Take me out to the dance

I've got some catching up to do since I finished posting all the pictures from my recent (and much needed) vacation break in Okinawa 沖縄. While I had a great time there, it was most unfortunate that I had to miss a performance by my daughter's kindergarten class as part of her school's graduation ceremonies (Amber still has another year to go before enrolling in elementary school, which is what happens when your birthday falls in January). The show was scheduled long after I had made the flight reservations and booked my accommodation, so I was unable to change my itinerary. As it was, I only missed her dance by a few hours as it took place on the morning of July 3, and I returned to T'áiwān 台灣 from Japan 日本 later that afternoon. Fortunately, my wife recorded the performance, and thanks to the miracle that is YouTube, I can "share" it with the rest of the world. Sharing is good...

Those of you of a certain age might remember the tune :-) BTW, neither I nor Amber take any responsibility for the "Will you marry me?" "Yes, I do" exchange that takes place at the beginning of the performance. I was out of the country at the time, remember?

Last Saturday the Kaminoge family took in a ballgame. Amber had a great time enthusiastically blowing her horn, as you can see (and hear) for yourself:

For those of you interested in the outcome of the game, here's the Taipei Times writeup on the contest, from Sunday's edition:

"Peng 'Chia Chia' Cheng-min’s 彭政閔 two-run blast in the top of the seventh broke a 5-5 tie to lift the Brother Elephants 兄弟象 past the Sinon Bulls 興農牛 in a 7-5 final at the T'áichūng Intercontinental Baseball Stadium 臺中市洲際棒球場 last night.

In a contest that featured four lead changes, it was the Bulls who drew first blood with a pair of runs on a first-inning homer by Cheng Da-hong 鄭達鴻 off Elephant starter Orlando Roman.

However, the men in the golden uniforms rallied by plating a run in the second, before skidding ahead 3-2 with two runs in the third, courtesy of an RBI triple by Chang Chih-hao 張志豪 and Chou Si-chi’s 周思齊 groundout to short that drove in Chang on the ensuing play.

The Elephants added to their lead by two in the fifth on RBI doubles by Chia Chia and Chou to make it 5-2, only to see the lead squandered away in the bottom of the same inning when Cheng pounded out a two-run single with the bases loaded, before Chang Jien-ming 張建銘 knocked in the tying run on a fielder’s choice to second that made it 5-5.

Roman was credited with his eighth win of the year, while the loss went to Sinon reliever Chen Huan-yang 陳煥揚."