Replacing our roof 修屋頂

Closer look of the shangles, pretty bad huh?? 近距離看我們的屋頂. 瓦片都被曬的蹺起來了.


Rip off the shangles. 把舊的瓦片先剷掉.


Now the back is clear. 後面的剷好了.


This big truck loaded new shangles onto the roof. 大卡車用吊手把新瓦片吊到屋頂上.


Part of the new shangles. 舖上新瓦片.


Watching a puppy whose owners were out of town for a week. Boys love her.
朋友要出去玩一個禮拜, 所以我們幫他們看狗. 小朋友們對小狗照顧得很周到.


Our new roof from the front. 從前面看新屋頂.


The new roof from the back. 從後面看新屋頂.

Visit Historic Kirtland 參觀教會聖地之一

Living in MI, we are 3.5 hours away from Kirtland and 8 hours away from Nauvoo. Sean had been so busy with his new church calling, so we decided to take a quick vacaton visiting Kirtland and giving Sean more time with boys before school starts.
住在密西根, 我們只有3.5個小時和8個小時車程去2個不同的有名聖會聖地.想說趁著還沒開學前, 我們趕快找一個週末去參觀離我們3.5個小時的聖地.


Following the tour guide to see the water mill. 以前的教徒用水力來鋸木頭


It was fun listening to the mill truning.
就是這個會隨著水而一直轉動且啓動鋸子. 聽它轉動的聲音很舒服.


Learning how the saints using this big stove to creat many job opportunities.
以前的教徒可以生產一些媒礦產品並提供了很多就業機會.


My grandma used to have a stove just like this, except smaller.
記得我家阿嬤也有一個類似的炉爐, 只是比較小一點.


Joseph Smith drove their sleigh and entered the front door saying: ‘You’ve prayed me here, now what do you want of me?’

http://www.lds.org/placestovisit/location/0,10634,1835-1-1-1,00.html

這個雜貨店在當時是很熱鬧的一個地方, 很多人在這買東西. 先知從別的地方搬到這裡, 這雜貨店是他的第一個停站點. 後來變成教會的重要聚點之一.


The storage room. 儲藏室.


Upstairs of the store. These table and chairs belong to Joseph Smith, they were original.
這是先知的桌椅. 是原品,不是仿製品哦.


Joseph Smith stepped on this rock and gave talks to hundreds of people at John Johnson Farm.
先知以前就是站在這塊石頭上傳教.


Big kitchen used to serve the prophet and family. 這個廚房在當時算是很豪華.


Playing on the big rock while parents talking to the missionaries.
小朋友們趁父母和傳教士聊天時爬上大石頭.

Last 2 weeks in June 2010 六月的最後2個星期

Few things that we did in the last 2 weeks of June:
六月的最後2個禮拜做了些事:

Pei-I had her hair permed: It was more than 15 years ago since I had the hair perm, so my new hair became straight 2 days after the work. I went back to the salon and asked them to redo it without charging. It became much curlier but not as curly as I would like.

我燙頭髮了. 回想上次燙頭髮好像是10幾年前的事了. 所以頭髮剛燙了2天就已經直了. 回去髮廊再重新補燙. 有比較好了可以還是不是很捲.


Before the perm. 燙頭髮前.


After the perm. 燙頭髮後.

Time to fly back to the State. It was sad leaving my family and all the yummy food, but we were ready to go back home and be independent again.

時間過的好快, 一轉眼我們又要回美國了. 很拾不得離開家人及許多美食, 可是我們已經準備好要回家再過獨立的生活了.


It was dark and cloudy before boarding. 搭機前外面烏雲密布.


Going home to see Sean soon. 回家去找爸爸囉.

Discovered tadpoles on the top of the swim pool cover while showing off the pool to our family in Taiwan. Sean was laughing when I showed him our new discovery. Actions of rescuing these tadpoles were taken: cleaned the fish tank, caught them and placed in the tank, fed them and released them in the lake (twice). Of course we also rescued and buried some when we used hoses to sucked out water from the cover. I think there were at least 200 tadpoles in our cover.


Caught them. 抓到了.


Before releasing them. 要放生囉.


Have a good life and don't let fish eat you. 小心不要被小鳥或大魚吃掉囉.

回家後馬上跟家人視訊報平安並秀游泳池, 突然發現有黑黑的東西還會游. 蝦米, 我們的泳池蓋子上竟然有成千上百的蝌蚪. 哇, 在這個家裡住了五年這還是第一次發現泳池上有蝌蚪. 我們用魚網盡量把蝌蚪撈起來並放進重見陽光的魚缸裡. 趕快去超市買魚飾料來餵它們. 接著帶蝌蚪去河裡放生. 我們總共去了2次. 用水管把蓋子上的水吸出來時發現有些蝌蚪算一算

Japanese restaurant and beach playing 吃日本料理和去墾丁玩.

Sean's flight was on Saturday, so boys and I took him to the airport and said goodbye. Xander was so sad right after Sean walked into the gate but Khai comforted Xander saying "we'll see daddy again in 14 days". We took the bullet train home and met my sister at the station. She took us to a Japanese restaurant right inside the train station that had dishes passing by on a belt. Every dish costs about US $1 each and they were so yummy. Kids had fun seeing food passing by but we warmed them that they cannot touch every dish and had to pick big dish that will stuff their tummy.

肖恩的班機是禮拜六, 我和小朋友們送他去桃園機場. 哥哥一看到爸爸出關就突然眼淚掉了下來說他好想爸爸而弟弟則是一臉很無愁的說再10多天就可以看到爸爸了. 大姐說要去車站接我們回來順便在車站的日本餐廳吃晚餐. 哇, 這裡的料理每盤都是30元放在轉盤上轉. 小朋友們拿東西拿的很高興, 我叫他們要拿大盤一點的或是較可以填飽肚子的, 不要拿一小盤沒幾樣東西. 我們吃旳很高興.


Wow, there are so many yummy dishes. Which one shall I pick?
好多好好吃的菜哦, 要挑那一盤?


Xander is eating raw shrimps. 傑升在吃生蝦子.

My sister, Chris, discovered a place at Ken-Ting last year that was unknown to the public, so her family drove 2 hours to show us this place. Unlike having tons of tourists on the other side of the beach, this area had only few people and scuba diving trainers near by. Kids enjoyed playing water and discovering creatures.

大姐去年在墾丁找到了一個很少人知道的海灘, 這次他們全家開了2個多小時的車帶我們去墾丁玩. 的確這邊是很少人, 水又淺,所以小朋友可以盡情的玩水.






Oh no, my slipper.. 呀, 我的拖鞋漂走了.


Nice view

Clips from our mini vacation

We saw beautiful views from our hotel patio, it was a breath taking scene.


We sampled lots of grapes that just picked from the vine.

Dragon Boat Festival

,

There are several traditions on the day of Dragon Boat Festival: eat rice dumplings, sitting up eggs and watching dragon boat racing. Sean went home several days prior to the Dragon Boat Festival, so he didn't get to experience that. It was a very hot day, and we all went out to the hallway at noon and sitting up the eggs. It was hard and took patience to do that, but kids had so much fun doing that with family and were so proud of sitting up the eggs. Of course Khai cracked one egg.

端午節這天傳統要吃粽子, 掛香包, 立雞蛋和看龍舟競賽. 今年剛好我們回台灣有碰到端午節(可惜肖恩提早了幾天回去而沒有碰上), 所以為娘的我當然要很用力的吃好多粽子. 中午時大姐叫大家到外面去立雞蛋. 我和大姐為了要讓小朋友們有特別的記憶,所以我們作弊, 找了地上有洞的地方開始立雞蛋然後秀給小朋友們看. 看小朋友們凝心聚神的立雞蛋實在很有趣. 後來小朋友們不小心打破了幾顆蛋. 碎碎平安.



Khai worked very hard. 煒勳很認真的在試.



Yes, I made it. 我立起來了耶!



We got it too. It was very hot outside, you can feel that by looking at Xander's face.
哥哥和小黑寶寶也立起來了. 那天中午時好熱哦, 看哥哥的表情就知道.



My sister Chris took us to see the dragon boat racing in the evening. It used to held at noon, but they changed to evening due to the hot weather. It was hard to find a good spot to see the boats, but boys had lots of fun cheering for everyone.

我姐特地載我們去看划龍舟. 怕太靠近時會大塞車所以我們車子停在大老遠的地方徒步去看. 晚上看划龍舟的確是涼快多了. 小朋友們第一次看划龍舟覺得很有趣. 後來實在是太熱了所以我們就打道回府了. 我也不記得上次現在看划龍舟是什麼時候了...

Rock Path 健康步道

We visited my aunt and Sean took boys to the elementary right next to her house. The rock path will simulate the pressure points on your feet and suppose is good for your health, but that hurts a lot. You can tell by looking at Khai's expression.
拜訪完大姑時小朋友在旁邊的國小玩. 看到這張相片覺得很好笑. 煒勳走在石頭步道上而腳一定很痛,可是他的表情實在是太好笑了, 一定要放上來讓大家笑一下

Mini Vacation 清境農埸 Part 2

We visited a paper factory, had a tour learing about how papers were made. We even made our own paper fan. It was really fun. 參觀紙廠, 觀看紙的製作過程並且親自製作紙搧.


Sean wanted to make one and take that to his office. 肖思也來做一個可以帶到辦公室去秀.


Working hard. 學作搧好好玩.

d
Finished product. 作好了.


We meet Pei-I's family at a family owned hotel. It was a family reunion + vacation for the Lee family. It was nice that we can get together and enjoy the nature. kids got to know their cousins better and had fun looking for beetles.
我們和其他家人在埔里碰面. 這可是十幾年來我們全家總動員一起出來玩呢. 山上的空氣很好, 大家慢慢的散步並找獨角仙.


Deep fried bumblebee. Everything tasted good when you deep fried it. Khai ate more than 20 of them, we forgot to take the picture of him eating it. Xander wouldn't even try it.
炸烽蛹. 還不錯. 煒勳吃了20幾隻, 傑升卻一隻也不試.


Nice view, but the entrance fees were too expensive, so we just took pictures.
很漂亮的地方, 可是門票太貴了. 在此拍張相就好了.


Had a boat ride with the Lee family in the Sun Moon Lake. The boat took us to different spots along the island. It was fun hanging out with my family. My dad said he took a boat ride 14 years ago on this lake. There were many tourists from Mainland China.
大家能夠排除萬難一起出來遊玩真的很特別. 問爸爸多久前在這乘船, 他說:14年前. 在澄清湖乘船. 遊艇帶我們到幾個定點去玩, 風景很漂亮, 美中不足的是到處都是大陸客, 人擠人, 連上個廁所也要插隊.


Xander the snake. 屬蛇的傑升


Khai the monkey 屬猴的煒勳


My sister, Chris, has a friend who has a grape farm. We tasted the grapes that were picked right in front of us and were able to pick some as well. It was a very neat experience.
我姐夫的朋友有個葡萄園, 所以親愛的阿嬤就採了新鮮的葡萄讓我們嚐試並讓我們現採一些葡萄.


It was fun looking for right grapes to pick. 找熟的葡萄.

This had been a great mini vacation for us, thank you everyone for making it happen. We are so lucky having such nice family.
好好玩的一趟旅行, 謝謝大家排除萬難和我們一起來共享這難得的經驗. 沒有了你們的參與, 這趙旅遊就沒有那麼特別了. 感恩哦.

Mini vacation 清境農場 part 1

We took a 4-day vacation to visit Cingjing Farm, which locates in the middle of Taiwan, with my sister and her family. The farm is 1,750 meters above the sea and when we arrived the hotel, we were amazed by the breath taking scenery. Many white clouds were among the mountains and it was so quiet. You need to be here to see it.


Beautiful view from our hotel 從房間照出去的景色


Enjoyed the view. 很漂亮的風景


One of the highlight of the hotel is this beautiful Asian bathtub. It's a new experience of enjoying the hot bath while watching the beautiful views. 這家旅館最大的特點就是這個迷人的浴缸了. 泡澡時看著美麗旳景色, 真的是人生一大享受


Boys enjoy the bathtub. 泡澡好好玩哦.


Let's take a picture on this comfortable bed. 好舒服的大床.


Nice weather, beautiful view. 在青青草原旁照張相


Visiting the bee farm and tasted pure honey. Yum. 參觀蜂蜜場並嚐試新鮮的蜂蜜



The hightest point of Ho-Huan Mountain. It was scary driving on the narrow and curvy mountain roads and past cars from opposite direction. Chris did a fantastic job of driving the van. I know I couldn't do it. It started raining and thick fog appeared right after we took this shoot. We barely can see the road, so decided to go back to hotel.

武嶺是合歡山的最高峰. 可是開了彎彎曲曲的山路上山真的很可怕, 有時還要在很窄的地方會車.幸好大姐小心慢慢的駕駛車子, 我們才能平安到達最高峰. 照了這張相後開始下雨並且有濃霧, 路上幾乎都看不清楚. 為了安全起見, 我們決定回旅館休息.


Can you see the fog? 濃霧.


We decided to get out of the mountain because we couldn't see anything for 2 days due to the thick fog. The weather turned clear at the bottom of the mountain. We saw a waterfall and decided to park the car and take a walk. It was a nice and relax walk.
由於這2天在高山上都是濃霧, 所以我們決定早點下山. 一下山天氣就晴朗了. 看到一條瀑布決定去走走. 窩了2天覺得這樣走走看看好開心.


After a long hike, we were so thirsty. I could use some water. 哇, 好口渴哦.


Put our feet in the stream, the water feel so good. 冰涼的水好舒服.

More to come...... 請待續......