Right Into The Swing of Things

Well we've back in the Philippines for a week and a half now and things seem to be like we never left. The kids are back at school, Ryan is back full swing into work and we've been able to catch up with all our friends.
We all survived the 14 hour flight from Vancouver to Manila with minor complications. Air Canada lost our luggage in Vancouver but we were fortunate enough to get it delivered to our house only a couple days after we arrived. The kids were amazing travellers as usual and I learned something new... People import Cocks from Canada!! I don't know if they are for breeding or for fighting but when we started our decent down to Manila the Roosters were crowing like crazy! At first I thought I was imagining it thinking I must be going crazy hearing the Roosters already (this is how I have woken up every morning for almost the last 2 years!) but then Brayden noticed and started crowing with them. We see them all the time on domestic flights in their little cardboard boxes with holes all over the place but i've never seen them on an international flight before! So way to go Canada for breeding international Roosters.
I've mentioned this to our family but for other readers coming home brought one huge dissapointment! Apparently a week before we arrived back into the Philippines the country passed a law limiting the passengers allowed on a motorbike to two only!! AND they both must be wearing helmets. To make it worse if there is a child on the bike they have to be at least 7 years old!! This means that now when we take the kids to school we must be super sneaky and put Brayden in clothes that make him look 7. Unfortunately this rule really sucks for those who only can afford a motorbike and it's their only means of transporting their family members to school and to work. I'm sure that this will be hard on a lot of families now having to take other means.... gas prices are now at $1.50 US and jeepney prices on the rise and rice going up it will be more difficult for these family then it already is!
In other news it was my birthday and now i'm old! But other then that... things are all good, all the same and everyone is well!

Cardston, Alberta

We drove down to Cardston Friday night after Ryan was finished work to spend the night with Leslie and Dustin before we leave to the Philippines again and we went to the Cardston Rodeo. We didn’t end up staying for too long but for the little time that Brayden did spend there he’s been pretending to rope calf’s since.

The following day was the Cardston parade where Ryan’s family all collected on the side of the road to catch as much candy as we could. Unfortunately my kids weren’t quite as prepared as I had hoped and although we left with some good treats we just didn’t have the numbers that we could have ;) Brayden and Sydney seemed pleased with their collection of sugar!

Invermere, B.C.

For the August long weekend we went out to Invermere BC with my family. For those of you who don’t know where that is the best explanation I can give is that it’s inbetween Fairmont Hot Springs and Radium. From Lethbridge it’s normally a 5 hour drive but for us it took about 7 with stops to pick up Matthew; my sister’s boyfriend, letting the kids pee, blah blah blah it was a long drive. It was raining through parts of it but we were able to spot the brightest rainbow i've ever seen. Unfortunately this picture really doesn't do it justice! But thankfully the drive was rewarded with a tasty meal and great weather for the remainder of the weekend. It was really relaxing! We were able to go to the market where I picked up some delicious blackberries (yummy) which we ate on Vanila ice cream while everyone else was out, muahaha. The kids enjoyed the slip and slide and we set up the badminton net where Ryan and I kicked some serious butt. The boys also played a game of sepaktakraw which is a Malaysian form of soccer in the youtube clip below (I suggest taking the couple of minutes to watch it... they have some really amazing moves!). We also rented some canoes for a couple of hours and coasted out in the wetlands hoping to catch some otters and although we came out of the mission unsuccessful we were able to see a Blue Heron taking flight out of the reeds. Thankfully our ride home was much shorter with a dinner stop at the White Spot, mmm.

So for those of you people who have no idea what sepaktakraw is I thought I would add this youtube clib of a game. It's kind of older and long but it's got a pretty decent commentary so if you have a couple of minutes check it out!!