Check this out!

Mum and Dad have already left. And I'm behind on my blogging.  Because we did a lot together but I haven't sat down to document it. It was a wonderful visit. Here's something we did a couple of weeks back. We went to an Ecological Park outside of I-lan. We stayed in a mountain resort perched up high on a mountain. And the best bit was the tour we took of a sacred Red Cypress Forest. This place was amazing. The first day it took us a while to get up to the mountain. Coz you know how in Taiwan when you are 1600 metres above sea level you've literally started from the bottom and worked your way right to the top. No slow and gradual incline. Just straight up. The ride was a little hairy. But the forest view was absolutely spectacular. The next day we took a small bus tour to this - Ma Kao Ecological Park:

Beautiful, no?

Which meant we had to get into a small bus, ride a quarter of the way back down said hairy mountain road. Then proceed up the very narrow and very steep and very non-barrier protected trail up to said ecological park - 1600 metres above sea level. Insert multiple panic attacks here..... The absolute beauty and splendour of the surroundings was totally outweighed by the extreme fear I was feeling! I did assume that this was indeed my last day on this earth. I will not bore you with the gory details of all the visions I conjured up in my mind of just exactly how we were to die that day. I managed to keep up a facade. Keep it all looking cool and calm. Were it not for Dad's calm gaze appreciating the beauty before him, or Mum's fiddling around with the air conditioning vent to get the a/c just right (Mum hates to be hot), or Steve and Tilly chatting quietly in front of me, or Evie sleeping peacefully in my arms - I might not have made it! It was a sheer drop people.... and the driver was not driving slowly. But let's not let that distract from the fact that this place was unbelievably awesome. (And the ride down was not nearly has hairy as I had conjured the ride up to be). Here's why it was unbelievably awesome.

Can you see that sign? The Red Cypress we are about to see sprouted 551BC!! BC ~ don't you just want to stand in front of a tree that sprouted 551BC and ask it what it has seen? Before Jesus walked the earth people.....  I. love. this. forest. Well, maybe you've seen more impressive things. I've driven through a forest in Luxembourg and that was pretty impressive. But this really had me going. And look, it doesn't even really look like much:

Look at Nan and Pop. And Tilly. Wow. This trail was 2.3 k's long and there was not a complaint from her. And I say 2.3 which isn't so much. But this was either up or down. And it was wet and slippery. You could only walk up steep steps, or walk down them. She was brilliant. (Evie was not so brilliant, but only because she was confined to the sling which she hasn't been confined to in several months and she just wanted to get out and walk, which wasn't happening. So that means confined to me in the sling.......)

Some more pics shall we :

Well, that's just a few pictures. I'll post some more a bit later on as some things need a little explaining and I'm tired and the computer is being silly. Loved this place, some nice photos to come.

Visitors

Once a year for the last few years I've been very spoiled and very blessed to have my mum and dad come over to Taipei to stay with us. It's been wonderful and the girls treasure it. And it also keeps their link to Australia and their bonds to their Australian family strong. Nan and Pop often tell stories of the cousins and what they've been up to and what they do. Last night I saw an article. And I liked it. And here are some points from the Article entitled, Grandparenting over the seas, by Libby Stevens.

One of the risks of living internationally with young children is that your child may not develop a close relationship with his/her grandparents. Your parents will never forget they have grandchildren, but it is possible that your children forget they have grandparents.

Here are some reasons why it's good for your kid to have a close relationship with grandma and grandpa.

When grandparents make attempts to get to know their grandchild even while living far apart, there is a unique foundation of relationship that begins. When the child goes “home” he now has someone who accepts him, loves him. Grandma and Grandpa’s house can become an oasis.

Having grandparents provides a relational root that is connected to time and history. It helps them develop a sense of relational history.

She goes on to list ten things grandparents and their grandchildren can do together over the seas, the final one being 'visit the child's world.'

Bring the grandparents over to you. They will see that though you may be living in a difficult place, your family is fine. More importantly, your parents have entered your child’s world. When that happens something unexplainable happens. There are new conversations. There are shared memories in your child’s land. And your parents will begin to understand the vocabulary of your child’s life.

So relevant to my recent thoughts on family trips and living overseas. This trip we've done much more travelling around the country, Tilly has been in a different stage of life with starting school and speaking much more Mandarin. She's even started teaching them words and numbers! The girls bonds with Nan and Pop are pretty tight. It's been a blessed time indeed.

Just a note: This website is for people who have children that are classed as Third Culture Kids. Generally speaking children perpetually living outside of their passport countries because their parents have been posted to work in another country, etc. The above quote mentions living in a difficult place, we don't live in a difficult place. Just want to clear that up! The girls are mixed culture kids, but the concepts are exactly the same.

Day Three ~ Part One

A beautiful coastline. A camping ground on a not that long ago active volcano. Perfect weather for it, it was really spectacular. We stood on what was once molten lava. The waves were crashing high that day and the wind was blowing a gale. 

Day Two ~ Part Two

Not a lot of great photos to share of this part of our Hua Lian trip. However, we each rented bicycles and rode around a very gorgeous lake. Nan and Pop were scooting well ahead of us, so perhaps that's why we have no photos of it! And the only other photos had me and my wobbly bits on a bike with Evie. So, here's the lake. 

Here's someone who didn't mind getting her wobbly bits out.... An interesting restaurant and workshop we visited of the local Aboriginal people in the area. The wood carvings were all hand crafted by the 'boss lady' of the place and were really lovely.

New learning...

Tilly has started reading! I used these when I was in my last teaching job and I really love them. I can't remember how I got on to them, but they are Australian and sold in my favourite bookstore here. Tilly enjoys looking at them and has started actually reading them. I made her these word cards so she could make sentences. We had all sorts of fun today making sentences. She put together "A fat cat sat on a mat." And sounded each word out and read it perfectly. 

Mohawk Baby!!

Evie's hair is growing!! Strangers here always refer to her as her big sister's 'little brother' and I find it rather annoying. And when I say, little sister, they say - but she has no hair?! (Which begs the question, why am I having this conversation with you at all stranger person???)

In the last couple of weeks her hair has grown! And it's lovely and soft and smells like baby. She even has one golden strand, just one, at the back of her head. So cute.

The B&B

Part of going with the local tour guide, our accommodation was booked for us. The B&B we stayed at was really lovely and everything we could have asked for. The rooms were excellent. I have noticed that for whatever reason, here in Taiwan they like to give B&B rooms a theme. We had a teddy bear themed room. Which sounds awful but it was actually done very well and was great for the girls as well. In the mornings we were treated to a lovely breakfast in the glass sun room which looked out to the gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains. If Tilly had had it her way, she would have stayed right here at the B&B for the whole three days searching the garden for bits and pieces. The fields either side of it are small crops of various vegetables tended to by old grandma's and grandpa's who are growing just for their own use.