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!

…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

Just to let you know that I’m becomming for hi-tech and now managed (with Daveys help of course!!) to link my pictures to my FLICKR account. So if you click on any of the latest posted photos, you’ll be brought to Flickr and can see the rest of the photos of that set…if you want! =)

A very advanced HAPPEE HOLIDAZE to each and every one of you!

Hello People!!! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year AND Happy Chinese New Year to all! May the year of the Ox have started out with a blast for everyone and I pray that it brings you the body you have always wanted, all the Euros and pound sterling (coz who wants dollars?), and strength and health of well…an OX!


Xiamen is in the middle of celebrating the Lantern Festival right now, (which immediately follows Chinese New Year) so it’s literally SPILLING OVER with red lanterns and the Bailuzhou Gongyuan (the park in the middle of the Yundang Lake) is the backdrop to this terrific lantern exposition! It is an amazing display of metal armatures covered with this stretchy silk-like material that looks as fabulous during the day as they do at night. They are hugungous too, so which ever way you look at it, it’s an impressive form of ART!

For those history buffs among you, the Lantern Festival was kind of thought of as a matchmaking festival, and that was the only night in which young women were allowed out without a chaperone and early curfews…or something like that…please never quote me though!

Today was one of the first really cold days of the year, and we decided that there would be nothing nicer than to take a stroll along the boardwalk. And what a boardwalk it was! Miles and miles of it!…We were there for around 4 hours, and must have strolled along 4-5km of lovely beaches today. The real treat however were the french fries we ate the at the end of our walk at a place called Red Armadillo! Yumm! Followed by the delicious Hachez drinking chocolate (c/o Mushka from Germany) I made at home to warm our cold bones - you know that there is nothing like exercise and an ocean breeze to work up an appetite!

Haiwan park was built on reclaimed land and is just a 10 minute walk away from our place. It’s a lovely park that offers a lot for everyone: ocean, endless gardens playgrounds, skateparks, cafe’s, In-outdoor swimming pools and hydrospa, bars…you name it, it’s pretty much got it.