Witty

My daughter Rylie love collecting leaves. I dunno why but everytime we go for a walk, she'll always finds these neat leaves around. My son EJ is different, he collects small rocks...

When Amy (my student) came to our house today, she gave Rylie a present. My daughter was so elated because she loves Dora stuff. In her excitement, she told Amy "I have a surprise for you too!" and she handed her a pine cone that she picked up on the way to our house when we fetched Amy at the gate. I was laughing at her wittiness.. Thanks Ms. Kim!

Here's Amy and Rylie.

here's Amy helping my children assemble the Dora pieces.

Here's EJ trying to escape the picture taking lol..

What is PageRank?

When I checked my addictus hobby (blog) today, I can't believe what my eyes saw when I looked on top of my page, I saw a color green on my PageRank button. Well, at first I ignored it because I told myself maybe I was just imagining so I logged out and logged back in again to make sure that I wasn't just hallucinating.. hahaha what a term.. But anyhow, its real.. I got PR2... Yohooooo! Google finally recognize the importance of my page on the web... To those who has high rank than mine, of course you will say that PR2 is nothing, but for me its a big thing lol... So with that being said from the bottom of my HEART, I thank you all who always visit my blog because without you my blog is nothing...Kamsahamnida, salamat, gracias or however you say it...Thank YOU! According to Phil Craven PageRank is the numeric value that represents how important your site is on the web.. It is basically calculated when somebody linked up to you which is considered as a vote. Google also determine how important the vote that has been casted for you. From my understanding it's not just the number of the link you have but the importance also of the page you are linked with. The more PRsites that is link with you the better.. To learn more about PR please check the link below. source: http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html

blogging journey

OK here's a quick stat of my blogging experience. I started blogging on the last week of May at Friendster but my dear friend Malou encouraged me to join Blogger.com. So I transferred my posts from F to B. Then just last month, I got my own domain through the help of my webtech mentor Malou (salamat bru).

Now this is my 270th post already, got 3,584 visits, 1,245 profile views, my Alexa Rank was down to 1,570,068(started like 7 million +) so this is a good sign, then my real rank went down from 7k+ to 2,662 (need to bloghop more but no time lol), got countless tags and some awards too. The most rewarding part of this blogging experience are the friends that I met in the blogsphere. So to all of you guys who always visits and contributes ideas to me, SALAMAT po (thank you)!

Ladies Night Out

Four of my friends and I went out for a dinner tonight as a treat for the birthday celebrant Mindy (on the pic). We ate at a local Korean Resto (which i forgot to get the name of lol) but it was sooooooo good. The food were fabulous and so cheap! Our bellies were stuffed when we finish eating. We ate Calbi, Samgapsam (not sure about the name though), a lot of fresh veggies, rice, kimchi, fruits and some Korean delicacy.. They also taught me how to use the chopsticks lol. I remember when we first went out to eat with my hubby's co workers, I wasn't able to eat because I really don't know how to use the CS, I felt so damn idiot in front of everybody..Here are some of the photos:

Mt. Jiri Hike

We went hiking up Mt. Jiri-Republic of Korea on May 3, 2008. We didn't make it to the top but it was fun.. My husband was carrying our 16 months old EJ on a baby carrier and I carried our 2 year old, Rylie, when she needed help. Amazingly, Rylie, pushed on further than any other child her age could during our climb....she is a true fighter. It was hard, we tried to keep up with the rest of the hikers but we have to make mini stops for EJ's mimi-time and diapie change. He drunk too much water. Good thing we brought some oranges with us which keep us refreshed. Finally my daughter said, "can we go back now guys, I am tired already?" So we decided to turn and go back down. We were short on time but not on will. We will make the climb again when we have more time to complete it. Forget aerobics class......if you want a great workout, strap a baby to your body and climb a mountain......whew!

This is in front of the main temple

Taking pictures while others were using the restroom at Cheond Phoung Gas Station.

This is where we end our quest lol. Our princess can't endure it anymore..

A sweet hug in exchange of going up further and seeing the falls..

Cooling down from atop the mountain..

Rylie is taking a rest.

Here's some more pictures:

EJ got scared of the inflatable figures lol..

Here's the start of the quest lol..

This was when we got back from the mountain hike... This is the place where the mini temples are..

Notice how my son is freaking out because he wanted his mim

One of the many wooden bridges going up the mountain

Mt. Jiri is a mountain in the southern region of South Korea. Some Koreans see it as one of the three most important mountains in South Korea, with Hallasan and Seoraksan (we also  went on this one) being the other two. This 1915m (6,283 ft)-high mountain is located in Jirisan National Park.

I'm worried....

Our little princess is having fever on and off for three days now and I am getting worried. I thought she's already OK today because she was playing and being her normal self again but after they dipped in the swimming pool this afternoon, she's fevered again. It started when she had her practice this Wednesday, I think she got dehydrated because her urine is very dark orange. We're giving her a lot of water and some Tylenol which helped. But now she's hot again. I'm just thankful that she is a fighter, even if she's sick, she's not cranky like most other kids do. I just wish and hope that she'd be well soon. Please pray for my baby!

Eye Catching Rugs

I always admire houses with beautiful area rugs laid out on the floor. It is always the first thing that catches my eyes especially if the house has wooden floor or tiles. Back in the Philippines where I came from, I seldom seen fancy rugs on the floor, maybe because it's quite expensive there and average people can't really afford to buy one or they don't prefer to have one.

Before we left mainland US this year, we renovated our basement and laid out new hardwood floors as a replacement for the old and rotten asbestos type of tiles that was there when we bought the house three yars ago. My husband and I agreed that the theme for our basement will be a combination of a sailors pad with an Asian feel on it. He wants to hang all the memorabilias that he earned for his twenty years of service in the Navy. We will go back to our house in the States after his retirement next year.

Bicol Pride

I grew up in a small town of Donsol in Sorsogon. It is located in the South of Luzon where you can find one of the best kept secrets in the Philippines, the gentle giants called BUTANDING or whale shark. It is one of the big five marine animals that everyone wants to see. They usually starts to show up from November to June.

We have to ride a boat from the town in order to reach our place so when my husband visited my family for the first time, he was very fortunate to saw one of them. He was so amazed how big and beautiful they are. I can still remember when local people used to catch them. But now they are being regulated by the local government for eco-tourism. Lots of tourist go there during summer just to see the eye catching creature.

This is the view where i lived..

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Another pride of Bicol is the Mayon Volcano which is known as the perfect cone volcano. It is located in the Province of Albay. Although it is dangerous when it's erupting, it is very beautiful! It look like this when she's mad! Half atop of this Mayon volcano is a tourist destination called Mayon Resthouse where you can see the pathways of the lava and magma.

source: http://www.frontierscuba.com/cf/c-whalesharks2.html

Believe IT or Not

Do you believe in the saying, "Dogs are man's best friend"? I do believe so! Back in the Philippines, we have a dog named BUDIK, he is 35 years old now (in dog's age equivalent). He was only a puppy when my father passed away. It's weird, but true, on my father's wake, Budik wasn't feeling very good, he looked so ill. He did not want to eat, no matter what we gave him, he did not even want to move. We thought for sure that he was going to die. A friend of the family told us that he is grieving too with our loss. She said for us to tie a piece of black cloth around his neck . We love Budik so dearly and we didn't want to lose him so we took her advice. To our amazement, it really did work. As soon as we did it, he slowly got up and went to his bowl with food and started eating. Isn't it weird that a dog can feel the pain of losing someone? I think he really did grieve for my father. He and my father we're so close before. They used to play and swim in the ocean.

Budik is very sweet ( as you can see in the picture). He always wants to sit in the middle of everybody especially when we are taking pictures. What I missed about him the most is his sweetness and playfulness. And when he sleeps, his four legs are all up in the air. I find it very funny and adorable. Have you seen any dog who sleep like him? Every time I see a dog, Budik always come to my mind and I miss him a lot. Whenever I talk to my mother on the phone, I always ask about him.

The picture below shows how he sleep. I find it very funny!

When John and I left my Mother's place, Budik swam and followed our boat as far as he could. It was as if he knew we were leaving for a very long time. It made me very sad. Do you have a special pet too? Can you share a story with us?

Funny mess

I remember when my daughter was only 2 years old, she did something naughty but i found it funny at the same time! My sweet Rylie asked a glass of water from me, so I gave her one assuming that she'd drink it.... BUT..... to my dismay, she soaked my cell phone on it.... wahhhhh, I wanna lose my mind. I asked her why she did it and I laughed to her answer (even if i'm upset).. I couldn't help but laughed... she said "I am trying to clean it because i think the inside part is dirty".. Gosh, it's too hard when you have a toddler, but I tell you guys it's a lot of fun too! I thought my cellphone won't work anymore but thank goodness, it did after letting it dry for a couple of days..

If you accidentally get your cellphone wet, don't turn it on right away, let it dry first for a couple of hours.

Blessings

I received a parcel today from my dear friend in Germany. Thanks a lot Mads Fe for these cooking mixes, mapapasarap na naman luto ko nito hehehe. I hope that you will be able to fix your computer problem so we'll have a chance to chat again. me and malou are missing you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I also receive a late Chusok present from my Korean student yesterday. Kamsa hamnida Min Young!

I am thanking the Lord Almighty for giving me friends everywhere I go.

Shoe-larious!

I find it very amusing when my two kids are trying to mimic us. They try to copy everything that we do and say. Its pretty flattering for the parents when they see their children trying to be big by imitating their actions. SO rewarding too! What more can I say, I was blessed with two precious angels! Here are some photos of my two lil' ones wearing our shoes.  Aren't they cute?

Our Soccer Star

Here are some of the pictures of our daughter and the other kids when they had their first practice at the ball field. I am so proud with Rylie because she really listened to the coach when he was giving them instructions. I found it odd and funny that most of the boys were hugging on to their mom/dad and didn't want to participate. My daughter just ran on the ball field as if she had been doing it for a long time. She actually did very good in kicking the ball. Tomorrow will be her next practice. We missed the last one because we didn't know they had it on Wednesdays too, we thought its only on Mondays. My son was protesting because he wanted to participate too but he's too little, he was running around grabbing the ball, we had a blast!

Rylie was observing everybody before she jumped in.

Here's Rylie getting ready for her turn to kick....

Here she was aiming for the goal.. GO anak, you can do it!

Do you see the lil' boy who doesn't wanna let go of his Mom (bottom pic) and the other boy sitting behind his dad (top pic)? Thais Marie and Rylie in action!

Here's my Son EJ in action too.. Since he can't have the ball, he just grab the cone lol!

I'm so proud of you Rylie, go for it!

My heart is filled with so much love and joy watching my kids grow up but at the same time scared that one day the will move out and start their own lives.... Hayyyyy emote!