The past month has been exhaustively memorable. This was our first family vacation with our baby boy. It was immensely rewarding at times, and incredibly trying most of the time. Our baby got to meet his great grandmothers and cousins on his mother's side, and vice versa. Everybody enjoyed the time spent with each other mutually.

We started off at Taipei, where we stayed with my brother-in-law's family. He has two kids and they played very well with baby Joseph, though I don't think Joseph knows how to play with others. He was trying to climb onto his cousin, pulling at his clothes.

We gradually made our way down to Kaohsiung in the span of a week, meeting up with my wife's friends along the way. Most of them were also married with children so our baby got to play with lots of other young kids.

At Kaohsiung, we met my wife's older sister and her family. She has three children who are all a bit older, but they all loved baby Joseph. They were a little rough with baby Joseph but they got along very well.

From there, we flew to the island of Penghu, where my wife's mother's family lives. Specifically, this was a rare chance for Joseph to meet his great grandmother. I personally have never met my own great grandmother, so I considered this to be a precious encounter. Unfortunately, Joseph's great grandmother had dementia and was barely awake, but this meeting was nonetheless significant.

Next, we headed to Taitung, where we spent the rest of three weeks in relative quietness, except for the rowdy cousins who kept things interesting. Esther (小美魚) played with Joseph a lot, and I think they formed a bond. Even after they left, Joseph would go to the stairs where they often played and wait for her.

Finally, we spent a week in Japan, just our family and my wife's parents. We went to Mount Fuji, Matsumoto, and Tokyo.

The best thing that came out of this vacation was that it made me appreciate normal routine work days.