Typhoon Matmo has cancelled school and closed offices and most businesses. The children are elated that school is cancelled. Fleur and I are less so. We’re not worried. Just missing out on food!

Also, we had a “date” with some of our best friends in CA. I found out an Ice Monster (awesome Taiwanese shaved ice place) opened up in a city near our house in the Bay Area. There is an Ice Monster in Taipei, too. So, our friends in CA would go to theirs at night while Fleur and I would go to ours in the morning. Then we could Facetime as we ate shaved ice together. Our husbands think we are ridiculous. They just don’t understand that ours is a love that transcends the normal boundaries of space and time!

Because of the typhoon, we obviously had to reschedule. My friend, Irish, joked that only a typhoon could keep us from seeing each other.

A Taiwanese friend warned us that we may lose power and have leaks so we should have some food prepared. Our apartment has no microwave (what?!) or rice cooker (double what?!) so we just made a bunch of rice on a borrowed rice cooker just in case the power goes out. We have rice and some bread and milk and dwindling supplies since Fleur and I totally shoppingfailed and bought books and toys instead of food staples yesterday. (We did just go shopping on Monday – but since our fridge is small and we live with six other humans, albeit small, our supplies get consumed quickly.) Plus, we thought the typhoon was coming tomorrow.

We have four active kids, a toddler, and a baby that need to be occupied a full day as we hide inside. The babies are easy. It’s the older four that are a bit tricky. The kids have been up since 6:30-7. It is barely 9:20am and already, we have blazed through the following activities: breakfast, playdough, stickers, Connect Four, a new game I bought called Penguins On Ice (affiliate link), and jumping around. They are now watching The Little Mermaid in Chinese. I fear today maybe a day spent on “cultural immersion” aka consume as much Chinese language media as possible. The i-devices are fully charged and so is the portable DVD player. Even if the power goes out, the kids can ruin their eyes watching movies in the dark.

Unfortunately, Glow Worm had a disagreement with a corner and lost. According to some of my Taiwanese friends, because Taiwan is so humid, wounds take longer to close. We’re in the middle of a typhoon! I hope it closes and he doesn’t need stitches.

Plus, I feel bad because I was so mean. He was crying and I didn’t know he got cut and told him if he wants to walk and climb things, he has to get used to getting hurt. 10 minutes later, I notice he’s bleeding from his eye! Worst. Mom. Ever. Poor Baby Boy.

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Below are some pics of our kids and our attempts at amusing them before capitulating and putting on a movie.

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And last, but certainly not least, a pic the school posted on Facebook last week when Gamera and Omi were first getting used to school. They were crying for Mommy at the side of the kiddie pool. It is awesome.

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