Yingge

We took a little trip to Yingge today, which is a small town about forty minutes outside of Taipei. Yingge is famous for its ceramics and pottery. I went with low expectations, actually, but was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. I thought it would be store after store selling little brown teapots (like these). Instead, the stores had a varied selection of low to high end items, from teapots and bowls to beautiful bronze art pieces.


We had a fabulous lunch in a little modern cafe. We liked the water mugs so much that we bought them right off the table. Gotta love China (I mean, Taiwan). Everything is for sale.

The sun was bright and hot, but we cooled down by dipping into stores and sampling the air-conditioning. The town's famous ceramics museum was closed, but we had plenty of fun just wandering up and down the "old" street. More pictures from today's outing are here.

My Momma

Mom is here! She flew all the way to Taipei to meet little Miss G. They have already played with balls, put blocks "in" and "out," read books, hugged new bunnies (for the record - she definitely knows the difference), and changed diapers. In sum, kiddo and Grandma have had all sorts of fun.

Mom went to the National Palace Museum today to view the stolen borrowed re-housed treasures. When she came back, Gioia broke into a big smile, clapped her hands and asked to be picked up.

A good day, surely.

Father's Day

Chris, you are a wonderful Father.


Happy Daddy's Day.

How Big Are You?

When he was growing up, Chris and his sister had their measurements marked on a wooden stick made by his Opa. The stick said, in Dutch, the following:

This stick shows you
at all times
how small you were
how big you are



A few months before Miss G's birthday, Chris asked his parents if they could make her a measuring stick too. Wow, did they ever.


Chris' dad designed the stick to fold in half for easy storage in our apartment and traveling life. He cut out the wood, printed out the images, and painted and varnished it from top to bottom. There even is a custom carrying case that Chris' dad designed and sewed. The top has a circle for easy hanging, and the back has precise measurements marked in inches/feet and centimeters/meters. Chris' mom selected all of the images; some even came from this website!


What a fabulous, thoughtful, homemade gift. Thank you Rod and Linda!

Gu Gu

Gioia's Aunt Lisa is here to visit this week. Gu Gu (sounds like goo goo) is the Chinese term for paternal Aunt. All day we have been saying - Gioia, where's your Gu Gu? There's your Gu Gu! It was such a fun day.

We are so glad you are here Lisa!

Dad Coke

Thanks for coming to visit us in Taipei, Dad. We had a lovely weekend, and (most importantly) Gioia got to meet her Grandfather!

More pictures are here.