We spent two weeks in Taiwan, and had a great time, was super fun to watch the girls navigate a new country, and to use the mandarin they have been studying for years now.
We spent two weeks in Taiwan, and had a great time, was super fun to watch the girls navigate a new country, and to use the mandarin they have been studying for years now.
Our second day in Taipei, Taiwan was pretty packed. Kim was working but the girls and I got up early and went to a small amusement park, which the girls enjoyed until the seats got so hot it burned. Left there and got some fast food lunch. Hazel thought she was ordering a burger but […]
Toroko Gorge is a national park on the east side of Taiwan that was heavily impacted by the 2024 earthquakes that also killed 19 people in the region. They are still recovering and rebuilding and a lot of it is still closed, but we enjoyed our drive through. When we told locals we were driving […]
We took the cheap, fast and really nice train* down to Hualien, on the east coast of Taiwan, and enjoyed a couple of days there, despite the abundant rain. We got a pretty good shake from a 4.9 magnitude earthquake that was relatively close! We found tons of amazing and cheap food, including a dumpling […]
Night markets were one of our favorite parts of Taiwan, Margot was thrilled to get this duck. She wanted to do the game, but I told her her odds of winning weren’t that good, so she just negotiated with the guy (in Mandarin!) and bought the duck. Kim and Hazel loved the foods. Not the […]
We rented some bikes for a hot but very enjoyable ride on the bike path around Sun Moon lake. Had a great time. Margot was thrilled to see wild monkeys!
We’ve had a lot of rain on this trip, but yesterday it was approaching biblical levels. We had a river tracing day planned, but it was cancelled and it was pretty clear we needed to find something to do indoors. I had earmarked a stone working workshop as something interesting, so we headed to that. […]
I wouldn’t call it a must visit, it was kind of expensive and crowded. But we had a good time and it does make for some fun photos.
Most all museums and such are closed on Monday here, and since DIY workshops have been a good opportunity for the girls to practice their mandarin, we signed up for another. This time was leather working. Margot made a super cute over the shoulder purse, Kim made a very nice little card holder, and Hazel […]
Margot might have a full blown gambling addiction from the claw machines by the time we return.
Taipei 101 was once the tallest building in the world. It doesn’t have that title anymore, but still pretty impressively tall.
View from our room tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere with as many butterflies as Taiwan. Ecuador might have been close, but I’m sitting catching up on some accounting stuff for another trip just watching dozens and dozens and dozens of butterflies outside my window.
Taiwan->Korea->Japan this trip. Inexpensive -> A little more Expensive -> most expensive Not very touristy-> some tourists -> Tons of tourists* *I’m sure there are some less crowded/touristy parts of Japan, but comparing the capital of Taiwan, the capital of Korea, and not-the-capital of Japan, I’m comfortable making that claim. I’ve heard more English, Spanish […]
Margot was thrilled to get to walk onto the field with the amazing @sarahlgorden for the season opener @weareangelcity game last week!Her soccer club made it happen through the Angel City Dream team experience.
Hazels school has a fun tradition where at the end of 8th grade, students build and race cardboard boats. Only allowed materials are cardboard and duct tape. There was a wide, wide range of effort on show, including some that literally looked like they were
Margot had her last game for the fall league yesterday. They played incredibly well against a strong team and ended tied 3-3. It was a great season. They moved up a flight, and started the season with some losses. But they didn’t give up, they
Another 5k. 1300+ entries. Margot was 3rd in her age group, 10th female overall, and 56th overall! Hazel was 14th in her age group. Proud of them both.
Margot was very happy with this assist to her teammate Selena for a goal. She’s #9 that takes the ball from the opponent in light blue then passes to her teammate right in front of the goal, who kicks it in.
Margot ran her second ever cross country meet today, at Mt. Sac. She finished 32 out of 106 in her race, and was pretty upset that she thinks she could have done much much better. Before the race we had watched other races finish (
Hazel and Margot ran a local trail 5k this morning. Both did great. There were about 60 people entered, and Margot was 8th overall, 3rd female, and 2 female under 18!
Margot had her first official race with the middle school cross country team today. There were about seventy girls from 6 different schools In the middle school category. (6,7,8th grade). Margot was 13th overall, and 4th for 6th grade! Big thanks to Coach Adam for
