The One and Only

In Bacolod, as far as I know, there is only one public park. In some of the sub division they have their own parks but they are private for the people in those specific areas. There are a few indoor play places where you can pay to have your kids play but as far as free and public this is the only one. We pass by it almost everyday since it's just along one of the main roads in the city and the kids love to play there. We hardly do ... for many reasons. One being apparently kidnappings happen there, another reason is that I hate seeing the old guys sitting there taking pictures of my kids with their phone camera's and the most important reason is because I fear for my children's lives.
I decided that since it really is so bad that I would take a bunch of pictures as proof so you all wouldn't think I was exaggerating so here they are although it was night time so they don't capture the true colour of the rust but I hope that you can get the just of it:
Here is a rusted hole on the platform to the slide. Just a thin sharp rusted edge waiting for a foot to fall through so it can scrape my kids legs up giving them gangrene. These 'holes' can be found throughout the playground and when you're a 4 year old excited to be at an actual park the last thing you are looking for is eroded holes. The next picture is of what you land in once you make your way through the rusted holes and down the slide. Not so bad I know, just a puddle. But puddles are not 'just' water around the Philippines. When people drop their pants and pee wherever they want, throw their trash on the ground and spit all the time I like to think of these puddles as little open cesspools. My father in law has always said that public hot tubs are big cesspools and I totally agreed, until I moved here. Now in comparison hot tubs are crystal clear. So in summary you carefully make your way through the rust trap and get down to the bottom of the slide to only fall into a puddle of garbage juice, urine and strangers spit. AWESOME!

So the slides aren't really something we spend too much time on because no one likes to get their feet covered in that muck so we move on to something else. But what!? Everything is broken. The seesaws only have 1 seat and the last time I played on a seesaw by myself it really sucked. The chains on the swings are half broken and tied up so no one can wreck them anymore. I dont' get it because as far as I can tell anything someone could do would be an improvement? At least if they left the rusty chains untied the kids could swing from them and play Tarzan or something?

Now these last pictures are to show that the park isn't a complete bust. There is a merry-go-round that Ryan can get moving fast enough to make the kids happy. Just outside the park we found a kitten that was pretty cute. I'm too sure if it had flea's or some other random disease so the kids weren't aloud to touch it but we ran after it and that was fun.

Now we do have a park in our subdivision that the kids love to play in so we don't have to go all the way to the Lagoon to go down a slide. The sad thing is that the one here in Palmas Del Mar is even more eroded, more rusted and more deadly then this one. I would actually think that Palmas Del Mar would be embarrassed to keep it around and not junk it already but I guess it's just another Filipino Park in Bacolod City.

Feeding Frenzy

We took Grandma and Aunt Cheryl to feed the fish at the Lagoon last night. It's a man made pond thing in front of the provincial building where people tend to gather and spend some time together, run and feed the fish. For 20php (50¢) you get a bag of a dozen small bags filled with pellets of coloured fish food. The people that sell the fish food line the entrances of the lagoon along with their snacks. These type of little stands are all over the Philippines especially downtown and outside of the school grounds selling their snacks, hair clips and other random odds and ends.
After purchasing our fish food from a cute little girl helping her mom we went into the lagoon and started ripping open our little bags of fish foods and the feeding frenzy began. The fish seem to know that when someone approaches the railing that food is coming and hundreds of these fish start flipping around on the suface of the water fighting over the pellets that we were throwing at them.

Whenever we go out to places like this we usually get a little bit of extra attention or stares but we have been able to get used to it a bit. I tend to just look beyond everyone so I don't notice and Ryan sometimes will just stare right back and start a staring contest which the Filipino usually wins. I got a picture of a cute little boy who was looking like he'd never seen a little white kid before, which I'm sure he hadn't'; big eyes and jaw dropped.
After we were finished with all the fish food we walked around the lagoon, where we stopped for a few minutes at the playground, ran after a tiny cute kitten and made our way past the provincial building and back to the car just in time for bed. It was a really nice way to spend that lull of time in between dinner and bedtime.

Our Title of Liberty

We try to do have our FHE (Family Home Evening) on Tuesdays after an early dinner. It's a fun time as a family where we sing, eat snacks, learn something about church and enjoy each other's company through some sort of activity. In the January 2011 issue of the Friend Magazine on the back inside cover there is a picture of Captain Moroni raising the title of liberty. The kids recognized it right away for what it was and I read the bottom which mentioned that as a family we could make our own title of liberty. I had told the kids that we could for sure do that for an FHE activity but didn't ever get my act together enough to get out and buy a piece of fabric large enough. Finally I got my act together and we made our title of liberty. The kids drew pictures of all the things that were important to them and worth fighting for. Our flag had a school, temple, missionary name tag, church, family, love, Canadian and Philippine flag and a few other treasures. We tied it on the end of a bamboo stick and the kids ran through the street with it and then we hung it on the balcony on the upstairs of our house so that everyone in the neighborhood could see what is important to our family.

Alma Chapter 46:12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—aIn memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

Mambukal Day Trip

Today we went up to Mambukal Mountain Resort with Ryan's mom and Aunt. It was the perfect day; sunny and hot! We walked around the entire site touching the natural sulfur springs made hot from the volcano, Ryan played in the boiling mud pit and the kids did some wall climbing.

There has been so much rain lately that everything was this vibrant green contrasted with the beautiful colour of the water in the pond and rivers. So beautiful. Also we were given an amazing show by the flying fox bats! They suddenly all startled awake and were flying around with their huge wingspan. It was pretty cool!

We made our way into the butterfly gardens and walked around while the butterfly's flew around us. There were some live cocoons wiggling around but the butterflies quickly stole away the attention again:

We spent as much time as we could handle in the hot dipping pool before making our way into the cooler pool where the kids played around and spent some really fun times with Grandma!

It was a really great day. We all got some sun, some of us more then others but it was a success! The short drive there and back was completely worth the hours spent in the mountain today! Hopefully we'll a lot more successful adventures while Ryan's mom and aunt are here.

My Family

For the last couple years Ryan's brother has put together a family calendar for the Beattie's. Each family has a couple months dedicated to them with their pictures collaged onto it, he does a really great job. The first year he did it he asked us for pictures and I sent some off no problem but when he got back to me asking for more pictures of all of us together I realized that we only had 1 or 2 pictures of us as an entire family. Kind of sad eh!?
Ever since then I've tried to get more shots of all 5 us together. It's tough work to get 5 people looking in the same direction with picture worthy faces but I think that we've gotten much better at over the last few years. It does however usually mean that I set the timer on the camera and run into the picture, smooth out my hair and smile. Thankfully Ryan had one of his many moments of pure genius for the picture above where no one had to be looking at the camera, or smiling! All I had to do was set the timer, sprint to the sea wall and high jump on to it before the flash went off. It only took 3 times!

Ryan Get Your Gun

One of my favorite television shows is "Modern Family." It is so witty and I just cannot help but laugh at these characters stupidity and eccentric views as I can hear myself delivering their lines. The writers have creatively combined all the stereotypical traits of a man and woman into these characters so that everyone can relate to the common mishaps and laugh knowing it to be 'oh so true!' They have the average family with mom Claire and dad Phil with their three kids. Then there is the gay dads who just adopted from Asia and lastly the wealthy old guy who married some big breasted beauty who speaks english as a second language and has a son from a previous marriage. They are all related and the show hops from one set to the other through their hilariously intertwined lives. There is only one downer to the show, it's only 30 minutes instead of the hour that most shows seem to take up these days.
I have a few favorite episodes but these are my top two. The first one I refer as the iPad episode. Phil Dunphy needs an iPad for his birthday so immediately I think of Ryan. The iPad is being released on his actual birthing and he says "It's like Steve Jobs and God got together to say, 'We love you, Phil.'"
Claire, his wife, sets out to make her husbands birthday wish come true but oversleeps and misses out getting ahead of the mass line ups. After Phil nearly suffers heartbreak at the thought of not getting one and thinking no one cares Claire is able to find one and makes Phils birthday wish come true as he remarks "who's ready for the first day of the rest of their lives?"
Sadly I laughed out loud at the entire episode as I pictured Ryans head in place of Phils.

I've mentioned before a little bit about how much fun the kids have when I'm not around and they are left with Ryan. We're talking movies, eating in the no-go zones and jumping on the beds. I've always seen it as I'm the boring parent they are with all day and all night and Ryan is the special parent they only get a few hours with every day so naturally they love him most. You always want more of a good thing ... right!?
Well I'd have to say one of the funnier episodes of Modern Family I've seen addressed this very issue. In the episode titled "Manny Get Your Gun" Claire and Phil were arguing about which route to take to a restaurant. In an attempt to each prove their way fastest and to keep things interesting they decide to take separate vehicles and see who gets their first. Luke, the son, walks in and asks what's going on and Claire bursts out "We're splitting up."
Luke immediately says that's he's going with his dad but Claire grabs him and pulls him away with her. In the car it comes up that Luke thought his mom and dad were divorcing when she said 'splitting up' and while explaining what she meant by 'we're splitting up' and trying to reassure her son Claire remembers that Luke wanted to go with his dad. Hurt she seeks for an explanation and realizes it's because Phil is the 'fun parent.' Trying to get Luke to her side she shares this:
"Let me let you in on a little secret Luke. When I met your dad I was fun too, but I had to give all that up because you can't have two fun parents. It's a carnival" and ends with "You know Liam? That kid who wears pyjamas to school and pays for everything with hundred dollar bills? Two fun parents, I betcha”.
Well, this is pretty much my family. Ryan is the fun parent and I'm the one that sacrifices my funness for the better good of our little family unit. *sigh* As the non-fun responsible parent in the family please tell me that I'm not the only one in this situation and in my defense; I just don't know if my kids could handle two of this:

Kids Are The Cutest When ...

It's no secret that I think my kids are cute. I only think that because they are ... cute, that is. The thing is that there is a time of day when my kids are always at their cutest. When the moon is in the sky, they are all tucked into their beds and this peaceful quiet calmness settles through out the house and dreams fill my little ones heads, that is when my kids are at their cutest. No creases in their brow, no frowns on their faces, no dinner smeared across their cheeks, just perfection.
A couple days ago I was skyping with my sister and the older kids were outside playing. Maddy was a little angry with me for making her stay inside but sadly she just can't do everything they can. She quickly got over it and cuddled up to her blanket at my feet. Kaitlyn and I had been chatting for a while when I realized Maddy had been super quiet. She's a pretty loud kid. I looked down and found her sleeping curled up at my feet like a dog with her little thumb in her mouth. SO cute. She must have been out cold because even when I moved her upstairs to her bed she just stretched out her legs and was dead to the world.

Hobby Time

I love taking pictures. I'm not saying i'm a great photographer, just that I really love looking at the world through a camera lens. To me it makes the world seem more beautiful, people more interesting and moments more precious. Everything is beautiful in it's own way and when looking through a camera lens the challenge is to find that rare beauty.
Ryan and I kind of a have a rule when it comes to the blog; every post should have at least one picture. Maybe it's because both of us are such visual people or we like to show off our super cute kids but we both feel like it makes the blog more appealing. It's pretty easy to add at least one picture since I pretty much follow my kids around with a camera and capture as many of these fleeting moments as I can. I can proudly say that 99% of the pictures on my blog are unedited, us in real life.
I do love playing in photoshop and seeing what I can do with my pictures but the truth be told, I don't have time and I really feel that if someone needs photoshop for all their pictures then they are doing something wrong.
With that being said I'd like to share with you a few of my 'edited' photo's along side the originals. Ryan says they all look fake, which is true but I still like the look and feel to HDR (high dynamic range) photography. So yes they look fake, but do they look cool?

Yay For The Beach

What do you do when your Canadian friends come for a visit!? You take them to the beach! It has been so busy these last few weeks for Ryan at work that we had to stick pretty close to home while the Banman's were visiting but it worked out to our advantage. We took them south to Punta Bulata where we literally had the entire resort to ourselves. It was so quiet and peaceful, the kids could be as loud and obnoxious as they liked and I didn't have to worry about them bugging other people. It was fantastic! They pretty much lived in the water! They would run, jump and splash in the pool playing around with their new blow up whales:

and then they would run down to the beach and play in the warm shallow waters collecting star fish and other sea creatures.

Brayden took the opportunity of not having to share the pool with strangers to master his flips into the water:

We went for walks along the beach and played with treasures we found. The last few months the weather has been really horrible and I guess they had some huge waves that came and took quite the toll on the beach. There were parts where the roots of the coconut trees were all exposed or the trees had fallen down. I know that erosion is a natural cycle but it's still shocking to see the damage the waves had caused since we had been there last in December. Ryan also scouted out a location for his explosives fire crackers and late one afternoon he and Jeff took off just the two of them and did their thing. Every once in a while we could hear a huge BOOM and we knew what they were doing. On our walks we saw some of the locals hanging out by their boats and some women who were crushing sea urchins and collecting the meat from inside the shells. We got massages and Ryan caught up on some of the sleep he'd missed that week. Juanita and I attempted snorkeling but I got scared off by all the sea weed we had to walk through because it was low tide. Sadly Juanita stepped on a big black sea urchin and got poked in the foot. OUCH! She was pretty dang tough though and went out again the next morning to explore.

It was such a great weekend. I think that everyone enjoyed themselves and we really tried to fit everything in that we could. Jeff even found time to take some pictures of us as a family! Thanks Jeff.

To see more pictures from our fun trip just click here!

The Sites

Yay! We have some friends here from Canada right now. Yippee for us. Yesterday while Ryan was sleeping I was able to take them to a few of the local sites and show them a little of what Bacolod has to offer. We went to The Ruins and walked through the beautiful destroyed mansion while the kids ran wild through all the open space and nice soft grass. It is just so pretty and peaceful out there.
After The Ruins we stopped by a Buddhist Temple and walked around the grounds looking at the lions, the shrines and the landscaping. The kids were so respectful after a pep talk about being quiet and not running around like children out of the wild. It was nice to walk around, they had a little garden area set up and even though it was right off a busy road it seemed to be a lot quieter.
I always enjoy seeing these beautiful places in Bacolod. It reminds me of the natural beauty I drive by everyday that now is just a 'normal' part of my life.

Sneaky Sneakiness

We were staying at a hotel the other day and we had this table outside so we decided to eat our dinner outside. Brayden had mentioned how he didn't really like his meat too much but he was told that he had to finish everything on his plate. I got up from the table for a minute to get something from the hotel room and on the way out pass Brayden heading in. I ask him what he's doing down from the table and he tells me that he's "looking for the garbage."
"Why?" I asked him. He simply replied it was because he just wanted to know where it was. I quickly sized him up and down and noticed that his left hand was lightly clenched into a fist so I asked him "What is in your hand Brayden?"
He opens up his palm and shows me the last bit of his hamburger patty and shrugs with a smile and says "OH! I forgot that was there" and heads back to the dinner table.

Did you ever do things like that when you were younger to not eat something you didn't like? I can remember my sister getting busted for trying to flush food down the toilet! Hahaha. Ryan once told me a story from his mission of an elderly blind lady who cooked them the nastiest fish he's ever tasted. He and his companion kept feeding it to the ladies cat until finally the cat puked it up!
It will be interesting to see how much more Brayden becomes with his dinner disposal as he gets older. As for Ryan and I, I guess we need to add dinner detectives to our resumes.

It's Officially Summer Vacation!

On Saturday the kids had their school concert to end the year. It was all about how they are proud to be Pinoy (Filipino). My kids were each born in Canada and hold a Canadian passport BUT they all have spent the majority of their lives in the Philippines so I guess they could kind of pass of Pinoy? I'm not too sure exactly how it all wrapped up together as far as costumes but Maddy was a lawyer, Sydney a ballerina and Brayden a boxer basketball player. Easy costumes for the first time ever at this school so I was pretty pumped.
It was fun. There were four different levels performing at the concert and we had kids in 3 of those 4 'grades' so it was pretty entertaining. I can remember Brayden's first year Christmas concert and out of the 8 different performances he was apart of 2 of them. Boring. We loved the few minutes he was up there but the rest of it was just painful. This year was a totally different experience. They were so cute up there. Both Sydney and Brayden rocked their moves and even Madison started to get into it shaking her hips and clapping her hands. I have to say ... SUCCESS!

Favorite Canadian Treat

I love Beaver Tails. Have you ever had them? It's a thin slab of fried bread smeared with toppings, traditionally, melted better and cinnamon sugar. YUM! This is one of my all time favorite treats. I can not go to Vancouver and not get one. It's pretty much the same thing as the elephant ears you get at Whoop Up Days in Lethbridge. Now these Beaver Tails stores sell them with all sorts of toppings, fruits, smoked salmon and cream cheese, sour cream and chives! But for me, it's always the classic. They call them Beaver Tails because they look just like a beaver tail, pretty self explanatory if you've ever seen a beaver.
So we're driving in the car and Brayden starts talking about the next time we go to Canada he will get a Beaver Tail. This is such a random thought but when it comes to Brayden, these thoughts just come to him. Last time we went home (July) we stopped in Vancouver for a week to spend time with my family. We went to Lonsdale Quay and in the little market I treated myself to a Beaver Tail. Brayden and Sydney both opted for a crepe, a decision they quickly regretted as I allowed each of them a small taste of my delicacy. Sadly they couldn't switch their choice as I had tried before they ordered to side with me and order Beaver Tails making it crystal clear that what they ordered is what they would eat. I don't know at what age, if any, children realize that mother knows best...
So back to the car: Brayden tells us next time we're in Canada he will get the Beaver Tail. My mouth starts watering as I join him in sweet remembrance. "Yes Brayd, those are so good!" Ryan pipes up saying that we should just make our own. I quickly agree "OH, YA!" thinking this is a fantastic idea and that we haven't had fried bread for months. Brayden gets a little excited and 100% serious says "yes, first we just need to go and find a beaver."
UM, whatever you say Brayden but if a real beaver's tail tastes that good I cannot wait to try the rest of it.

What Comes First; The Chicken or the Egg?

The kids and I were eating eggs for breakfast yesterday morning and chatting about all the random thoughts that fill a kids mind early in the morning. Brayden starts poking at his egg and asks if the yellow part is cheese. I tell him no and he continues to poke until he asks "well, what is it then?" Both he and Sydney look at me waiting to hear my answer.
"It's the chick." Sydney starts gagging. No joke. Gagging. I seriously didn't know to laugh or run and grab a bucket for her to spew into. Sydney still had half of her second egg to finish, Maddy and I were the only ones already finished. Brayden just continues eating away completely satisfied with my response. Sydney then is the one that starts poking at her egg. Her lip is curled up in disgust as she tries to swallow what was in her mouth.
I quickly try to save breakfast by explaining that it's just chicken, no different then what we ate for dinner last night ... just babies. She still pokes away not putting anything into her mouth. Finally she asks "can the chicken feel this?" as she's literally poking her egg with her fingers.
"No Sydney, it can't. It's just our food, it's not alive." (or is it?). She slowly becomes distracted by Brayden's next random thought and picks up her fork and finishes her breakfast. *sigh of relief* My guess is eggs won't be what we're eating today!