The S-BOARD has taken our house by storm! It’s a miracle! now all the boys want to do is be outside and skate away…I’m thrilled! *coz it’s really loads of fun and I get to S-BOARD too when they let me.*

This Is Nick with Jason - his new friend from XIS who he’s been spending a lot if time with. Good kid!

Haiwan Park now has some additional attraction that are awesome for the kids, but bad for the parents wallets as well as ears…Roller coasters and bumper cars etc…there goes all the peace and quiet we used to enjoy while we were out there. But yes, loads of fun though - our personal little “Enchanted Kingdom” (amusement park in the Phils.) - Plus, it’s only a 15 minute walk from the house!

From Xiamen to the world…the four of us wish you all a very happy Easter weekend!

The Kiddies have been very creative these last few days…Enjoy their paintings, eggs, and OH YES!…see the cute little white vase on the right side of the table that Dave designed? It’s now ceramic! He just brought it home for me this evening and is adorable! I can’t wait for him to bring home other pieces from his new collection! (Manufacturing certainly has it’s perks!)

After coming home from a school field trip to Huli Park (about a 10 minute drive from out home) Nicolas was desperate to return to this place because he simply *neeeded* to go bobsledding again! The first time we planned to go, we got rained out, so we went the next weekend which coincided with Mushka (this is what the kids call my mom) being in town for a weeks visit. The park itself is simple, but definitely worth a visit if you have kids.

Aside form the bobsledding pipe, there are lots of other rides and games (like fishing for goldfish) that one typically finds in an amusement park…so really, this place is a must see - just ask Nicolas!

Together with some friends, we planned an Easter egg painting activity that was supposed to be held at Haiwan park. But due to the weather being very “mamahuhu” (so-so/comme ci comme ca) this morning, Heike offered to host this actiity in her living room instead - which was really great because we would have been sitting on wet grass and ff-reezing our butts off had we gone ahead with our picnic idea. This venue was *much* cozier - but we still ended up at the park after lunch run around and burn off some energy.

The Knipfelbergs have a fab place, with this fab view!

I would have had all the kids in this photo if I had my way, but it’s not easy rounding up 10 kids that all have their own agenda once let loose. Yup! you heard me TEN kids…We ended up being 9 boys and 1 girl. Poor Luise =(…it’s incredible how there is a dearth of little girls in this place. If ALL the kids who were invited would have come there would have been 13 boys and ONE girl!

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.

…but not in China! Our Easter ritual unfortunately will be changing this year as Easter is not celebrated here, and will therefore be falling off the calendar. This is a huge shame especially since it offers a week long holiday, and a much awaited break for us Filipinos. Normally, it is our family tradition to head towards the beach, paint eggs, prepare our Easter tree, and organize the egg hunt that evolved into a treasure-hunt as the kids got older and hiding eggs was not enough! We’ll be missing out on all that beach activity this year, but we are trying to keep some aspects of it alive…so, i’m happy to announce that we have managed to prepare the tree so far…and eat lots of eggs!

I wish I could say that I made these cute little thingeys, but I actually bought them on Gulangyu!

Next weekend, we plan to get together with some friends for some egg painting, so I expect that my cheeks will be very painful by the end of the week from blowing out (and eating) all those eggs…so keep checking in as surely there will be lots more pictures of this to follow.

*sigh* …Allow me to reminisce for a bit…here are some pics from Easter ‘06

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!

…but only for 13 days. I know that that’s soo not the way it’s supposed to be done, but on the 13th day we leave for home, and…and…I have no further excuses! I did figure though that once they are home in Manila, everyday will be a treat in itself and I can get away with not providing any further presents until Christmas eve. For whatever it’s worth though, i did spend many evenings obsessing about preparing for it, so thank goodness it came out really cute in the end…even if I DID get fed up with sewing the pouches by hand and opted to use my glue gun instead. (I’m a cheater sewer…I know.) Well, It’s also because I can’t find a little sewing machine in China, can you actually believe that?? That’s the tragedy of actually LIVING in the land of manufacturing…it’s all made for EXPORT and nothing is actually available HERE! You cannot begin to understand the frustration!! Anyway…back to my kalender…

Update: It’s December now and the kids are so happy with their Kalender and it’s contents so far! Mission accomplished.

Guess who just got one of these popular Chinese foldy bikes - Matti! And although he was less than enthusiastic in the beginning, he just loves it now, and we have to agree that it’s pretty great! It’s much heavier than I’d wished for, but how can I complain? It only cost RMB350, folds, and works! The folding part is very handy since we have already managed to take it on a bus and taxi with us with literally no hassle, plus it makes lugging it in and out of our building a piece of cake as well…YAY for foldy foldy bikes!! Nicolas wants one too now, so we’ll be heading out and buying him one today.

All these pictures below were taken while he biked home from the bike shop.

Update: Nicolas just got a blue one and is loving it as well. =)

The kids just had a great weekend of NORMAL and I haven’t seen them happier. For the first time in 4 months, and thanks to our new friends, we were able to offer them a full weekend of normal activities such as playing with friends on this huge bouncy castle in Haiwan Park, biking around, having a sleepover, playing soccer at Xiada (which laowai do regularly on Sundays apparently)…und so weiter…it was just soo much like how weekends are back in Manila. This means so much to me especially since I am so painfully aware of how much Nicolas is missing Manila life.

I’m really grateful that the kids can get a glimpse of what Xiamen life CAN be like, and that weekends need not always be (and I quote) “boring”. I’m hoping that after this weekend, and perhaps many others more like it - they will leave home for Manila with a positive image of their new city, and not be too disappointed when they have to return after the break.