Amanda-licious @ 2 years

{For the record, these set of photos were taken at her 2nd birthday party.}

Of school and falling ill

When we started Amanda in pre-school, we were prepared for her to fall sick, just as Wayne did in his initial months (or year, actually).  Prepared as we were, we still didn't expect the frequency to be this often. It has been two months, and I think she has been in school for only half the time, even contracting the HFMD virus just after a month.  One week in school, the next week ill. The cycle seems to continue. In the last 3 weeks, she has had fever twice. And in between the two rounds of fever, her running nose and cough persisted.

Of course, the husband and I have been exhausted looking after her and stressed at having to ask for help amidst busy work schedules. Even when there was help, for which I'm always grateful, having to cope with the disrupted and few hours of sleep has been taking a toll on work. The worst was when Amanda woke at 2am and didn't sleep till 6am. I went to work the next day feeling like a zombie, and that it was an already-stressed work week with multiple deliverables and meetings didn't help. Like a chain effect, it brought my productivity down, which meant taking longer hours to complete a task at hand, resulting in me having to work at night after the kids sleep. It also hurts to see Amanda feeling uncomfortable and sickly so often.. she must be feeling awful as well. When will this finally stop? Sigh, its tough! But but but.... I always try to console myself by reminding myself how difficult can these be when compared to other people who have no family support, no work, illnesses to cope with etc etc.

I just do hope Amanda, being the second child and having had contracted multiple viruses and germs since a much younger age, would have a stronger immunity than Wayne, and she would settle in in school without coming home germified every other week. 

Kate, resplendent in red

Cuzzie Kate at Amanda's 2nd birthday party, looking absolutely lovely

Solo time with my son

A random, unplanned Wednesday dinner date with my first born @ PS cafe. Together - we chatted, we laughed, we drew, we hugged, we held hands, we loved and took selfies. Thankful for moments like these. =) 

We Heart Holidays : Taiwan fun

Taiwan was a holiday we've been looking forward to, both for the kids and for nainai, yeye and 2gor. To take a break from the tiring routine of looking after the kids, enjoy themselves a little and spend some fun time with us and the kids as a family. Our small way of being filial and showing our gratitude. But........ as luck would have it, just two days before our scheduled trip nainai hurt herself and couldn't join us. How disappointed we were! We had really wanted a trip with all three of them. Nevertheless, we still went ahead with the trip with yeye and 2gor and had a fun time together. And, looking on the bright side of things, since nainai couldn't join us, this then calls for us to plan another family trip!

As for Wayne and Amanda, you bet they both enjoyed themselves. With all the kids centric activities we planned for them, they had good fun and lots of 'firsts' in terms of experiences. Despite Amanda being just 21 months old, she performed really well on this trip. Although she has been to Phuket and Malaysia, I consider this her first real holiday!

I can't believe it has taken me more than three months to blog on our trip, I blame it on the many photos that we took which really took forever to sort and edit. Haha. No really, I was just lazy and there were so many things occupying us once we got back. It was only when I was planning our next trip (yay!), which got me reminiscing about our Taiwan holiday that I got down to starting this entry and another two weeks to complete. Better late than never!

Some highlights of our trip, which created such beautiful memories for us all.

Strawberry picking

Enroute to Cingjing, we stopped by a strawberry farm, the first glimpse into our countryside experience which we would be enjoying the next few days. I loved the scenic mountains in the backdrop, which gave such a carefree feeling. We spent about an hour going down each 'strawberrry lane', searching for the biggest, reddest strawberries to cut and fill our baskets with. Wayne was of course the most excited and armed with a small scissors, tasked himself to the job of cutting the strawberry stems once I gave the stamp of approval that it passed our test of being the 'biggest and reddest'. We ended up with a box of strawberries to feast on back in our hotel and they turned out so sweet and juicy, definitely no where near the ones we get back home. 

While we picked strawberries, Amanda was content with holding on to two, one in each hand, which she did so so tightly that her nails dug deep into the strawberry with the juice all flowing down her hands staining her new off-white sweater. Haha, I would have thought our greedy little girl would have just kept eating one after another since there were plentiful of supply.

Delish.

Paper making

Mixing fun with education during our holiday, this visit to the Taiwan Paper Factory was the educational bit. Not just for Wayne but for us adults too. It was not just all tour, we had the chance to try our hands at some paper art too. I liked that there were opportunities for activities, makes it so much more interesting for the kids. We left the place with two pieces of paper artwork.

Chocolate factory

The chocolate factory was just round the corner from the strawberry farm, so we did a quick stopover but due to time constraints we didn't tour the factory and learn all about chocolate making. Instead, Wayne engaged in some DIY chocolate making, which really involved pouring a hot chocolate liquid into a container with some shapes and decorating them with colorful sprinklers, M&Ms and the likes. It reminded me of the famous chocolate factory we went to in Hokkaido which was impressive. This was a less elaborate version. Still, Wayne like all other children, enjoyed his session there and loved that he could play and make his own chocolate - which was all that mattered. =)  

Cloud Home

One of the highlights of the trip, was staying at the Cloud Home at Cingjing. It was the combination of the breathtaking view, the closeness to nature, the fresh air and the wholesome breakfast they served that made you feel relaxed, at peace and for me in particular, contentment. We slept on tatami styled mattresses on the floor and woke up to beautiful clouds outside our balcony which seemed just an arms reach away. The cool air and fresh smell of dew as you stepped out, therapeutically calms away all stress and weariness. I really liked this place. Highly recommended.

Mountainous Cingjing

The second day of our stay in Cingjing, we scaled the mountain.. by car. The journey upwards was both windy and scary, made better only because we had an experienced driver who seemed to take all the turns and narrow roads confidently. I'm glad none of us suffered from motion sickness. We reached the top, got out and oh my, it was freezing with the strong winds! Despite layering ourselves, HeatTech included, the kids could not take the cold and seeked refuge in the warmth of the van we had. We adults ventured out but only for a while, it was really too cold for anything longer. Enough to take this family photo of us all bundled up, especially Wayne, which I really liked. While it did feel good to freeze a little and experience being altitudes above ground, I think the husband was the only one who truly loved the cold and strong winds. 

Sheep farm

The main reason which brought us 4 hours away from Taipei to Cingjing - to visit this sheep farm which is really one of a kind. I dont think you'd find a farm the size of this and looking so picturesque, mid way up a mountain. I was so impressed. The kids loved it, and I'm glad they did. We spent our time there feeding the sheep and watching the farm show, which included dog herding and sheep shearding. Next month we are heading to Perth and I think Wayne would love the farmstay there, having visiting this farm in Cingjing. He learnt a lot about sheep and had put it to good use when he presented to his friends about sheep in one of his school projects.

Sun Moon Lake

On our way back to Taipei, we dropped by the famous Sun Moon Lake, and were treated to our best meal during our holiday, thanks to 2gor. We went to this really luxurious hotel, the best there, and had lunch overlooking the lake. Both the view as well as the food were fantastic. Yay! Thank you 2gor for the treat!

BabyBoss

For a few years now, we have heard lots about this place from friends. There were many make believe stations for kids to role play out their fantasies of becoming a doctor/ fireman/ news broadcaster etc.  Its a pretty awesome place for kids, and we were looking forward to spending the entire afternoon here with Wayne. Maybe even the whole day! But... turned out we were ready to leave in an hour. A lesson learnt that nothing really goes as planned, as our little boy was actually too scared to participate in any of the roles! Even when mommy accompanied him. We tried to coax him into joining the other excited children, but nothing worked and we decided not to force him into anything that he wasn't ready. Maybe we will be back in future!

Yummy-licious Taiwanese food

Too many to list them all, but either you are a fan of Taiwanese cuisine or you are not. Me? I loved it!  I think food plays a really big part of the Taiwanese culture and it was fun trying the different flavours over the many meals we had. 

All in all, it was a great holiday and we are glad we took time off for this. We snapped many random photos along the way, and here are some of them - enjoy and till our next holiday!!!