2011 birthdays!

The kids both had fun birthdays last year!
Evie turned 5 and was fortunate enough to have an early party while Ma was here! Lots of classmates came to celebrate at home with her for an afternoon of hilarity, fun and sugar! She got a new bike and a pretty new party dress!!! (as you can see in the pic..... my fave!!!!)
Zef turned 9 and his quiet party of 2 or 3 friends going ice skating turned into a few more than that with a dance party and cake at home to finish! How did that happen!? It was fun though and even Evie managed to get the hang of skating after a few rounds with Dad helping!!!!

What on Earth???????

Well, where DID that last year or so get to? I, being the spaz I am with technolgy, somehow couldn't seem to load pics here last year, so I thought I would finally try again and get this blog thing going...... specially since the grandparents are always whining on about seeing photos of the kids! *grin*
I reckon I should start with announcing the newest family member! Little Miss or Master Robinson, who will be due in, of course, August some time! It will be a full on month of birthday joy for the kids....... not sure about how the parents will be feeling!? This scan pic is from about 14 weeks..... you can see the sweet little face and hand in the air! Waving? Annoyed at the ultrasound waves!? Who knows! But he/she looks just delightful to me!

Christmas road trip 2010 Part 2

After a yummy buffet brekkie, we headed out for a bike ride along the bike path in Hualien that runs along the waterfront. We saw tons of boats and rode through the harbour area and also discovered a fun skate park!   We had to head back to check out of the hotel where the kids proceeded to demo the Christmas display (Evie thought the 'snow' needed a little remodelling!) From Hualien (where we spied this cute old granny in her 'matching' gumboots) we headed south to Taidung with a stop off at Basian caves. (Zef has discovered his 'inner dog' and was haning out the window for a lot of the trip!) There are tons of caves sprinkled thoughout a rocky area where idols have been set up. The bottom pic of Dan and Evie relaxing on the chair swing are at the cave area after Dan had an awesome surf (and his wife was too busy lazing on the beach drinking coffee and reading her book to take any pics of said surf!)

Christmas road trip 2010 Part 1

Kids in the car. Pit stop.  Oops, Nicky drove too far down the beach to check the surf! Road side slippage. Kids trying their hand at a driving range. Scooter VIP arking at the driving range! (why I ask, why!?) Delicious mint choc chip icecream times a million scoops for Zef! Strawberry deliclousness for Evie! Kids waiting for Mum and Dan in the sun checking out the view at the Park View Hotel in Hualien.

Baptism! (for the grandfolks to see!)

Little Zef decided he wanted to be baptised and joined the classes at church in December. He and a few of his friends and some others were baprised  on December 19th 2010.  He woke up to flowers and a card from us at breakfast before the big event! The second pic is Dan doing his base thang! And the third is of course Zef and Pastor Homer right before the 'dunking'!!!

Dancing queen

Evie is the eternal dancing queen! Cranks up the music, sings and dances her little heart out all the time!

Busy kids

Robbo Xmas collage and catch up!

A Year in the life of the Robinsons                                                                   December 19 2010

It’s that time of year again! It is getting colder here in Taipei and the kids are about to finish school (today in fact!)

We spent Christmas in Taipei 2009 as little Evie had fractured her pelvis and was in a wee bit of pain! She has recovered amazingly and sprang back to health very quickly. She is 4 now and at TAS with Zef and having a very fun year! She loves school and all that comes with it. Her latest achievement is riding her bike with no trainer wheels! She is very proud of herself and excited to go biking at the park!

Zef is now 8 and in 3^rd grade. He is having a good year at school and recently started playing soccer. He is showing to have a talent as a goalie and really likes it! He continues to love surfing and we get to the beach as often as we can!  He is also a keen fisherman, even though he rarely catches anything! He has Grandad Alfie’s old fishing bag and lovingly drags that around with him any chance he can get to a fishing spot when we are at the beach!

Dan and I are also of course itching to get out to the beach any spare weekend days we have!  Dan changed jobs this year from IT to teaching 7^th grade Humanities (English/Social Studies) and is really happy to be back in the classroom and have his own rowdy lot of delightful kids to teach!  Dan purchased a second hand bike and has been having fun getting up a few hills in the wee hours of the morning when he is not overly busy with his coaching responsibilities! Would you believe he is coaching not one, but two rugby teams!? One JV (high school) team and co-coaching a middle school (Intermediate age) team. He enjoys this and has fun with the kids out there!

Nicky has been studying Naturopathy part time and enjoying it a lot. Other that there have been touch rugby games bike rides to keep fit (and sane!)

We have had a lot of family visit us this year, which has been so fun. Dan’s Uncle David came over for a conference, so we had the pleasure of his company for a couple of days. Nicky’s dad, Gavin, came over for his first ever trip overseas, in April for a week of fun in Spring Break. And then Anne and Trent (Dan’s folks) came for our summer holiday in Phuket and then for a few days back here in the big smoke. The kids got to have some grandparents to be with on their birthdays, which they were stoked about.

These holidays we are going southern Taiwan again, to Kenting. We will camp if the weather co-operates and have Christmas down there! Zef can, but Evie can’t remember camping, and is amping to get there and get the tent up!

Where ever you are and what ever you are doing for your holiday, we wish you a happy and safe time with your dear families and friends! And of course best wishes and blessings for the New Year!

With love,
Nicky, Dan, Zef and Evie

Evie in the Xmas spirit

Our little Evie just sang her heart out this year with all the carols they learnt at school during sing-a-long every morning at school. The top two picks are of her at her class Xmas celebration, in a Christmas dress that she was finally able to fit. The two classes performed several songs and poems for their parents, then we went to the classrooms to decorate yummy bikkies and receive the gifts the kids had made in class. There was an emphasis on hand made gifts of a necklace and a gorgeous decorated picture in a frame, wrapped with hand stamped paper, complete with a sweet card, again hard made, using their hand prints. It was all very cute!
This bottom pic is on our way out the door to church in the other Xmas dress that Evie had been DYING to wear! Thanks Avery for the hand-me-downs!!!!!

Soccer fun

At last Zef got to play in his first soccer game of the season! They had been playing friendly games and training, but this was the real deal! He had a great time and played mostly in goal, which he loves.

Winter Wonderland

The kids went to the Winter Wonderland Xmas morning of fun this year. They sat with Santa, sang carols, decorated cookies/bikkies and santa hats and had a raucous time with friends!!!!

Kiwi Xmas

We have a tradition of celebrating Christmas with our fellow Kiwis here! It is great to eat some good ol Kiwi fare and have a secret santa pressie time for the kids. The top pic is of the kids snuggling later that day.... and Zef asleep that night with his rugby ball from 'Auny Mel' his Kiwi santa! Stoked much!? I think so!

Shhhhhhhhhh

We went to a place a friend call the 'Secret Waterfall'! It is a river in the mountains, with great hot pools and cold creeks and a waterfall to play in! It is gorgeous and sooo relaxing!

Christmas joy!

We had a quiet Christmas day at home opening pressies, playing games, reading, eating chocolate and just hanging out together!