The Holidays

So, it has really been a very long time since I've put anything new up and there has been two main reasons for that. One, I feel like there has pretty much always been something else that needs to be done and the other reason is when there isn't anything else to do, I just wanted to sleep. Finally, I have found some time to catch up a little. I feel like there has been so many things that have happened I could either write about 10 posts to tell about everything or I could just put up some pictures and briefly list what has been keeping us on our toes lately. I'm choosing the second option. So here we go,

*Way back in November, Daniel took me to a nice hotel for two nights and we left JoAnn with our neighbor. It was so fun to get away for a few days and just spend a few days with Daniel. The hotel we stayed at had a beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby, so I made Daniel pose for a picture in front of it...


*We didn't do much on my actual birthday since we spent time at the hotel right before, but I officially turned 27 last month...it still sounds crazy for me to say that since I always picture myself as much younger.

*Around that same time our condominium building put up their Christmas decorations and JoAnn LOVED them. We would take her on walks through the lobby so she could look at all the lights and "bubbles" (aka ornaments).


*The weekend before Thanksgiving we had a big dinner with a bunch of missionaries in our mission where we celebrated together. I had a lot of fun eating all the favorite holiday foods without having to cook them all myself. Since we celebrated early, I just made a couple of my favorites (stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy) for our family for our actual Thanksgiving dinner. It was my first time making Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves since we are usually with family or friends and I had a lot of fun. I already can't wait to make some of my favorites next year.

*Since this is the first year since Daniel and I have been married that we didn't travel over Christmas, I talked him into getting a small Christmas tree for our place (our first ever tree). I had been casually looking at them for a few weeks before I actually went to buy one in the beginning of December. By the time I got to the store they only had a few trees left. I guess they didn't restock any of them once they sold. Luckily, I was able to get the last tree in the entire mall that was less than 7 feet tall. (I would not have had any room in our place for a tree that big.) It was my first time ever putting up a tree on my own (real or fake). I waited to take a picture until we had some presents wrapped and under the tree, but I love it and really don't want to take it down. I really wanted JoAnn to be in the picture with the tree, but this is the best shot I got.


*These next couple pictures will be some of my favorite memories from this Christmas. I decided since we were going to be home this year I wanted to make cookies and other treats for the holidays. Usually, I just make one or two things and end up eating whatever my mom and/or Daniel's mom makes. So, when I started thinking of what I could make, I ended up going a little overboard and made a bunch of stuff. I ended up giving a lot of it away, but also ended up eating a lot of it too. I'm curious to see how much weight I have put on over the holidays. The doctors here still tell pregnant women that they should only gain about 20 pounds and I think I was at about 15 before all the cooking. I may end up getting a lecture when I go in after the new year.

(I have no idea how she ended up with the flour all over her face, but I think this picture is hysterical.)

*I forgot to look at the forecast on Christmas Day, but on Christmas Eve it was 87 and sunny, so I took JoAnn for a swim that morning.

*That night our neighbors had some of the little kids from the building over and gave each of them a present. JoAnn got a bucket full of fake McDonald's food. She loves it, especially the fries and "hammermer". It was fun to have all the families get together and celebrate Christmas together with the other families. It made it feel a little more like home. These are the girls that were there that night. There were two more little ones that didn't get in this picture.


*On Christmas Day, I made us wait until after we ate breakfast together and Daniel read the story of Christ's birth from one of the children's books we have before we could open the presents under the tree. JoAnn did great at being patient, I'm guessing that was because she is still sort of young to really get the whole concept of presents so we'll see how that goes over next year. But anyway, here she is patiently waiting to open her presents.


*That night we had Christmas dinner with two other families that have young kids. I was very thankful that we didn't have to eat by ourselves. Not that it would have been awful to spend Christmas with just us, but because it meant that I didn't have to spend the whole day in the kitchen and could actually enjoy being with Daniel and JoAnn. Anyway, dinner was great and we had fun letting JoAnn play with the other kids and all their new toys.

Alright, that's good for now. JoAnn is up from her nap and I don't know how much longer I can hold her off.

Sorry it took so long

Alright, I am going to back up about a month or so in order to talk about when my brother-in-law came out to visit us. I had planned on doing this the day that we got hit by Typhoon Ondoy, but got sidetracked and haven't really had the chance to go back and talk about it til now.

Its been so long now, I'm not positive of the dates, but sometime in mid September Daniel's brother, Ryan came out to visit us. I always love it when people are willing to make that absolutely dreadful trip to come spend a few days with us on this side of the world. Anyway, Ryan wasn't really here very long, but he and Daniel managed to pack a ton into a such a short time. Again, it has been so long that I don't necessarily remember the order of events but here are a few picture from his time here.

This is at one of my favorite restaurants. It is a Greek place called Cyma. They have good food and most of it is relatively healthy. Anyway, we took Ryan there for lunch one day and while we were sitting at the table Ryan had his computer out working on it and was trying to find an internet connection. One of the guys that worked at the restaurant stood right behind him and helped him find the best connection...and then continued to stand right behind him with his hand on the back of Ryan's chair looking over his shoulder at the computer for what had to be almost 5 minutes. It was pretty funny to watch how Ryan increasingly became uncomfortable with the guy standing there and how the worker seemed to think nothing of it. One of the things I have learned over the last few years is that the Filipino idea of personal space is much different than ours and they also do not consider it rude to stare either directly at you or in this case whatever it is that you are working on. Ryan handled it well, but it was still pretty funny to watch.

This picture is from Malaybalay. Daniel thought it would be fun to take Ryan outside of Manila and show him how beautiful the Philippines can be and at the same time see the other orphange that is connected with the one we do things with here. This is Daniel and Ryan with two of the Filipinos who help run things in Malaybalay, Donald and Grace. Although, I get jealous of Daniel any time he is able to go the province and I am stuck home in the pollution and congestion of Manila, I was thankful they went without me on this trip. They left very early Friday morning and got back just over 24 hours later on Saturday morning. Both of them were exhausted by the time they got home.



Saturday night, Daniel rounded up a few other missionaries to play with him and Ryan in a ministry game not too far from the Arthur Center. JoAnn and I went along with them to cheer on Daddy and Uncle Ryan. I ended up not seeing much of the game since I spent most of the time making sure JoAnn didn't run off the side of the stage she was playing on and tyring to keep her away from the red ants that were all over the place, but from what I did see the guys seemed to have fun and the crowd enjoyed the game. I didn't get a picture but at half time they were able to share a quick word with the crowd and invite them to church in the morning. The next picture is Ryan right after the game...I don't think he was used to playing in such hot and humid weather and he looked like he might pass out.


It didn't take long for him to regain his composure and brag to the camera about the 41 points he scored in the game though.

The next day we took Ryan to church with us at the Arthur Center and that night Daniel took him to watch Kirk play for Ateneo at the same arena that Ali fought the "Thrilla in Manila" fight at.

All in all, it was a lot of fun to have Ryan out to visit. (Although I said it to him when he was here and I will say it again, I would have very much enjoyed it if he would have brought Heather and/or the kids with him.) JoAnn made quick buddies and loved having Uncle Ryan around.

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On a completely unrelated side note I have had a few people ask me if I was showing yet and to put up a picture of my belly. Getting a picture was actually a little more difficult than it probably should have been since we don't have batteries for our digital camera right now and we tried to use our video camera to take the picture, which for some reason doesn't like to focus when taking a still picture. So, after taking 4 or 5 pictures, this is the best we ended up with...

Sorry for the annoyed look on my face and to tell you the truth I feel much larger than I look in this picture.

A Few Updates

First, I'll start with this picture...


Notice the color of the icing? Does it mean anything? I just had my appointment Wednesday and found out we are having a boy! I will admit, it sort of shocked me. Not that I really felt strongly about wanting a girl or a boy for that matter, but I guess since JoAnn was a girl every time I imagined this baby it was wrapped in pink. Which also led to the realization that pretty much everything we have is pink or has lace, so my mind started almost instantly thinking of things that I will need to get in boy colors. The doctor quickly helped me snap back to reality when she started showing me his heart, face, feet, hands, etc. on the ultrasound though. Everything looked great and the little guy seems to be completely healthy. Unfortunately, this appoinment had gotten pushed back due to the typhoon last week and when it was rescheduled Daniel wasn't able to go with me. So, wanting it to be sort of special I made these cupcakes to tell him it was a boy. Daniel being true to himself, had no idea why I was making cupcakes with blue icing and didn't really care, he just wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. So much for my fun way to tell him.

One more picture...


That's right, JoAnn is eating a banana in this picture! After months of trying to get her to eat bananas at home and not just when she is at someone else's house I had given up. Since neither Daniel nor I eat bananas ourselves I haven't bought them in a long time, so when JoAnn turned to me the other night and asked for a "nana" I thought she was talking about the toy that goes with her toy monkey. I'm not sure why, but she kept asking for one for about 20 minutes and each time I told her we didn't have any, she would get upset. So, finally we walked down to the neighbor's and they were kind enough to let JoAnn have one of their bananas. You would have thought they had given her ice cream by how happy she was to finally have a banana. I couldn't believe it.

Alright, on a completely different note...thankfully the second typhoon that I wrote about last week ended up heading more north than they had thought, so it really didn't affect us too much. It was cloudy and windy and it rained for a little bit on Friday and Saturday, but we were spared from anything too serious. However, Daniel and some of the other guys left this morning to head to a city up north for the weekend and I guess the area they are going to got hit pretty hard from the second typhoon. They had planned this basketball trip before either of the typhoons, so they had no idea at the time that they would be going into an area that is still really flooded and as of Wednesday still did not have any electricity. I can't help but think that their trip may be used even more during a time like this, so I am praying that the guys will stay healthy and be open to how God wants to use them.

Patiently Waiting

Well, while Manila is still struggling to recover from Ondoy (aka Ketsana), we are preparing for Super Typhoon Parma. Here is a sattelite picture of where it is now. I had really been hoping that for some unexplained reasons it would change course at the last minute and miss us altogether. Unfortunately, that seems less and less possible.

Alright, scratch that. I just spent 20 minutes trying to get our internet to work enough to post the picture of the sattelite and it still won't work. I give up, but trust me when I say the storm is getting closer and closer to Luzon (the island that Manila is located on) and it is a big storm.

So when I say we are preparing I really mean we are only sort of preparing. Really there isn't much to do except make sure batteries are stocked and/or charged. We don't have much food that can spoil in the refrigerator since it already spoiled during last week's typhoon, we can't ever drink tap water, so there is always plenty of bottled water and we know exactly where all of our candles and matches are since we just put them away a couple days ago. Really I can't think of too many other things to do to prepare since we are about as sure as you can be that any storm at this point will knock out electricity. All that leaves right now is to enjoy the things we do have before we can't for a few days.

So, in the spirit of enjoying what we can now, Daniel and I went to watch another of Kirk's basketball games. They were supposed to play game 1 of the championship series on Sunday, but since everything went a little crazy for a few days it got pushed back until today. It was a close game most of the time and Ateneo ended up winning so, it was fun to go and enjoy the game. On the way we had to pass through an area called Marikina, which is one of the places that was underwater for a few days. It was pretty dirty with mud and trash most places and people still had things hanging in the sun to dry out. I had meant to bring my camera with us, but totally forgot as I headed out the door. However, if you want to see pictures I am sure there are many out there on the internet. Since we were just headed to the game, we didn't try to see any of the neighborhoods around there that are still underwater, but just to see how high the river was at one point was sort of crazy enough for me.

Anyway, after we got home from the game JoAnn was playing in her room. After a few minutes of complete silence I looked over and saw her pacifier on the kitchen table, which having her pacifier when she isn't supposed to is usually the reason why she is so quiet while playing in her room. So, naturally I wanted to see what had her attention so much that she would be so quiet. That is when I walked in to see this...


(If you can't see it in the picture, JoAnn had taken a blue crayon and colored all over the wall, her crib and the floor.) All I could think of was the story that my mom tells of my sister coloring an entire window purple while my dad was sleeping when we were little and I had to laugh a little to myself. My mom is always telling me that my sister's son reminds her of me as a little kid, now it sounds like JoAnn might be taking after my sister a some.

Ondoy

Last Friday Daniel and I went out for a few hours and when we got home I saw just a few minutes of one of the local news channels, which I never watch mainly because half of it is usually in Tagalog and I don't understand Tagalog. Anyway, they mentioned a tropical storm that was headed for Luzon and said it would make landfall late that night. So, I planned taking time Saturday to catch up on the blog and write some about the trip that Daniel's brother had just made to Manila, since that meant rain most of the day. It wasn't long after I woke up on Saturday that I realized this wasn't our average tropical storm that we get in the area. Usually at least once a month between June and November we get a storm in the area and the only way you can tell is that it rains a lot for a few days. This storm didn't just rain though, it literally was monsoon type rain for at least 24 hours straight, without any breaks. It didn't even lighten up a little during that time. It was crazy. Well, about mid morning our power went out and it stayed out until Monday night. (Sort of, we had a brief few hours of power Monday morning before it went out again.) Anyway, we live in a building with a back up generator, so I wasn't too worried. I know from the last time we got hit by a huge storm that the generator wouldn't be able to run for 24 hours straight and that it would need to be turned off every few hours, but I remember from 3 years ago, that it was enough to recharge computer batteries and phones and keep the refrigerator cold. So, I really wasn't too worried until Sunday afternoon when we learned that the generator finally broke and they weren't able to fix it. They actually managed to get it fixed mid morning on Monday for a few hours of electricity before power was restored that night. All of this to say we were very blessed and that was our biggest problem during resulting from the storm.

On Sunday morning when the generator had stopped to rest for a few hours Daniel and I decided that we would try to find a Starbucks or some coffee shop that was open and get out of the house a little. We did not realize at that point how bad things had gotten on Saturday. Immediately as we were leaving the condo building this is what we saw in the road...


There were trees down all along the road out of our subdivision, but once again we didn't really realize the full extent of the damage. Once we got out of our subdivision one thing we began to understand more that this was not just another bad tropical storm or typhoon. We soon saw a major road near us that was completely flooded. It is not unusual for this area to flood, but it is usually still passable, Sunday it was not. We also learned that the only other major road leading into metro Manila was also not passable. Where we live was completely cut off from the rest of the city until Monday when waters finally started to recede. This is when the full weight of what had happened started to dawn on me. Until we moved here I have never lived anywhere near a coastal area, so I don't have many years of experience with tropical storms or hurricanes or typhoons, but I will say I have never seen flooding like I have seen in the few days after the storm. Nor have I heard of so many people we know loosing literally everything they have due to the floods. I am very thankful that we live where we live. Our condo is built up a little on a hill and the area we live in is uphill when you are coming from the city, so our immediate area received some damage, but compared to what I've heard and seen in pictures, it is nothing compared to the damage that people only a few miles from where we lived suffered. Right now, we are still trying to figure out the best way to help others who were more severely affected than us. In fact right now Daniel is meeting with a man who helps him with some of the basketball ministry to see how we can help. All I know is that he texted Daniel and said he and his family lost everything. I cannot imagine what they are going through right now. Please pray with us that God will give us direction on how best to help those affected and that even through all this that He will be glorified.

Anyway, I am sure I will write more in a few days about how things seem to go, especially since there are two more storms in the Pacific that seem to be headed our way later this week and early next week. But in the mean time here is a short video of the golf course that we live across the street from and the damage that was done to the fence along the road. I know you can't see it in the video, but somewhere in the river a car had gotten swept away and is stranded.




This is JoAnn on Sunday morning after driving around with Daniel and I for a couple hours once we finally found a Starbucks that was actually open. I think she was just grateful to be out of the car.

Just call me lazy

Alright, so I don't really have a good excuse for going a month before writing anything new on here other than I have been too lazy to do it. It actually started when Daniel and one of our neighbors got me into reading a series of books that I ended up spending pretty much all of my spare time reading for a couple weeks. Then I just got really lazy and the pregnancy hit me full force with a few weeks of pure exhaustion and I spent all my spare time sleeping. I keep getting the question from women whether I feel different this time and usually my answer is that I don't remember being this tired with JoAnn. It started pretty early on even before I knew I was pregnant and has hit me from time to time ever since. Really there have been a few other things that have been different, but not much. Anyway, rather than continuing to ramble about nothing in particular here are a few things that stand out from the last month...

This past weekend we went to one of the local college basketball games and took JoAnn with us. Daniel is pretty close with one of the kids that plays for one of the big colleges and we usually try to go to a few games each year. Since sports have been such a big part of both Daniel and my lives, its fun to be able to finally have her old enough to go with us. This was a pretty big game since it was the last regular season game and was between the #1 and #2 teams and it ended up coming down to the last few seconds. I know I've mentioned this before when writing about these games but they get insanely loud with the bands and crowd cheering, which I think got a overwhelming for JoAnn at ttimes, but as long as we had food and/or drinks for her she seemed to have a great time and actually would clap and yell "Go!" along with the rest of the crowd. The only embarrassing moment for me came with the man that was sitting next to us got a big bucket of popcorn and I had an awful time trying to balance watching the game and scolding JoAnn for begging the man for his food.

Speaking of embarrassing moments , I have decided that now is the time for us to get JoAnn out of diapers. So, I went to the store to buy a toddler potty for her. I had started potty training JoAnn a few months back and ended up taking a break from it when I realized it wasn't going to happen in time for our trip to the US over the summer and I didn't want to worry about it while traveling. Anyway, this past week has been the first time since we got back that I have felt like I had enough energy to try it again and I wanted to do it a little differently this time so I needed another potty. Well, I went to SM (somewhat similar to a Walmart style store), grabbed a cart and headed to the baby section. For a few weeks now JoAnn refuses to sit in the actual seat part of the shopping cart and will only sit in the big part of it, so she was in there when I finally decided which one I wanted and placed it in the cart. Next thing I know I was headed to the check out line when JoAnn had taken the seat and was sitting on it in the middle of the cart and threw a big fit when I tried to take it out in order to pay for it. I really wish I could have gotten the picture of her riding around in the cart sitting on the potty in the middle of a crowded store. It was pretty funny, but at the same time slightly embarrassing for me since Filipinos seem to have no problem staring and laughing.

Another thing that I really am kicking myself for not getting a picture of is when JoAnn managed to get herself stuck in one of her dresser drawers. She is only supposed to have her pacifier when she is sleeping, so we have caught her numerous times getting her pacifier down from the top of her dresser while she thinks we aren't looking. So, one day I had put it all the way on the back of the dresser and she pulled up one of her chairs to the toddler sized table and chairs we got her for her birthday and climbed up on the chair to get it. I guess it was so far back that she still couldn't reach it because after a few minutes of silence all I heard coming from her room was a very soft and calm "Help Mommy, help." When I got to her room I found her standing in one of the drawers with the chair knocked over below her and pacifier in hand.

I am sure there are a few more stories that I'm not thinking of from this past month, but its getting late, so here are a couple pictures from the past month (sorry they don't really go with the stories, but I hate to put up a post without pictures).

This has become one of JoAnn's favorite things to do...wash her hands. I don't know why, but at least I don't have to argue with her about it.


This is from a birthday party that JoAnn went to for one of the girls that we spend a lot of time with. She played with this noise maker for probably ten minutes and never once got it to work. I kept laughing when she would blow so hard and nothing happened.


Alright one last thing, mainly because I want to have it documented for future reference when it happened. I started to feel the baby move a couple weeks ago. I think feeling the baby move is one of my favorite parts about being pregnant, so I was really excited when I felt it.

Manny

Lately JoAnn has been picking up so many new words. At times it can be a little bit of a reality check about what I am teaching my daughter without meaning to. For example, the other day I was driving to the store and for those of you that have visited the PI before, you know exactly what I mean when I say I was getting a little frustrated with the traffic. One of the biggest traffic problems here is what they call "jeepnies." They are a mode of public transportation, but the drivers basically do whatever they want, whenever they want. I often get cut off or stuck behind one that stopped suddenly in the middle of the road to let a passenger off. On top of that they hardly ever have break lights that work and rarely use their headlights at night. They are one of my biggest frustrations while driving and the other day I was really loosing my patience with them. So when one suddenly stopped right in front of me to let someone off, I honked my horn and yelled "go" at them. After which JoAnn would not stop laughing. So on the way to church this morning everytime JoAnn heard a horn, she would yell "GO!" I know it isn't the worst thing for her to be yelling, but I don't really want to teach my daughter to have road rage at the age of 2.

Anyway, her other new favorite word to say has become "Manny," as in the cartoon Handy Manny. Unfortunately, the Disney Channel doesn't show it in Asia. I have tried to find it on DVD in stores, but then realized that it wouldn't matter even if I did find it because our DVD player no longer works since JoAnn put coins in it the other day. That means the only Handy Manny we have is on the iTunes that we downloaded for our trip back to the US, so we have improvised. She now watches it on our docking station for our iPod and since we only have one episode on the iPod, she watches the same one over and over. Nevertheless, she continuously throughout the day comes running up to me saying "Manny, Manny, Manny." The other day I was busy making dinner so I gave in and played it for her and I think she ended up watching it 3 or 4 times in a row and was upset when I told her she couldn't watch it anymore. I get sick of hearing it, let alone the times that she wants me to sit and watch it with her. I really don't understand how it could be interesting anymore, but oh well, I guess I should be thankful that she likes the one we have.


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This picture is one that I have been meaning to scan and post for a few weeks now. However, that would mean that I had to sit down for a while and try to figure out how to use our scanner since Daniel is always the one to use it. Anyway, this is baby #2, which is due to arrive sometime around Feb. 20. The ultrasound was done about three weeks ago so it has developed even more that this, but I love this picture. I don't ever remember having a picture of JoAnn that was showed this much detail this early on. Despite a couple nail biting moments, both the baby and I are doing great and now Daniel and I are trying to get JoAnn used to the idea that she is going to be a big sister.

Visit to Ohio

Alright, so my goal was to get done recapping our trip to the US around a week and a half ago. Needless to say, I didn't even come close to making it. With that being said, I will am going to pick up where I left off, which would bring me to just after Daniel and I got back from NY. We got back to Indy on July 1 and Daniel spent the next day getting everything ready for the annual shipment of food from the Northwest Food Bank to the Arthur Center (which, was released from the docks and unloaded this week!). He and some of his family went down to the warehouse, where they prepared everything that was going on the container, which got packed and started its journey on July 6. Anyway, I wasn't at the warehouse when they prepared everything, but I can only imagine that it was neat for Daniel to see this side of the shipment since we have always been on the receiving side.

Then on July 3, we went to visit my family in Ohio for a week. It was a busy, but great time. My sister and her son were also visiting from Florida, so it was fun to have them around and actually see them for more than just a day or two for the first time in a long time. On the 4th, my uncle every year has a picnic at his house where he invites the whole family over and we spend the day together. He actually does it on Memorial Day and Labor Day also, but since the last time I have been in the US during one of those holidays was before we moved to the Philippines, I was so excited to be able to go again. This time, he decided that he was going to make it into more of a family reunion, so not only was I able to see my grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins, and their kids, but I was also able to see some of my mom's cousins. A couple of whom I have never met and some I haven't seen since I was really young. Anyway, it was fun to see people and catch up and JoAnn loved my uncle's huge back yard with so much to do. There was a swing set, a bubble maker, a motorized tractor for the kids and a pool. We actually didn't go swimming since it seemed a little chilly to me to be swimming, but she had fun with everything else. I didn't get any pictures from the day, but I stole some from one of my cousins, so here are a few...


This is JoAnn's cousin, Ty...
I think this is everyone that was able to make it...

That night after we got back, I begged Daniel to let me keep JoAnn awake long enough to go to the Westerville fireworks. This was a big deal for me that we went, I think its because I have so many fun memories of going to the fireworks as a kid and then after we would always come home and get together with the other kids in the neighborhood and set off a few of our own. It was always such a fun day and something that I miss every summer we are in the Philippines. Anyway, it wasn't anything like Red, White and Boom (the Columbus fireworks), but it was neat to be in the US to celebrate the 4th and I think JoAnn loved her first time ever seeing fireworks. Here are a few pictures from that night...

Before it started the people next to us were kind enough to share their glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets with Ty, who was nice enough to share with JoAnn.

This was once the fireworks began...I don't think she new what to think. This was the look on her face the whole time.

The next day, we had another family get together to celebrate JoAnn's birthday. We were a couple weeks early, but I really wanted to celebrate with family while we were home. These are a few pictures that I took from other people's cameras since I once again didn't actually take any of my own. These are of JoAnn openning her presents and enjoying her birthday cake...


The rest of our time in Ohio was spent playing outside in the yard (a luxurary we don't have living in a condominium building) and one day we even went to the Columbus Zoo. It was so much fun to see JoAnn enjoying the things that I used to love doing as a kid. These are a few last pictures...

This Daniel trying to learn Ty's rules for playing baseball, in the end the rule ended up being that Ty always won.


JoAnn and Ty.

Watching cartoons in the morning. This rocking chair is actually one that I was given around JoAnn's age from my grandparents. I wish there was a way for me to bring it back here with me because JoAnn loved it.

At the zoo, I didn't get a picture of them, but it was a fun day for me since we went with one of my friends from high school and her 3 kids and also another friend from growing up and her son. We were a large group, but I think everyone had fun. This was JoAnn's favorite, the lions.
This was always my favorite as a kid, but I could not get JoAnn to even think about touching anything. Its just a little place with the aquarium where you can touch a sea cucumber and a star fish.

After our week in Ohio, we spent two more days in Indiana before we flew back on Monday. While we were in Indiana, we spent Saturday with Matt, Britt and their daughter Addison. These are our good friends from college and I'm so sad we weren't able to spend more time with them. We always have so much fun together. Later that night we spent some more time with Daniel's brother and sister and their families. That was a fun night for me because after the kids went to bed, my sister-in-laws and I went out for coffee, which is something I wish I could do more often. Then on Sunday, we had one last Bucher family get together to celebrate the 5 birthdays that are in June and July. I always love it when the family gets together, it seems like there is never a dull moment. During that time we also were able to see one of Daniel's friends and his wife and one of the high school kids that Daniel knows from basketball here in Manila was in Indianapolis for some basketball camps, so he and his mom stopped by as well. Just like the rest of the trip it was a busy weekend, but I wouldn't change it and me being me, I managed to not get a single picture.

Well, all that leaves from our trip is the plane ride back. In order to keep me from getting frustrated about the trip once again, all I will say is that I think it was quite possibly one of the worst experiences with flying I have ever had. It just seemed like one thing after another went wrong including mechanical problems that kept us sitting on the plane in Detroit for almost 3 hours before we even took off, which was probably the worst that happened. So, I was beyond grateful that it was over when we landed safely in Manila.

Our Cruise and NY

So, the Thursday after the wedding Daniel and I left JoAnn with his parents and flew to New York where we jumped on a boat that was headed for St. John's, Canada. We were off to celebrate our 5th year anniversary and also Daniel's 30th birthday. Never heard of St. John's? Neither had I, but Daniel had really wanted to go on a cruise and he had been planning on seeing a friend in New York. So I suggested we combine the two and go on a cruise out of New York and that just happened to be where the cruise was headed. I'm not sure I would say Canada was the most exciting place I have ever been, but I will say it was wonderful to spend a few days alone with Daniel. He has been talking since before we were married about going on a cruise and I have been putting it off since it sort of ranks right under bridges on my list of things I am afraid of. Somehow, I managed to get over my fear and we set sail for a few days. I really loved the alone time with Daniel, but the cruise was a little disappointing. This is one of the only pictures I have from those couple days because we pretty much just ended up in our room watching the free movie channels they had most of the time. I don't know why we thought it would be different, but the weather was relatively cold for us (60's most of the time feels freezing when you are used to 80's all the time) and also it was pretty crowded. That I don't know why we didn't expect a crowd since there is only so much room on a boat, but it kind of took us by surprise. Anyway, while we were in Canada I really wanted to get a picture of us by something kind of neat in the town and the only thing we found was a statue of a moose, but when the lady handed the camera back to me and I went to look at it later, she never actually took a picture. So, instead we settled for a picture of the two of us by the boat.


Alright, so I don't sound so negative about the cruise when I really did have fun, here are some of the highlights: spending as much time alone with Daniel as I wanted for 4 days, free food anytime we wanted including desert which is always huge for me, 3 free movie channels 24 hours a day, and sleeping in every day. Oh and one last thing about the cruise, I think a terrible trend has started for us. The only two vacations Daniel and I have taken with just the two of us are our honeymoon and this trip. The day we got married Ronald Reagan died and that was pretty much all the news talked about on our honeymoon. The day we got to New York, Farrah Fawcett died and so did Michael Jackson, which of course, is all the news talked about during our trip. I don't know, it just seemed a little ironic to me.

After the cruise we stayed in New York for two more nights so Daniel could spend some time with his friend Jon (and also since Jon offered to take Daniel to a Yankees game if we stayed). Our cruise arrived in port on Monday around 8 AM, so we had pretty much two full days in the city. I have been wanting to go there for some time and I couldn't wait to see the city, so with a little nagging from me, we checked into our hotel (which was the W, right across from the Waldorf Astoria) and headed right back out the door to start sight seeing. That first day we saw a ton, just to name a few things we walked around Central Park (probably my favorite thing we did), saw the UN, went to Time Square and saw Rockefeller Plaza. I feel like I am forgetting some stuff that we saw since we walked pretty much all day, but that is most of it. The second day, we walked to Grand Central and took the subway to Wall Street and saw the World Trade Center area. We thought about going over to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty too, but since our cruise went right by it and Ellis Island and I was getting tired from all the walking, we just decided to go back to the hotel and rest for a few hours before we went to what I'm positive had to be the biggest highlight of the entire trip for Daniel. That night we went to the new Yankee Stadium and saw a game. The new stadium was amazing and we had SO much fun being there. I loved the time in New York and really would love to go back sometime to do even more in the city. There really is so much going on all the time that I think I could spend a week there and only get through about 1/3 of the things on my to do list. I had talked to a few people before we went and some of them mentioned that it was a big city with people everywhere and that it can be a little overwhelming at times, but to be honest after living in Manila for 4 years, I was just happy that I was actually able to blend into the crowds and I was also amazed at how they were able to keep the city relatively clean and that you could get around fairly easily. I know there is a lot of traffic in there, but it has nothing on Manila traffic.

Okay, enough talk about New York, here are some of the pictures...
Central Park....

Us with Jon at the UN (standing near the Filipino flag of course)...

Yankee Stadium...

I just had to add these to the post also. Like I said earlier JoAnn stayed with Daniel's parents while we were gone and one night she went over to spend some time with some of her cousins. These are pictures from that night that my sister-in-law took. I just thought they were adorable and had to put them up...

I guess in this one they had tried to get them to give each other a kiss and Eli was having no part of it...
These are from them dancing together...

Catching Up

Yet again I have allowed myself to neglect the blog while in the US and have continued to neglect it because the thought of trying to catch up with everything that has happened really didn't seem like a fun thing to do. So instead of sitting down and doing it all at once, I have decided to do it piece by piece and start with our flight back to the US and the wedding. I actually had started this post when we were home, but the internet gave out and I didn't find a chance to finish it.

Anyway, not long after Daniel returned from his basketball trip we headed to Indiana to attend his sister's wedding, which I will get to in a minute. I just thought these two pictures were pretty cute. The first one is of JoAnn at about 6 AM waiting for our flight to leave Manila. I don't know if she was tired or just trying to get comfortable.


This one was us trying to keep her occupied during our many hours in the air. Technology even since arriving in the Philippines has advanced so much and has made traveling with a toddler much easier. We were able to download a few of her favorite cartoons off of iTunes and she watched them on the computer. I know they have had portable DVD players for a while, but to me this was much better because I didn't have to carry around a case of DVDs and also since we already were bringing our netbook we didn't have to bring a DVD player or our larger heavier notebook that could play the DVDs. Instead all we had to do was download a few shows before we left and carry this 3 pound very small computer (or our iPod, which was the back up if our computer battery died). Anyway, as great as that is to keep her occupied, it wasn't long before she decided that she just wanted to get up and walk. Normally, this would be the time that I would gladly get up and stroll around the plane with her, but on this trip there was a volcanoe errupting in the original flight path and we had to take a detour, which meant two things. One, as if 11 1/2 hours isn't already long enough, it added an hour or so to the length of our longest flight. Two, most of our flight was spent over the Pacific Ocean so we spent probably almost 9 of those hours with the "fasten your seatbelt" sign on since there was so much turbulance. Normally, even if the sign is on I still try to get up for a few minutes every now and then, but this time there really was a ton of turbulance. So, the getting up and walking around was pretty much out of the question most of the time. And as usual on our way to the US, JoAnn decided that she just didn't really need to sleep and slept probably for a grand total of 2 1/2 hours during the almost 24 hour trip. The only good part to that is that she is SO tired by the time we get to Indiana that she doesn't really suffer from jet lag.


Alright, now for the whole reason we went home in the first place...Joel and Kristen's wedding. We arrived in the US on Monday and the wedding was on Saturday, so we got there just in time for all the last minute planning. I loved every minute of it. I just wish I was actually able to help more. I guess I just had so much fun planning our wedding that I love to watch or help someone I love so much plan theirs. I was so sad that for most of it I was so far away. Kristen did a fabulous job of thinking of all the details too. It was probably one of the most well put together and beautiful weddings I have ever been to. Not to mention the fact that Kristen looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress. My favorite part of the whole wedding...they provided childcare for the kids. It was one of the best things ever, it actually sort of felt like Daniel and I were on a date the whole time. I was just so happy that I was able to enjoy the wedding without having to worry about JoAnn going crazy from sitting still so long. Also, I think JoAnn had fun playing with the other kids...well at least at the reception. I guess she cried most of the time during the ceremony, which was yet another reason I was so thankful for the babysitters. So here are a few of the pictures, unfortunately I got a little side tracked during the wedding and didn't take any pictures other than the ones I took as we were all waiting for things to begin.

This picture is actually the only picture from the whole wedding that I got of Joel and Kristen and its from the reherseal and evidently my flash didn't work.


These are all from before the ceremony...

These are JoAnn's cousin's...She was the only girl that was still a little young to be a flowergirl, but Kristen still had her wear the dress. Don't they just look so cute all dressed up.

This is her cousin that is the same age as her and I love this picture with Eli in his tux and JoAnn in her dress and them both being shy. We tried forever to get the two of them to stand next to each other and smile for a picture. They would not get anywhere close to each other, it was so cute.

Alright, so that's the flight and the wedding. Next time I will talk about the trip that Daniel and I took.