Here are some pictures from the last 2 months:


Anting has found a new hobby that she really loves--soap making. This particular soap is made
through a marbling process. Every bar has a different and surprising pattern.



This toy is the first thing that ever scared Ryan, and boy did it ever scare him. He was calmly having a nice bath when it was introduced to him. He screamed, had such a scared look on his face, and nearly jumped right out of the tub. It might have been the noise it made after pulling the string. He continued to hate it for several weeks, but now has gotten used to it.


May 10, 2005



In May Ryan was able to start sucking his toes. He even likes his toes better than his thumb.



Mother's Day - May 12, 2007



May 19, 2007



May 21, 2007
Ryan rolls around a lot in his sleep now and can wind up in some interesting positions.


May 23, 2007
He likes to take pictures of himself now.



June 7, 2007
Ryan is able to now sit up unassisted


June 9, 2007


June 9, 2007
Jeff and Jean's Ivan. Three baldies (1 shaved)


June 10, 2007
Ryan's Auntie had some fun with stickers


June 10, 2007


Here's some genetic modificaion for you. 2 for one Bananas.



June 14, 2007



June 14, 2007



June 18, 2007
While Ryan can sit up, he does fall down sometimes so Anting made a towel helmet for him.



June 18, 2007
Ryan really loves his "a-ma"



June 18, 2007


June 27, 2007

The Podcast is now in High Definition and widescreen!

In this episode we attend a Traditional Hakka style wedding.

For the best quality, you should download Quicktime (if you do not already have it). If you are having difficulties watching or downloading, please click on the link under "Podcast Episodes" on the right or write a comment.



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For a smaller file, faster download, and worse quality use this player:


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The Day before Mother's day everything was set. We had a nice restaurant to go to, we knew where it was, and we knew who was going. Then, on Mother's day, it all changed. Ted, the favourite son, did not want to go all the way into Taipei to celebrate his mother's day. So, like on every other day besides mother's day, his mom had to accommodate his wishes. Since Mother's day is celebrated here, most of the restaurants were booked, but Anting's mom was able to make a reservation at a Thai restaurant she remembered going to a few months ago.

We all piled into two cars heading in the direction of where Anting's mom thought the Thai restaurant was. She forgot, however, to bring along any information about the proposed restaurant. She also forgot the name of the restaurant. After driving around for three quarters of an hour hoping divine intervention might allow Anting's mom to find the restaurant, we decided it might be best to call directory assistance. Of course directory assistance works much better when one has a name, or an address, or even a phone number.

Here was the original conversation with directory assistance in the morning:

Mom: Can I get the number of a Thai restaurant?

411: What's the name?
Mom: I don't know, but I think its on Zhuang Jin Road?
411: I'm sorry, there's no Thai restaurants on that road. Do you know the name?
Mom: I think its Golden something.
411: Is it Golden Coast?
Mom: Yeah, that's it.
411: Please hold for the number.

As we were driving around Anting's mom again called directory assistance:

Mom: Can I get the number of the Thai restaurant on Zhuang Jin Road?
411: There is no Thai restaurant on Zhuang Jin Road
Mom: But I called there this morning and the other lady gave me a number. Can I get that number?

After some more time on the phone explaining that directory assistance gets more than two calls a day, we finally got the number of the restaurant we thought we had a reservation for. Although we were now almost an hour late, we called and got the address. Upon arrival, Anting's mom realized that this was not the restaurant she went to those months ago. Plus, it was definitely not a Thai restaurant.

Plan B was to call Anting's dad who was the one other person who went to the Thai restaurant, but he was flying back to China that day. Fortunately, he was in the Hong Kong airport, had his phone on, and remembered the restaurant.

Now with address in hand, or at least rudimentary directions on how to get there, we were able to find the fabled Thai restaurant with little difficulty. But, we were told we'd have to wait an hour and a half for a table. Even though we were all frazzled and hungry, we decided to wait it out.

Luckily we waited as the food was very good, probably the best Thai food I've had in Taiwan. In addition, it was a very nice place for a photo shoot with all the moms and the newest son:



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In this episode Anting takes my dad out for a scooter ride through the mean streets of Taoyuan



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It has been a while since I posted some pictures of Ryan, so here are some recent ones. He is doing very well now and is getting more and more interactive with us. He loves to smile and laugh. He now has a few new tricks. He can roll over onto his tummy, he can suck on his toes, and he is now onto some solid (or mushy) food.


March 22, 2007



March 22, 2007



March 24, 2007



April 1, 2007



April 14, 2007



April 14, 2007



April 21, 2007



April 22, 2007


April 24, 2007



April 24, 2007



April 30, 2007

In this latest video installment, we visit Taipei's Grand Hotel and discuss some of its surprising history.




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Reposting our trip to Yangming Shan as I am having problems getting it to iTunes.

Our trip to Yang Ming Shan to say bon voyage to Josie.


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Sing Home Styrofoam Factory

It has been more than 3 months since my parents left, but here is the final installment of their trip here. Christmas was a Monday and is no longer a holiday in Taiwan. I therefore had to take the day off work. That meant from boxing day to the 28th, before my parents went on their 2 week trip to New Zealand, Anting was their tour guide. They took a break on Boxing day and loafed around, but on the 27th, went with Anting to her dad's Styrofoam factory.

Inside the Factory


National Palace Museum

After visiting the Factory, the next stop was to Visit Taiwan's most famous museum-The National Palace Museum. When Chiang Kai Shek left the Mainland and annexed Taiwan, he took with him many of China's national treasures. The collection is so large that only a small percentage of the works are on display at any given time. The building is quite large too so it requires several visits to see even the small percentage of displayed art. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside. I was very jealous since I had to work and I had never been to the museum before. Fortunately, I have since been and it is well worth seeing, but probably needs several visits to truly appreciate it.


National Palace Museum



Tepanyaki

After the museum, and after my work, we all met for a Japanese style tepanyaki dinner in Taipei. This restaurant is quite expensive, but in most malls they have little tepanyaki places that serve very good and freshly cooked meals.


It is nice to have the food cooked fresh right in front of you.








The Grand Hotel

December 28th - With their first leg of the trip winding to a close, My parents and Anting just went and visited the Grand Hotel in Taipei. The Grand Hotel is quite the beautiful landmark in Taipei as you can see from the pictures below. They had a buffet lunch there and then picked me up after work and we all went to the airport to see them off on their next leg of the journey--New Zealand.







Scooting About Town


January 11, 2007 - After spending a few weeks touring New Zealand, my parents were back in Taiwan to refresh for 2 days before heading back to Vancouver. Fortunately, there is not much of a time difference so not too much jet lag, but they needed to have a rest before returning. This morning, since my dad has been obsessed with the scooters zipping in and out of traffic, Anting gave him a ride around Taoyuan and up our local mountain to the temple.

That evening we returned to Taoyuan's best barbecue with some friends.


Checking out Taiwan's most convenient form of transportation



Taoyuan's Confucius Temple





It's Just Like Camping!


High Speed Rail

I took the day off for my parents' last day in Taiwan. They were scheduled on an evening flight and we decided to test out Taiwan's brand new high speed rail. The high speed rail had already been delayed 14 months when it finally opened for testing in January. There were many news reports about the massive bird slaughter that the train was causing, but it turns out the reports were somewhat exaggerated.

During the testing period the fares were half price. We were only able to get return tickets from Taoyuan to the next stop near Taipei, but it was a fun ride and it was nice to see the high speed rail in action. Even though the different components of the HSR system were built by different countries, it appeared and felt like everything fit together naturally. The ride was smooth and fast, the cars were clean and bright, and the stations were architectural wonders. The stations at Banqiao and Taipei connect with the regular train and the MRT, making it even more convenient.

After our high speed adventure, it was off to the airport to say goodbye again. It was really great having my parents here, not only so that they could see Ryan, but we got to experience plenty of Taiwan's greatest attractions. I hope we have more visitors.









Too much excitement


Last meal at the airport before flying home


Saying bye to little Ryan

The latest video podcast. The title speaks for itself.


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T'was the Morning of the Night before Christmas

In the morning of the night before Christmas we woke up with a fright. I was changing Ryan's diaper and he was just looking at me. Now, normally it would be quite pleasant to have your son looking quite adoringly directly into your eyes, but on on this occasion I knew something was wrong. Every other morning when I change his diaper, he gets cranky. He kicks and screams, jerks his arms around, and alternates between changing red and light purple. I called Anting over to the crib to get her expert opinion. Although we had just been on the road with my parents for a few days, there had been no major incidents and no one had been sick. Anting came over and performed the "lift up arm and drop it test". Ryan failed miserably; his arm flopped onto the crib like a warm sausage link. We both knew something was wrong at that point, but decided that maybe he was just tired and needed to wake up a bit. We also took his temperature and found him to be cooler than normal. We waited 5 minutes. His situation did not improve so we started packing for a hospital visit.

It was early in the morning and we were looking forward to heading back to sleep for a few hours after feeding Ryan. Going to the hospital was going to put a damper on that. We were very tired, worried, and now feeling immeasurable pains of guilt. Prior to heading off with my parents for our short trip around Taiwan, every Taiwanese person who knew of our plans told us not to go. If we were to go, we shouldn't take the baby. Chief among our advisers was Anting's mom, who is a wonderful source of "information" on how to raise a baby. In addition to worrying about Ryan's well-being, I had to face the prospect that the person who says you can't whistle lest evil spirits will be attracted, who tells me I shouldn't drink ice water, even when it's 40 degrees Celsius outside, and who maintains that babies can't be outside when its dark, or they'll get possessed, was right.
We arrived at the hospital tired, worried, and feeling guilty. Fortunately, we walked right in and Ryan was examined and had blood test right away. The emergency ward was quite busy so we had to wait for Ryan's test results. The weather was a little cold (and there are no indoor heating systems) so we wrapped him in a blanket and began the long wait for results. Ryan lay limply on my shoulder the whole time and had not even reacted when he was stuck with a needle for the blood test.
Finally the tests came back and it was determined that he had a urinary tract infection. He had to be admitted to the hospital for further tests and to treat the infection. Ryan was admitted to the newborn's ward and hooked up to an IV. For the next week he was in hospital and we visited during the posted hours. It was quite sad to have him back in the hospital as he had already spent more time than normal in the hospital after his birth and then was re-admitted after his first weekend out. It also meant that he missed his first Christmas at home. Fortunately they found that his UTI was not of the chronic type and cleared up after a few days of medicine.
Not being the types to let a loved-one's hospitalization get in the way of our celebrations, we carried on as normal, as you can see below:
Oh Christmas Tree

Opening Presents

The Buffet at The Grand Formosa Regent
(Cheaper on Christmas Day!)



Group Shot

In Front of the Giant Tree Outside the Restaurant




Group Shot