李謨謨三歲前夕包山包海趴趴走-5

It's Mo's 3rd birthday!

Unfortunately we had to go home and spent almost the whole day in traffic.

We went for another swim after the big breakfast (Mo made me a toast with jam).

It wasn't really warm enough this time.

Even Mo gave up in few minutes and had her fun in the children's zone.

Of course, I didn't miss the chance to visit Starbucks Coffee I worked for although I didn't know anyone there anymore.

We made it to have the birthday cake with grandpa and grandma at late night.

Dear Mo Mo,

Happy Birthday to My 3-Year-Old!

I hope you will remember the great time we had together.

I know you will.

You are still asking to sleep with Belugas or go back to Flying Cow Ranch every few days.

Love You

Mommy

李謨謨三歲前夕包山包海趴趴走-4

I saw one of the Belugas turned its head and said something to another before they both looked down at us and giggled.

I didn't understand how did the big piggy and little piggy snoring next to me sleep under this circumstances, but I was awake all night.
I opened my eyes and I saw the big blue with two Belugas swimming around.

I closed my eyes and I heard the talking, singing and barking.

It was magically peaceful and wonderful before visitors pouring into the aquarium.

Since that night, we have the sense of superiority toward other visitors.

The relationship between the Belugas and us is much more closer! (?)

Mo jumped into the water after breakfast with her water monkey mom, even the famous feeding show couldn't get her out.

We were there just on time to witnessed a proposal at the end of the show and collect our souvenirs.

It took me a lot of energy convincing Mo to see the penguins before she jumped back into the water.

The winter sunshine we hadn't seen for months was so tempting and we spent the rest of time enjoying it.

Among all the hotels and hostels in Kenting, I always have a partiality for Caesar Park Hotel.

We stayed in the room with private outdoor jacuzzi and back door leading directly to the pool.

Even 3-year-old Mo (almost) was considering to move in permanently.
After wolfing down like 4 oranges, Mo and I couldn't wait to go into the water again.

Mo shouted "We are getting married!" when I held her and spun in the pool.

The joy on her face is something I will never forget although I don't remember where she got the impression.

Thanks to me, Warung Di Di was an excellent choice for dinner that night.

We sat on the beach for few hours and in the jacuzzi for another few with our tummies full of good food.

My baby girl turned 3 quietly in her sleep with her stuffed Belugas.

李謨謨三歲前夕包山包海趴趴走-3

This day was the highlight of our trip.

We were going to sleep with the belugas in National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium!

After my grandma's giant breakfast, we were on our way to Kenting, the mini tropical paradise in Taiwan where I had a long stay for almost a year.

We arrived the aquarium just in time for the starting of our two-day journey.

16:00-17:00 Life Forms in Intertidal Zones

Unfortunately we didn't really see anything in this restricted area. Mo was more interested in throwing rocks.

17:10-17:50 Guided Tour through Coral Kingdom Pavilion

As I traveled with an old one who thinks Chinese is stupid and a young one who only pays attention to her mommy's private interpretation, I tried my best to listen to what our guide said. Eventually three of us were complete outsiders. Still it was pleasant enough to just stare at those fishes. Mo gave each one of them a name.

17:50-18:40 Dinner

18:40-19:30 Secrets in Working Areas

It was interesting to visit where the staffs actually work. As long as there were opportunities to feed or touch something. Mo got really excited. We fed the jellyfishes with tiny shrimps and the tropical fishes with small shrimps. Touching a jellyfish made us laugh for hours.

19:30-20:10 DIY Activity

It was Mo's favorite! Mo made the big fish. I made the small fish. I felt that Mo was all grown up in these few days. She went out of the room alone asking for more clays. We were both so proud when Mo showed me the clays she got in her little fat hand. Here came the tears again.

20:10-20:50 Late Night Adventure in Coral Kingdom Pavilion

We went back to the totally dark aquarium to see the difference between day and night with flashlights. We had fun finding naughty fishes which weren't sleeping.

20:50-22:10 Shower and Dessert

We made our beds in the underwater tunnel with two belugas swimmming above us.
Thanks to the excellent choice that Mo made, we were VIPs in this area that night.
I believed everyone would have thought of "Night at the Museum" at this moment.
The Aquarim at night did have a magical power.
We were thrilled and Mo therefore went to the toilet 10 times in two hours.
Mo fell asleep talking and asking all the questions about the belugas.
We could hear them sang.
This is definitely one of the best hotels I have ever stayed.

李謨謨三歲前夕包山包海趴趴走-2

Mo woke up early in the morning without any complain as soon as I said "Let's go play with the animals!"

We joined another DIY activity after breakfast to paint our own pottery cows.

I like Mo's with concepts of modern art.

Mo met all of her animal friends again.

This time, she held a baby duck, rode the horses and walked the lambs.
This little one wasn't afraid of anything.
We had lots of fun running around like crazy mad women on the grass.

I was going to leave this day as a free day.

We could go somewhere else before visiting my family in 霧峰.

However, Jeff the Asshole had his friends all met up in the ranch without notifying me.

I didn't care about Jeff.

He was away every 5 minutes for his cigarettes and beers anyway.

But I was really pissed off that I was forced to walk with those people in my vacation with Mo.

What else could I say?

An asshole is an asshole.

He will never respect the others.

The drunk accused me as a bitch who isn't interested in anything at dinner again in front of his friends.

Obviously I bored him a lot as the only thing could not interest me is that drunk old man.

I wish he could find someone as "cool" as he is from my heart though.

We arrived my grandparents' house late.

Mo showed the whole family how everyone eats the ball puddings from Flying Cow Ranch.

It was nice to see them.

李謨謨三歲前夕包山包海趴趴走-1

As Mo's first and second birthdays weren't really celebrated, I wanted to do something big this time.

So how about feeding ranch animals and sleeping with belugas, a trip from the mountain to the ocean?

Mo:Wow~ Mommy~ Are we in Australia or Africa?

Ma:Mmm... We are in Flying Cow Ranch... in Taiwan.

I didn't know where the impression came from.

But Mo obviously thought that this amount of animals and this size of scenery only appear in Australia or Africa.

For the first night of our trip, we stayed in their Japanese style cabin with big windows facing mountains and gardens.

I like to watch Mo running, jumping, rolling and shouting.

Children's moves are different from those of adults.

They use ALL their power without any holding back.

Here she had quite enough space for exercising.

Even falling down was fun.

We were like walking in our own ranch as it wasn't a holiday.

Mo tried everything.

We fed the sheep, ducks, goats and rabbits.

We miked a 650kg cow.

For dinner, we had milk hot pot, pudding and ice cream produced in the ranch.

We then joined the DIY activity making egg tarts.

Mo wore a bunny suit and competed in the drinking milk contest.

After all these, Mo could still go crazy in our cozy cabin jumping on the bed and playing the monster ga

me for hours.

Unfortunately I couldn't remember too much from that time as the poor mommy was running out of her energy.

At last, Mo read the bed time story for us.

It was her favorite dinosaur book.

Mo:I want to live here.

Ma:I want to live here too, Mo.

Fireworks to Open Flora Expo

As we missed the National Day fireworks, nothing could stop us to join the opening of Flora Expo with the fireworks even bigger than ever in Dajia Riverside Park!!!

Unfortunately, nothing could stop us except wet and rain, the typical weather in Taipei lasted for whole week.

All we could see was smoke.

Mo was getting confused and sleepy on my shoulders and there was "What do you want me to see exactly?" all over her face.

The anger toward Jeff the Asshole and the loss together made me down for quite a while that I had to go shopping with Mo on Sunday to recover.

The good thing was we made the chicken curry pasta bake for dinner and Mo really liked it.

101~ I am counting on you!

Don't disappoint me again!

Zoolloween 2010

Taipei Zoo hosted the Halloween party!

I didn't realize that the zoo is so spooky at night which makes it such a perfect place for a Halloween party.

Unfortunately the spookiest part was closed.

The poor exhibitions in Education Center were covered up with the Halloween staff.

I found it very amusing as Mo was a bit confused and scared.

We also visited grandpa 林旺 and the dinosaurs before attending "Be Wild!" costume party.

I wasn't really into costumes so Mo wore a unicorn fairy outfit she picked out in the supermarket this year.

I thought Mo would be shouting "No No No No...!!!" on the stage and we would have a good fight in front of everyone.

Unexpectedly, Mo walked down the runway holding her Jack-O-Lantern candy basket and waved to the crowds the whole time.

She even did the flying we talked about on the way.

I was so proud of my cute little fairy!

We had a good time in the zoo and I thought I could finally enjoy the steak I longed for.

But instead of my steak, We ordered the pasta in Swensens which made Mo very happy.

During the dinner, I was thinking maybe I should stop being a lazy mom and actually make Mo a cool costume myself next year.

Mo went to the Halloween party in Carnrgie's on Sunday with Jeff.

I didn't want to go so we met after the party for dinner and ice cream.

Happy 99th Birthday to R. O. C.

Mo has a picture book of a parade with the cheering crowds.

It's one of her favorites.

The National Day Parade was a great opportunity to actually experience it although it's not that patriotic anymore.

I don't even remember the last time I saw the parade.

The parade marched from 中正紀念堂 to 國父紀念館 and we stood at the end of 仁愛路.

I was so excited when Mo shouted "It's coming! It's coming!" on my shoulders.

Mo waved to everyone and touched whatever she could reach.

The poor Flora Expo mascot was hit in the face because it was scared when Mo used all her strength putting out her hand trying to get a handshake.

Unfortunately Mo was tired already at the end and we missed the firework show that night.

We then had hotpot in 吾愛吾家 and walked to 阪急 before going home.

Mo is looking forward to National Day next year as much as I am.

100 YEARS~ It must be great!

UNIQLO Mania

People from Taiwan have big queue taxis.

Where ever the big queue is, where ever the crowd is.

There was once streets were full because everyone was getting in line to buy Pastel de Nata.

This time, it's UNIQLO.

I had never heard of UNIQLO before actually.

As UNIQLO topped news headlines everyday, even a styleless woman like me could not ignore its existence.

Apparently UNIQLO is one of the top 5 clothing companies in the world with ZARA and H&M.

It was crazy.

There were almost 10000 people waiting to shop in the first UNIQLO store in Taiwan daily.

How could I resist the big queue in front of the store?

Even my lab partners took turns to go shopping for the first day opening.

I joined the group on the second day as No. 5640 that day and It took me one hour to get into the store.

Yes, I am from Taiwan and I do know the store will be there permanently.

The cloth was basic and quite comfortable with reasonable prize.

I bought something for Jeff and my fat brother too.

When will ZARA and TOP SHOP come to Taiwan then?

Mo's First Haircut

Mo was a total baldy.

All she had in past 3 years was a tiny bit of angel hair, thin and soft.

Since she was bald, I never thought about giving her a haircut although people always told me I had to remove the old one first and then the new one would come out.

At last, it was long enough for her to complain about.

I changed my "Brand New Style for 30th Birthday" plan so we could have the haircut together in this store with cats walking around.

The idea that there were cats in the store interested Mo a lot.

Unlike other children, she really enjoyed the styling process.

Mo almost cried because she didn't get the wash step like adults (thanks for the cats which distracted her attention).

Now we are getting closer to my dream mother-daughter style!

Baby Ni Ni and Baby Mo

Baby Ni Ni is in the House!

2-Minute-Old Baby Mo

2-Minute-Old Baby Mo and Dad

2-Hour-Old Baby Mo

2-Day-Old Baby Mo

I am trying to record everything since Mo was born and it is quite a big challenge.

After all, it has been 3 years.

Visiting one of my best friends and her new baby in the hospital reminded me a lot.

Now I can finally recall something.

Mo was so excited about the arrival of her new friend Ni Ni and she made all kind of plans for them to play together.

But somehow Mo backed off the day before.

No matter what I said, she just didn't want to go to the hospital with me.

I couldn't understand if Mo was just shy or she detected any threat.

I remember the contractions happened in the early morning when I was sleeping.

It was like a bad dysmenorrhea just enough to keep me awake at the beginning.

I asked Jeff to come home because there was something falling out with blood in the afternoon.

However the nurses sent me home from the hospital and told me to wait for stronger contractions.

That's great.

Jeff was very happy about the extra day off and he brought Uncle back home parting all night long.

I had a sandwich I made for myself the whole day alone with my pain.

"My husband" didn't even bother to check on me once.

I couldn't bear it anymore so we arrived the hospital again at midnight.

As usual, I, the pregnant woman few hours before giving birth to her baby, had to stand there finish all the paper work while the husband was sitting there having his drinks and there were like 20 forms to fill by the way.

The nature has its own delicate mechanisms so women would have more then one child.

I don't really remember anything from next few hours.

I know there were a snoring pig and a lot of painful screams.

But it's just not clear enough for me to describe it.

I was in the delivery room for about an hour and Mo, weighted 3285g, was born at 5:22 AM 7 Dec 2007 via doctor's sucking and nurse's pushing.

Mo looked a bit confused but didn't cry very much.

The nurses had a good laugh at me because "my husband" completely forgot about me.

Yes, I knew.

"My husband" was never aware of my existence, OK?

I didn't have tears and words as I imagined.

All I did were just looking down at the little purple corn-headed alien with total peace in my mind and gently introducing myself.

My life was simplified as satisfying Mo's needs and admiring Mo's cuteness from then.

Sleeping over 2 hours became a dream to me.

But that's another story.