New Comfy Chair for Sean

Sean looked tired and behaved a bit like he had just woken up when he came down downstairs to meet Sean's Dad at about 8:20am on Sunday. Ordering breakfast was difficult.

After breakfast they got on Sean's Dad's motor scooter and rode for almost half an hour to Ikea. Sean said he wanted to buy a new comfy chair for his room at home. Unfortunately, they arrived just after 9am and the main store was not yet open. The restaurant portion of the place had plenty of people having breakfast, so they sat there to wait until the 10am opening time.

Sean started by looking at the chairs in the room displays. He had a very clear idea of what he wanted.

He seemed quite happy with this one until he looked at the price, NT$16,000!! It was covered in leather and, as you would expect for that much money, quite comfy.

Then Sean spent a long time with this chair and footstool set. He was very impressed that they came as a pair at about a quarter of the price of the expensive leather chair.

He even tried out some of the outdoor furniture just for fun.

After ordering the chair and footstool set and arranging pick-up, lunch was had at a nearby cafe. While waiting for his food, Sean mixed himself a very ugly drink using water, sugar and cinnamon. It didn't look nor smell remotely drinkable.

Sean had a bit of trouble eating his ribs with a knive and fork. His Dad suggested using his fingers and was rewarded with one of the ribs. Sean has grown a bit taller recently but he is still a very fussy eater.

The ride back to Muzha was almost as cold as the earlier ride into town. Sean insisted on riding on the back of bike and clasping his hands across his Dad's belly. That made the ride feel a little bit dangerous for Sean's Dad because Sean dropped off to sleep a couple of times. It was very scary when his hands lost their grip suddenly a couple of times but he arrived back at his Mum's shop safe and sound.

Then, on his way to work, Sean's Dad came across this very strange protest across the road from Taipei 101.


The former tallest building in the world is visted by hordes of tourists from mainland China. So the protest was almost certainly aimed at them. Sean's Dad didn't have time to ask them, he had to get to work at 1:30pm and he'd done a couple of hours of riding through the cold winter air already.

Ice Age 3 in 3-D

Before their latest Sunday morning meeting Sean had told his Dad on the telephone that he wanted to see a movie. So, Sean's Dad rode his little motor-scooter all the way to meet Sean at the Peking Duck Shop as arranged at 8:15. The first order of business was breakfast. During breakfast Sean's Dad gave Sean a gift that contained discount vouchers for use at museums in Taipei County.


There was also a book that introduced all of the museums, large and small, in the county. It was the first weekend of the school summer holidays and Sean's Dad hoped that this would be valuable information for use over the coming weeks. Sean seemed to like it.


Sean's Dad had not allowed any extra time for the fact that it was the first weekend of the school holidays. So they had an unexpected long wait in line to buy tickets for the movie.


But, after the long wait, at 09:42 on Craig's Dad's watch they were offered tickets to the 09:40 session. Sean was happy because that session was not only in Chinese, more importantly, it was in 3-D.


Sean had heaps of fun during the movie and, once again, laughed as loudly as anyone in the theatre. He really has a lot of fun at the movies and other people often notice. On the way out, Sean allowed his Dad to take a photo of him wearing the 3-D glasses. Pretty cool, huh?


Then, there was half an hour of air hockey. Sean scored way too many own goals on this occasion. Sean's Dad won playing left-handed the whole way!


Due to a mix-up between Sean's Mum and Sean's Dad about where Sean was supposed to eat lunch. That meant Sean had to eat lunch purchased at a convenience store in the salubrious surroundings provided by the steps outside of a post office. Sean seemed quite happy about this despite the look on his face in this picture.


Just a few minutes before Sean's Mum was due to arrive to pick him up, Sean went inside the post office to have a look. The main part was closed for the weekend, as you would expect, but Sean found a machine that dispensed stamps.


He simply had to have one of the souvenir stamps that had a picture of the two pandas given to Taiwan by China last year. Luckily, Sean's Dad had plenty of change to put in the machine.


And, then it was time to part. Sean said he would like to see the new Pixar movie Up, that was not only featured on the little flyer attached to their movie tickets, shorts for the movie were shown in 3-D before Ice Age 3. So, Sean's Dad will almost certainly be required to take Sean to see that movie when it comes out at the end of this month.

Slumdog Millionaire

Sean and his Dad had a long-overdue get-together on Sunday. The first order of business, once the very sleepy-looking boy had come downstairs, was breakfast. A quick sandwich and cup of hot chocolate later and they were on their way to the movies.


While waiting in line waiting to buy tickets to see Slumdog Millionaire (Sean's choice), a lady waiting in line directly in front of Sean and his Dad reached into her handbag and pulled out a gift for Sean. Speaking in barely intelligible English, the lady told Sean that she is 76 years old. Why? We will never know.


As soon as they bought their tickets, Sean and his Dad had to run into the theatre. After the movie, Sean said he liked it but Sean's Dad thinks Sean mostly liked the funny parts, he became a bit fidgety during the dramatic parts. No popcorn or drinks during the movie meant that Sean was hungry right afterwards. He ordered a steak for lunch.


Sean didn't touch the soup or the salad that came with his meal but he got stuck right into the steak and the veggies.


Sean's Dad hasn't seen the boy eat so quickly for a long time. Sean finished his steak much faster than his Dad could eat his burger.


Sean's Dad really enjoyed sitting in the beautiful warm sun after a very cold ride out to pick Sean up in the morning. The weather had changed quite a lot while they were inside the theatre, warming up almost 10 degrees Celsius, but all good things come to an end. It was soon time to take Sean back to meet up with his mum.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Sean and his Dad met up at and traveled to the Vieshow Cinema city where they saw a very silly Hollywood movie called Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

You can read about the movie here.

Sean didn't have a proper breakfast. He prefered to eat popcorn while waiting to be allowed into the theatre.


Sean seemed to like the movie but after leaving the theater he quickly became interested in playing air hockey.


After at least 30 minutes of air hockey Sean's interest was clearly on the wane but only a few feet away was a foosball table.


Unfortunately, it was a proper big table meant for two-against-two games. That was bad for Sean because he was a bit slow to work out how to defend his goal. Sean's Dad won every game but not because he was good. Sean simply scored too many own goals to have a chance. Maybe next time.


To his credit, Sean didn't get unhappy. He simply moved on to a machine that Sean's Dad had never seen before.


Sean was pretty good at this game but he couldn't play for long because it was soon time to go home.

New Post Coming Soon

After Sean and his Dad did not see each other for a couple of months they finally went to a movie together last Sunday. Unfortunately, Sean's Dad's computer is currently not talking to the internet so he can't upload any pictures. That problem should be fixed within a week or so.

Wall-E

Sean went to see Wall-E last Sunday. (The date on the tickets is July 27 so Sean's Dad has been a bit lazy about getting this post up on the blog). Due to some confusion about the start times for the movie Sean and his Dad had plenty of time for breakfast before the movie.


The McDonalds that is attached to the Vieshow movie theatres was giving away Wall-E dolls with the breakfasts. The doll didn't look much like the robot in the movie.


Waiting for an hour when you hadn't expected to wait more than a few minutes, especially early on a Sunday mornning when the games parlor with the air hockey is not open yet, can be a real drag..... The look on Seans face says it better than all those words, don't you think?


Sean said he liked the movie and he laughed very loudly at some of the funny bits. Plus, he beat his Dad at air hockey after the movie. So maybe the wait was worthwhile.

Seans Sees Kung Fu Panda

When Sean's Dad arrived at the Peking Duck Shop to pick Sean up at 9am, the boy was still asleep. However, he soon came downstairs with a new pet.


The dog is very cute but not particularly obedient so Sean held him up so that Sean's Dad could get a better picture.


Sean was still a bit sleepy and spent a bit of time reading the menu before choosing what he wanted for breakfast.


He quickly finished the iced Ovaltine he had ordered and then chewed the straw into a funny shape.


Sean spent a bit of time reading the newspaper rather than eating but eventually he finished his toasted chicken sandwich.


They arrived at the movie theatre at 10:30am but the next session of Kung Fu Panda (Sean's choice) did not start until 12:05! So they had plenty of time to play as much air hockey as they wanted. After they had played for a while Sean's Dad tried to take a picture of Sean. But the boy is faster than the camera. He ducked but forgot to move his hands.


When Sean's Dad tried again Sean stood still long enough for his Dad to get a picture this time.


While watching the movie Sean laughed the loudest of anyone in the theatre. A woman sitting beside Sean's Dad thought Sean was very cute and kept elbowing her husband and then smiling at Sean. Sean seemed to like the movie but as soon as it was over Sean's Dad had to race him home and race to the office to do the news at FTV.

Sean's Bird Rescue

Sean had a new short haircut when his Dad arrived to pick him up on Sunday morning. He also had a new mobile phone! He listened to the radio on that and drank juice while his Dad had a quick breakfast.


After a short discussion about what they could do, Sean asked to be taken shopping for more bike gear. So, they were soon in an expensive bike shop in the middle of town.


Sean's Dad tried to take a picture of Sean looking at a pair of cycling shoes but Sean didn't want to look at the camera.


After they went outside Sean consented to having his picture taken.


In the end, Sean bought a pair of shoes at another shop. By that time they had done so much shopping that it was lunchtime. Sean's Dad insisted on sitting outdoors in the sun. After they sat down, Sean's Dad tried to take a picture of the boy but Sean hid from the camera under his Dad's jacket.


Just after they had ordered their food, a small bird flew smack into the side of the building and fell down on the pavement a few metres away from where they were sitting. Sean ran over to it quickly and pushed away the hands of a male waiter who was going to pick it up. Sean picked it up gently and put the stunned bird in the box that came with his new shoes.


He took pictures of the poor bird and very gently tested its wings and legs for injuries but the bird seemed fine physically.


Sean was very gentle but sure-handed when picking up the bird and checking it out for possible injury.


Soon the bird was feeling well enough to fly about 10 metres to a nearby tree. Sean kept an eye on it while eating his pizza just to make sure it didn't need any more help but it soon flew off.

Sean Buys More Bike Gear

Last Sunday, Sean's Dad was enlisted to partake in another supply trip for bicycle riding gear for Sean.

Sean looked very tired even though his Dad didn't pick him up and take him to eat breakfast until 9:30am. He looked a bit blank when he was considering the menu.


And, even after he had ordered he still looked half-asleep.


Sean had ordered the children's meal again.


He had hot chocolate with it, the same as last time.


Sean's Dad passed on a Christmas/birthday present to Sean from his grandparents in Australia. Sean was given the choice of changing it into NT dollars but chose to keep the Australian currency.


Sean liked a picture that was in a free magazine that came with the Sunday paper of the biggest swimming pool in the world. He was obviously starting to wake up by then.


While his Dad finished his coffee, Sean entertained himself by drawing a picture with the leftover tomato sauce on his plate. Then, it was time to go shopping for bike gear.


The first thing purchased was a pair of very nice padded gloves for NT$600.


On the way back to Sean's Dad's motorcycle Sean had some fun playing with a kitten that was in the front window of a pet shop.


But soon the kitten wanted to fight with two of its brothers and sisters who were right next to him.


At the next shop they bought a shirt (NT$2,200 and a helmet NT$1,300).


Then they moved on to another shop where they purchased the single most expensive item for the day, a pair of protective glasses with light-sensitive lenses.


Sean tried them on again when he and Dad went for lunch.


Sean's Dad took a turn with them just for the hell of it.


They really were a bit too expensive for a 10-year-old boy (NT$3,280 = AUD$120!)


Sean concentrated on his drink while waiting for his food to come.


His macaroni cheese wasn't very big but Sean doesn't eat much and couldn't finish it.


They were given a voucher for a free salad with a meal purchase and Sean gave it a very close inspection.


Then it was time to take Sean back home so that his Dad could go to work in the afternoon. It was a quick visit but that's better than no visit at all.