Touring the City with Carolyn

"So what's the big plan for today?" I asked my mom as I finished my last spoonful of mango, banana, and dragon fruit smoothie with granola sprinkled on top.
"Well, I thought we would go to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and watch the changing of the guards as well as many other things if we have time."

Just then, Shin came in and told us we would have to hurry and leave if we didn't want to miss it.
We hoped in the car and drove down to the Memorial, ran up the many steps, and waited with the throng of people. We were just in time! A few minutes later, the change of guards came slowly marching in. It was quite impressive and somewhat long. I thought it was amazing how synced they all were. Every time they stomped or hit the ground with their gun, it sounded like only one person was doing it. Smiling to myself, I noted that their marching rituals almost looked like they were dancing, haha!
It was sweltering hot under the sun and extremely bright, but we wanted pictures of the impressive Memorial afterwards. Plus, Carolyn had never been there before. (We took Carolyn back with us from the States. She's been here a few weeks and will be here for a couple more, so we have been trying to show her everything. It's a good excuse for us to go see things we haven't too!)
Afterwards, we decided to go somewhere that had been recommended by a friend the day before.
"You should really go to the cat city." Jeff had told me.
"Cat city?"
"Haha! Well, it's actually called 'Monkey City' but it's full of cats! There are cats everywhere; cat shrines, and stores full of everything cat. If you like cats, that's the place to go. I have no idea why it's called Monkey town. It has nothing to do with monkeys, and everything to do with cats." he explained.
So, we followed his suggestion.

 "Wow! This place really is full of cats!" I exclaimed as we hopped out of the car and looked around. There were many stray cats laying around. The cool thing was that they weren't really stray because the locals take care of them and tourists could buy a handful of food to feed them as well.
After walking around and buying some cat souvenirs and post cards, we headed off to our next adventure.

We drove to another town, but the road was very windy and we didn't feel too well. It wore off quickly though and we had a lot of fun. This town was known for their lanterns. They have these huge paper lanterns that you buy. You can write or paint anything you want on them, then they start the fire in the middle, and you get to watch them soar up into the sky. It was cool seeing everyone painting their lantern and sending them all off in the middle of the railroad (I'm serious, that's where they did it!)

About half way through painting and drawing on our lantern, it started to pour. Everyone scrambled for cover with their lanterns. It was perfect timing too, because as soon as everyone had cleared the track, a train came through. Thankfully, the rain let up for a few minutes and we were able to send up our lantern. As soon as we sent ours up though, it started to pour again! We had fun running through the pelting rain back to the car.

After we drove back to Taipei, we took Carolyn to the underground mall. It is a large mall under the MRT at Taipei Main Station. We took her to Krispy Kreams, bought some fresh fruit (Mango, guava, wax apples), looked at Chinese dresses and hair things, and many other shops. It was a fun-filled (and busy) day!

One afternoon, Carolyn and I decided to go to the Shilin Night Market together to look around and go to the famous Toilet Restuarant. The first time I had been there was my birthday and it was a lot of fun so, I wanted to take her there. When we got there, Carolyn ordered the poo poo ice-cream (of course!) and I ordered a strawberry Ice. The problem was, our waiter didn't know any English whatsoever! I tried to tell her "No milk," but she just tilted her head and said, "Mik?" Then, I remembered something! I remembered Shin teaching my mom how to say "no milk" in Chinese a long time ago.
"Buyow Nioni" I told the lady (That's the best I know how to spell so you know how it sounds).
"Oh, oh! ok." The lady said.
I silently thanked God that He had reminded me of that so I could eat my Ice without having to worry about having an allergic reaction.
After eating our delicious ice-cream, we walked around the night market.
These are just a few of the fun things we've been doing. 

Back home to Wenatchee

Wenatchee! Home sweet home. 

We had one more car ride; from UCA to Wenatchee. We did some car shuffling, and Carolyn and Caleb ended up riding with my dad and I. This road trip was somewhat fun since it wasn't 10+ hours as a couple of our previous rides were. In the backseat, Caleb and I (and Carolyn joined later when she saw us having so much fun) played more than a few games of Uno and Old Maid. Three hours isn't that long, and we soon reached our destination.

The first couple days were spent at the Jones' house. We had all sorts of fun together. That night, all us kids slept in the living room; two on the couch, two on the floor. To make them go to bed (so I could... Just kidding :p lol) I told them a story, stopped at a cliffhanger and made them go to bed since hey had swim-team the next day.

Not being able to ever decline an opportunity to swim, I decided to join Anthony for swim team. We woke up early, had just enough time to put on our swimsuits, and we were out the door. To be honest, it was a little difficult. I had been in a swim team for a long time. But, I kept up just fine and had a lot of fun.

Later that day we went to pick blueberries at Blueberry Hills. The blueberries were absolutely ginormous and definitely the most delicious ones I've ever eaten. After picking (and eating) blueberries in the heat for a couple hours, we decided it would be a great idea to go jump in Lake Chelan. Oooh! It was so nice and cool. We had a lot of fun swimming in the super clear lake with Katya. Sadly, Anthony got a bee-sting ad his foot was all swollen so he didn't swim.
That evening my mom brought Anthony and I along for a run (not sure how, haha but she did.) We made the mistake of eating a bunch of food including ice-cream, so we didn't run for very long.
The whole week we were there, it was pretty hot, so what did we do the next day? Swim in the public pool! My favorite part was the high dive. The rest of the day we just stuck around the house and played games. 

 

Anthony and I decided we wanted to play checkers. I found the board but there were no checker pieces. So, I got creative, and used blueberries and raspberries! Every time we jumped an opponent, we would eat the berry. It was berry fun ;)

On Wednesday, Katya, Anthony, Emily, Caleb, and I went ice-skating! We had the whole rink to ourselves, gliding and skating like crazy. Of course, we played tag. I went ice-skating for like 5 years in a row for my birthday and tag was always part of it. Of course, I fell a few times, one was a harder crash than the rest and I ended up with a huge bruise on my knee for about two weeks. It was definitely worth it, though.

Afterwards, we went to the church swim party at the Mehrer's house. Earlier during our vacation, we found out we would still be able to go to the church's annual swim party. It's always so much fun and ends in a (friendly) water-gun fight, because they have a lot of them there. They always keep the pool really warm (almost like a warm jacuzzi). They also have a small high dive and slide.
We spent that night at the Skeel's house. It was nice visiting with them and later playing Ticket to Ride the next day. Later that afternoon we packed up most of our stuff then went with the Jones' to the bookstore where they insisted on buying a gift for us before we left. I got a Willow Tree figure of a girl playing the flute. 
That night we went to Carolyn's Senior Recital. She went back and forth between piano and violin. She did a great job! It was really funny because she used some of my songs and played it for the recital. (A year or two previously, I had left my book at their house and needed a song right away to play for a funeral, so she copied it and sent to me ... and copied a song for herself! haha) She also learned and played Clair de Lune which I used to play. I was honored. :P

Afterwards, we went to their house for the reception. We also spent the night there.
The next day was kind of a lazier day. We slept in late and when Caleb woke up we played some more card games. Later, the Jones' called so Caleb, Emily, and I went over for a little bit. The rest of the day we finished packing and helped Carolyn pack as well since she was coming back to Taiwan with us!
 

We had haystacks that night. Poor Caleb got really sick that night though and didn't eat anything. We also found out the most of the Jones' as well as my dad and sister got sick! We decided we must have caught a bug or virus or something.

The next day was Sabbath! It was an exciting day. I got to finally go to Abundant Life! :D At the pool party two days prier, Alison had asked me to do the children story.
“Um…uh, sure!” I answered.
So, that Sabbath I told the children’s story. I told them a teeny bit about Taiwan and then told them how I got lost, haha! My mom, sister, and I also did special music. My mom and I sang “Glorious Ruins” while Emily played the guitar. Besides being really nervous, all went well. The week we were there just happened to be the thirteenth Sabbath, so we were able to see and hear about how all the classes were doing. We heard about sponsored children in other countries, and heard adorable kids sing. Then, my dad did a slideshow and sermon about Taiwan and the ministries we have here.

 Afterwards was potluck! It was delicious (I still like Taiwanese food better I think though)! Our friends, the Fowlers, came especially from Seattle to visit us. So they joined us for potluck as well as our afternoon “hike.” It turned out to be way to hot so we decided to play in the river instead. It was a blast! Julia and I fought the very mild rapids upstream and then let the current carries us back to where the adults were. Soon, others joined in the fun.

Then, the sad part… saying goodbye.
That night, we had a nice supper together with the Hardens, then we packed up. After our final prayers, tears, and goodbyes, we went to bed to get some sleep before 3 am. (I slept next to nothing though) Then, at 3 am we took Carolyn with us and got up and left! After a couple VERY long plane rides(which I got absolutely no sleep as usual), we made it to Taipei where Shin was waiting for us.
It was hard leaving, but it was great to be back. :)

Roadtrip through California

What a busy vacation, and so much driving! But it was worth it. After our visit in Utah, we drove down to California and stayed a night with my Aunt Margo, Uncle Mo, Cousin Emma, and great grandma.

We had a lot of fun celebrating Grandma's birthday. She didn't recognize my dad at first.

"Hi! Happy birthday!" my dad said as he sat down bedside her.

She didn't recognize him but said "Well, thank you." Then, my mom and the rest of us walked in and she immediately recognized us and figured out who she was talking to. 

"You smarty pants!" she told my dad. "You're real sneaky! I didn't know who you were!" 

We all had a great laugh about that. That night we ate out a really good Mexican restaurant as well. 

The next day we went and visited my Aunt Marian. But first we to see my great grandpa Buddy in the Hospice Center. He was in real bad shape, but he recognized us and was happy to see us. We made it just in time, because he died a few days later.

We had a lot of fun with our Aunt Marian and Uncle Josh. We walked to the beach, played a little, and even introduced them to Bubble Tea!

Then, we left again and drove down to my Nana and Papa's (grandparent's) house in Paradise (great name, right?) We did a bunch of fun things. The second day we were there, we went with my Nana to a scrap-booking shop and made scrapbooks and cards. I made a scrapbook about Taiwan. It took several hours and I'll treasure it forever.

The next day we drove over to the famous San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. It was super windy and a little cloudy so it was hard to see most of the time, but it was still visible and magnificent. We went on a nice little hike nearby and had a picnic by the beach.

The day after that we hiked Mount Lassen. It was a long and hot hike (and most of you know that I'm not that much of a hiking person) but there was a beautiful view from the top and SNOW! In fact, there was a great big glacier. We also saw sulfur bubbling and spewing out of the ground. It smelled of rotten eggs, but it looked cool.  haha!

All in all, we had loads of fun and adventure. After spending about a week in Paradise, we took my Nana along with us and drove (again!) to the Upper Columbia Camp meeting. It was awesome seeing people we hadn't seen for a while, and to listen to the spiritually reviving sermons. My parents parenting seminar went well too.

Next, we had one more drive... back to

Wenatchee!

To be continued.... :)