Christmas Pressies

For a variety of reasons, Craig didn't get to open his Christmas presents until the evening of Dec. 25. Craig got to work opening his presents very quickly. The first one was a very appropriate book with lots of pictures of cars, trucks and other stuff that Craig likes from Great Aunty Vickie and Great Uncle Brian.

Then, Craig got stuck into a present from Aunty Anne, Uncle Jim, Cousin Lizy and Cousin Maree.

It had a soft toy suger glider.

And, a very cool blue t-shirt with a kangaroo on the front.

Then, Craig moved on to a present from his parents. He really tore into the wrapping paper this time.

He didn't look too impressed with the colouring-in books, coloured pencils and stickers at first.

But, pretty soon he was putting the pencils to use. He was good at choosing the right colours but staying inside the lines when was colouring-in was a bit more difficult.

Kindergarten X'mas Party

Craig's kindergarten held their Christmas party on Dec. 23. Craig's Dad was unable to attend but Craig's Mum took some pictures of the event. It looked like it was a lot of fun.

Most of the kids were quite happy about getting up on stage and performing.

Craig wasn't a part of the performances because he only attends kindergarten in the afternoon and had missed out on the rehearsals.


He even faced the wrong way when the kids in the crowd were supposed to dance along.


He received a little bag of lollies that he liked.

Some other parents wanted to take a picture of their son with Craig but it was difficult to get the two boys looking at the camera at the same time.

Very difficult.

And, Craig wasn't much happier about having his picture taken with Santa.

After putting up a fight he eventually managed to find out which way to look ...... with some timely help from Santa.

Since His Return

Craig has got back into his old routine very quickly since returning home. He's had to get used to wearing warm clothes but otherwise he's been pretty happy about being back in Taipei. Whether at home or abroad, requiring Craig's Dad to read stories is par for the course. The only difference to the usual routine of bedtime stories was that this picture was taken at the breakfast table.

As part of his re-acclimatisation programme Craig decided to try on Craig's Mum's new boots. He seemed quite happy with the result.

Craig's parents have tried to get Craig out of the house even when the weather was quite cool because he seems to be healthier when he's had extra fresh air.

One night, Craig was downstairs visiting his relatives in the second floor flat when Craig's Cousin Soit-Jade began showing off her in-line skating skills.

But Craig has never put on a pair of in-line skates before and needed quite a bit of help.

Standing was only possible when Uncle Guapo held Craig tightly.

Craig seemed to prefer sitting down when he had the skates on but that didn't allow for much freedom of movement. That may have been Uncle Guapo's evil plan. He's been known to put the skates on the feet of his youngest daughter, Yu-chi, just to stop her running over to his computer and playing with the keyboard.

Be It Ever So Humble

Poor Craig was exhausted when the plane landed at the airport in Taoyuan just after 8pm. According to his body-clock it was already 10pm and past his bedtime. He had slept for the last 30 minutes before landing and was very disappointed about having to leave his seat to get off the plane.

He was very subdued during the 40-minute drive into Taipei and didn't brighten up until he saw Craig's Mum waiting for him beside the road near home. So, it's a real shame that Craig's Dad didn't manage to take a better picture than this because Craig looked happy for the first time for a couple of hours when he had finally arrived home and was getting a hug from Mum.

Craig went straight to bed and slept until it was time for breakfast the next day. His favourite breakfast was waiting for him downstairs at the neighborhood breakfast shop.

The next day, Craig's Dad thought Craig needed to stretch his legs a bit so the family stopped at a little park next to a local supermarket where they were going to do some shopping. Unfortunately, someone had been having fun with some shaving creme in the park leaving a bit of a mess.

Craig's shoes were still wet because Craig's Mum had washed them. Craig's Dad was a bit cruel about the sandals and socks look saying it made Craig look like a German tourist. Craig didn't seem to mind, he was just didn't want to step in the shaving creme.

Overnight Stay in Brisbane

After arriving in Brisbane, Craig went straight to Craig's Great Uncle Brian's house where he began playing with Craig's Cousin Lizy.

Craig was not satisfied with the lunch provided by Craig's Dad and needed a snack pretty soon afterwards.

Due to the danger presented by Craig to so many breakables in the house, Craig was taken for a long walk. He seemed much happier outside where no one was yelling "No" at him every 30 seconds.

But it was a hot afternoon outside and Craig spent a couple of hours inside where it was cooler drawing in his new book.

Luckily, in the late afternoon there was plenty of shade in the backyard so it was perfect for Craig, Lizy and Craig's Dad to kick a ball around together.

Craig invented a game where he would kick the ball down the side of the house and then go and get it himself leaving Craig's Cousin Lizy and Craig's Dad with not much to do but chat.


Dinner was going to be at an adult time so Craig needed another snack before he got started on the real deal.

Craig also enjyed a nice warm bath before his bedtime stories and a good long sleep to prepare for the long flight home.

Last Few Days in Yeppoon

The last few days in Yeppoon were very quiet compared to the weekend that had just passed. Craig kept asking Craig's Dad about Bailey. Nevertheless, Craig did manage to have some fun running laps around Craig's Grandma's house.

Craig also helped Craig's Grandma walk the dog.

The park they walked to had plenty of mangoes hanging from the trees there.

Craig also started playing a new game where he would hide in the pantry.

And, there was even time for quiet reflection while sitting on an old chair on the downstairs verandah.

Craig had a bottle of soapy water and a little bubble-making wand that Craig's Dad had bought on the first day after they arrived in Yeppoon. Craig wasn't very good at blowing through the circles at the end of the wand to make bubbles but he found that the afternoon sea-breeze could help him.

On the last full day that Craig spent in Yeppoon he walked to the local shops with his Dad to buy some supplies for the long trip home.

They had to rush home from the shops because a thunderstorm came up suddenly. They only just made it home without getting wet and then watched the rain from the safety of the rumpus room downstairs.

Craig soon moved to the upstairs verandah where he could watch the rain in comfort.

In the afternoon things had dried out enough that Craig could go back to playing his running around the house game. He wanted to run through the house by going back in through a locked door, and kept trying to unlock it himself, without success.

There was also time for Craig and Craig's Dad to have a last kick of the tiny soccer ball in the yard.


Craig thought it was so much fun to kick the ball under the downstairs verandah that Craig's Dad went and got a rake so that he could get the ball out without doing any crawling.

On the final morning, Craig watched Craig's Dad take their big suitcase downstairs and put it in the boot (trunk for our North American friends) of the car. Then they went back upstairs where Craig put his shoes on. Craig then disappeared and Craig's Dad couldn't find him for a few minutes. In the end, he found Craig had already opened up the back door of the car, climbed in and started to buckle himself into his carseat. He wanted to be sure he wouldn't be left behind.

A Big Day With Bailey

Sunday began with watching TV downstairs for Craig but that didn't last long.

It was soon time to get out in the sun to kick a ball with Bailey and Aunty Annette again.

Craig's Dad really likes the next picture because he captured the ball in flight from Craig's foot!! It's flying pretty well, don't ya fink?

During the warmest part of the day Craig and Bailey played indoors. Bailey has a really cool camera-phone that he put to use quite often.

Aunty Annette bought a big page of Christmas stickers for Craig. He only stuck a few of them in his colouring book because Craig's Dad wanted to save the rest for the long flight home.

Snacks were had at the dining table with Craig and Bailey spending pretty much every waking minute together.

After lunch it was time to go to the beach. Bailey thought they should travel by car to a beach that is about 10 minutes walk away if you walk as slowly as a 3-year-old child. He was out of luck though and had to walk with everyone else.

At the park near the beach Bailey found a very spiky piece of fruit lying on the ground. The spikes were truly sharp.

Bailey and Craig had fun on the slide in the park even when they weren't moving.

Craig became very excited when Bailey began playing with the park's water tap.

The tiniest dribble of water had Craig giggling like a mad thing.

Bailey kept sticking his head under the tap and getting wet while Craig stayed close but not close enough to allow water to get on his face.

The two boys stayed together wherever they went in the park. Bailey proved to be quite good at taking care of Craig.

Then it was time for another snack at the shops near Craig's Grandma's house. Craig ate the cheese from Bailey's sandwich while he waited for his own food to arrive.

Back at Craig's Grandma's house Bailey decided it was time to play with the hose.

Bailey was very good at creating a shower for both Craig and himself.

But Craig didn't like it when the water started falling on his face.

So, Bailey allowed Craig to hold the hose. It was very kind of him and Craig had a lot more fun when he was doing the spraying.

But the wind was blowing very hard and it was late in the day meaning Craig started to become so cold he was shivering!!! Craig's Dad had to wrap him up in towel to keep warm. Craig was actually much happier about being wrapped up in the towel than this picture would suggest. And, he was soon taken upstairs and put in a nice warm bath that stopped the shivering very quickly.

Craig's Dad took a picture of the view towards the ocean around sunset. It's really very nice at that time of day.

Dressed in a long-sleeved shirt to stay warm, Craig had a drink to keep him going before dinner.

After dinner he had yoghurt for dessert. Craig had a very healthy appetite the whole time he was in Australia.

Not long after dinner Bailey began to look sleepy even though Craig wanted to play some more. In fact, it wasn't long later that both of them went to bed.