Look who's playing tennis!

Swimmin'

It's been super hot here, so we've had lots and lots of fun swimming this month.

Sometimes we'll go to the outdoor pool which is super relaxing until it becomes packed with other swimmers in the late afternoon. We think of it as a mini vacation to go there and relax!The kids' pool is about 24 inches and we've been there enough that Kate can walk wherever she wants, with a parent constantly chasing her! However, she still prefers the little foot bath nearby. It's certainly not the cleanest, but it's safer for this little water bug!

Last time we were there we got to try out the pool's boat, too.

Other times we'll go to an indoor pool. The kids' pool here is a bit deeper (about up to Keanu's armpits), but that doesn't slow down either of our kids. They've got kickboards out for the swimming lessons, so we borrow a couple of them and the kids just go. And go. And go. We've been thinking about swimming lessons for Keanu, but haven't found anything that fits so far. Right now we're just happy that the kids are both enjoying the water.

Pools here all require swim caps, which are only fashionable on little kids who have fish fins or bird beaks on theirs. For some reason I don't think that kind of hat would look as cute on me as it does my kids. I don't think any swim hat looks good on adults, but when Kate sees her "cock-a-doodle-doo" she gets so excited about going "swimming!"

Assistant teacher

Kevin's got an assistant when he teaches private lessons some days.

He's only gotten bonked in the face once so far, but he's still willing to help!

Sorry about the poor quality and shakiness of the video. That's what happens with a toddler trying to help and its dark out!

Spring Training

Missing...reward

Three bikers were last seen at 4:10 this afternoon biking in Mei-Ti Riverside park on rented bicycles. Teresa Lin, 32, along with neice Angela Lin (formerly known as Yoyo Lin), age 11, and nephew Keanu Lin, not quite three years old, have been gone for almost 2 hours on what seems to be an extended bike ride. Any information on their whereabouts should be emailed to the Lin family or comments can be left here.

Update: The bikers have safely arrived back at the starting point after a long and grueling ride, especially for a toddler for his first time without his trike! They were gone for 2 full hours and rather than accepting help, this determined novice biker insisted "I'll do it myself."

After the bike trip, Keanu still had energy to run and play ball before passing out in the middle of dinner at TGIFriday's.

Tennis on Friday

Returning...

Helping...

Longing...

Slam Dunk

Happy New Year, part 2

The first couple of days of the new year were spent happily running from here to there without many responsibilities. We spent some time at the mall, hung out with friends, played some tennis, ate some steak... but probably the most fun was our trip to the bowling alley.

At the beginning, the boys were pretty tired having just woken up from a car ride, but eventually they really got into the swing of things.

And here's the action sequence:

I don't think Keanu got any pins down, but he still had a great time. Stay tuned for more bowling shots because we're thinking this might be what we do for Keanu's birthday coming up. I'm not really ready for a house full of kids in my house, so it might be a bowling birthday party instead.

Wordless Wednesday

Olympic fever

Olympic fever has hit our household, mostly because of the tennis nuts that live here! Like many citizens of the world, we watched the opening ceremonies in the comfort of our living room. Well, Keanu and I only saw the first half as we decided to go to bed at 10 - we got bored after watching an hour of athletes march in. However, Kevin was a trooper for the whole 4 hours and it's a good thing he did. Towards the end of the ceremony, 8 people carried the Olympic flag into the stadium and of course the comemtators announced who these people were. Being the socialite that he is, Kevin recognized one of the names from when he was studying in Seattle about 9 years ago. She had been there improving her English so she could work for the International Olympic Committee after retiring as a 13-time world badminton champion. At the time they were studying together, Kevin knew she was an athlete, but not a champion.

Tennis in Taiwan is a pretty close-knit group and so if you know a few players, it's easy to get to know the others. Kevin never planned to go the professional route, but since he's still in the sport, he knows alot of people. It's no surprise that he knows one of the guys who is representing Taiwan in Beijing this week. The interesting part of the story is that the Taiwanese tennis association didn't think this guy, Lu, would do very well so they didn't send a coach with him. Well, on Monday he beat #6 Murray of GB in the first round and on Tuesday he beat an Argentinian to put him in the third round, the round of 16. Well, he wasn't so fortunate today and lost in just 2 sets, but I would say he proved something to the local tennis assoc.

So far Taiwan has 2 bronze medals (that's two more than Canada!) and the big story here is that the coach who helped bring those weightlifting medals is actually Chinese!

I haven't heard much about specifics from America, but it sounds as if Phelps is doing what he set out to do and the US is doing well in the medal counts. I guess that's what's important.

More to come about our future Olympian!