Growing Up With Freddy

A couple of weeks ago our little boy's child care center had a teddy bear picnic. The kids were encouraged to bring their teddy bears to child care so they can share stories about the bears they bring and where they came from. Of course, when I heard about it there was only one bear that our boy could bring, Freddy the Bear.

Freddy was a gift from my mother to our little girl. I'm not sure why she named her Freddy but I think it's just so it rhymes with Teddy. Over the years, Freddy had gotten his own wardrobe and at one stage was always our daughter's sleeping companion. But the one reason that Freddy is so memorable is because the Freddy the Bear was no bigger than our little boy when he first came home, and we had the pictures to prove it.


Our Boy circa 2003


Our Boy circa 2007

Kid Funnies Part 19

Some nights we'd forgo reading in bed with the kids and we'd just make up stories. It's interesting how kids develop their own sense of humor as my daughter began making up her own story. It was a story about a lost stuffed teddy bear, and how someone found it and brought it to a picnic.

She tells us how the bear ended up eating all the left overs of the picnic and couldn't eat anymore. "And do you know why stuffed animals can't eat so much?", she asks. "Because they're already stuffed!, she laughs as she delivers the punch line.

Geek Weekend

Last weekend was a geek weekend for me. I finally got my home network setup the way I wanted it. I've left 2 computers in the bedroom/study, the G3 iMac and the Macbook Pro attached to the broadband modem/router. I had to extend the range of the wi-fi with a wireless network extender so it could reach to the other end of the house where I put the iMac G5 with its brand new Airport Express wireless card.

I had to ditch the USB wi-fi dongle that I initially bought for the iMac G5 because it would intermittently drop out. I can reset the connection by reseating the device but I couldn't find a permanent solution. I had that set up for a few weeks, did all the necessary things like update drivers etc but no go. I finally bit the bullet and purchased an Airport Extreme wireless card ( the original iMac G5's didn't come with one ) and installed it easily enough.

The USB device was put to good use because the next day, I helped set up our good friends' new broadband connection and wireless network. Their laptop didn't have a wireless card so the USB dongle fit the bill perfectly. At any rate, I was helping them set it up we made a day of it our kids playing together and us staying for lunch and dinner. In the end I got to get their 3 computers set up for networking and on the internet. I even got to upgrade one of their Windows 98 computers to Windows XP. Yup, all in good geeky fun.

Easter 2007

Happy Easter! It's Easter weekend again and our Easter celebrations started last night with the vigil mass at our local parish church. Normally the Easter masses are a bit solemn so I had to remind the kids this time to be serious and they did try their best to listen to the readings and even tried to sing along to some of the hymns. Our little girl already knows a lot about Easter and why we celebrate it so she was keen to listen to a lot of the readings. The boy however took a little bit of coaxing to keep still and listen attentively but he did his best. At the end of the mass the priest brought out a basket of chocolate Easter eggs to the delight of all the kids there.

This morning, we had a mini Easter egg hunt at home. The wife and I hid little yellow chicks throughout our backyard and around the house and we asked the kids to look for all of them. We promised that if the found all the chicks that they'd get their surprises. It didn't take long and they found all the chicks we hid ( with a little bit of help, of course ) and they got more chocolates and sweets from us this time.

Our good friends came calling at lunch time and we had a small lunch at home. The day turned out to be a balmy 27ºC so, being as spontaneous as we are, we all packed up and visited the beach! Thinking that it would be too cold to actually go down to the water, I thought the kids wouldn't need any of their swim suits. Boy, was I wrong! At first I thought I'd just fold their pants up so they can wade in the water but no sooner have they dipped a toe in when they sat on the water and started picking shells. It didn't take long for our boy to strip down to his jocks and running around in and out of the water. The little girl followed suit and they had a fun time just jumping and playing in the water.



We spent the Easter Sunday afternoon strolling on the beach, playing at the playground near the beach and having some ice creams and chips at the kiosk. It was as close as we could get to a Easter Sunday beach excursion that's so typical of Philippine Holy Week holidays. Our Easter pictures here. enjoy!

April Fools Day and a Picnic

Not that anyone pranked us or anything but we did spend a nice Sunday afternoon in the park with old and new friends. Our old friends organized a little picnic with a few Pinoy families who've recently moved to South Australia. It was good to meet them and I'm even quite happy that a couple of them even came from my old alma mater.

Probably a few years ago, Filipinos migrating to Australia and South Australia in particular would have been, if not rare at least unusual as the US seemed to be the destination of choice of many Filipinos. People with family in the US always had it as the first destination when migrating from the Philippines. It seems nowadays with Australia's skills shortage, we get more and more new migrants coming into the country, Filipinos included.

It's quite good to see the Filipino community growing here with more skilled migrants. Australia seems to need them.