baby J

I had to put these on here. It is a new modeling season here (summer). I had to take a couple of pics to send to our agent and I love them. Jack hated it last time and so we kind of quit for a while... (we were never asked back... he really hated it). Is is a bit older now so we are going to give it another try. Jack is growing up to fast. He is the cutest thing ever. I love spending time with him. He is learning to talk so well. He can tell us everything he wants, and everything he wants to eat. SOOOOO helpful for me. He still has a couple of words we are working on. for example... "dolphin" comes out sounding like "oh shit". "slide" sounds like "sex". I will put this on video soon to show you. He is mixing his Chinese with his English. It works here but may not in the states so well. He loves cab drivers and toothless construction workers. He avoids nice old ladies and nursery leaders. Who knows. He just cracks me up. I love it when he looks up at me and says "mama". My heart stops. Everything good in me is in him (probably the swear words too). I just love being a mom. So here are the many faces of Jack....
ps. I know he is still bald. It is there it is just blond!!!
pps. Mom, one of these pics looks just like Garth's

Happy Halloween!!!!

I am posting this so late. It has been a very busy month for us... Happy Halloween to you all. We had a good time dressing up. Jack and I went to two parties. Our ward had a Primary Halloween party, and Taylor's work also had one. Jack was a frog this year. He liked his costume a lot. I was a witch (because it matches my personality, and it was the easiest thing to be) Taylor was a Doctor. He did have blood and a cleaver to match, but his students are only two years old sooooooo you guessed it. He left the blood and knife at home. Taiwanese don't trick or treat door to door, but it is becoming popular to have parties and dress up. We had a good time.

October

Holy moly!!! this month cruised by so fast. I have not had time to post anything. We have had a ton of fun and worked extra hard this last month. We watched our bishops kids (all 6) they were great. It was fun but busy. I was able to drive their car around Taipei. The view is much different when I am in the drivers seat!! Cabs and buses are great, but there is nothing like being in control of the wheel. I had so much fun. The laws about driving here are much much different than in the states. It's kind of like bumper cars except you are not allowed to hit the other cars. Lots of fun!!! We also house sat for another family so we were able to drive their cars for that week. I forgot how much I enjoy driving.

We took a trip to the south of the island with some friends from our ward. We all participated in Marlthon.
Jack and I went down early with some friends of ours. We had a "Jack and Mom day". This is why Tay is not in the pics... He took the train down that night.

The 2007 Toroko Gorge Marathon. Two did the half marathon the rest of us did the 5K. Call me crazy but I only run that far if my building is on fire or if they are spraying for mosquitoes in my building... (inside joke). Great people though and even better company.

Taylor, Jack and I went to Ocean Park while we were down there. This place is really cool. It is like Sea World only smaller. It is literally across the street from the ocean. So the view while walking around the park is SPECTACULAR. Half of the park is ocean life and the other half is all rides and more rides. Jack fell in love with the bumper boats. We rode them about twenty times. Tay and I took turns riding rides and watching Jack. What can I say, I am totally immature and the rides are the best part to me! I was literally raised at Disneyland... it is in my blood. Hope you like the pics.... love bean

J. in fountian / Fisherman's Wharf

Just a small taste of Jack's entourage. By the way this fountian is not off limits. We just happen to be the only people in it. There were other Taiwanese kids in it before we got in.

Fisherman's Wharf / Toxic Beach

The first few pics are of Fisherman's Wharf. Not much to do there, but really beautiful and relaxing. As you can see, Jack enjoyed the fountian. It is ok to get into this fountian. People were looking at us like we were crazy... maybe we are. The other pics are of the beach. This beach was so much fun. We hope to go back soon. we picked up sea shells and tried to catch sand crabs (unsuccessfully). If you have read our previous blogs, I did talk a bit about the toxic beach. It looks like it is a party beach. Lots of trash!!!! Did I say lots? I meant LOTS AND LOTS of trash. The pics show some of it. We were the only people there so our friends tease us. They say no one was there because it is toxic... so we nick named it the "toxic beach". I am still waiting for my skin to fall of from playing in the water. Nothing yet. Also, at the beach there was this really cute extremely tan old man. I think he was about 85 years old. He was flying a really cool kite. I have a pic of that in here somewhere.

Rondom Pics

This slide is really random. These are pics of our youth activity and Xindian. enjoy!!

Wet Zoo

Just a few pics of us at the Zoo. Yes it pretty much rained all day. we still had fun. It just made the Zoo even more beautiful.

Does this island ever dry out?

The title of this post is really just a joke. I actually love all the rain we get. I do seem to be wet most of the time though. . .
So we had a little time off here in Taipei. Taylor changed jobs and it gave us a two week break. It was nice. We spent time being tourists in Taipei. We went to the Zoo and all the monuments here in the city. We went down to Xindian to the river walk and paddle boats. Then up to Donsui to the night market and fisherman's wharf. We also discovered a gem of a beach up there. Well... if you look past all the trash in the sand... ok, tonz of trash and the blanket that washed up... besides that it was a gem. We had the whole place to ourselves minus only a couple of locals. We picked up sea shells and played in the sand. It was the best day really. Our friends have a theory that the water is toxic, which would explain the fact that we were the only ones there. We are waiting for our skin to fall off (just had to add that in to scare the grandparents).
We bought bikes and now we can cruise the streets. Actually, Taipei has great bike trails along the rivers. We are excited about cruising those. Taylor's work is a bit farther away then it was. So he is biking it to work now. Only about a 15 min ride.
Our little Jack Jack is growing up so fast. He is in nursery now. He doesn't really like it yet... I hear it is common for his age. One of us has to stay with him for now. Usually it is Tay because he also enjoys play dough and snacks, ha ha.
This month we have some fun plans. Taylor is doing a backpacking hick up Snow Mountain with some friends. I am sure I will be posting those pics. I am signed up for a 5K down in Toroko. My friends are doing the half marathon. I am a wussy though so only a couple of miles for me. I am excited though but my training is slow going. Oh well. We love all of you and miss you all.... Bean

Taylor is serving in the YM in our ward. Jack obviously spends a lot of time with them as well. They taught Jack the "rock". He thinks it is so cool to do it now. (push "play twice)

Raining at the Zoo

Our baby Jack Jack playing in the rain at the Zoo! He is learning how to jump... can ya tell?