Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Friends

I think so often the friends you make come from the situation you are in. You are single and dating (so are your friends) you are newlyweds (so are your friends) you have children (so do your friends). Friends help you muddle through life and make it enjoyable.

I have been blessed, truly, to have such fabulous friends throughout my life. Our friends in Utah were some of the most amazing well-rounded people I have known. They were my mental sanity, their kids were Holdens best friends and their husbands were Nate's buddies. I miss them dearly. Here in Manila, we have been blessed with friends of a different kind. We have a community of friends that are all experiencing this wonderful place together. Some have lived here for 10 years plus, some are brand new, some are married, some are engaged, some have kids, some are thinking about it and most don't! It is wonderful to have this plethora of diversity coming at us.

Last weekend, our core group of friends got together. We rented a jeepney (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeepney) and headed out on the town for dinner, a stop at the Hobbit House and then to the casino to lose all out money! It was a night to remember.




The girls on the from of the jeepney

At Duo for dinner

At Hobbit House

Friday, May 25, 2007

Only a few can appreciate this

For those of you who know who "puppy" is and can remember Melissa hauling him up and down the street in a stroller, this is for you. Like mother like son!



Tuesday, May 22, 2007

so many pictures, so little time

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. With Nate's mom in town we have been busy touring around the many sights and shopping destinations and managed to fit in a couple of small vacations including a trip to Tagaytay after she left. Holden loved having her in town. We miss everyone and are counting down the days now until we are back for a visit the end of June!

Downed Jeepney on the steep road down to the Lake in Tagaytay.

Nate and Miss self portrait at Hidden Valley Springs

The gang in Tagaytay

The America Cemetery in Manila

Boracay in May

Hidden Valley Springs

The river at Hidden Valley Springs

Holden in Intramuros following Rizals footsteps

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Today


We went back to the orphange where Christian lives. He has grown so much and is even learning to crawl at 5 months!


Ooops, we did it again...and again

Maybe what they say is true that the third time is a charm. When it comes to dogs in our family, we are one lucky number 3. I never did post about the demise of dog number one, Jeka. It is enough to say that Jeka met a very early untimely demise and none of it was our doing. Another little "thing" about the Philippines includes that the vet doesn't call and tell your your dog died! We never really got a clear answer but we think it stems from eating cat food at the maids house. That is a long story that I am sure we can discuss on one of our visits back to America.

How can you tell a child that their Christmas puppy died when they are having such a hard time adjusting to life away from the norm? You tell them that it went to a doggy hotel. I don't advise this technique as until last week Holden was still thinking that Jeka was at the doggy hotel and kept asking, "WHEN is my doggy coming to live with us?" Since our experience with dog number 1 we have been dragging our feet on getting another.

Two weeks ago we came across a steal of a deal on dog number 2. A bichon frise named Benjo. Benjo of Heavenly Barks to be exact. We picked him up and hauled him home. The story in a nutshell goes like this: Benjo only liked Filipinos. He loved the maid, loved the yaya, loved Ico. Hated Melissa, hated Holden and was just plain scared of Nate. Snapped at Holden, bit Melissa and went back to live with his Filipino family the very next day happy as a clam.

We are beginning to see a pattern here.

We thought we would give it one more shot and off Holden and I went to the the pet market with Nate's words of advise. "Whatever you do, don't bring home a poodle." Obviously we listen really well: Meet Percy, the poodle. And guess what...Nate loves him!







Tuesday, May 01, 2007

If I had a picture

So...the other day....scratch that...the day before Nate's mom flies into town I decide that it is time for a "cut and color."

I do my research people! Ask anyone. Not only do I research large purchases like vehicles and digital cameras, I do the little things like irons and microwaves. Nate offers me up to people (no, not that way) to find vacations, vacuums, etc etc. Obviously I am going to do a little research on which hairdresser to go to. I find the salon, and I find the "expert hair technician." I go and 5 hours later I come out with RED streaks in my hair. No, not red like auburn, or strawberry blonde, or even copper. RED as in RED. Red as in wow, I didn't know hair dye came in a red bell pepper tone. Well I am here to tell you people that it does and I had it! Now mind you that, Rocky, my "expert hair technician" told me that words can be misinterpreted, but a picture says it all. So we looked at pictures, lots of them, and NOT ONE WAS CANDY APPLE RED!

Hmmm. I sense a Manila Moment coming on.

I went back to the salon later that night to have my color "fixed" from red to pink and so on and so forth. Around midnight, I was all fixed up.