week 4 - birthday girl

our little l turned three while we were in taiwan!  it was a relatively uneventful occasion, which seemed to suit her just fine.  c kept asking when we were going to have a real party for her sister, but since the sister herself didn't do any asking, i only felt a little bit bad ;-)

after mulling over possibilities with auntie e, we decided to try out the National Taiwan Science Education Center (say that three times fast.. i could barely keep the chinese name straight for the cab even staring straight at the sign).  they had a fun exploration area for kids, but unfortunately, we got there 45 minutes before the end of the morning session and didn't want to wait for the afternoon session.  so all that brainstorming for 45 minutes - oh well =p

we miss our foosball table!

the proud big girl

incidentally, this was c's favorite dress last summer too

i had made up a batch of cookie dough before we left for the hotel, and auntie e baked it up for us.  chocolate chips are relatively hard to come by there, so it was a bit of a treat.

the ballet stickers are now proudly affixed to the wall next to her toddler bed

really by this time, the birthday girl needed nothing more than a nap, but since she wasn't exactly going to agree to that, we went to lunch at Bei Tou Yiou Yu, a little noodle shop chain i fell i love with.  we metro-ed back to the hotel, and ben and the girls did settle in for a nap (hurray for blackout hotel drapes), while i changed some money and got tickets for the high speed train for the next day.  you can buy those at machines in 7 Eleven, provided you can 1) read the chinese, or 2) humbly plead illiteracy to the friendliest-looking teller.  guess which option i exercised ;-).  i also took the chance to walk back to some stationery stores we'd passed and pick up a few small things (no party and no gifts just didn't seem right =)).  i even managed to sneak back into the room, change and go up to the fitness room for awhile - everyone was out cold!

when leo called, i had to rouse the crew and convince everyone it was dinnertime and not midnight.  we managed to recombobulate ourselves by the time he picked us up for an extraordinary delicious sushi dinner.   i must have tried half a dozen new things, and i'm not an adventurous sushi eater.  the seared fatty salmon and seared flounder (?) were scrumptious.  and of course, the company made the meal =)

buds since middle school

enjoying her birthday pens, stickers and cards

we parked in the lot to this building ;-)

back at the hotel, we discovered abigail and lambie artfully arranged around our goodnight chocolates: 

nighty night, little buddy.. sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite.  don't forget your daddy and mommy love you =)