Fun On the Beach Before Heading Home

On the second-last day of the holiday, Craig was encouraged to try out one of the ocean-going kayaks that was in a swimming pool. He didn't ike it much.


Craig is normally quite possessive when playing with a ball. He will only throw it to Craig's Mum or Craig's Dad.


Craig played very happily in the pool with his Mum and Dad for almost an hour. Eventually, Craig's Mum and Dad took him down to the beach where it was beautifully warm and sunny.


There were quite a few families on the beach.


Craig had plenty of digging gear.


Craig's Dad was secretly digging a big hole underneath Craig. Somehow, this was happening without Craig noticing even though he was slowly sliding into it!




When Craig's Mum swapped places so she could be in a picture Craig had become aware of what was happening because he had fallen in the hole.


After dinner Craig was back in the play area for some more fun.


This time he had some company.


Life is more fun when there is someone else to play with.


Craig began singing his favourite "vee-ah, vee-ah" song which he normally reserves for when he's feeling good about life.


The next day at breakfast Craig didn't want to sit in the highchair that had been provided for him and he wouldn't sit still on the chair beside Craig's Mum either.


Craig is capable of sitting in a normal chair and eating a meal without needing to be strapped down but this was not one of those occasions.


After breakfast, Craig's Mum and Dad were informed that their flight home had been cancelled. That meant what would have been a 90-minute trip was made much longer. Instead, a 150-minute bus ride was followed by some waiting at the High Speed Rail station and then a 90-minute train ride to Taipei, a change of trains to the MRT before finally arriving home around five hours after leaving the hotel in Kenting.

After all of that, Craig and Craig's Dad went to Fridays for dinner while Craig's Mum went off to a protest about the government.

Le Chateau Play Area

On the second day (or it might have been the third) Craig's Mum and Dad discovered a bigger children's play area than the one Craig had been in on the first day. That was a little bit funny because one of the reasons that Craig's Mum had liked the look of the Chateau Hotel was the nice big play area she saw in pictures on the website. Even funnier still was that the large play area was much closer to the room they were staying in.


Unfortunately, there were no other children there to play with meaning it was just Craig and Craig's Dad.


But there was nothing wrong with Craig's appetite. Craig was once again hungry enough to chew on the cutlery at dinner.


After dinner that night Craig went back to the play area but he was a bit tired.


He didn't even sit up when some other kids were running around throwing plastic balls at each other like mad things.




The next day, after another day of fun in the sun, Craig and his parents decided to have coffee and cake at the Ocean View Cafe and watch the sunset from there. They soon found that the sunset was just out of view but the cafe had nice big sofas and pretty good cake.


Craig's Mum had prepared milk for Craig.


Craig was then taken for a walk around the hotel grounds to try and work-up an appetite for dinner. They stopped at the Bay Bar to take pictures but Craig didn't want to sit still on Craig's Dad's lap.


Craig's Mum allowed him to sit on a chair by himself. That worked a lot better.


It worked well when Craig's Dad tried it as well.

Le Chateau Day 2

The next morning after breakfast Craig and Craig's Dad were in the pool to have some fun. Craig much preferred staying near the edge of the water and not going in too deep.


In the afternoon Craig wore a t-shirt because he had caught a cold just one day before leaving for this trip. Craig's parents wanted to keep him warm so playing in the sun on the sand was thought to be a good idea.


Craig brought some of his digging implements with him but didn't do much digging. You can see Craig's Mum relaxing in the background. She was probably checking out the lifeguards.


He made his way down the sand dune towards the ocean without getting up. You can see the mark his bum made in the sand behind him.


When Craig got to the steep part of the dune Craig's Mum was there to help.


After that, Craig found a pool that he liked. It had a seating/step part around the inside that Craig could stand on while Craig's Dad squatted down in the deeper middle part beside him.


But Craig was also happy to sit on the side and splash water around. The elderly couple in the background thought Craig was very cute no matter what he did.


Eventually he became tired of that game and decided to walk around.


But it was windy and just a little bit cool so Craig had his wet t-shirt taken off and was wrapped up in Craig's Dad's dry t-shirt to be taken back to the room for a nice warm bath.

Another Beach Holiday, this time at Le Chateau (it's in Kenting)

Craig and his parents escaped Taipei and headed south to Kenting for a 5-day break that began last Tuesday. Craig was well-behaved on the train and even helped Craig's Mum when it came time to check-in to the hotel.


For reasons that still remain obscure the hotel had very kindly given Craig and his parents an upgrade. They were given a room with four single beds when they had only booked the very cheapest room that has one large bed.


Craig seemed to like the chairs. Just after the picture above was taken he pulled the electric kettle onto one chair and spilled the dregs of water onto the seat cushion. These things happen so easily when you're small and insatiably curious.


The first order of business was to walk out of the hotel to get something to eat. Craig stayed close to Craig's Mum on the way back in.


Craig's Dad has a bad habit of taking photos of signs that contain bad English. "Kindly to Notice" is already bad enough but misspelling the name of the hotel in which the sign is situated! Outstanding!


Craig was then taken to play in a little children's play area. He had some company for a short time.


When it was just Craig and his parents, Craig found that the balls were piling up around him quite quickly.




Don't you like the way his right foot is sticking out?


Eventually, Craig's Dad got in with the boy to make it more fun.


Dinner was very ordinary Chinese food but it was cheap because it was part of the package. Before it arrived, Craig was hungry enough to eat his spoon.

Close Up

Often, when Craig is having breakfast in the morning Craig's Dad will need to keep him busy so that Craig won't become too bored with just sitting and eating. Sometimes, taking his picture works.


But sometimes Craig wants to grab the camera.


And, at other times, he will take a picture of himself.


And, he's not beyond putting on a pose for the camera.

Lunch Downstairs

Last Saturday saw Craig's Uncle Guapo, Aunty Jessie (aka Yu-fang) and their two little-uns plus Craig's Taiwanese Grandmother make the long trek down from their mountain home to have lunch in the flat immediately downstairs from Craig's home.

Craig's Great Aunt From the Fifth Floor was the first to try and feed Craig.


Naturally, Craig's Mum did the majority of the work of feeding the boy.


Craig's high chair was being used by his younger cousin.


There was plenty of chatting among the women while the eating went on.


Yes folks, that's a chicken's foot in Craig's Mum's bowl.


Craig played with some flash cards for teaching English. A sure sign that Aunty Suprana used to live here.


Craig also ate plenty of fruit while watching TV.


He even had a quick chat to Craig's Taiwanese Grandmother.


Then, it was time for Aunty Jessie to feed Craig's cousin Soit-Jade some medicine. She had the flu.


Then it was time to head to the small park near home.


There was one boy who has played with Craig before who was very keen to play with Craig again. He rocked the rocking animal and made Craig giggle like mad. But, he made Craig a bit nervous.


Since it was much too early to go straight home, Craig and his parents went to another little park after a short trip on the MRT.


There were other children there in abundance when Craig arrived.


But, they all soon left and Craig had the slide all to himself.