Our Kenting Trip

NO this is not a back post!! This is only from December.  Yes- December.  We were in Kenting on the southern tip of Taiwan for our Christmas break!  Pretty cool to have beach time in December.  

The weather wasn't perfect (a little drizzly at times) but it was still warm and actually nice that we had the beach more to ourselves! Here is us enjoying some beach time the first day we were there.  It was a little drizzly so we decided to just take a walk on the beach and then go somewhere after that.  

We were enjoying running back and forth as the waves got close to our feet and were just laughing and having fun TOGETHER.  Notice I am dry. Until...

Look at the sweet little family so united so wonderful.

Look at that big wave.  No worries here.  United we stand.

Wait a minute... Where is my husband?  He was here a second ago.

Elli death grip on my leg. Water rising. Can't move. Laughing. Raise the baby so she doesn't get wet.
Husband on the run! Not united!!!!

Still all alone. What!

...waiting for help

My Knight gallantly returns at a slow meanader.  

Thanks so much for coming to our rescue... FINALLY!

Yes Sienna's shoes did get wet too Daddy.  We forgive you! 

So seriously, we laughed sooo hard about that experience.  Daddy made up for it later.

 

We all seriously had a blast and I think the deserting episode even made it more memorable!! 

I love this picture!

 

 Sienna and Elli were both laughing.

  As you can see we didn't have tons of company.

One of the few people on the beach was this lady who happened to see us and think we were a cute family so she took lots of pictures of us and then sent them to our email.  She was a photographer for another hotel and I am so glad she caught the hilarious and great pictures that she did!!

 Here is Elli playing in the sand and since the day seemed to be turning out great...

 We came back with our swimming suits after nap and enjoyed a sunny afternoon of sand castles with a Daddy without shoes on!! Sadly, they said the waves were too high to go swimming.  So silly but I guess the majority of Taiwanese can't swim so its not safe for them.  The girls were happy on the shore lines so we just hung out there too.  It was a lot of fun.

 Another day we went to the local aquarium which was pretty cool.  It wasn't as amazing as I feel it could have been, but it was still a fun morning there with the girls.  The funny thing about Taiwanese people is that they love photo opportunities and they love little trinkets and souvenirs.  There were huge statues and water fountains and four souvenir shops.  There was also a lot of other cool things, but I was amazed at how much space they wasted on those things.

 
Still it is a great photo place.  I do like that.

Here are some of the cool areas of the aquarium.

On another day we went to the National Recreational Forest in Kenting and did some hiking around.  It was beautiful there with the most unique trees I have ever seen.  Despite Elli having a couple horrible, HORRIBLE melt downs.  We enjoyed ourselves alot... especially when she fell asleep in the hiking backpack.  

 There were lots of cool caves in the park and really old and cool looking trees.

These trees have roots that come down from the branches.  They are really strong.  I wanted to climb and swing on them... but I wanted Elli to keep sleeping even more.  Seriously, it was like a jungle gym for Tarzan!

This tree has buttress roots that grow up rather than down.  Apparently forests like these provide much more nourishment on the surface than deeper in the soil so the roots grow upward.

Weird looking huh! 

Here is the view from the top of this outlook area.  It was super windy there but a great view. 

Oh here is my happy girl getting blown away!  Glad she enjoyed at least a part of the day!

Later on we had a chance to play around in the hotel play area.  I got this shot.  Sienna is such a cutie! 

 Here we are enjoying the night market feel of Kenting town.  Definitely a carnival type atmosphere.

 Squid on a stick.  You know you want one.
These were at practically every food booth- very popular.

The last night we were there we went to this cool place with natural gas that seeps out of the ground and burns constantly.  We had a great time watching people set off fireworks (although a sign said no fireworks allowed) and we ate "cooked-in-the-fire" sweet potatoes and enjoyed the campfire feel of the night.  Elli and Sienna both really liked it.  

A great family trip to remember