Park, Night Market, Taipei 101

Anna and I went to this great park called Peace Park.  It was about a 20 minute walk from our place.  We've had some very hot sunny days, so it was perfect to go and sit in the shade.

 My beautiful girl!  I am loving these darling sunhats I got over Christmas on clearance!

 This week we went to the Shilin Night Market.  It was a huge and almost had a carnival-type feel.  Tons of food vendors and things to buy.  We loved this fruit stand!  So yummy!  We got some of the best pineapple I've ever had, strawberries, mini tart peaches and sugar apple (the one I mentioned in the email, but didn't know the name). 

 At the market with Owen and Anna.  It was definitely a place for baby carriers and not strollers!

 Danton and Bridgette have been very interested in each other.  Sometimes they giggle at each other, but usually Danton tries to poke Bridgette and she starts to get worried and whiney.

 Tyler got home earlier yesterday, so we headed to Taipei 101, which is the second tallest building in the world.  We were too cheap to go up to the top, but we walked around the designer mall at the bottom of it.

 Lit up at night.

More adventures to come...

Some adventures so far.

The bathtub is a little nasty, so we've opted to bathe the babies in the sink.  Bridgette isn't sure what she thinks.

This is the hospital Tyler will be working at.  He hasn't been able to do much so far but observe and learn his Chinese.  Hopefully he can get more involved, but he has enjoyed practicing his Medical Chinese.

Tyler randomly had the day off yesterday, so we did some sightseeing.  We first walked over to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.  He was an important part of making Taiwan it's own country (although it isn't recognized as a separate country by the rest of the world).  This is the Opera house in part of the square.  There is an identical one on the other side that is a concert hall.

This is the memorial.  It was super tall!

Bridgette with the lion at the base of the memorial.

This is the view from the top of the stairs at the memorial.  The whole thing is surrounded by cool gardens and ponds.

Inside the memorial with the guards that stand perfectly still.

The statue of Chiang Kai-shek.

Bridgette was just as popular of an attraction as the memorial.  At one point I felt like we were being swamped by the baby paparazzi.  Seriously, there were about 10 cameras flashing at once and all the Chinese people laughing and smiling at her.  She was giving them a show with her smiles, which just encouraged them more.  It was pretty hilarious.  I have learned how to tell people she is a girl and how old she is.

These are huge pine trees on the edge of the park.  It's pretty strange- big pine trees in the same park as palm trees.

Any Bachelorette fans out there?  This is the park where Ashley and Ryan went on their date and I am pretty sure this is the bench where she dumped him.

The pond had cute koi fish in it that I was feeding.

We took the subway to another memorial.  The subway system here is way better than NYC- it's so clean, new, easy to understand and I don't feel like I am going to get mugged in it!

We stopped for lunch at Pizza Hut, which is the nicest place!  They take their Pizza Hut seriously here, and apparently this is like special occasion quality dining, ha ha.  Buffets, salad bars with fresh guava and pineapple and strange flavored pizzas.  It was fun. 

We didn't take any pictures at the Memorial because they were doing some work on the grounds and inside, but from the back you can see the tall building Taipei 101.

On the way home.  I think this picture is great- this is what every street looks like.  Rows and rows of parked scooters.  You can't even see when the line of them ends.  The roads of full of them and they are crazy drivers!

Tonight we are going to a night market, which should be really fun.  I'll post some pictures of that soon.  We are having a great time and getting around has been easy with walking, buses and the subway.  The weather has also been great- in the 70's with a slight breeze.  Bridgette seems to have mostly adjusted to the time change.  She no longer wakes up screaming and wants to stay up, but just nurses and goes back to sleep.  Hopefully she starts to drop some of the feedings, because she is eating 3-4 times a night!   Ahhh, yeah, we aren't getting much sleep!

We made it! (In one piece too)

We made it to Taiwan!  I can honestly say that was one of the longest days ever!  We started at 5 am and arrived at our apartment about 27 hours later.  The hardest part was our long flight, 13 hours, which we thought would never end.  Bridgette for the most part did well and was only fussy a few times.  Flying with her was more difficult than before since she wanted to play and kick.  She loved the windows:

 On the long flight, we had this bassinet she could sleep and play in.  It was wonderful to be able to put her down and have her sleep semi-normally.

 We had a long layover in Chicago, so Carrie picked us up and we went to lunch with her and the boys.  Eli loved holding "Baby Bridgette".  It was nice to break up the day of travel by getting out of the airport. 

Sunday, our first day here, we went to church which is right next to the temple.  As soon as I unpacked Bridgette from her carrier, an older missionary couple came and picked her up and went around the chapel showing her off and telling everyone how cute she is.  They love our white baby with big blue eyes!

We've had two very rough nights with Bridgette waking up all the time and crying.  Hopefully we all get adjusted to the time zone (12 hours difference) and caught up on sleep soon!

Tyler is in heaven and is loving it here.  His Mandarin is coming back and he cannot get enough of the food (I sadly can...)  Tyler started working at the hospital this morning and will work there for 3 weeks.

I will keep posting what we've been up to, but mostly it will be Anna, me and the babies playing at home and walking around Taipei.

6 Month Check Up

Bridgette has been getting bigger. At 6 months she is >97th percentile for height at 28 in, 22nd percentile for weight at 14 lbs and 2 oz and 42 percentile for head circumference.

And the winner is...

UC Irvine in Orange County, California!

We are super surprised but are very excited to move to California!  We can't wait to get started with our new life there.  What's not to love about the beach, sunshine and Cafe Rio?

Match day festivities were a lot of fun too.   Everyone loved Bridgette in her cute tutu.  She loved playing with the maracas they gave people for noise makers.

 This is right before Tyler opened his envelope.

 Tyler with his letter.  I totally thought he was making a joke when he read it.  We both kind of forgot about this program!  Not anymore!!

 

These are all the Orthopaedic  applicants.  Everyone matched in one of the most competitive residency programs.

 With classmate and buddy and soon to be roomie (Taiwan), Owen and the babies.

I am so proud of Tyler and all his hard work during Medical School!!  Way to go!

New accessories

Bridgette has some new accessories.  We call these "Lobster hands".  AKA new gloves for next year, but we needed them today for our chilly walk.

 A toothbrush.  I swear she's way too little to brush teeth!  She was super cute and just sucked all the water out of it!

 

I tested out my carrier as a back pack in preparation for our trip and Bridgette hated it.  After the initial shock, she started crying.

These are just some cute pictures from this week:
Bridgette rolling over in her crib and so proud of herself.

Sucking on toes on the couch.  She seems to be way more flexible than before and loves to pull off her socks with her mouth.

 

I finished up this project I started over Christmas in Utah.  They are nesting chickens for church (When B grows up).  Each one has a different way to open it up on the back.  They turned out so darling I think!

GUILTY!

 

Isn't this the cutest prisoner you've ever seen?

(I think this new outfit looks like a jail jumpsuit)

 Possible offenses:
Growing up too fast!  (Here's the teething progress)

 Being really good at strange yoga poses:

Pooping on all her clothes (no picture necessary, right?), not going to sleep, squealing, being too cute, etc...

I can't believe Bridgette is 5 months old already!  She now puts herself to sleep about half the time, has rolled over from back to tummy a few times, can put her binky in herself, and loves to use her hands to feel things.  She also loves reading stories and is starting to play during bathtime.  We love her so much and love watching her discover things around her.