We have now been in the Philippines as a family for a week!  With traveling there are the pros and cons, so here is my attempt capture our first week of the good and bad.

CONS:

-Living in temporary housing.  This isn’t that bad since they are serviced apartments with a yummy breakfast buffet, nice fitness center, 2 pools and hot tub.  But, it does mean that we have to move again in a few weeks once our furniture arrives.

-Not having our things.  We traveled with 6 suitcases and 3 carry-ons…I guess we could have brought 2 more suitcases, but really we didn’t have room in the cars for more suitcases and I didn’t want to try to maneuver more suitcases either.

-Arriving on a Holiday Week.  The International school was out for the whole week, so Kalani wasn’t able to start school and make friends right away.  Many people were  gone from church traveling and stores were closed for “All Saint’s Day” as well.

 -Jet-lag.  I was told that it takes about one day for every hour difference from your “host” country to over come jet-lag.  And that seems to be the case since everyone tells us that it took them about 2 weeks to overcome their jet-lag. (The Philippines is 13 hours ahead of Texas during day-light savings)

PROS:

-Having our driver on-call 24/7. We got picked up from the airport  by our driver in a new Toyota Fortuner.   It is a company policy for us NOT to drive in the country.  And really we don’t want to drive here since we would most likely be in an accident or cause accidents daily if we did drive.

-Having “Help”.  We hired the help from the family we replaced and they are FABULOUS!  We have a maid/cook and nanny. I came to the realization yesterday that they are another Tia, and I am getting use to it quickly.

-Church Members.  I think that if you want to travel and/or live overseas you should be Mormon since there are members all over the world and you automatically become included into the local network of Mormons at the new location.  Our branch here has nearly 200 members with 98% active!  We have also been invited over for dinner 3 (edit: make that 4!) times during our first week.  A thoughtful co-worker also invited us to lunch and a movie on Saturday.

-New Adventures.  We love to get out and try new things.

-Friendliness of locals.  Super nice and friendly people everywhere we go.

-Spending time together as a family.

Highlights of the week:

Halloween party for the kids at our temporary serviced  apartments

Mason found a dinosaur at the Mind Museum

Kids rode on these animals in the mall…kind of like bumper cars

We dropped the kids off at a play place for an hour where there were toys, slides, computers, etc

Snorkeling with black tip sharks

We are looking forward to more adventures during the next 2-3 years while we live here.  And REALLY looking forward to having our furniture and belongings with us so it will feel more like home.  And REALLY REALLY looking forward to friends and family visiting us!

I never did an end of the year re-cap of our homeschool year for 2011-2012.  So, this is to try to capture the fun things that we did during the year.

We tried Co-op for the first semester and these are the other kids that also participated

Homeschool friends held a “Thanksgiving Fest” at their home

A couple of families came over to make candy houses…these are Mason’s and Kalani’s master pieces

Valentine party and card exchange…Lots of kids and lots of fun

Easter Egg Hunt and picnic with friends

We attended the Houston Symphony

Kalani had a science class once a month at the Natural Science Museum…this class was about teeth

We hosted a book club at our home twice a month…this was a fun activity for “James and the Giant Peach”

A group of us went camping

The kids had art club twice a month and end of the year they made tie-dye shirts

We attended the Police Academy during Police Week

We went back to a wildlife park that we attended a couple of years ago

We do our schooling at the dining table

We have loved homeschooling.  I have a good idea of what Kalani knows and what she struggles with.  We try to teach her about the world and her interests.  If she has a question, we search out the answer.  We also do many social activities so she can interact with other kids and I can interact with adults.  And because Kalani is around adults often, she isn’t afraid to ask questions or make comments to them.

More homeschool photos

Back in May, Mason turned 3. Here are some fun photos that show what interests Mason has right now in his life.

Stages of Mason

Happy Birthday To You ( cha cha cha)

He loves all dinosaurs

He has been using an iPad for more than 2/3 of his life

He loves to hold babies.

He loves to hold our bearded dragon

He LOVES to swim. He stopped using flotation devices right around his birthday.

He loves to get dress for church

3 Fun Facts About Mason:

-He loves to make cookies and help out in the kitchen

-He has a favorite blanket that he takes all over the house and in the car

-He is emotional…cries when you tell him no, or won’t do anything you ask him to do if he is upset, or will throw a control at the TV when you tell him to leave the room

This past week Matt had a conference in San Diego, California.  Since Matt already had a hotel and frequent flyer miles, we decided to make it a family trip!  San Diego was great.  The weather was nice, warm during the day and cooler in the evenings…something different from the Houston weather we are use to.  The kids and I were really only in San Diego for 2 full days.  We arrived to the hotel around 5pm Monday night and then checked out of the hotel on Thursday at noon.  But, during the time that we were there the kids and I had a jam packed schedule!

MONDAY:  Fly in to San Diego, rent a car, drive to have dinner with cousins

Dinner with Sam & Melinda (Sam is Matt’s first cousin)

TUESDAY: Mormon Battalion Museum, San Diego Temple, LegoLand, Padres Game

We traveled back to 1847 to learn about the Mormon Battalion and what they did for San Diego

Across from the Mormon Battalion there are these old homes that have been restored that the kids liked walking around to look at.

San Diego Temple is now where Kalani wants to get married

Padres vs. Pirates at Petco Park. One of the CR vendors was hosting.

WEDNESDAY: San Diego Zoo, swimming, walking around San Diego

San Diego Zoo is HUGE and great for all ages

Kids had fun swimming in the hotel pool…but it was a bit too cold for Tia. We are use to the 80* swimming pool water, and this water wasn’t that warm.

Walking around San Diego in the evenings. As we are passing some restaurants a few of the hostesses outside smile and wave to Mason commenting how cute he is as we pass by. He then calls out “Mom! All the big girls love me! They say hi to me! .. And I say hi to them!”

THURSDAY:  Playing at a nearby park and flying back to Texas

Having tired kids is a good indicator of how much we crammed in a few days.

We had a great time being together as a family.   Fun memories were made and you can see more photos of our vacation here:  San Diego Vacation

For the past 2 years I have taken our kids camping by myself while Matt worked.  Finally after being married for 9.5 years and having 2 kids, Matt joined us on a camping trip!

"We are a happy family"

Mason loved playing with our friend's dog

Kids enjoying nature

Talking to friends around the camp fire

5 families that all went camping together

Thanks to our friends who planned this trip and invited us to tag-a-long.