Australia Day 2012

Pouring rain cancelled our plans to go fishing in Kiama today. Instead, we were stuck at home, watching tv and surfing the web. Bummer!

So as not to totally miss out on the celebrations, the hubby grilled sausages and beef patties indoors, plopped them into burger buns and added cheese, lettuce and bbq sauce. Not that bad.

We watched the celebrations in Canberra on tv and I couldn't help but tear up during the citizenship ceremony. Bittersweet. We will be doing ours this year and I often wonder how that will make me feel.

Julia Gillard, Australian Prime Minister, said it very well in her address to the new Aussies," For whatever is left behind, there is so much more to be gained."

Bring it on 2012! :)

Hammock na Di Hamak

Excuse my title. That's the first thing that came to mind while writing this :)

This being summer and with temperatures just right (still feels like spring), we've been taking every chance we get to go out. 

And wherever we go, the hubby never forgets to pop into the car's trunk two hammocks. 

In December, on our way to the Hunter Valley, we stopped over for bbq lunch at The Entrance and took a short nap. Yes, on the hammocks, where else?

Note that one of the hammocks is in camu, obviously he misses his days in the military. Hhhhmnnn, not!

Two Faces of Christmas

I am having mixed emotions this holidays.

I am crushed with the floods that have affected two of my homes- Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. It's been several days since it happened but I can't seem to shake off the sadness this tragedy has brought. It doesn't help that everyday, there are photos and vids of the devastation posted on Facebook. There are just so many of my friends and relatives affected that although we are so many miles away, it feels like we are there, experiencing this tragedy with our kababayans. I have spent four and a half years of my college life in Iligan and established a home in Cagayan de Oro for ten happy years. I just can't begin to imagine the devastation, much more the pain and uncertainty people have been facing back home. It is massive beyond belief. 

I watched Philippine news this morning and I am amazed and very proud of the resiliency of the victims.  I haven't seen anyone blame God. Instead, there is just gratefulness to be alive despite having lost everything and more importantly, there is hope that they will rise above this tragedy. Makes me proud to be a Filipino, really. We are truly among the happiest people in the world. Praise God for that!

And I take my cue from the flood survivors. To be grateful and count our blessings because whether the world has turned upside down around us, there is so much more to be thankful for.

Gifts under our tree this year.

I am grateful for the tremendous love in my life. Everyday, I am reminded how blessed I am to have so many people who love me- my husband, my boys, my parents, sisters, in-laws, relatives and friends. Yes, friends who are very dear, they are like family.  As cliche as it may be, at the end of day, only LOVE matters really. The rest are just a bonus. 

So I praise my God for this big, powerful gift of love. If there's one special wish I can give out to you all, it will be that all of you may have so much love in your life. Let's all spread the love. Only that makes a real difference.

Speech

Vince arrived from school last week with a huge announcement.


Vince: Mama, guess what? I’ve been chosen to represent my class in the school’s speech competition!!!


Mama: Hey, that’s great! Well done, kuya! That’s amazing!


I gave him a tight hug. Deep down, images of the huge task ahead was spinning in my head. Three weeks ago, I guided him in making his speech. I put an emphasis on “guided” because it was actually Vince who came up with ideas for his speech. I just made a few tweaks, coached him when to pause and stress words and he was ready. He was sad when he came home…

Vince: Mama, Ms Garrity said I made a very good speech. She liked that I waited for everyone to get settled before I started. I made it to the next round!


Mama: Yey! That’s great, kuya! I knew you’d make it!


Vince: But I don’t want to do it again..Ah! I know! I will not make a good speech next time so I don’t win!

How does a mom react to that? Of course, I made a long speech about how we’re all supposed to do our best all the time, blah, blah, blah.

I think he put my ‘speech’ to heart because he prepared his speech with his Papa with so much gusto and practiced with his Tita Anne over and over again.

And so he came home today with news that he’s been chosen to represent his class.

What a proud moment! And I am happy that he’s overcome his shyness. He’s more confident now and enjoys school so much.

He’s come a loooong way from his prep days at Pineapple Country School.

At Pineapple Country School when Vince was only 3 yrs old.

Tale of the Rusty Ski

We came home from our much anticipated trip to Mt Selwyn over the Queen’s Birthday weekend with so many stories to tell. But I am not going to tell you how fun it was to be with four other families with eight overly eager kids between us. Or how much food we brought, complete with a very yummy Pavlova and coffee brownies courtesy of Carol. And how the dads sneaked our magic kalans to the back of the motel so we can cook a complete breakfast and re-heat left-overs. I won’t even go into the details of how hubby threw up a whole day’s worth of meals at 3am. I’m sure you’re not interested  It will probably bore you if I say we had such a long trip, driving over deserted mountains I was beginning to think we got lost and was about ready to call for help—except there was nary a trace of signal. No, I’m not telling you that. Aaaah, did I just tell you that? Teehee!


There was one story from that whole trip which stood out for me…


When we first moved to Australia three years ago, we went through the usual ‘pulot’ phase. I don’t know about you but most of my friends who just landed in Australia experienced this. It’s when you get excited and all pumped up when you see a pile of rubbish on the street-thinking about the possible treasures just waiting to be unearthed - TVs, old computers and printers, components, dvd players, clothes, bags, beds and the list goes on. More often than not, this phase could be born out of sheer necessity or as how my cousin and good friend call it- ‘sa ngalan ng pagtitipid’!


Anyway, on one such ‘pulot’ day, hubby excitedly came home with a pair of rusty skis and made a promise that the skis will have it’s day in the snow as soon as we can afford it. I just shrugged him off. He’s got the weirdest and most impractical ideas, I tell you. After more than 10 yrs of being together, I know when he wouldn’t budge. And this is one of those.


I have totally forgotten about the skis until last Sunday, when I saw it packed along with our snow gear at the back of the car as we were unloading our things. I must admit there was a slight tug in my heart. The look on hubby’s face as he carefully placed the skis on fresh snow was priceless. I was sucked by the drama of it all. It was like the skis coming full circle.


We all took turns having our photos taken with the skis, coming up with every imaginable pose and pretending we actually went skiing.

Hubby trying on the skis

Vince's turn...

Rafa loved it so much!

The skis with our snowman.

When it was time to go, hubby carefully placed the skis on the snow under an old tree. It will sit there until the next “pulot” guy takes it to it’s next adventure. Who knows where that will be? The possibilities are endless.

3 years

On our third year anniversary in Australia last June 1, i came home to this feast. Hubby decided to celebrate by cooking pancit, pork liempo, adobong kambing and calamari.

Thank you, Lord for three wonderful years. There are so many things to look forward to.

Thermal Boots

Check.

All set for the Snowy Mountains.

We also bought brand new ski jackets and pants for the four of us.

It will be our first time to see snow so we're pulling out all the stops. Hold up na kung hold up!

Weekend Get-away

We've been putting off the trip to Port Stephens for the longest time..err, lets rephrase that. I have been going against hubby's suggestion of a holiday at Port Stephens since we bought the car. You know me. I'm an accountant, I was running the costs in my head :) Ang pagkatihik!

One Saturday in May, the hubby announced we'd go for a picnic at Nelson Bay. The kids and I hopped on the car, me not realizing that Nelson Bay is a town in Port Stephens, a two and a half hour drive from where we live. I was too lazy to care, really. All I wanted was an escape from the autumn chill.

It was a good full hour into the trip when it hit me from the road signs that we were actually heading towards Port Stephens. Again, I was too lazy to complain.

Actually, I couldn't find a reason to complain.  Look at these photos :)





Vince and Gab at Nelson Bay- nice and quiet and very clean.

 

Kuya can't get enough of this outdoor shower.

Rafa wanted to swim but was having a bad cough so he played with the water fountain.



and goofed around..



An older couple waiting for the sunset.

Mum and bub playing on the sand while a few men were fishing on the dock.

the original excuse for the trip- a picnic! yummy food!

and this- beautiful sunset. i love!

It was only when we were watching the sunset when I realized we were not going back to Sydney for the night. Hubby planned for an overnight stay! Geez, and I was the only one who didn't bring extra clothes. I enjoyed myself too much so I didn't complain and just went with the plan. We grabbed some things from the shops and proceeded to our accommodation.

Admiral Nelson Motor Inn where wer stayed for the night.

After checking in, we grabbed dinner at the marina where everything happens at Nelson Bay come sunset.

We had an early start the next morning...

First stop- light house at Nelson Bay.

Installed in 1892!

1

The view from the top. Awesome!

What's a trip to Port Stephens without checking out the sand dunes.

Camels! Dubai in Australia!

Sand as far as the eyes can see.

I can't say I hate spontaneous, unplanned trips. I want more :)

Oliver

Our good friend, Mike was part of the play Oliver which was running in the Red Centre Theatre at Wentworthville for three weeks in May. Mike played the role of Dr. Grimwig and also appeared in various other supporting roles throughout the play.

That's Mike in the centre with two other actors.

 I’ve always thought theatre is boring but Oliver changed it all for me. From the resulting performance, it was very evident that the cast gave it their all. The boy playing Oliver was so good, his rendition of the songs moved me to tears. And although the venue was quite small, there was a full orchestra playing and the costumes were great.



As for dear Mike, I am impressed! I was a bit surprised when he invited us to watch his play. I did not have a clue that he was into theatre. I met Mike a few months after we arrived in Sydney. I was waiting for my bus after work and was calling Noemie. Mike heard me speaking Bisaya and was too eager to meet a fellow Bisdak. We’ve been good friends since then. We are just so proud of him and looking forward to seeing more of him on stage.

We came in full force to support our dear friend :)

Ever the gracious host, Mike bought us pizza after the show which we shared while catching up with each other at the parking lot. We then all headed to Rouse Hill to get some goodies from the Pinoy store.

Great day!

Blue

I painted my nails blue and I'm loving it!



Back in the Philippines, I hated painting my fingernails, much less paint it blue!


You have to understand, I have a very "goody-goody" image back home. Kanang magulang nalang sa pagka-MANANG gani. I don't want to call attention to myself, so I stick to conservative get ups. But look what Australia has done to me. I am doing things I would not normally do. I guess this says a lot about the way of life here. Nobody cares what people wear. Which is good! I have worn my skirts and shorts (which I very rarely have the guts to do in P.I.) and I don't even have to worry about crumpled clothes. The best part was strutting my two-piece bikini at Bondi. Feeling jud kaayo! Too bad, I'm not brave enough to post the proof here. Hehe

I wonder what's next for me....




Nindot ang blue. Nindot sad ang green ug orange..hmnn...mao na ni ang sunod!



Summer Bay/Palm Beach

My sister in law arrived on April 9. Yey! She's staying with us for a few months to help look after the kids. What a relief! 

On April 10, we brought her to Palm Beach or Summer Bay which is where the famous Home and Away soap opera is set. Going there, we passed so many picnic and fishing areas which hubby and I vowed to visit next time. The view was great, winding roads overlooking the beach, huge 'mansionic' houses, beautiful people in skimpy swimsuits. Hehe 

The photos were not great though because it was cloudy that day but here are some of them, anyway.

The sister in law  was busy chasing the kids on the beach.

Kuya Vince trying his tumbling stunt.

Rafa busy picking flowers. Should I be concerned? 

Nah...because he picked them for Mama. Sweet!

The boys took out the kite.


So, where was I???

Here. Sitting on my favorite blue picnic chair, trying to get some readings done :)

Rafa's Portfolio

Every year, parents receive the kid's portfolio from childcare which contains a summary of the child's activities, progress, photos, and plans for his development.

I'm sharing some pages here for my family back home.

Card from the centre's staff

We are pulling Rafa out of childcare for a few months while his Tita is here.

Easter Hat Parade 2011

Every year, kids from Kindergarten to Year 2 at Vince's school celebrate Easter by donning fancy hats for the Easter Hat Parade. Coincidentally, this also marks the end of the term before they commence Autum break.

The hubby helped Vince make this year's hat while the little one was only too happy to be the "model".

Lucky Day

I won two movie tickets from some random raffle in our company's quarterly awards. Yey!
And they expire in September 2011. Another yey!!!

I still have 2 other free movie tickets that are expiring in May..have to check out which movies to watch soon.

My 2 movie tickets

If luck comes in 4's, can't wait for my other 3!

Valentine's Day 2k10

We woke up late on Valentine's day because on Saturday night, A and I slept at 1am. No, we did not go out. We spent the night catching up on housechores, with hubby ironing three weeks worth of laundry and I cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. Bonding to the hilt!

On V-day, we heard morning mass then headed to a Vietnamese restaurant with friends for lunch. Sa dami namin, it looked like we reserved the entire place, the owners had to refuse a lot of customers because there were no more tables. Isang buong barangay na talaga kami dito.

There were so many things to celebrate: Cyndere and Fred's civil wedding that morning, Dina's birthday, Rafa's 11th month, Elijah's 5th month and of course---LOVE!

Not Just Another Bday

The last set of visitors have just left and i am taking advantage of this time to update my blog which i have neglected for a while.

I had initially told hubby that we would forego with the party this year since we are saving up for the coming baby and I did not want to stress myself with the preparations. But he insisted, saying I should be looking at it as a thanksgiving party for all the blessings of the past year. He promised to take care of everything so he and my sis along with our friend got themselves busy since yesterday baking and cooking some of the food in advance.

At dawn, i woke up to see hubby still busy in the kitchen and he greeted me with a hug and a kiss. And when i woke up today, the little one pulled out his gift, a lotion which supposedly prevents stretch marks! :) Apparently, he saw this thing at the store and since it had a photo of a pregnant woman on the bottle, he told my sister, "this is really a nice gift for mama." He kept telling my sister about the gift everyday until she decided to buy it for him. Ain't i blessed to have a thoughtful little guy?

When we came here, i was dismayed to see that flowers are too expensive. So i told hubby not to buy me any more flowers on special ocassions. But today, i got a very beautiful bunch of white flowers from him. I was going to ask how much it was and was about to nag him about our targeted savings but when i saw him anticipating a delighted reaction, i decided to just relish his thoughtfulness. I should really be thankful, kalimutan na muna ang savings : )

Our close friends here joined us for lunch at home and we spent the whole afternoon enjoying the sumptous food and exchanging stories. Our college professor also came which i really appreciate very much because she lives at the other side of the city.

I thought last year was the best bday i would ever have...but today's celebration was even better. Because all that i have prayed for last year have finally been granted. Hubby was right. This called for a celebration! :-)

I'm back....

The holidays have come and gone and I haven't even posted a single entry about it.

Aside from being busy with all the holiday activities, our laptop decided to conk out during the long holiday break. Our company closed from Dec 19 to Jan 4 and I intended to blog every single day but the pc had other plans. Grr!


Anyways, for the benefit of those very few who are interested (hehe) here are the highlights of our long break.

The days leading to Christmas were filled with shopping trips to the mall-scouting for last minute gifts for friends, doing the grocery and buying things for the house. Since the little one was getting a thousand dollar "gift" from the Australian govt, we also got busy letting him choose toys and a few clothes.

Dec 24, we had dinner at my cousin's place with a few Filipino friends then we all went to hear midnight mass together. Unlike in the Philippines where going to church on Christmas eve meant braving all the dangerous firecrackers in the streets, we had a very quiet walk to church and we celebrated a very solemn mass. I was pleased that the church was full despite having two earlier masses before midnight. After the mass, we went back to my cousin's house to eat some more then headed back home to open our own gifts. Vince said he got the best present ever. He even slept with his huge Speedracer car! hehe I, on the other hand got a very nice gift from A, a set of bling-blings I have been wanting to buy. Nakonsensya naman ako kasi t-shirt lang ang gift for him hehe

Dec 25- Despite sleeping only 4 hours, A and I had to wake up early to prepare for our Christmas lunch and housewarming. We were so tired but we had a fun time in the kitchen kaya siguro masarap ang naging handa namin. Our friends stayed until 10pm, we had videoke marathon, played cards, exchanged gifts and had a few drinks (sila lang kasi bawal sa buntis).

Dec 26 was Boxing Day and even with my bulging tummy, we went with my cousin and friend to get a few good bargains. Bad but I braved the heavy crowds. Kala ko nga mapapa-anak ako sa haba ng pila eh! haha

Dec 27- This was a special day as A and I hosted our mini-college reunion at home. Two of our college professors who are already based here made the event extra special. We enjoyed listening to their stories about raising their kids here and they gave out good advice. They are returning to the Phillipines in a couple of years to retire.

Dec 28- Our college professor invited us to have lunch at their house. Her husband, also a professor at our school, cooked kalderetang kambing and papait, yummy! They even prepared halo-halo for us! Iba talaga ang hospitality ng pinoy.

On New Year's eve, we slept over at my cousins house. There was a magnificent fireworks display at Darling Harbour but with my condition and with a bunch of kids, we decided to watch it on tv instead. Hirap na kasi madami daw lasing and the fireworks is at midnight pa. Bawal din sa buntis ang magpuyat.

On new year's day, we again had lunch at my cousin's place with our pinoy friends and did another round of kris kringle.

That about sums up our holidays. This was very different from the past Christmases we had since we got married. This year, we knew for certain that we'd just be at home and not shuttle between camps and our parents' homes. Although it's sad that we are not spending it with our families in Pinas, we were happy to be together, the three of us plus the coming baby. I guess A summed it up very well in the card he gave me to go with the gift " Thank you for the new beginning."

And that's exactly the same words I whispered to God when the clock struck 12 on Jan 1.

Update on the move

I haven't had time to blog the whole week because we've been busy unpacking and decorating our new place. I had to take Monday off from work to catch up on lost sleep. Yep, I know, bad for a pregnant mommy. But I was too excited to see things in their proper places. A kept reminding me to just take care of the kitchen while he fixed everything else. But when he's not looking, I'd sneak a touch or two here and there. Hehe! Ang tigas ng ulo! A week later though, we have settled well and are happy with what we have put together so far.

Meanwhile, the little one did a splendid job himself. He was my shopping buddy because A had to work long hours before and even during the day we moved. He didn't mind lugging all the heavy bags so that Mama can only carry the light ones. One time, he was carrying four heavy bags and was having a hard time catching up with my long strides. I then heard him shout, " Mama, my pants fell!" It was such a funny sight that it took a while for me to reach him to help. I just kept laughing and although he was aghast at his mama, he laughed at himself na rin.

As a final touch to our place, we put up our Christmas tree yesterday. Good thing Christmas decors are on sale already, we bought ours at a heavily discounted price. It's a good deal considering that it's a tall tree with nice branches on it. A set up the tree while Vince and I put on the decorations. Last night, the three of us spent a quite night in the living room admiring our tree while listening to the radio.

Next on the list is the housewarming which our friends have been bugging us with already. And then we'll be having our mini -college reunion after Christmas here. Looks like A and I will have our hands full this month.

Yesterday, Vince and I were at the mall to while away time while Papa was in school. We were enjoying a light lunch when we heard a band and the people started to gather around the stairs. It was Santa’s band, happily playing Christmas carols and Santa obliging photo ops for the kids. I had mixed feelings, happy that I got to hear Christmas songs but sad that we are spending our first Christmas away from our loved ones.

Vince: Mama, it’s not Santa. That’s only a man, pretending to be Santa!

Mama: Oh? Really? But there is a Santa, diba?

Vince: No mama. They’re just pretending.

Eeeek! How does a mother deal with the fact that her 5 yr old already knows the truth about Santa?
A few weeks ago, I have been eyeing a nice Christmas stocking which I had planned to hang for Vince come Christmas. As a child, I have always looked forward to December 24 when we had to hang my Papa’s office socks and wake up the following day checking the various goodies that were placed inside. It was not much- mostly just junk food like Hi-C, pretzels, cheap chocolates and biscuits but I remember feeling very special receiving them. Even after I found out the truth about Santa, I still enjoyed hanging the stockings and pretended not to know anything for the benefit of my younger sisters.

I am just so disappointed that the little one found out this early. BUT I am not giving up. I’ll find a way to incorporate the ‘stocking’ into our Christmas activity this year…

Full and Sleepy

I am sooo full.

Our office network and landlines shut down at 11am so the whole Finance team decided to take advantage of the downtime to go out for lunch. It was the first time we were complete, usually it’s just us in our section. We decided to head out to our favourite resto called Ribs and Rumps because they serve the most succulent ribs in our part of town. We got salad to go with our ribs and the seafood platter which actually should have been called chips platter as obviously, there’s more chips there than seafood. Haha!

It was a good lunch, with a lot of laughter and light banter from even the toughest manager in the team. After all that food, I am sooo sleepy now. Counting the hours till knock off…