One of the kid’s household chores that they really dislike is keeping the water pitcher full. Why? Because the dispenser is sooo slow to dispense!! So one of my clever children came up with an ingenious system to NOT have to stand around and hold the pitcher and getting arm strain…check this engineering marvel out! =)

Whee! The tree is up and anchored by lemons. Now, were just waiting to collect enough eggs to paint on the weekend. So far we’ve eaten omelette twice this week, and I predict that we’ll be having pancakes soon…

*Oh, and for those of you so inclined (like Mirs perhaps)…the tree is potted in a tin can that I covered with scrapbooking paper. Literally took 5 minutes.

Our patio provides me with constant entertainment here in China. I mean…please raise your hand if ANY of you out there have ANY of these: (Bet you don’t!)

1.    A neighbor with a myna bird that does the HAWK-A-LUGEE sound! Oh yes he does!! It’s Hilarious!
2.    Panty liners falling from the sky. (Which grossed me out SO much that I took it and THREW it into my other neighbors plants!)
3.    Clumps of hair falling from the sky.
4.    The remains of eaten watermelons falling from the sky and smashing into a gazillion mush pieces and covering everything including my laundry. Yum!
5.    My neighbor slaughtering a chicken on his patio (adjacent to ours.)
6.    My other neighbor having done the same thing but adding the extra attraction of flattening it out and hanging it to dry on his clothesline.
7.    Dave once found a dead chick skeleton. Apparently it escaped from one of the neighbors hid behind our washing machine…only to die eventually.=(
8.    But the piece de resistance that I have for you is that used condoms fall from the sky here in China too. Incredible! (And I thought the panty liner was disgusting…)

I have pictures of the condom…but do you REALLY want me to post it? What I CAN post is this though…I also occasionally have this on my patio too. *grin*

For those of you that don’t know what a lugee is, here is a definition c/o Urban Dictionary. Lugee: The wad of phlegm that comes up when one is coughing, or hocking.

Sorry for my blogging silence but because of all these celebration and our traveling to Manila, I just haven’t found the time to post anything. Also, my beloved 5 year old i-mac crapped out on me, so I got a new little netbook (Lenovo Ideapad, or laptop-toy as I call it) for Christmas that I didn’t really know how to use (I’ve never used windows in my life), so I’ve waited until now for David to install the Mac operating system to it – and can I just say how TOTALLY AWESOME IT IS!! I now call it my Mactop-toy and it ROCKS!! It so totally pays to have a geek for a husband! =) Anyways, to just update you on January, here are some photos:

New Years Eve was a relatively quiet affair spent at the beach with just the family, and lots of sparklers and other kiddie friendly noise-makers. For us, it was the perfect way to usher in the new year.

Introducing: My MACTOP-TOY!! It’s a little LENOVO IDEAPAD and i recommend it to anyone with small fingers like me. Oh, I also drink greenjuice (almost) everyday now…it’s part of my new years resolution!

Our Xiamenite friends, the Knipfelbergs, introduced us to this beautiful little mountain hike in Zhangzhou (a 20 minute ferry ride away) which we definitely must return to someday. While walking through this peaceful place I swear I almost forgot I was here in China. It’s so nice that Xiamen has so much nature to offer - we really look forward to these little weekend trips.

Addie and I had planned this visit months and months ago, and it felt like their arrival would never come! They came for a whole week and Addie and I had a wonderful time loafing around Xiamen while the kids joined my boys at their school for 4 days.

Rollerblading: their new Sunday activity at Haiwan Park. They are still a little wobbly on their knees, but they still try futzing around on the half-pipes which is cute to watch.

For Chinese New Year, we flew back to Manila but decided to drive north-bound to the Province of La Union where there is quite a popular surfcamp called San Juan Surf Resort run by one of the Philippines top surfers Luke Landrigan. We had an amazing time and swear to go back. THe crappy thing is that it was still a 6 hour (midnight) drive for all of 300km. Oh well, it was still worth it!

Update: As of a few days ago, my i-mac works again!! ZOOEE-MAMA!! Have I bragged about my husbands geekiness yet?!

More photos coming soon!

Last week, Mom flew to Hong Kong to attend one of the most significant awarding ceremonies established in Asia for the spa industry, the AsiaSpa Awards. Think of it as The Oscars of the spa industry - with The Farm (Health and Spa Resort at San Benito. Philippines) being nominated in three categories:

• Spa Retreat of the Year
• Medi-Spa of the Year
• Spa Cuisine of the year

Being up against the best of the best in the region, one cannot be too complacent, and it was a real honor for The Farm to be announced the 2008 winner of The Best SPA Retreat of the Year!

(Here are the two self-declared Prince’s of San Benito doing what they do best.)

I am ELATED, and beaming with pride that once again, The Farm’s hard work and commitment to health and wellness has been recognized, not just by this association, but by many spa aficionados from all over the world… so, for all those that have been there, and those that want to go…I would like to say thank you!

Here Is mom with Olivier Burlot - the publisher of AsiaSpa magazine and many other sports magazines like AsiaSpa Men, Boating, etc.

L-R: Beni Gomez (Spa Association of the Philippines), Olivier Burlot, Rebecca (Editor in chief of AsiaSpa), Perla Rempe (my mom & co-founder of The Farm), and Tanya (The Farm’s GM.)

*So sorry about not having everyone’s full name. I’ll complete it when I get all my info right.*