Around the Yard

The appliances that we have here in the Philippines are a little different then what I'm used to and so we use them a little differently then what I knew before. One of the biggest changes for me is the washing machine. You can see by the picture that you visitors from different parts of the world might wonder what exactly it is that you are looking at. Well this is my washing machine!

We use a hose to hook it up to the utility sink in our yard and it slowly fills up the left hand side compartment with water. This section will turn the water and clothes around in the soapy water quite efficeintly and do the cleaning. I then drain the water and put the clothes in the compartment on the right which will spin the majority of the water out of my clothes. I then re-fill the other compartment to rinse the soap out of the clothes only to re-drain it and put the clothes back in the spinner before putting them in the dryer or hanging them on the clothes line. I can really start to work up a sweat doing the laundry and it always feels like i'm doing double but i'm just thankful I'm not doing it by hand!!

So yesterday was laundry day here and as I was draining and switching clothes from one side to the other I kept thinking I was seeing something move but when I would look down all I saw was clothes in water so I thought a sock maybe fell back into the water. Finally out jumps this tree frog who latches onto the side of machine nearly making me scream. I left the poor guy for a bit hoping that he would move on his own. I heard a rumour that tree frogs can blind you if they pee in your eyes!? So on the safe side I was hesitant to move him with my own hands in fear of pee spraying into my eyes. I came back out a couple minutes later to find him moved into the next compartment and looking sick as you can see in the pictures, he looks a bit "sicker" in colour.

Apparently our yard if these fruit bearing trees although other then coconuts and calamansi (lemon like fruit) we had yet to see. Well we finally have a new fruit to be excited about!! There is a bunch of banana's just ripening now! The Philippine banana's I've had are a lot sweeter then the ones I'm used to but they make excellent banana bread so I'm really excited to do some baking with our new found treat!!

Back to School

This week Brayden was able to go back to The School For Creative Beginners after almost 3 months off from our vacation home to Canada. He was a little hesitant at first but once he was there everything was back to normal and on Tuesday he was again excited to see his classmates and Teachers. We also decided to enroll Sydney so she can work on the social skills, learn to share and have some time away from mommy. It worked out perfectly since her class goes the exact same time as Braydens and they are just down the hall from eachother.
They just look so cute in their little uniforms I couldn't help but post the picture:

Nothing Like Having Your Own Wheels!

For the past week I have been waking up to the noise of our front door slamming shut. The first time it really scared me since I was sure I had locked the door before going to bed and I couldn't figure out what was going on. I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs and peeked out the window and there was Brayden sitting on his brand new bike riding it around the driveway. Don't worry!! We have a gated property so he can't get out onto the road. Everymorning since that is how I have woken up, he unlocks the door and slams it shut on his way to the bike!
Every waking moment is spent wanting to ride his bicycle, the "L.A. Lady." He's become really good and starting and getting himself going pretty fast. We're still working on the brakes since it's hand brakes and his little hands can't exactly reach the brake from the handle. Ryan has taken him around the block a couple of times and he just loves it!!