Evie's first real experience with the farm.

She picked apples and peaches off the trees and went blackberry hunting, which explains the black ring around her mouth in this shot. She was also at one with the cows....



How to change someones bad opinion of you.....

This Sunday I took the girls back home from church on the bus. Bus travel is my most common option when I take the girls out and about the city. Sounds simple enough, but actually it's quite an operation. Up until very very recently, my area and anywhere I went to from my area never had wheel chair access buses. Now there is one service, buses come every 15 to 20 minutes. Which is long in Taipei City. Anyway, on Sunday we were taking a normal, non wheelchair access bus.

I had, two girls (one needing to be carried), one stroller, one bag of dumplings (in which there were 60 dumplings - Steve has since been firmly told that there will be no more pop in to the dumpling store by the church requests...) my own bag full of ..... stuff, a jacket that a certain 4.5 year old didn't want to carry, and another bag.  Then I have to get all of this up stairs on the bus, which as soon as we get our feet on the steps will start moving again. Because I was at an early stop before the major stop just up the road, there were not many people on board. I plonked them in the first two seats on the bus. Evie had the stroller in her seat and was rather uncomfortable. I gave Evie the iPod and Tilly the iPhone. They are both allowed to watch Sesame Streets What's the word on the street? podcast while we travel. This to me is essential. In the end I moved Evie to the seat behind her with her sister, however they each held their own ipod. Yes, I admit they did look like spoiled western brats sitting there with their latest technology each, not even having to share. They are only allowed to use them in such a situation, on a long journey and when I need them to be still. They don't use the ipod at home (disclaimer disclaimer). What's the word on the street? is excellent by the way. Tilly can randomly say things like, a conflict is when two or more people have an arguement about something... They do real adult words and she loves it. Evie just likes looking at it because it's Sesame Street.

People really seemed to take offense to them sitting their watching their (mother's) ipod. And I could hear and understand what they were saying...... Some people even pushed through the thick fog of people on the bus to point. The grandma behind them actually grabbed on to their chair and hung over the edge to get a better look. But I think she just genuinely wanted to know 'what the word on the street' was for the day.....

I managed to stand there as if nothing was going on. In between all this I realised that my....... stuff....... was taking up a valuable seat and therefore I put it all on my shoulders and held the pram up against the rail and then tried to envision how I was going to pick up Evie and carry it all out when the time came. Let's not forget the bus is moving and stopping the whole time and most bus drivers here go heavy on the brakes. Rather annoying.

Two bus stops before I had to get out. I asked the girls to pass me the ipod/iphone, and to sit quietly while we waited for the bus stop to approach. I picked up Evie and passed the card to Tilly giving her instructions to swipe on the way out. We got to the stop and walked quietly off the bus, Tilly swiped the card and stayed close beside me as we climbed down the steps and out on to the street. No obnoxious white devil behaviour. Just three very orderly passengers with a great deal of ...... stuff...... getting off the bus. Flicked open the stroller and Evie was seated in it with ...... stuff......  hanging off it, before the bus even pulled away. (And of course by stuff I mean cr*p.....)

And it is at this point that everyone starts looking at us all differently. I could hear, wow, and amazing and what a good little girl. And other such accolades... An old couple getting off behind us actually stopped on the street and watched the procession and praise Tilly for being able to swipe the card and be a good girl (?! - I don't get it either).

Because you see when a foreigner is getting around with kids and strollers and stuff in this city it basically sets off a chain reaction of comments and points and attention. Most of which I completely ignore. However I guess a 19th month old watching the ipod is a little too much to bear (sometimes even for me!), however before one judges I challenge you to a Taipei City bus ride with stuff and strollers and children and dare you to do it without a designated distraction...

Back track to Australian holiday

I don't feel like blogging these days....... I think it (always) goes without saying that we had a wonderful trip back home. However, I didn't rush around taking photos like I probably should have. There were many perfect shots moments. I think we were just too busy getting lost in the moments!! There was also the issue of being left without internet for most of the time we were on the farm. Perfect bliss I might add..... an internet free life is sooooo less complicated (and conducive to nice early nights and restful sleeps!)

Here's some shots of the kids in Toowoomba spending time together in the first few days of the trip. And if I can get Nan and Pop to cooperate and send one or two that are on their computer of the girls at home, there might then be some more to come..... And then I will post of the glorious two weeks we spent at the beach. More bliss.

A few (actually a lot) of Osaka

Thanks again to Heather for these photos and this recap of our time in Osaka. Despite all the illness, bitterly cold weather, whingey babies - it was beautifully memorable and looking back on it now I can only remember the great time that we had together. It's not often you find a friendship that survives the expanse of the oceans and time, where you feel comfortable enough to bring your tribe and relax right in, where the children get along and lift one another up. A special blessing to have a friend and family such as this in our life.

Sweet sweet family, delightful children. Treasured memories.

Something cute

Today Tilly had a visit from one of her best friends, Ellie. We had not seen them since before we went to Japan mid December.

Ellie and Tilly were playing with her Lego in Tilly's room. A while later they came out. Tilly was holding a perfectly crafted automobile, complete with wheels, windscreen, doors, person, and the person was holding a spanner in her hand.....

And Tilly and I chatted about the car in her hand.

'Wow! Tilly, what an awesome car!

'Yeah! It's great isn't it.'

'Did Ellie make it for you?'

'Yeah, she did! (Big smile all over her face.) (In her other hand were random pieces of lego stuck together to make a stair type formation.... admittedly a fairly substandard effort compared to the car Ellie had crafted. Really it was just a few blocks of lego stuck together.)

'And I made these for Ellie!! (Pause) But then she said she didn't want them!' (Smile all.over.her.face, not a care in the world. Then, a shrug of the shoulders and away she went.)'

What I love about this interaction is the fact that Tilly was a) proud of what she'd 'made' and b) not in the least bothered that her friend had turned them down. And that Ellie would have just said, 'No thanks.' without a malicious bone in her body, nor felt herself superior. Because quite frankly their creations were worlds apart.... Loved that little interaction this afternoon. Oh for the innocence of early childhood!

Today's post was brought to you by the letter 'P'

What we didn't realise at the beginning of this day was that by lunchtime we would have consumed an entire menu beginning with the letter 'P'

I saw a bag of pepperoni slices in my freezer and asked Tilly if she wanted to make a pizza from scratch, not the usual tortilla that we use as the base. She was up for it. I have a real aversion to any bread type baking. We didn't do much bread baking in our house when I was growing up. Probably one of the only things mum didn't make, or that I don't remember her making. Perhaps dad working in his sister's bakery when I was little and having a ready supply of fresh bread had something to do with that. Even having a grandfather (maternal) who was a baker and owned bread shops as they were known, did not give me the edge I needed to become the next best bread baker...... Well hang it I thought. It's now or never. So we got our hands floury and kneaded that dough and gave it our best shot!

And the result, just before putting it in the oven:

We ate most of the finished pizza before I had a chance to take a photo for the blog. It was great! I will make some changes here and there, but it was only our first attempt at a hand made pizza base. But back to the letter 'P'. As we were eating our pepporoni pizza it dawned on us that we had also had 'p'orridge for breakfast this morning. Then, it also dawned on us that we had snacked on freshly cut 'p'ineapple while we were waiting for the dough to rise. Then more dawning..... we had also snacked on freshly cut 'p'ersimmons while we were waiting for the pizza to cook! (Think hard crispy juice persimmons, not sloppy overripe ones - yum).

I think the whole morning was summed up when Tilly gave me a pat on the back while we were standing looking at the cheese bubble on the pizza in the oven and said, 'Thanks mum, this was awesome...' (And there were more proclamations of 'awesome', 'great', 'yummy' and 'good job mum' after we bit in to the pizza) After a dark three weeks of influenza B, we have come through to the other side and are feeling much better! Hooray for health!

Porridge, pineapple, persimmons and pepperoni pizza. It was 'P'-tastic. But now we're stumped on what to do for dinner???

 

Happy New Year

I have honestly never understood the excitement and hype built up around the bringing in of the new year and have found that having children has given me a lovely excuse to avoid it all. I'd like to admit here that I even find fireworks kind of obnoxious... But you have to live in Asian (Buddhist and whatever else religions) countries to appreciate that. Fireworks, or perhaps I should say, firecrackers, are thoroughly obnoxious... and go off at all the wrong times, like just when you've put the baby down for a nap. Here's who I was with this new years eve/day:

My poor sick baby...... Ear infection, chest infection, snotty nose. Wanting to snuggle and nurse right before midnight. And back down in the cot just as the fireworks started shooting off 101. And they still are..... banging and clanging, which of course has set the dogs off barking..... This year because of my children I actually saw this new years in this time round! And so a happy new year to you all.