Come Fly With Me ~~ ^_^: William 4.5 months: First International Trip!

After our successful LA test flight, Eric and Julie were pretty confident that William would do well on the 14 hour international flight to Taiwan (not that if the test flight didn't do well we wouldn't fly back to Taiwan - we would have just brought ear-plugs ^_^). The late night flight made it a little easier since William is sleepy to begin with. We were directed to get in the priority boarding line... but does this picture look a little funny. William seems to be a little young for this group!

From this flight, Eric and Julie learned how to perform a parent-acrobatic-act when changing diapers. The lavatory is a very tiny space for 2 grown adult. Eric was trying to get Julie to stop taking pictures so she can help him change William's diaper.

Here is William's first glimpse of Taiwan. Although Eric spent a lot of time and effort to get the bulk head seat and bassinet for William to sleep in, he preferred to sleep on daddy's lap for 7 hours. He was such a good boy we even got compliments from other parents on the flight.

Unfortunately the temperature in Taiwan was in the 90's with very high humidity. When we stepped out of the bullet train station, we were hit with a rush of hot air... A-gong and A-ma didn't get the smiley welcome they were looking for... (this is the first time A-gong saw William in person).

When we arrived at Julie's parents' place, we quickly stripped William down to his diapers, placed him in an air-conditioned room and he was out. We have lots of pictures of William in just a towel ^_^

Because of the jet lag, William was waking up at 4:00 in the morning... this allowed (or forced) Eric and Julie to take a nice morning stroll around 5 AM. The air was fresh and cool before the sun came up. We were able to walk to the park and watch people exercise and buy fresh steamed buns for breakfast. We even rescued a rabbit on one of our morning walks.

Taiwan is great for fruits in the summer. The watermelon this year is especially sweet. A-gong went out a bought a watermelon as big as William... so we had to take a picture.

Julie and mama Yang were able to find a (clothing) factory clearance sale, which happened to be on the grounds of the Taiwan Beer Brewery. Eric, papa Yang, and William followed a group of tourists into the tourist center and scored a few free beers, beer crackers, and beer pastries!

Papa Yang and mama Yang got to show off William at 2 different wedding banquets (yes... Julie and Eric were wedding crashers). Here is a picture of Julie's long-distance relative. Doesn't he look like Sung at first glance ^_^

While driving back from the wedding banquet (in heavy rain), Eric spotted this funny license plate.

Eric and Julie also spent an afternoon touring around old town Tainan. Julie noticed that there are a lot of artsy hole-in-the-wall cafes. Here is a mini cafe and a cafe with an extremely narrow door (actually an alley-way entrance).

Of course William was a big hit in Taiwan. His bright smiles made everyone smile. He even started to giggle.

Here is William meeting his cousin for the first time. She is Julie's cousin's baby girl who is 6 months older than William.

While in Taiwan, papa Yang tempted William with some yummy pineapple. Smart little guy figured out what we are doing at the dining room table and would no longer sit still while we eat. So Julie and Eric had to start feeding him solids. Although William's doctor recommended to start with Avocado (or vegetables) first, Avocado was not in season in Taiwan... So we started him with pureed bamboo shoots instead. William would grab our spoon and put it in his mouth and he would even get angry if we were too slow spooning him the next mouthful. Here is a picture of him getting mad at Eric for going too slow.