Taipei 101, Noodles and Night Markets Oh My!

Well folks we made it!  It was a good trip, a long trip but a good trip!  Sophie slept much of the first 9 hours to Alaska and the second leg she was up for most of the 10.5 that followed but did good watching movies.  By the last hour I think we were all going a little stir crazy being in the airplane for that long.

 So excited!!!  We have our headphones on listening to "china" she says - lol

Plane pic. 

 Getting all our info for fun things to do!

 Picture with our doggie as requested, this is Goldie

It is amazing finally being here I don't know what it is about this place but it draws you in and you're in awe of their culture, how they live their lives and the beautiful city itself.  A lot has changed since we have been here last and they are building and amazing train system throughout the city (the airport is 45 minutes away from Taipei Grand Hyatt) and for the entire trip you saw this amazing infrastructure coming together.  It really was something to see.  Sophie of course not impressed until we saw the huge ferris wheel on the way, then the tide turned a bit.

I have an addicition to the LOVE statues!  Can't wait to get the family pic in front of this one and then the one in Philly!  We've been waiting for Lizzie to get this one done! 

Looking up at Taipei 101

She is very excited to be here although I don't quite think she realizes (obviously at 5) how wonderful this truly is.  It is amazing she is here in her birth country.  She asked often throughout the day why everyone is staring at us.  It does seem a bit more intense since our last trip and maybe I was just oblivous to it because I was a new mom and really just didn't want to break her - lol you all know how you felt that first time, crazy.  But, this time around - wowza we are definitely getting a lot of attention.  The cab driver couldn't speak a lot of english but kept pulling at his hair and pointing at me and then at Sophie.  He said you have yellow hair and she doesn't - she yours?  But we had prepared SOphie that she was going to look so much like everywhere there and it was okay that mommy and daddy didn't so it didn't seem to phase her but the older generation here does seem a bit beside themselves when they see us coming.  The younger folks, doesn't phase them one bit.  But my goal is not to paint a dreary picture that's not it at all it's wonderful here.  But...pale and blonde definitely makes me a MAJOR minority here.

We got here at 8:30 am and they had a room ready for us - yeah.  We were upgraded and got breakfast included not sure how that happened but I didn't argue.  We got right out and went to Taipei 101, Sophie loved it.  We went shopping for some snacks and diapers for Lizzie and then we hit the basement of Taipei 101 for lunch.  We had a great lunch and Sophie's all about trying something new, which is really cool.  SHe's really into it.

 Basement Taipei 101 food court...amazing!!!

 Trying something new so excited!

Mommy noodle shot - those of you who followed our journey to Sophie know this all to well and Sophie I swear remembers only this pic from the entire book we made her so we did reenactment 

 The last time at Grand Hyatt it was right before Christmas this year we enter and you're hit with the most amazing smell of Lilies its fantastic.  All real and amazing.

Sophie's highlight of the day - hitting the hotel pool.  lol 

Mom didn't mind at all, check out this pool!  Sophie said she could live here!  Everytime we come back to hotel she says - We're HOME!  :)

  We went to a night market tonight in Taipei but, well, she wasn't impressed and quite honestly I couldn't get over the smell of the stinky tofu but she did get an angry bird keychain that's a light that daddy won for her so in her mind 100% success!

 Night market

Little girls dream with whole stores lined with arcade games! 

We made it to 6:30 pm folks but now...we are beat and going to get some sleep!  More to come tomorrow.  We have a lot on the agenda but depending on the weather we'll see what we get and where we go.  Our goal for this trip was to make it to a night market and we did.  I know a lot of my Taiwan adoptive friends love them and although I do agree it's an experience - - this is my 2nd one and I just cannot get into them.  The smell of the stinky tofu puts me over the edge and then.

We gave SOphie my iPhone camera to take pictures and she got some fantastic shots, I will upload them tomorrow when I figure it out  :)
Here are the pics from the iphone - Taipei through a 5 year old's view:

An outdoor plaza

CDs on rope hung throughout the plaza 

Beautiful time to be in Taipei, everything is blooming 

Random mommy shot

Random daddy shot 

Outdoor eating 

California pizza grill, along with a Mister Donut, McDonalds and Cold Stone Creamery! 

Art Statue I thought this was  pretty cool shot she took 

Amazing we will actually get shots together she always asks to take them  :) 

Her view of Taipei 101  :) 

Bikes, bikes everywhere! 

 Fog rolling in!  Dropped from 27 to 15 degrees celcius in in like 2 hours! brrr, wind!

Another great shot Sophie! 

Capture life right outside our hotel 

Big signs on the buildings - she says "is this time square"  so funny.

She captured a worship place right alongside all the stores she thought this was pretty cool!

4 days and counting until we meet Lizzie, Sophie's talking about her constantly and we're all getting excited!!
XO - have a great day, I'm going to get some Z's
We will leave you with this: long, fun first day and she's out!