Sunday Afternoon in Glenelg

We did something different and visited the Glenelg beach today. It was very very warm yesterday so it was quite good that the sky was overcast and was a bit cooler today when we went out. First, We drove and parked in the city and went to church at the cathedral. Then took the new tramline from Victoria Square all the way down to the beach precint of Glenelg. The city of Adelaide just recently extended the trams to go all the way from one end of the city to another. It used to be that it only stopped in the middle and buses took people all the way to the end. At any rate, we rode the old tram once before, on the last day those trams were meant to be retired no less. This time around, we got to ride the new trams and it was a different experience. I have to say though that the old trams really had character and this time around, the new trams just felt like another mass transit system.

Anyway, we arrived in Glenelg just in time for lunch. Glenelg is one of Adelaide's beach side suburbs and quite a tourist spot. Aside from the beach there are lots of shops, restaurants and there's also a huge indoor amusement center called "The Beach House" where we took the kids once and they had a ball.

The wife had a hankering for fish and chips and that's what we had. I myself just had a fish and salad and the wife and kids got their fill of fish and chips. The specialty of the restaurant was fresh local South Australian oysters and we had some of that too. We liked the fish as the batter they used was quite light and tasty. We ordered half a dozen oysters Kilpatrick and even under the sauce and bacon bits, we could taste that the oysters were plump and juicy. Real good South Aussie oysters. Wish we could have had more but, unlike in the Philippines where we can have a sack full of oysters for next to nothing, over here it's not that cheap.

After lunch, the wife and I had a coffee and the kids had ice cream. We then took a walk to end of the jetty (pier) just to see the sights. The kids were really interested in the deep water off the edge as some teenagers were jumping off to and dived into it. I must admit, even though we know the kids can swim now, I was still a bit nervous about letting go of the kid's hands as we walked along the jetty as the railings weren't exactly kid proof.

After the walk, we stayed a little while on the beach as the kids played on the sand. We didn't stay long and after a quick walk along the shops, we headed for the city on the tram again. It was a good day and something tells me, we'll probably be back as summer holidays are fast approaching.

School Uniforms

The boy is starting school next year and we had a uniform fitting a couple of weeks ago. As expected, the boy went for the smallest sizes. The ladies at the uniform service even joked on how he was too small to go start school. Anyway, here he is, trying on the school uniform. Take note, those are supposed to be shorts, not pants!

Kid Funnies Part 22

We were in the car, on the way home today. We were asking the kids how their days went in school and in kindy. The boy said, "My teacher said I had big strong muscles!"

"Really?", I said. "What can you do with your big strong muscles?"

"I can lift a car!", he said.

"Not a real car," I said, "maybe a toy car?"

"How about the world!", the boy said.

"Not the world," his sister replied, "Only God can lift the world."

The boy thought for a second, "Or maybe really, really, really big astronauts!"

New Government

Australia will wake up tomorrow with a new government in power. After 11 years in office, the old government will make way for Kevin Rudd's Australian Labor Party. It's quite an exciting time for many of the Labor party because this is effectively the first time they'd be running the country after so many years sitting on the opposition bench.

We went to our polling place early Saturday morning. There was no queue at all and we were in and out of there in 10 minutes. We also took the kids into the polling booth to show them how we would do the voting. In the lead-up to the election, there were ads on TV showing people how important the vote was and how to actually vote that the kids were looking at our shoulders checking and making sure we voted correctly.

Anyway, just our way of exposing the kids to electoral process and to how democracy works in Australia ( although they might be too young to get it. )

Australia Elections

Today's the general election and by tomorrow, Australia will find out whether we'll have a new government or continue on with the same. Elections are a big thing here but not quite as busy and hectic as in the Philippines. Although the political parties may have started their campaign push early this year, the date for the actual election wasn't finalised until 5 weeks ago which means the parties really had only 5 weeks of solid campaigning.

I'm not overly political but as I said before, voting does give you a sense of participating in a democracy, more so here than in the Philippines. Here, you know your vote really is valuable and not because some political party is out to buy it outright.

The last time I voted, the wife and I took turns minding the kids while we went into the voting place one at a time. This time, I'm thinking of bringing the kids into the booth with us so they can get a sense of importance of voting. They've ben seeing ads on TV about the election and I think it would be good to show them what it really means.

Roast Rack of Lamb

Sunday dinner was a roast rack of lamb served with cous-cous. This is the second time I cooked lamb and this turned out exceptionally well. The fat was well rendered and the meat still moist. My wife says she gives it 5 stars, hehehe. The girl quite enjoyed the cous-cous actually and we were mildly surpised that she finished everything in her plate. The boy, however, hated the cous-cous and I had to resort to making him a ham and cheese sandwich. Oh well, you can't please everybody.

Christmas Decorations

My wife has been busy getting the house all decorated in the Christmas spirit. She and the kids got the tree up and decorated this weekend. We also took out the belen, ( the Nativity scene ). There's one more piece missing on the tree but otherwise all it's lacking are the presents underneath.

Still doesn't feel like Christmas when it's a very hot 37ºC outside. Somehow though, playing Christmas songs on the stereo can drop the temperature a few degrees. :)

The Wheel Of Time

I started reading The Wheel Of Time about 12 years ago. It was a great read for the first 4 or 5 books then it got so confusing with plot lines left dangling and unfinished; whole chapters with nothing going on. I finally stopped reading it at about the seventh book. It's about the 11th or 12th book now and it hasn't ended yet. I hope whoever takes up the gauntlet of writing the series end the fans' suffering and finish it already.

Multicultural Day at Kindy

The boy had been learning about different cultures the past few weeks at kindergarten. Since the teachers knew we just came back from the Philippines, we were asked to make a short presentation. It included things like the map, the currency, the jeepney and some costumes. He showed some of the coins and money notes we used in our recent trip, and also a toy jeepney we got a few years back. At the end of it all, he distributed dried mangoes to the rest of the class. All the kids (and teachers) loved them, some even came back for seconds.



This week, they had a picnic where everyone was asked to bring snacks from all over the world, and to dress in a cultural costume. I remember my oldest also had this event a couple years back, that time we had no costume but I actually made the effort to make a batch of puto, with some food coloring to appeal to the kids.



This time around, we had a costume on hand (barong tagalog), but I was not feeling well enough to cook something like puto again. Good thing we got a lot of pandesal last time we were at the asian store.



It was nice to see the kids dig into foods like papadums, prawn crackers, pizza, spring rolls and sweet things like tiramisu. Funny to see that the first thing Nico got was the pandesal. Oh well, what can I do, he really likes it. After the picnic, he ran straight to the playground still wearing his barong. Now that's something you don't see everyday.

Lazy Saturday

Just spending a lazy Saturday afternoon at home. We just got back from the doctor's (again) as the wife wasn't feeling any better. She's still coughing and had a fever this morning. This time the doctor gave her another course of antibiotics. We hope this will clear her up soon.

I'm writing this up while the kids are playing Lego Star Wars and the wife is taking a rest. Today is the annual Adelaide Christmas Pageant and we'd made it a tradition to put up the Christmas tree after right after the pageant is over. We didn't go and watch the parade this time but we plan to put up the Christmas tree later albeit without any decorations for now until the wife is feeling better.

In the meantime, it's getting warmer in Adelaide. Summer is almost here. It's clear blue skies outside and the heat reminds me so much of Dumaguete during summer. The clear blue skies and the bright sun just puts me in a summer mood. All I want to do is read a good book by the sofa with a bottle of ice cold Coke within arm's reach.

Boy's Turn

The assistant at our doctor's office always kids us when we come for an appointment. When I book in one of the kids to see the doctor, she always asks when she'd book in the rest of the family.

"You guys get sick one after the other," she laughs. "Might as well make appointments for all of you."

True enough, after the girl got sick last week, my wife had her turn at the doctor's a few days later. Today, it was the boy's turn. He had a fever over the weekend and some bad coughing. This time I stayed home and took him to the doctor's. He's now on antibiotics again and is as makulit as ever. He seems to be on the mend and hopefully will be well enough by tomorrow.

Food Trip

You always gain weight during a holiday and we certainly did on this occasion. One thing that we miss when we're back in Australia is always the food that we can get in the Philippines. The combination of good food at cheap prices can always be found anywhere over there. Here, it's always either good food at at higher cost, or cheap food that isn't exactly the best meal.

One of the best meals I've had during the holiday was at a farmer's market just south of my h ometown. Every Wednesday, cattle farmers from around the province make the trek to Malatapay, a place near the seaside to buy and sell cattle. There a weekly market opens up where people buy and sell almost everthing from dried fish, to slippers to clock radios and umbrellas. It's a busy place and near the end of the markets a lot of food stalls set up shop enticing market goers with fresh fish and lechon ( roast pork ).

We already planned to go and on Wednesday we set off and arrived just in time for lunch. We spied an empty bamboo table and the whole family took up their places as my mom and dad looked at (literally) what was cooking. Soon we had before us rice cooked in coconut palms and the best lechon I've ever had. We also had fresh fish in soup and chose a fish to be grilled on the hot coals of the eatery. There was hardly any talking as all of us dug in.

Soon we were nursing our full stomachs as we finished lunch and began to walk around to see some of the market. There was lots to see with around the different stalls. The kids also wandered down the seashore with Lolo Dadad and bought themselves a fish. We didn't stay long as the rains began to roll in so we got on the van and started for home. It might have been just a short visit to Malatapay but we won't be forgetting that meal anytime soon. And the cost? Probably more than 10 of us had a hearty meal for less then $5 a pop. That's good cheap eating...

---

The kids browsing at the Malatapay Markets


Buying fish with Lolo Dadad

Hard of Hearing

Our girl's been sick early this week. She's all fine now but somehow she's gotten hard of hearing. We think she might have had an ear infection and there might still be fluid in her ear. She can still hear but we have to repeat everything we say and sometimes have to talk louder to her. She's coping well enough but if she's still like this next week we might have another visit to the doctor to be sure it's not glue ear or something like that. For now, we have to get used to the louder TV and being a bit louder for her sake.

Welcome To Leopard

Just upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5 this weekend. Still restoring applications and settings right now but all looks good. The new Safari even supports Blogger's additional blogging tools.

She's Sick Today

We got a call from our daughter's school today. She wasn't feeling well and threw up at school. My wife had to hurriedly changed her plans for today. She was supposed to help out at my son's kindy and do a show-and-tell with the boy about the Philippines. Instead, the boy had to do it by himself with some help from his teacher.

The little girl is resting now, she had a 38.9C fever this afternoon which came down but she's still not feeling well and is now resting in bed. Anyway, we tried getting a doctor's appointment for tomorrow but we were suprised that they were fully booked and the earliest appointment we can get is Monday. At any rate, we just gave her parecetamol for now and she's sleeping early tonight. We hope she'll be better tomorrow.

From The Travel Journal: Manila Leg

1.10.07

Yesterday it was (cousin) Maya's birthday and when we played the first game I won the grand prize and before that I helped decorate the cup cakes. And we couldnt eat the cake because Maya is going to have another party. Then we went to sleep.

3.10.07

Yesterday we went swimming at the palms club. My favourite thing was going in the deep pool because I could do a bomb. Then we had lunch. For lunch I had cold noodles and plain rice. Then we went home.

5.10.07

Yesterday we went shopping. We had breakfast at a hotel. Then we went to the Manila Polo Club. Later then we went to Fully Booked ( a book store ). And later we went to Krispy Kreme. And we had a grand tour and I made my own doughnut. And after we had dinner.

7.10.07

Yesterday we met Tita Zai and Tito Ian. We had lunch together. And then we went shopping. While I was waiting for Tita Zai and Tito Ian my tooth fell off and that night the tooth rat came. ( The tooth rat didn't take a bath ).

8.10.07

Yesterday we had early Christmas. For dessert we had jelly. The colour of the jelly was green and red. And we opened the presents. There were lots of presents. We had lots and lots of fun!

From the Travel Journal

18.9.07

On Tuesday I went to Dumaguete. Lola Etts gave me and a bear. I called mine Briana and my brother's was called Buster. My bear was pink. My brother's bear was brown. I like my bear because it's pink. My mum doesn't like it because it's too pink.

19.9.07

Yesterday I played bowling. My team won which was called Tito Tater B.B. ( team ). I can't put itdown because it's no appropriate. Then we got ice cream which was my prize. I got 500 extra points ( that's how we won. )

21.9.07

Today I went to the beach. We had a little swim and then we had lunch. Then we had another quick swim. Then we had a wash up and then we found shy plants. A shy plant closes it's leaves when somebody touches the shy plant.

23.9.07
Today I went to the beach. We swam in the sea with Fykee, Dad, Tita Zai, my brother, Tito Ian and Tita Jaja. Then we had ice cream and then we looked for fossils. And then we went home and then we had a hair cut.

25.9.07
Today I went swimming. It was lots of fun. My mum was scared because she didn't want to go on the kids slide because she will hit her buttocks. Then we had dinner. Later then we went home.

28.9.07
Yesterday I went out for dinner. I had spaghetti bolognese. I was the first one to finish. Then we went to the boulevard. Then we went to a place that my mum and dad partied after their wedding. We had dessert there then we went home.

Philippines Holiday 2007: Dumaguete

We arrived in Dumaguete on we were met at the airport by my parents and my brother. We haven't seen them in a couple of years so it was really good to see them again. Of course, they were especially glad to see the kids and it showed. We planned this vacation probably almost 10 months in advanced so we could coincide with my own parents vacation from the US and it was great to sort of see the plans come together.

The old house is still standing and flourishing, I think, thanks to the Canday-ong gang. I can't say the same for the rest of the neighborhood though. At first glance, Dumaguete seemed to have let itself go, it's not as clean, nor as orderly as I remember. But then, after a few days, I realised that I was probably has always been like that. A little more people, a little more chaotic, but still the same Dumaguete as before.

Our days in Dumaguete consisted mostly of eating and sleeping, LOL. I should let the girl tell you all about it but she's packed her journal now ready to be shown to school tomorrow. Seriously though, it was great to see the family again. Particularly great was to see them with their grandkids, their niece and nephew. Back here in Adelaide, my wife and I often talk about how our kids antics can only be seen and appreciated by us, and how we wish the rest of the family could see them. Well, this holiday the rest of the family finally got to see how great the kids have turned out so far. I was particularly happy that the kids actually got to spend quality time with my siblings and parents, from tickling Lola Etts in bed, to watching TV with Lolo Dadad, going bowling with Tito Tater Bum-bum or eating out with Tita Zai. It was too bad that my youngest bro couldn't be there with us but I'm sure we'll get to see him soon, I hope.

At any rate, vacation time is never enough and despite having the most wonderful time we had to leave all too soon.

Philippines Holiday 2007: First Leg

From my daughter's travel journal:

17.9.07

On Sunday I went to my Mum's house. Uncle Teddy picked us up from the airport. The whole family was awake to meet us. There was Lolo, Lola, Tita Gina, Tito Teddy, Tito Jody, Tito Martin, Maya and Tita May.

Tita Gina gave us a gift. The present was pens and bathers that were pink. Then we went to sleep.

Tito = Uncle Tita = Auntie

We arrived late on the Sunday night from Singapore but my wife's family were still up to meet us and the kids. We were staying a day before catching another plane ride to Dumaguete.

We were happily surprised that the grandparents eschewed their usual sleeping time to eagerly wait for their apos arrival.

18.09.07

On Monday I went to the mall with Tita Gina, Mum and Dad, Nico and me. Tita Gina and I got name tags and ice cream. My brother and I went to a little playground then we went back home.

She had these tiny ice cream cones which was really cute.

Philippines Holiday 2007: Starting Out and Singapore Stopover

So we just got back from our short 4 week holiday. It seemed like quite a quick holiday for us because this time we spent it both in Dumaguete and Manila. Both my parents and sister were coming back from the US and it was sort of a little family reunion. Anyway, had too much fun too actually sit down and blog during that time as I notice that I did not do any blogging for the whole month of September. As my sister says, why blog it when you can live it.

Actually, there was one person who was actively writing about our trip. The little girl actually had travel journal which she wrote on almost every day. She was going to miss 2 weeks of school so her teacher gave her a travel journal so she would have something to do. Her teacher even gave a travel journal to the little boy so he wouldn't feel left out as well. What I might do is just to "copy" what she wrote.

15.9.07

On Saturday I went on a plane. It was called Singapore Airlines and Joyce and Justin brought us to the airport. When I looked out of the window and I saw red desert and I learned that theres lots of deserts in Australia. And the plane went over and through the clouds. And then we went a bus to go to the Elizabeth Hotel. We had trouble opening the connecting door.

Our good friends here actually brought us the airport even though we had an early flight. We still had time to kill in the new Adelaide airport so we stopped by the kids playroom had a little breakfast and looked around until our flight boarded for Singapore. On the plane to Singapore, the kids were actually quite good and excited as they got to play with the in-flight entertainment system. The kids are well taken cared of on Singapore Airlines flights as they were also given activity books and crayons as well as having good tasting children's meals.

We thought that they might have time to sleep on the flight but they stayed awake all the way so we parents were actually on our toes alternately taking them to the toilet or helping them finish their food or helping them work the in-flight entertainment system.

We got to Singapore it was still 6PM local time. We were staying overnight until our plane trip to the Philippines the next day and as part of our itinerary we had a hotel booked and we took a mini-bus to get there. We used to stay in 1 star hotels on our layovers in Singapore because we knew we wouldn't be staying long but this time around we stayed in a 4 star hotel and we could really tell the difference. The Elizabeth Hotel was only a few blocks away from Orchard Road so the kids got to see how busy the shopping district was on our way to the hotel.

We already asked for adjoining rooms in advance but when we checked in, they only had 2 separate rooms available. It was a good thing the nice Filipina receptionist was able to upgrade us to a junior suite and we enjoyed the luxury even if it was only for an overnight stay. We did, however, had a little trouble opening the connected rooms and by he time housekeeping helped us out and we all settled in it was already late. We decided to get some room service and called it a night after that.

16.09.07

Sunday I went to Singapore Zoo. I went to see some animals. I saw the Splash Show and after that held 2 birds with my dad. Then we went back to the Elizabeth Hotel.

The next day, we were still getting used to Singapore's humidity so after breakfast ( buffet! ) we had a dip at the hotel pool. It was a bit drizzling but the kids didn't mind. Our flight didn't leave until late so we decided to go see the Singapore Zoo. It was a good experience and certainly it was quite bigger than the Adelaide Zoo. We didn't get to see all of the animals but were able to see the elephants, hippos and of course, our girl's favourite animal, the flamingos. We were even lucky enough to catch the Splash Show where they had performing seals and penguins. We didn't stay too long because we felt the heat really getting to us and we made our way back to the hotel in time for our bus ride to the airport.

I'll write ( or copy ) what we did next in another post. This one's already getting long! But more photos in our Flickr page. Singapore Stopover Set

And We're Back

Just spent what seemed to be a very short 4 weeks in the Philippines for a holiday! For those who were wondering where we went, we spent over a week in Dumaguete and about the same amount of time in Manila. Very short vacation indeed but it was so great to catch up with family we haven't seen in so long.

I still have a couple of days holiday left so I'll find the time to sift through the pictures and blog a little about our little whirlwind trip. Suffice to say, we're back in Adelaide safe and sound.

Blast From The Past

Look what we found while clearing out our closet. They don't make stickers like these anymore. Heck, the company has even changed their name now!

Sick Today

The little girl woke up this morning with a 39C fever today which is never good. She was complaining about her head being "floppy" which wwe think is her way of saying she's having a headache. With recent news about influenza hitting kids hard around Australia, we couldn't help but feel worried. So, I took a carer's day off and took her to the doctor this morning. Unfortunately, nothing he can do but prescribe paracetamol and lots of fluid. Although, he did say that if she still had fever later in the afternoon to bring her back and he was going to make an assessment on whether to bring her to hospital or not. Not always the best thing to hear as I thought we've done our quota of hospital visits for the year.

At any rate, after a light lunch and a nap her fever broke so at least we knew that it wasn't going to be that serious. She was much better in the later afternoon. Now, she's about back to her normal self but still having a 37C temperature and having a slight cough.

We think she should stay in again tomorrow but she thinks she's well enough to go to school. Anyway, it would be the wife's turn to be caretaker tomorrow but I hope she'll be all better by then.

Kid Funnies Part 21

Our little boy made up a new word the other day. The girl and I were playing in the living room and were getting quite loud and boisterous. He, however, was busy reading a new book from the library when he suddenly cupped his ears and shouted, "Stop it Daddy, you're annoising me!"

"Pardon?", I asked. "What was that word?"

"Annoising me, you're very loud and it's annoising me!" he replied.

So there you go:

annoising: adjective: causing annoyance due to loud noises, annoying + noisy.

heheh.

Chasing Rainbows

Chasing Rainbows, originally uploaded by chazzvid.

Coming back from the city some weekends ago, we saw a sight we don't often see: a full rainbow over Adelaide. So, instead of going straight home, we drove around trying to find a good spot to take a photo.

Yes, we spent the afternoon chasing a rainbow.

Blogging Break

We've been taking a break from blogging a bit. Seems that real life has caught up and we've both been busy at work and with the kids. The wife and kids are about to finish school holidays and come Monday, it's back to the daily grind for all of us. In the meantime, works been hectic and I've been too busy to put some of the family's goings on in the blog. Anyway, enough with the excuses, on to other things...

As I was strolling around the city on my lunch break a couple of weeks ago, guess who I bumped into. A rock demi-god, Alice Cooper! I sort of recognised him partly from his voice. I don't often here American accents around the city and I was having lunch I heard some snatches of American accented conversation from someone with a very familiar voice. When I turned around, there he was, an unassuming man in black having a little lunch next to me. Turns out he had a gig in Adelaide and he was just walking around the city too. I even got to shake his hand and grabbed a little photo.



Alice Cooper, we're not worthy!

Time to Brag Again

Recently, my daughter got an award at school! I know, I know .... here I go again, tooting my proud parent horn, hahahaha. So if you're all getting tired of this, look away now!

But here's the deal, she was asked early this week to emcee the school assembly to be held on Friday morning. And when her teacher gave us the script to practice that Monday morning, we started practicing it every night as a family. The little boy even participated by holding the toy microphone for her as she practiced her script, standing in the middle of the living room. Although she was asked to speak in front of the whole school before, this was the first time she had more than a dozen speaking parts. And she did it with so much confidence, it really was amazing to watch! The teachers were so impressed with her public speaking skills, she also got an award for it at the end of the assembly.

When I picked her up from school at the end of the day, she mentioned that when she got back into the classroom after the assembly, the whole class gave her an applause. And that made her really happy. And so to reward her for this great achievement, I gave her a choice .... a snack to buy and eat at home, a kids' video to rent, or a snack to have in the cafe. She chose to have a snack at the cafe, finishing it off with gelati .... so unusual on a cold, rainy, winter day! But hey, who am I to complain .... she did a great thing and did not ask much in return. Am I glad she's not one of those kids who will always ask "what's in it for me?" with every thing we ask them to do. I hope she keeps up this kind of attitude for a long, long time.

Close Call

My sister gave me an IM the other day telling me that they got into a car crash. I immediately called them up thinking it was maybe a fender bender of some sort. How wrong I was. I heard first hand how bad it really was. I felt so bad for my siblings, so sorry that they had to experience such an horrific accident but at the same time I'm glad that they walked out of that alive. I haven't seen anything but hearing my sister and brother talk about it and reading her account of the accident just made me feel like I was there experiencing it with them. I just felt so helpless being this far away from them.

Hope you're doing ok now guys. The kids and your manang and I are just happy you're OK.

Yes, It's Cold!

I think this is the coldest I've ever seen in Adelaide!

EDIT: Actually I have a short memory, last year we had Adelaide's coldest day in 24 years. Might be broken soon as we're in for a sub-zero night!

Air Guitar!

We Just had a fun time with the kids tonight. Sometimes, we'd put on music while we put the kids to sleep. Normally, it would be some slow and light kids music or classical music. Just soft enough for them ( and us ) to get drowsy to. This time, they were still in a playful mood ( which is often the case ) and I decided to put on The Police's greatest hits. Wouldn't you know it, they actually liked the music and they to listened and sang along to "Every Breath You Take" and "Do Do Do Da Da Da". The boy liked it so much that he did the impromptu air guitar! He even did the high spin jumps off the bed. I even taught him to do the 3 finger rock salute! It was really fun to watch the kids just strumming their air guitars and shouting out the Do Do Do chorus.

It really reminded me of when I was growing up and my brothers and I had the pretend air guitars and air drums! Now, if only I could remember what we actually 'sang'. :)

Comic Geeks

Comic Geeks, originally uploaded by chazzvid.

Guess who helped me sort out my comic book collection today.