The Real Christmas Day

December 25th we woke up in Bangkok Thailand ready to start our adventure. The majority of Thailand's population is Buddhist so I wasn't expecting much in respect to a Christmas celebration but I was pleasantly surprised. There were Christmas lights hanging from the trees with Merry Christmas banners, decorated Christmas tree's and a little nativity set up in our hotel. How thoughtful is it for a country with 95% believing in one thing but still be so willing to try to make Christmas pleasant for everyone else! We had already celebrated our Christmas so didn't really do much more then wish each other a Merry Christmas ... again, and I took a snap of the kids in front of the nativity the hotel was sporting.
The other time we had been in Bangkok Ryan and I were captivated with the huge weekend market and all the amazing things they had, seriously everything! Since it was Saturday we decided to head to Chatuchak weekend market and see what we could find as far as treasures. We got ourselves a tuk tuk and squashed all up together and off we went to the market and definitely were not disappointed! They had every kind of snack you could want, coconut ice cream, fresh fruits, shakes, wraps, thai curry, popsicles. They also had some foods that maybe you wouldn't want to eat:

It was such a busy day and by the time we made it back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the train station I was ready for bed. I think the 5 of us were all in our bunks by and sleeping by 6:30pm.

You can also click here to check out more of our Bangkok pictures.

Christmas Comes But Twice a Year

We had a trip to Thailand planned over Christmas this year but Christmas day we were going to be more in transit then anything. We were arriving in Bangkok around midnight Christmas morning, spending the day in the big city and then boarding the night sleeper train around 6pm Christmas night. We really didn't want to rip the kids off of their Christmas so we kind of tricked them into thinking that Christmas was on Wednesday this year instead of that coming Saturday. It worked out perfectly. The kids had been so busy with Nana and Papa arriving and our quick beach trip that they quickly lost track of the days and one day they woke up and BAM it was Christmas Eve and we were eating our Chinese take out anticipating Santa's arrival by leaving him some cookies decorated earlier that day and some Super Lolo firecrackers (we heard Santa liked firecrackers as much as their dad).

We woke up in the morning and were so excited to see that Santa had found us even though we were early this year. He's one smart dude! The main floor of our house quickly turned to chaos and no inch of wrapping paper was left untouched. Our kids were spoiled mostly with craft and building type loot and a few stuffed animals for the wee one. Hopefully stuff that will keep them entertained for a while!

We finished our day with my very first turkey! I did it and it was a success, or I thought so anyway. It tasted good and we had way more then enough which came in handy the next day for lunch before leaving to the airport. We had mashed potato's, yummy carrots, turkey, stuffing and gravy. Just the basics but it was really tasty and thankfully I had my mom there to help me out. The house got smoking hot with the oven on and the door wide open with excited kids running in and out that was letting in that 30*C air. The poor air conditioning really had to work overtime. We did take a few breaks over the afternoon to let off some of the big firecrackers that are in the video I previously shared so thankfully it wasn't just play time for the kids. It was a really nice fake Christmas day. The best part about it was that when Ryan and I went out on December 24th we were just chilling and watching everyone else in the malls scramble for all their last minute gifts. It was so wonderful to have dealt with all that already and just relax!

Alive and Having a Blast!!

Well, we are in Thailand right now having quite the amazing adventure. I've taken loads of snaps but have no laptop to upload them for you! I promise lots of day by day updates when we get back to Bacolod early next week.
I hope you are all having a great Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm A Big Pig ... You Can Be A Big Pig Too

So we keep our bacon grease because we don't really have hot water in our kitchen sink and as it thickens it clogs the drain and it's gross. We drain it into a empty tin and when it's full it goes into the garbage and we don't ever see it again. I keep it under the sink so it's easy to access and out of the way. Ryan eats a lot of bacon and so he'll drain it off and leave it there on the kitchen counter for me to put away when it cools down enough to touch. One day when I went to put the tin under the sink I found this:

KA-BOOM

I've mentioned that we've been celebrating the Christmas season with fireworks and firecrackers. Well we've been testing a lot of different firecrackers to see which ones are the loudest most breath taking. Well I put together this little ensemble so you can decide for yourself which ones gave us the best bang for our buck:

White Snow vs. White Sand

This year for Christmas my mom and step dad made the trip out! So exciting. They've been here before for Christmas and we did this busy trip from one island to another and when we were in Bacolod we were trying to show off the things we loved. It was very go go go. Very fun but very busy. This time I wanted them to kind of get a glimpse of what life is like here for us day to day, relax a little bit and enjoy the company. We have two weeks here in the Philippines before finishing their stay with 1 week in Thailand. We've been doing some Christmas shopping, swimming at the pool here in the subdivision, lighting off fireworks and chilling out. These last few days we took them south a little bit to Punta Bulata. I really wanted to take them to a beach and last time they were here we did the famous Boracay and the beautiful Bohol and so I really wanted to show them something different. I also did not want to do a lot of travelling since they just got off that awful plane ride a week prior and we were going to do a fair bit of travelling in Thailand so Punta Bulata seemed like the perfect choice. Plus the fact that we would most likely have an amazing white sand beach all to ourselves is always enticing. There isn't a whole lot as far as shopping goes but we were able to stay busy exploring the beach, swimming, reading, suntanning and eating. I was able to go for a nice run down the beach one morning while the sun was rising, so peaceful! Oh and did I mention 'amazing white sand beach all to ourselves?'

All three of my kids love swimming. Both Brayden and Sydney have just started swimming on their own without life jackets for pretty amazing distances and so it was perfect for them to practice and gain more confidence. They did this by jumping into the deep end and swimming back, getting thrown into the middle of the pool and swimming back to the edge and putting on the snorkel and masks and putting around the perimeter. I am so proud of them and how amazing they have become. Brayden can swim more then the length of the pool on his own now and Sydney is not too far behind him! Maddy putts around with her water wings on refusing to be left behind. She is just too cute following behind squealing with delight.

We had the perfect weather. The sun was hot, we had a little rain late on our last afternoon which lightened up so we could light off our fireworks on the beach which were AMAZING! Even the staff of the hotel all applauded after the big show. The kids also lit up some sparklers and roman candles shooting out across the water. The sun was back in full forces the next morning as we walked out and explored the beach during low tide. We discovered so many treasures and played around in our own little touch pool.

The evenings were pretty relaxing. The sunsets were amazing and Ryan's newest supply of fireworks proved to be successful, some that would put Lethbridge fireworks to shame (not that it takes a lot to do that). The kids played with their sparklers and Ryan also bought some torches which the kids loved. They were like sticks that burned down changing colour the further down they burned then at the end they would spit out sparkler type lights. We had a few boxes of real fireworks that lit up the sky with amazing colours and loud booms and a few rockets launched from the sand flying across the ocean. It was so much fun and I know the kids loved it!

Such a great weekend. I know the kids had a great time. They couldn't stop talking about how much they love Punta Bulata, the swimming pool and they were all smiles the whole weekend. From the moment they woke up in the morning until bed time they were running around outside enjoying themselves. The resort laid a lot of grass since the last time we were there and it was so nice for them to be able to run from the soft green grass to the soft white sand or the nice cool water. Our room also joined right up to the pool so there wasn't far to go. I've noticed that when my kids are happy and burning off their energy it sure makes my job a whole lot easier!

Swan Dive

Do you guys ever watch these hilarious Old Spice commercials?

Well I see this picture and all I can think is 'Swan dive ... into the best night of your life':

Always a Good Time To Blow Something Up

Ryan loves exploding stuff. The Philippines loves fireworks and firecrackers. Therefore we have a match made in heaven. We were out buying some Christmas presents for the kids and Ryan decides that he's going to buy a couple bags of army men. Great, Brayden would love some army men to play with ... but no, these weren't for Brayden. These were for our fireworks. Apparently when you have little plastic men to explode they become even more fun!?

So of course the kids need to be involved because this is family time together! Brayden and Sydney LOVE exploding stuff just like their daddy. They love exploding little plastic green men just like their daddy.

Ryan is so thoughtful that he even buys fireworks that the kids can participate in first hand:

Lots of fun. Where is Madison in any of these pictures? Whimpering in the corner wishing it was over. Poor girl, she's the only one that doesn't share her daddy's excitement. Hopefully she'll grow into it because I don't think her daddy will ever grow out of it.

Tooth Fairy Dust

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY! Brayden's loose tooth finally fell out today. He had it so loose that all he had to do was bend over and it just fell jumped out! Poor guy just really did not want anyone in there pulling it out and so he patiently waited and waited for it to loosen. Finally today on the way from school I animatedly told him how I used to twist my loose teeth around not just wiggle them. So he goes and turns it 180* and gets a little excited. Then instead of turning it back the opposite direction he turns it another 180* making a full circle. He then procedes ANOTHER 180* so his poor tooth is seriously hanging on by nothing! He can't turn it anymore which causes a little bit of alarm for him until I get him to understand the tooth needs to be turned in the other direction so it's not backwards anymore and he quickly rotates it back 180* but it's still in there turned one full circle without him realizing it! We get home, he gets out of his cute school uniform and runs off to Isabelle's house and returns maybe 10 minutes later with his tooth in a paper towel. I jump out of the kitchen to take a picture and ask him if he had been twisting his tooth to show Bobbi (he made me text her he could twist it on the way home from school, pretty exciting stuff) but he very adamantly told me "NO" he bent down and "it just jumped out!"
SO COOL!

AND, guess who left evidence behind!? The tooth fairy! Yes, it's true ... tooth fairies have pixie dust and strange shaped feet.

That's Gotta Be One Special Woman

Last night we were driving home from the grocery store the kids started talking about how many kids they were going to have after they get married. Brayden then tells us that him and his wife are going to have to have 7 boys and 7 girls to make up their 14. "Wow!" I said, "How are you going to fit them all in a car?"
"Some will just go in the back, some in the middle and some in front with me and my wife," Brayden pauses a moment and continues "and some will stay home with a babysitter because that's a lot of kids."
I laughed out loud. His poor wife! She better have baby machine on her resume!

Our Newest Garden Additions

I briefly mentioned in a previous post that we added a chili pepper tree to our collection. We have been wanting to grow some in our garden for a while now but haven't found the right type of seeds for the type of peppers we wanted. While we were up in the mountains yesterday we found a few different pepper plants and took the plunge taking them home with us. We got one large tree and then 2 small pepper plants with larger peppers on it. We've put the tree along the side of the house for now and planted the smaller plants next to our green pepper plants (which are thriving!).

Our cucumbers and pumpkins are also coming along with buds and our lettuce is getting big enough to actually think about putting in a salad. It's very exciting to see them grow and try different types of seeds. We just had radish's and melon's planted but I have yet to see anything sprouting from the melon's. I think that my next project is going to be pineapples!

Pilot in the Making?

It was Sydney's turn to head out to the airport with her class. We walked out to the tarmac and watched the remote controls airplanes fly around. She loved it, watching all the tricks the guy was doing. The plane was flipping, spiralling, staying in one spot, waving at the students and whizzing past our heads at top speed. She was really interested and really wanted to touch it and feel what it was made out of. After checking out the remote controlled planes up close we got to go over to the real airplanes. She was so pumped to get inside on of those planes and the best part was the guy placing the kids into the plane put her right in the front so she got to play around with the controls. She was so happy!

I think that for the most part the field trip was super entertaining for Sydney and it was fun to follow her around as she checked out all the planes. She also really likes her teachers and likes to stick pretty close to them which was cute. She has two teachers and they are both great. Brayden has had Teacher Tina two times before so it's nice that i'm familiar with her and she really is great. Teacher Josie is new and I really like her. Sydney seems to have really taken a liking to her also which is comforting for me! Sydney really likes school, she seems to like her classmates and she actually learns stuff ... bonus!

Swimming and Chilli Peppers

Today was a mountain day. We decided to head up to Mambukal Resort for a little swimming and relaxation. We went with some friends and just spent the morning swimming. It was nice to get away from the city for a little bit and remember how beautiful this Island is. It was actually a little cold up there this morning so after being in the big swimming pool for over an hour the kids were a little chilled. Yes, it's true; my kids feel cold even when it's 30*C out and to be completely honest ... I was freezing. So we went to the natural hot springs to warm up which was SO relaxing. We do not have a bath tub in our house so it's been a long time since I've been able to just sit down and soak. As soon as my legs touched the water I could feel the muscles in my back and shoulders start to relax, I really needed it. The springs are naturally heated from the volcano the resort is built on. It's pretty warm in there with one small hot waterfall and 3 or 4 cold water sources pouring into it. There is a natural spring pool that they don't add cold water too and the rumour is that people will use it to make their hard boiled eggs. It really looks hot and you can feel the heat on your face when you are around it. Not something people touch, and super stinky. We just stayed where we could swim and then got ourselves some grub, which was so tasty. Such a great day. OH! And we bought a chilli pepper tree. Just thought I'd throw that one in there.

We've just recently met a Canadian couple here that is awaiting the final approval from Canadian Immigration to bring home their new daughter! They have been here now for a while and staying with family just a few minutes away from us. They are pretty amazing dealing with a new culture, a new daughter, and awaiting for these immigration papers so they can finally go home together as a family and settle into this new life. They have been through a lot together and are so interesting and have had some great adventures. It's been so great to get to know them! Their adoption is finalized here on the Filipino side and now that they are just waiting for everything on the Canadian side we're all hoping it goes quicly (knock on wood). And there little baby ... SO.CUTE.

Mom's Craft Time vs. Kid's Craft Time

I made these sugar cookies a day or two ago and really wanted to decorate them for the kids and let them decorate some themselves. I made a bunch of different colours of icing and then ran out of time to actually do anything about it. Yesterday we went out to the toy store to find a craft for the kids to do. They've been on a HUGE painting kick lately and our stocks were getting quite limited. We found something they both wanted to do and came home and the three of them started painting their dinosaurs.

This morning they decided to paint again and so I took advantage of it and quickly got a couple of the cookies decorated for them. I know it's not the best mid morning snack but the cookies are getting old and no one wants to eat gross old cookies!