Keet Would Start High School!!!

Tomorrow is Keet's high school orientation. Her school, St Elizabeth Seton will start this Friday. Peter and I can't believe that our Keetbug would start high school already. Wow how time flies! Then college! I'd better not think about this so much or it would just overwhelmed me.

Mom Is Moving Out

Mom ( mother in-law ) is going back to live in NY sometime this September. She made a down payment for an apartment while she was in NY a couple of months ago ( while we're in the Philippines ). Her apartment would just be 10 minutes ride from Paul's family (hugbun's brother), so we don't have to worry about her that much. We're planning to do the musical room again ( Hugbun's term - as we just finished remodelling/decorating the attic for our room, Keet is using our old bedroom and Keet's bedroom into the music room ). We're going to move back down to the main floor and into our old bedroom and move Keet to where Mom is using. The funny thing is I'm really looking forward redecorating the rooms. I guess Hugbun is not looking forward in moving furniture again ;-).

The attic bedroom...

The music room...

Back to our old bedroom...

Grandma and Keet...

Today is another scorcher day. The temperature outside is 88 Fahrenheit! I always tell Hugbun that our summer here is hotter than in the Philippines. Anyway, Keet and I have no intention in going out today with this heat.

Summer in Maryland, note those spiny creatures behind us...they're called horseshoe crab.

Back To Old Routine

Keet and I woke up late today. We chat with our relatives in the Philippines last night until 12 midnight. Those kids are really entertaining. We always enjoyed our chat sessions with them.

Chatting with May...

Hugbun is in N.Y. to picked up Mom. This is just the second time we're apart. The first time was when Mama died and I have to go to the Philippines for a couple of weeks. It's hard if you're not used to it. Anyway, he's coming home today. Oops, I have to thaw the pork ribs right now for him to grill for dinner tonight. Anyway, I dropped off Peter in the subway early yesterday to catch the bus to the airport. He called me while he was waiting for his flight to N.Y. The security line wasn't bad at all ( airport security is tight because of the terror plot, intelligence uncovered ). It only took 5 minutes for him to be cleared! We were expecting for delays with all the news we watched.
What a surprise! This year we didn't suffer with the jet lag so much. In fact Hugbun didn't even have a jet lag, he's back to work a week after we came home from the Philippines. Keet and I had a little. Usually, our jet lag would last for a couple of weeks!
Keet and I did a lot of weeding in the garden for a couple of days. Peter mowed the lawn a couple of days after we arrived. The yard looks much better now. I got some sore muscles though .

Back To The U.S...back to the U.S.

We arrived home on July 25. It's amazing how quite it is after all the noise and ruckus of the Philippines. We're glad to see that the house is still standing ;) ! Keet is always amazed of how big her cats are, compared to "her" cats in the Philippines whenever we come home from vacations.

Yup, the house is still standing ;)...

Wow, the garden looked like a jungle. I think I even saw a lion, tiger and a bear! Now I know what we would be doing in the wee morning hours of our jet lag days. We're known to have our breakfast at 3:00 in the morning after coming back from the Philippines before.

The garden pre-jungle ;)...

Goodbyes

We had our despededa ( going away ) party hosted by Jun and his girl friend Chay the night before we go back to the U.S. I must say that Filipinos really know how to party.

Horsing around with cousins on the night before departure...

Goodbyes is such a drag and it sucks. Anyway, the whole village send us off to the airport on July 24 and had our tearful goodbyes. We had 12 hours lay over in Hong Kong! It wasn't so bad as we thought. In Hong Kong there are lounge areas that you can really stretch to sleep. We had a little " nap " ( for what's it's worth ) to prepare for our loooong trip home. Our flight was direct from Hong Kong to LA! Usually we had to stopped over in Vancouver to refuel/pick up passengers. So, the direct flight was a surprised and a bonus. The flight home was uneventful and smooth, no delays or whatsoever.

Hongkong Airport lounge...

Last Week of Our Philippine Vacation

Our last week in the Philippines was soaking up in the pool and the sun. We stayed in Tambuli West for a few days. I thought that we could save by installing an air conditioner system in our Philippine house thus we don't need to go to a resort to " cool off " , but no such luck. We have to have that resort days ; - ).

Our Recent Philippine Vacation...Cont.

The week after the wedding, we went to Negros for the ganas - an old Filipino practice of going to the husband's place after the wedding to continue the reception with the husband's family and relatives. Negros ( La Libertad ) is a very nice and quite place, our first in the island.

Negros coast line...

Drove to Tangil ( south of Cebu, about 3 hours ) to catch the boat. The trip to Negros is just a little over an hour. Went to the mountain called Pakwan. The view is so pretty going up the mountain! We enjoyed the visit so much as it was a tabo ( market day ) . It's fun to watch people with their wares, food and animals to be sold. We stayed in Negros for a couple of nights.

In the mountain of Pakwan, Negros...

We celebrated 3 birthdays ( sister in - law, niece and nephew's ) while in the Philippines. It seems that we're always having occasions and excuses to eat, eat, eat! Luckily we didn't gain weights. Keet even lost some weight while we were there, maybe because she doesn't eat that much because of the heat. She does missed American foods.

Our Recent Philippine Vacation...Cont.

Busy, busy, busy. One of the reasons for this vacation is to attend our eldest niece's wedding. We're one of the sponsors, and Keet is one of the bridesmaids. We tried to find pina barong for Peter, but we have trouble with the sizes. We went to Gilmore Tailoring in Cebu to have a barong made, and what a wonderful job they made. The bonus was, it was even cheaper than the ready made barongs at SM.

The wedding went very well. Everyone had a great time. Food, food, food and the guests - WOW ! That was what I call Filipino wedding reception! I splurged on lechon baboy ( boy, how I missed Filipino foods ). We tried to spoil the newly wed by sending them to Maribago Blue Water Resort for their honeymoon. We wished that we made a reservation for ourselves too for our last week in the Philippines when we saw their room, especially when the newly weds told us that they were really impressed with the resort in their 3 days stay.

We went to Kawasan a couple of days after the wedding. The drive towards the fall is so pretty, I think that was the first time we drove that route during the daytime ( we usually passed those places at nighttime going home to Lapu-Lapu ). We stopped at the place where there's a statue of "sigbin". Peter is specially interested to see the statue because Keet was telling him ( from what her cousins told her ) that "sigbin" is a monster and a witch's familiar. He was so amused and disappointed when he saw the statue as it was just a kangaroo ;-) !

Sigbin at the background ;)

By the weekend, we went island hopping. It was hilarious! The waves that day was so high. Marcy and Mytit was so nervous whenever the strong waves hit our boat, that their expressions were so comical. We always like to treat all our immediate relatives to go to places to have fun with us. They seem to enjoy it as much as we are, not a dull moment when we go out.

Our Recent Philippine Vacation

We had our Philippine vacation last June-July of this year. We left the U.S. on June 27 ( Reagan International Airport ). We had our friend stopped by for the last minute instructions to take care of the house and pets ( cats, fish and an iguana ). Went to the airport early as the forecast isn't so great. It rained very hard the night before, so we worried that we might get caught with the rainstorm.

Checked in at the airport. You know how Filipinos are when they go home to the Philippines, we dragged plenty of luggage and the ever present balik-bayan boxes. So I'm relieved that they were all checked in and won't touch them again until Cebu.

Our flight was delayed for four hours! We lost hope that we would be able to fly that day as planes aren't taking off around the east coast because of the heavy rainstorm. Finally, our flight number was called. Luckily we already have reserved seats for our international connecting flight in N.Y. thru the Cathay Pacific check-in in the internet.

Keet with a new friend in HK Airport...

We arrived in Cebu on June 29. It's always a happy moment to see your relatives smiling faces, and just to be surrounded with the smell, noise and people of the Philippines. Whew, very hot though!

Had a Requiem mass for Mama and Papa the next week. The mass was held at Babag's Perpetual Help Parish as we can't get an appointment in Birhen Sa Regla Church. It was a moving mass, especially when I wasn't able to go home last year when my father died.

Family Member Addition

These are my nephews and nieces while I still lived in the Philippines.

We acquired two more nephews for the past 15 years.

My honorary sister's kids with my daughter

Hugbun's brother Paul and his family

Our Keetbug

March of 1992, I was pregnant. It took me 3 months to realize that I was pregnant :). My period used to skipped a lot, so I just thought that my missing periods was right on time. But, duh, I'm married...any missing periods are suspect, and changes in my body and appetite were hard to ignore...the itty bitty bump on my tummy etc. So, off to the ob-gyn we went.

Our Keetbug was born that year. I dreamed that the baby would be born on the Feast Day of our Patroness in Lapu-Lapu City...Our Lady Of The Rule on the 20th. I was so disappointed that it didn't come true. Peter brought me flowers when he came home from work that night, as I was so down and sad. But then the next day, we had Keetbug! I realized later that we celebrate the feast for two days...the 20th is the bisperas, and the feast day itself, the 21st!

December 1991---America Here I Come

Nineteen ninety one was a crazy year for me. What a hectic year that was. Hugbun came in the Philippines on June 12 for our meeting. The next day June 13 we were engaged! By June 21 we were married.

Hugbun left for the U.S. on June 26. I was left in the Philippines to wait for my visa, but not for long because by December of that year I was in the U.S.

I arrived in the U.S. during winter and that was a shock to my system. I thought that winter cold is just like an air conditioned room... or whatever, but boy was I wrong!!! The first thing I noticed when I arrived in the U.S., was how clean everything were, the streets, buildings etc.

We were back in the Philippines a lot of times ever since. Our last trip was last June-July of this year.

My Parents, Honorary Sister, And Parents In Law

My parents are both dead now...how I miss them so much. Our family wasn't rich. My father was a tailor and sent Mama to college after they got married and eventually Mama got an education degree. She used to teached in Harvadian Colleges in Annex, Ozamis City. Mama would be teaching in Ozamis while the rest of the family remained in Lapu-Lapu. I was around 3 or 4 years old and I remember that whenever Mama would come home from teaching, our youngest, who's a year younger than me would cry whenever Mama would try to picked him up (sort of he viewed Mama as stranger). Eventually our whole family moved to Ozamis so that the family would all be together. We stayed in Ozamis for a couple of years and we all came back to our home in Lapu-Lapu for good. My father was big in education. My older brother joined the Air Force after he graduated college, he got married and after I finished high school, he sent me to college (Most Filipinos are like this, helping parents and siblings even after they got married) . The second brother joined the Air Force as well. Eventually our eldest became an attorney after going back to school having his children already. When I finished college and got a job at Fairchild, I've helped my parents  to have my younger brother's college education in turn.

I always longed for a sister as I'm the only girl in the family. When I was in high school (first year, I think), Janet (cousin's daughter) came to our family and lived with us on and off. We always consider her as part of the family. A sister at last! Janet was my chaperone when hugbun came to the Philippines.

A couple of weeks after I arrived in Maryland, we went to upstate New York to spend Christmas with my hugbun's family. I felt so comfortable with my hugbun's family as they're all so accomodating and good people. Before my arrival, Mom made a winter coat drive for me...so that I would be warm and toasty :)! On March the next year, my father in law died. He was already ill and blind when I first meet him. My hugbun has only one married sibling, a brother, who also live in New York. The plan would have been that both of my parents in law will live with us in Maryland. With Dad's death, only Mom was able to live with us since 1994.

The Way We Were

I always felt nostalgic whenever I think of my life growing up in the Philippines. I always cherished those moments and love to look at old photographs.

My Families In The Philippines ll

These are my brothers in the Philippines with their respective wife.

Ging and Marcy (Eldest)

Lin and Let (2nd)

Fer and Mtit (youngest)