Peg’s Journal

Early on, I told myself to be carefree and have great time no matter what may happen….because a couple years back (when I vacationed with my family sans Aric), I was a bit of a basketcase. Being a first-time parent, I stressed over the baby’s eating and sleeping schedules, constantly cleaning, folding, refolding, and organizing my diaper bag and luggage tediously EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! I was on edge and snappy…annoying everyone, including myself. HAHA! This time I was going to loosen up, be flexible, go with the flow, and roll with the punches.

But nothing quite prepared me for the disasterous start of our trip. I like to call it my Amazing Race vacation. Without getting into it too much (I’m saving it for another post), the kids and I missed our flight to SFO (where we were going to meet and fly with Wil and my parents). I had to purchase a one-way ticket on the next flight out to San Jose (we had just missed the cutoff for the SF flight by 10 minutes) on Southwest. My parents made arrangements to pick us up in SJ and shuttle us to SFO (all of this had set all of us behind schedule by an hour). We arrived in SJ, but our luggage DID NOT. To avoid delaying us further , we took off to catch our flight in SFO without luggage. We nearly missed our flight to Taiwan. *exhale* I swear, it was such a Murphy’s Law kinda morning. Going to another country with only a diaper bag felt really weird.

I’m not good at travelogues like dear Winnie. So to spare you any boredom, I’ll just highlight the days. Links to photo albums in the dates…happy clicking!

11.16.05
- flew San Francisco to Nagoya to Taipei
- watched “Batman Begins”, “A Perfect Man”, and “Bruce Almighty”

11.17.05
- explore Panchiao on foot with Wil and kiddies
- finding out that Wil had stolen wireless internet connection at my grandma’s house!
- meet parents and parents’ friends for coffee at Mitsukoshi Center
- dinner with my paternal grandmother and relatives in Yan Ming San

11.18.05
- morning stroll through the street market
- shabu shabu lunch with my maternal grandmother and uncles
- visit Taipei 101
- bought a warm sweater
- shop Nightmarkets with Wil, Mom, and kiddies
- bought 3 pairs of fun shoes and tons o’ stuff for the kids

11.19.05
- shopped at the street market…bought cool jeans
- huge luncheon with family, long lost relatives, and friends in Yan Ming San
- visit with paternal grandmother
- amazing dinner at DOZO with Wil and friends (sans kiddies)

11.20.05
- morning stroll along the market with Dad
- got a massage, hairwash, and fobby haircut. dun like it.
- lunch with aunt and uncle at maternal grandmother’s house
- luggage finally arrived via FedEX!!!!! YAY for Southwest Airlines!
- Tom’s World (like Chuck E Cheese) with Wil and kiddies
- yummy foodcourt food at FarEast Mall for dinner
- shop Shi-Lin Nightmarket (the largest in Taipei) with Wil and kiddies

11.21.05
- visit maternal grandmother’s side of the family in Keelung (fishing town)
- awesome homecooked lunch!
- karaoke
- dinner in Taipei with family and parents’ friend
- shop Nightmarkets in the rain
- scored crazy loot and bought a 22″ roller (to fit all the stuff we accumulated) HAHAHA!

11.22.05
- lunch with my great uncle and aunt at Ding Taifung
- kicked it at their luxury highrise
- visited with more relatives
- Summer rushed to the emergency (slipped, fell, and bit down on her lip) Thankfully no stitches required.
- took the kiddies to Tom’s World with Mom and Dad
- yummy foodcourt dinner at FarEast Mall

11.23.05
- morning visits from more relatives
- visit Long San (Dragon Mountain) Temple
- visit and shabu shabu lunch with paternal grandmother and relatives
- shop fashion district with Mom, Wil, kiddies, aunt, and cousin
- Tom’s World for kiddies (yes, again)
- foodcourt dinner at FarEast Mall (yes, again…but they have such yummy selections!)
- pack

11.24.05
- breakfast with grandma
- shuttle pick up at 7:30am
- flew Taipei to Narita to San Francisco to LA

I’ve said this a dozen times already, and I’ll say it again…we had such a great time on our trip. We accomplished what we set out to do: relax, visit with as many relatives and friends as possible, and shop and eat to our hearts content. It was awesome! I kinda wished we had stayed a little longer…8 days was just too short. The kids had so much fun and were very well behaved. I just loved seeing how attached they have grown to my parents, Wil, uncle, and my grandmothers. For me, that in itself, was the best part!