Soccer Tourney

Last weekend, I traveled with a bunch of high school girls and boys to the Kaohsiung American School (KAS). The day dawned early with a bus departure time just after six in the morning. There were two girls' volleyball teams and the high school soccer team that I coach on the bus. Groggy players plugged into music devices and tried to get some sleep during the ride that lasted a bit more than two hours. Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan, is located to the south of Taichung. This trip marked the first time that I have actually stopped here. Typically, we drive past on our way to Kenting, which is located on the southern tip of the island.

2011 Thanksgiving Trip to Kenting w/ Xian

KAS had a nice energy about it as volleyball and soccer games constantly played. My focus shifted to the soccer field located in the middle of a short track. The field was small and synthetic but made for a nice flat surface for the guys to play upon.

The day quickly heated up and players began to wilt a bit under the sun. Fortunately, short matches allowed students to get some water and rest throughout the day. Record wise we did not have that great of a showing but the players did well and began to pass the ball around a bit.

During lunch time, another coach and I took a little walk and stumbled upon this nice gate entrance.

Are oats healthy?

The man from Quaker Oats definitely wants us to believe that his oats are good for us and
"can help reduce cholesterol" but it seems as if someone in the Taiwanese government (or Costco Taiwan) disagrees. Several trips to Costco over the past few years have found us staring at a pallet of mondo-Quaker Oat containers.

Each container is marked up like the one above.Each reference to a healthy heart or reducing cholesterol is marked out. What a job! I wonder what Quaker thinks...

Kissing Mommy

Sage seems to be having a difficult time deciding whether or not to kiss Mom on the knee or clamp down hard. Shrieks of pain often echo though the stair well as Sage clamps down hard on Krista's knee. Xian, whose mouth may be too small to get a good bite in, surprises Mom in a different way. With a quick shift, Xian's cheek turns into a wet tongue. Yuck!

This photo captured a rare occasion as Xian moved out of this kissing phase rather quickly. She now wants to share whatever she is holding. Over and over and over...

Play Date

The past week flew by on the wings of Pegasus as soccer season rolled into high gear and the established weekly routine found us jumping through the process. As such, the exciting part of last weekend never found an outlet. On Sunday, we hosted our first babies-all-over-the-place play date. Two of XO's friends (born within three weeks of each other) and an new neighbor (3 months older than XO) joined Xian and Sage at our house for a few hours of play.

It took some time for the girls to get warmed up but after a while blocks scattered across the floor, balls rolled, flashed and made sounds and books were read.

Done with the Lottery

Taiwan has several different lottery systems, none of which I actually know anything about. However, I've paid attention to the all-around free lottery. Each time a receipt is provided at a store, a lottery number is printed at the top.

Here are three different receipts. We have lots and lots from 7-11. Just under the big 7-ELEVEN, is a number. That's the lottery number. Above the 7-ELEVEN, the month (03-04) is listed. These two pieces of information allow anyone with a receipt to potentially win a cash prize! Oh, what the lure.

I've seen somewhere that the reason for this lottery system is to keep stores honest. Customers want the chance to win so they expect a receipt. This way, the government feels more secure that cash flow is going through the register and into tax coffers instead of under tables and into pockets. (Don't quote me though...)

The system runs on a revolving two month check-in. In this case, both March and April join for possible winners. Winning numbers come out around the 25th of the month after the window closes (i.e. May) To check, I've gone to this TEALIT webpage.

There lies the problem. I still have mounds of March/April tickets lying around. I'm done with the clutter. I'm done with the lottery. Have I ever won? Nope. Did I mention that I'm done. Good luck to the rest of you!

The Kindness of Strangers

Our journey to become parents was filled with ups and down. Joyous almosts, and devastating disappointments. Today we look back on the experience and can simply say, “We were lucky, we ARE lucky!” We have two beautiful baby girls who never cease to bring smiles to our faces, warm our hearts, and keep us constantly on our toes. Sleep?  Nah, that’s a thing of the past and something I gladly will relinquish to continue this beautiful experience that began 11.5 months ago.

In preparation for becoming parents, Frank and I decided we would purchase and save a bottle of wine we so dearly love. The summer before parenthood, we traveled to France and brought back with us a bottle of Mac Vin. If you have not tasted this little bit of yumminess, trust me when I say it is truly fabulous. So, bottle of wine in our bag (no Mr. Customs officer, we are not carrying alcohol) we returned to Taiwan.

When Xian was brought home, we opened our bottle of Mac Vin and shared a Skype toast with Frank’s parents in France. When Sage was brought home, we shared an in-person toast with my mother. Upon the conclusion of both girls’ adoptions-7 months later, we finished the bottle. Let’s just say we grew quite attached to the bottle. I didn’t want to throw it out and wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Then, I found out some people compress bottles down and convert them into cheese trays. What a wonderful idea! I found a lady on etsy who was up for the task. Sherry at Collectivekayos said she could add a nice piece of writing to the label as well.

 

Finally, our bottle was returned to us. . but wait, it didn’t quite look the same. Sherry had taken our original bottle, with the original label and made us a wall hanging, in addition to the cheese tray that read McGowan 2012. 

Below you will see the note she enclosed. Now, we have a cheese tray AND a beautiful wall hanging to remember the moment when our family was finally complete. The kindness of Sherry at CollectiveKayos was unexpected and definitely appreciated. Thanks Sherry!

First Steps

That’s right, she’s gone and done it! XO has officially taken her first steps. Frank and I were discussing our day as Xian stood next to me with her hand on my knee. All of a sudden, Frank and I realized that she had crossed a three foot section and was holding on to Frank’s knee. There was only one explanation for the sudden appearance of Xian, she had to have walked there. XO looked up at us, smiled her big cheesy grin and clapped. Then, she got down on her knees, crawled over to me, stood, released her hands from my knees, took a step forward and. . .slowly fell to her knees, only to repeat the motion a half a dozen more times (of course there was a remote control involved that she desperately wanted. Keep away is a great game for parents!) Each time she did so, Xian looked at us and made sure we were watching her take a step before she would calmly lower herself to her knees and repeat.

Now, Xian is not running around the house, nor is she lacking control as she navigates through this new found experience of walking. With typical Xian fashion, she just does. She moves a foot forward, slowly lowers herself to the ground and then does it again and again and again. The experience in and of itself is rewarding and appears to keep her quite entertained. Xian focuses, makes sure she has our attention, and goes along as if she is an old pro. The days of falling out of control are behind her. Smiles rule and a captive audience is all she appears to desire.

On another note, we have a sprinter in the house. Perhaps not so exciting, but definitely entertaining. Sage grabs ahold of anything with wheels, holds on and runs. She will run from one end of the room to another. With greatly speedy speed, she covers massive amounts of ground very quickly. Will we hear the pitter patter of four little feet soon? Only time will tell. . .

Playing with blocks

Each day they play a bit more with each other. It is so exciting!

It is also fun to watch the new interest in placing objects instead of knocking everything over.

Rocking the hair-do

In Xian's wee early days, we wondered what her hair would end up doing. A tuft of hair sprang out from her forehead but the rest lagged behind.

Fast forward a few months and she now rocks it straight out of bed in the morning.

Family Meals

At times during this roller coaster ride that we are on, one of us has lamented the fact that we ditched all of our belongings before leaving for Taiwan. That freedom from stuff, the leap into the unknown without things, hit reality as we realized that we need to live in Taiwan and started to again accumulate items necessary to live. Then, two amazing girls popped into our lives and a few more things appeared. Fear not, I try to ditch stuff every time Krista turns her back. We decided to slowly acquire certain items that are corner pieces to our adventure. What will we remember from Taiwan? The start of our family.

Before summer break, we purchased a table for our kitchen and are just getting to the point where we all sit down for meals. School nights are a mad rush but we are finding ways to set the foundation of family meals. 

The girls' range of food items is rapidly expanding so they can often eat the same as us. The small, square table is nice because we can get quite cozy as we eat and feed the girls. Audrey hangs out to pick up food that makes it her way. Though they are eating similar foods, the technique of the two girls is quite different...

Pouch-diving is becoming a popular end-of-the-meal sport as Xian fishes for any items that didn't quite make it down the hatch.