Happy Birthday Andy!

A Day at the Beach

We took advantage of some unusually warm winter weather and headed to the beach.  The sun does wonders for the body....mostly putting me in a MUCH better mood!

The beautiful ocean

Brrrr...while the day was warm, the water was still really cold!  That didn't stop the kids from playing in it, though.  More power to them, I'll stick with the beach.