Games in Taiwan

K-bao made her second trip to Taipei, Taiwan over the past few weeks. It was her third trip to Asia in seven years. Once again, K-bao thoroughly enjoyed herself.

The first thing she did upon arriving at the airport in Taipei was a cartwheel. Naturally.

K-bao hadn't seen the K-grandfolks, Xiao Goo Goo (Aunt Catherine) or Shu-Shu (Uncle James)in over a year, and she wasted no time getting her beloved relatives to play all sorts of games with her. This was a theme that would repeat itself throughout the trip.

In fact, here is a video of K-bao challenging K-Grandpop to a Rubik's Cube race.

Thank You

Over the holidays, K-bao visited the K-Grandfolks in LA.

As usual, her grandparents spoiled her to no end. This is not new. There were more noodle making lessons, as well as specially-made onion pancakes.

In gratitude (finally!), K-bao drew up the below card of appreciation, and even managed to write out a message in Chinese.

Noodles

During this last trip down to LA, K-bao learned from K-Grandfolks the fine art of noodle-making.

Always a hands-on type of gal, K-bao loved every bit of it - particularly the part where she got to squeeze the dough into the machine and turn the crank.

Afterwards, K-Grandmum made her famous beef noodle soup, and K-bao and the rest of the family got to eat fresh noodles made by our little six-year-old.

Below K-Grandpops stands by to offer a few tips. Sister C-bao got into the action as well.

Shake It

"Higher, C-bao. Lift it higher"

Whenever K-bao visits K-Grandmum & K-Grandpops in LA, she feels the urge to put on a performance. Perhaps it is the long, grand staircase, so perfect for presenting to an adoring crowd below, that inspires her. Perhaps it is the untiring enthusiasm and unending patience displayed by her long-suffering grandfolks and great-grandma for K-bao's every initiative (see here, here and here - or even this post from 2009).

Recently, K-bao's proclivity to perform has been further enhanced by her infatuation with all things Taylor Swift.

Below is one scene among many that the K-Grandfolks and K-Great-Grandmum witnessed. The first video below is only the introduction to the show; K-bao insists on properly "Setting the Stage," including allowing her co-performer, sister C-bao, to also have a few words.

The second video captures most of the actual performance - set to Swift's Shake It Off, of course - including K-bao spending a good amount of time with her back to the audience observing her own moves in the reflection she sees in the television set. A few gymnastics maneuvers are also thrown in for good measure.

Grand Love

The K-Grandfolks are now back in Taiwan, but over the last couple of weeks K-bao and her sister C-bao had lots of fun with her K-Grandmum and K-Grandpops. 

Walking along on the Street after a nice meal in mini-Chinatown nearby, K-Grandmum does a miming routine with K-bao on the street.

On the last day here, K-bao took her sister aside and put together the following card for her K-Grandfolks to take home with them.

Grand Visit

The K-Grandfolks are here! That means sun cakes (太陽餅) stories, walks in the sun and plenty of park time. Here K-Grandpops tells K-bao a story, while below K-bao and her sister enjoy a moment in the sun with both K-Grandpops and K-Grandmum.

This past weekend K-bao took her grandparents to Mount Davidson Park, the highest point in San Francisco. Of course, rather than enjoying the view, K-bao spent most of her time looking for the biggest stick she could find to ward off any potential coyote attacks.

"When the coyote comes, you grab him by the ears and I will hit him with my stick!" she instructed K-Pop. "And K-Grandpops should grab him by his tail!" This plan was broadcast loudly on the trail, and the wise coyotes within earshot of course steered well clear of our fierce little 6-year-old.

Lucky 13

Over Christmas and New Year K-bao got to spend some time with K-Mum's side of the family. Indeed, with K-Great-Grandmum in the house, along with all the cousins, there were 13 happy campers in all. It was a festive gathering which extended over many days.

There was plenty of lounging time...

...but also some intense activities. In the below "friendly" Bocce ball match, the judge (Uncle Calvin) had to resort to taking off his shoelaces to measure the distance between the balls in order to resolve a dispute between the teams. (One can also see contestant Aunt Christina - clearly not fully trusting in the process - on the ground closely inspecting the measuring activity.)

"Pull that string tighter! Tighter!"

A highlight for K-bao was of course spending time with her cousins, particularly J-Cuz, i.e. Cousin Justin. The two built Magna Tile castles, read Bible stories aloud and even tested their arm strength against each other (refereed once again by Uncle Calvin). K-bao and sister C-bao also had fun playing with Justin's younger sister, Cousin Kaitlyn, who is a few days older than C-bao.

"Don't let my expression (or my 2 hands) fool you, J - I'm only using 30% of my strength"

"Don't try this at home, kids"

As usual, K-Grandmum, saint that she is, spent most of her personal time cooking up great heaps of delicious food to feed the hungry crowds.

Banana Bread Deluxe

Never one to waste perfectly good (albeit somewhat overripe) bananas, K-bao sprung into action last weekend, donning her baker's apron and recruiting sister C-bao to help her create her patented Banana Bread Deluxe.

Here is the completed batter, replete with chocolate chips galore. No Trader Joe's shortcuts here! Eggs, flour, baking soda - this was made from scratch.

And here is the finished product.

K-Grandpops in Taiwan (a.k.a. Gong-Gong) got wind of this Banana Bread Deluxe, and naturally lamented that he wasn't around to take a bite. Upon hearing this, both granddaughters extended a fork, hoping their grandfather could take some satisfaction in their act of virtual sharing.

For the Love of the Game

K-bao had the pleasure of hosting the K-Grandfolks several weeks ago for a short visit.

Naturally, K-Grandpops immediately got roped into K-bao's latest love, Uno, and found himself on the carpet with the little one hashing out Skips, Wild cards and +4s.

"Love is patient, love is kind," K-Grandpops must have been repeating to himself throughout the afternoon.

Taiwan!

K-bao is back from her first ever trip to Taiwan to see the birthplace of her parents. There she ingratiated herself further with K-Grandpops and K-Grandmum, completely took over Xiao Goo-Goo's (Aunt Catherine) schedule - not to mention iPad - without permission, and cavorted shamelessly with Shu-Shu (Uncle James). In the last few days, in a pleasant surprise, she also managed to see Da Goo-Goo and family, including Cousin Elizabeth, as will be detailed separately. All in all a great trip, and worth several posts.

Here she is at SFO about to board and enjoying a moment with EVA Air's cardboard cutout air stewardess.

The entire trip was filled with hugs and more hugs. Here are a few with the K-grandfolks, as well as K-Great-Grandmum (on the paternal-maternal side), whom she met for the first time, and who by the grace of our Lord is still well at age 98.

More to come!

Castle

After tinkering around half-heartedly with her Magna-Tiles - a 95% gross margin product - for most of the time since K-Mum purchased the product last year, K-bao has settled down recently to some more serious architectural pursuits. She can now sit quietly in her room for thirty-plus minutes (Ah...peace & quiet...all in the name of education, of course) while working on more intricate designs, generally involving creating living quarters for her dolls.

Below she ropes K-Grandpops into working with her on constructing a mini-castle for her princesses. The long-suffering K-Grandpops obligingly got down on his hands and knees and assisted (read: took direction from) her in putting together the below structure.

Visit

The K-Grandfolks and Uncle James (Shu-Shu) were in town this week, and true to historical practice, showered K-bao with undeserved praise, attention, treats and gifts of all kinds.

In return, K-bao repeatedly hit up K-Grandpop and Shu-Shu for multiple rounds of her most recent favorite hobby. Oblivious to the generosity inherent in some of her opponents' moves, she ran around the house all week with vanquished chess pieces obnoxiously calling out, "Guess what? I ate his queen!"

For which she was then rewarded with goodies like chocolate-covered Pacific Puffs, Hello Kitty earmuffs, sparkly shoes, etc. That's right, the K-Grandfolks filled an entire suitcase with these things (and paid for additional checked luggage!), forcing them to take a full week to be able to pass them out in a manner that didn't overwhelm the little one with adrenaline.