2nd Cousins

My cousin and his family are here visiting his parents.  It was fun to catch up with them, and fun for our kids to get to play together! 

And of course Ellie was VERY happy to hold her newest 2nd cousin!

Goofy Children

Sunday Drive

Yesterday we took a drive deep into the mountains of Hsinchu County.  It was a BEAUTIFUL drive!  We never found the hiking trail we were looking for, but we did a little walking around and enjoyed some cooler temps at the top of the mountain.

 

 The view from the top.

 

 About to head across this suspension bridge.

This puppy started following us....he was pretty cute!

Golfing with Daddy

A fun hour or so was spent at the driving range as a family.  Good times, happy kids!

First day of school

This year marks a big change for our kids!  They are transitioning from Chinese school to home schooling.  While the school they attended was amazing and the teachers patient, this mom just couldn't do it anymore.  And so begins their school year at home (though they will obviously be surrounded by the Chinese language still, so we are not too worried about their language skills).  Ike has started 4th grade, Ellie started 2nd grade, and Joey started 1st grade. 

Family Time at the Beach

 

Exploring the North Coast

Some friends took our kids camping a couple of weekends ago, so Andy and I took advantage of the day without them and headed up to explore the north coast of Taiwan.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!  We were so thankful for our friends who took the kids AND for a day to ourselves (it is a VERY RARE thing)!

The view from a little mining town.  The island on the right is Keelung Island.

Of course we had to try and get a picture of the two of us....even though by this time we had hiked around the mining town and were "glowing" from the lovely heat (ok, we were sweating!)!

A fisherman.

According to a bus driver who was resting in the parking lot (I probably woke him up from his nap...oops), this was a Japanese outpost of some sort from the time when the Japanese occupied Taiwan.  I would love to explore this place someday!

I love the sight of the mountains coming up out of the ocean!  It reminds me of just how amazing God is!

A Couple More Graduation Pics

The Chinese Kindergarten where all of our kids attended has a professional photographer come and take pics of the graduating kids (I'm pretty sure most of the kindergartens do this).  Here are some of the pictures he took of Joey that we got on a cd.  They put them in a fun book with much better backgrounds than what you'll see in these pictures, but I think these are still cute.  I'm biased, I know!

Fun in the Sun

We spent last week at the Taiwan Missionary Fellowship Conference.  It was a great week!  We had a wonderful speaker (which meant I learned a lot), there was a great program for the kids (which meant they learned a lot), we got to have many conversations with friends (which just plain meant a lot), AND we got to swim everyday (which meant the kids were happy a lot)! 

Isaak decided that this was not just the year to start jumping off the diving boards, but that it was the year to start jumping off the high dive....yikes!  I'm pretty sure he jumped off that thing at least 30 times/day!

When Joey saw one of his friends from class jumping off the boards, he decided it was time for him to try them, too.  He even went off the high dive once, but didn't like the "slap" so went back to the short diving board.

Ellie could not be one upped by her little brother, so she also started jumping off the boards!

Joey's Kindergarten Graduation

On Friday my baby graduated from Kindergarten!  How crazy is that?!?!  We spent a long, but fun, evening watching him and his classmates go through the ceremony and then dance their hearts out.  Great memories!

Typhoon Soulik

Early Saturday morning Typhoon Soulik made landfall here in the ROC.  Crazy winds blew, and rain fell.  Here are a few shots from after the storm.

A flooded rice field.  Thankfully this farmer had harvested his rice already.

This raging river is normally shallow and gentle.  Not so after the storm.

The river from the previous picture ended up taking out a section of this bridge.  Thankfully it was already closed so no one was hurt.

 
The beautiful, post typhoon sky.

Ellie's dance school had their annual recital on Saturday, despite a major typhoon hitting the island in the early hours of the morning.  It's always fun to watch Ellie dance.  Her face is filled with pure joy!  I am so proud of her!

Some pictures from her traditional Chinese dance.

And of course I think she makes a cute little ballerina (I know, I'm biased).

With her best friend.

And of course a shot of her with her wonderful teachers!