Family Fitness Fun

Taroko Gorge Marathon was a great time for our family

We went with about 24 people from church. arrived Friday Sept 3 and 5am Saturday morning we all hopped on a bus to the starting line.






The weather was perfect. Blue sky with a bit of Fall coolness.




The kids all ran/walk the 5K and Brian and I did the 1/2 marathon. You would never know it in the pictures, but Brian is very ill. He couldn't run the whole 22K but Nadine did!!








We all finished the race!!!








Taroko Gorge is a gorgeous tourist site on Taiwan's East Coast with lovely hiking trails and roads for car/bus tourists.
Check it out on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taroko_National_Park


After the marathon we experienced the local culture and ate at a famous baodz (steamed dumpling) shop.







It was very busy and very yummy.



Our ride home was beautiful.

Here's a slide show of our adventures sailing.

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SNAKE IN THE HOUSE!!!!

About a month ago as we were sitting and enjoying a leisurely Saturday morning, Jeffrey stopped playing the drums for a moment and heard a thud. He followed the sound with his eyes and then exclaimed, "Oh cool. Mom look! Woah that's really cool" I looked over about five feet from where i was sitting at the computer and saw a snake slithering my way. My response differed some from Jeffrey's, "A SNAKE!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!" I popped up from my chair. Brian came over to check it out. By that time the snake had crawled into the piano books.

There are guards outside our house and one of their responsibilities is to get rid of unwanted creatures in our house. So we called the guard and he came in with snake catching equipment - a long armed gripper and a large water bottle (like the Culligan Man used to deliver). Brian used tongs to move the piano books out of the way and Mr Chiu used the gripper to grab the snake and lower him into the water bottle.
Once captured we were able to identify the snake as a Taiwan Beauty Snake. To our relief and Jeffrey's elation, he is not poisonous.



So now we have a pet snake. THUD.




He eats "pinkies" AKA baby mice.

Thud is about 20 inches long presently. Last week he shed his skin and so he's growing bigger. According to information on line, the Taiwan Beauty Snake is a type of rat snake, a type of constrictor that grows to be 8 to 9 feet long. Watch for bigger pictures in the future.

Sweet 16 Party

For Audrey's 16th birthday, she and her friend Sydney celebrated together with a Hawaiian Luau. Unfortunately it rained and rained that day so the party was held inside by the fireplace (no fire, it wasn't cold) rather than outside by the pool.


Molting Crayfish (the band Brian is playing with) performed at the party and girls had a great time doing karaoke with a live band.

Audrey performed a Doobie Bros song.




Inside in bathing suits and Hawaiian decor, the girls sang, danced, ate, played games and broke open a pinata.


Happy Birthday Audrey and Sydney!!! We love you.

Arrival of Robert Odin

BABY ANNOUNEMENT!!!
Robert Odin Christensen
Born Oct 13, 2011
8lbs 6 oz