the good and the bad

Coming back to Manila after being in the States for 6 weeks has it's ups and downs. We love being home because for the girls it's truly home. I'm the only one who needs adjustment when we return. It's so easy to get used to all the lovely conveniences of America. Coming back to the land of logistical nightmares has it's irritations.

The good:

Lucy has been a different dog since the girls and I arrived home. While we were gone she had some health issues and got really depressed being without her family for so long. Now she's running around with us, wrestling for her ball, and just being her regular nosey self. I missed her a ton and feel terrible about how she suffered without us.Being jet lagged this weekend and waking up at 4AM on Sunday meant that I had time to back homemade scones and a frittata all before 7AM. Yay for cooking in my own kitchen but see the bad list for the flip side of cooking in my own kitchen. Here is the scone recipe I used. They are awesome and I took the suggestion from the comments about using the food processor.Sleeping in my own bed as well as the girls having their own comfortable bedrooms back is a huge plus. I also missed my huge master bathroom with walk in closets.

Justin saved some Vietnamese coffee for me so we've been French pressing it in the morning and holy cow it's like a drug I don't want to run out of. I'm scheming how I can get some more when this bag runs out.

The bad:

We were eating amazing organic vanilla yogurt every week at my parent's house and I found this in our fridge the other day. Nestle is the staple yogurt here but it's not even made with fresh milk. It's sugary and gross. Grosser yet is this new jelly topped kind. Barf!I was also sad to see the boring Gardenia whole wheat loaf of bread. The same bread we eat all the time here. Blah! Boring. The tiny $4 8oz Land o Lakes cheese was depressing too. Luckily, we haven't had any roaches in the house since being home but there have been some ants and a pile of molding potatoes in the pantry. Who leaves wet potatoes in a plastic sack in a hot pantry? Pew it stunk. Oh and Yaya just threw away the moldy potato and washed off the remaining ones. This is the way we live here.In relation to cooking in my own kitchen I also sat and washed all the dishes by hand this weekend. To be fair, I left a pile in the kitchen for Cora on Monday morning since she had it so easy for the six weeks we were gone. I miss a good dish washing machine!

In the really bad category is having the Jeep's radiator bust on us Monday mid-day. We were left with a few options: A)buy a rebuilt radiator for 30,000 PH pesos or $600 with no warranty. B) have the Chrysler dealership order one from the States and wait 2 months for arrival C) order one online and pray they will ship to FPO address (new for $130) D) order one and have it delivered to my Dad's local NAPA so he could ship it to me asap. All of these options would require us to get a rental car which was going to run $50 a day and come with a driver! No thanks. Once the Chrysler dealership here said they wouldn't even take on the problem because they couldn't find any place to ship it to them (seriously?!). At this point the technician ponied up the idea that he could fix our broken radiator in our parking garage the next day and it would cost us $100. We jumped at the idea of saving the money for a rental car and still plan on ordering a new one to install as soon as we can. Car troubles in a third world country are not fun.

getting reacquainted

The girls and I needed a relaxing weekend to recover from travel and get back on Manila time. Justin took Friday off so we had a nice three days together as a family. The girls spent the entire time rediscovering all their toys in the house and loving on Dad and Lucy.. When we got home from the airport on Thursday night the house as strangely clean and bare. By Friday morning we had it cluttered up and toys were strewn every where. It felt like home.

Addie spent most of the weekend in her fancy dress-up ball gowns. She wanted to go to the park in them but we had to say no, especially now that it's rainy season here and the playground is usually a wet muddy mess. Arabella is now wearing Addie's first pair of Crocs and is so excited about it that she wears them all around the house.Seeing the girls at home again solidified for me just how much they changed and grew during our 6 weeks in the States. Seeing Arabella on the playground so independent and confidant was so sweet. The jet lag hasn't been nearly as bad as it could have been. I attribute our easy adjustment to the lack of sleep they had on our travel day. Some people have a long adjustment period because their kids slept the entire travel time then get home to Manila at 11PM and are not tired. Obviously, this was not my children so they passed out that night and then Friday night were asleep at 6PM with a few interruptions that night. Saturday night they were asleep again at 6PM and slept through until about 5AM. Addie was up at 4 hungry but so was I. We started our day really early but we all had a good amount of rest that night. I'm very thankful we haven't experienced any midnight wakings where the kids are up and want to play. Addie's stubborn nature is helpful because she didn't nap this weekend even with the jet lag and serious dark circles under her eyes. Every night she fell right asleep almost immediately as her head hit the pillow. Sunday night the girls went to sleep at 6:30PM and slept until 6AM. Jet lag over!!! I'm feeling great too after two nights of at least 8 hours of continuous sleep.

Sunday we had a nice outing to the mall for lunch and play. Now that Bella is taking just one nap a day it opens up a much larger chunk of time for us to be out and busy. Justin took us out for Vietnamese food. It's not the first time we've eaten Vietnamese cuisine so we knew the girls would like it. The soup, noodles, and rice was a hit with the girls. Justin introduced me to the cafe and I am in love! Vietnamese coffee is delicious. Justin taught Addie how to "blow it up" with her fist bumping his (I guess it's the natural thing to learn after the hi-five is mastered right?)

Bella had to have a turn too.
Addie trying to use chop sticks
Bella insisted on pushing the stroller and Addie wanted to help. Bella suddenly let go of the stroller and made a B-line into the baby store when she saw the wall of toys. We couldn't stop laughing. After a merry-go-round ride (actually two and they both burst into tears after we said we had to go) and frozen yogurt we hit the grocery store for snacks for Addie's lunches for school this next week and then headed home. The girls were exhausted. Rightly so, it was a busy day.

home sweet home again

Please forgive my lack luster writing today. I can barely spit out a coherent sentence after the exhausting debacle that is traveling from Portland, OR to Manila, Philippines, alone, with my children. I've done this travel many times before so I am impeccably prepared. I get myself mentally psyched up for the trip and push through the hours one by one with any means I have available; sometimes I rely on the good ole' power of prayer. This trip was the worst one yet. I might even go as far as to say that it was worse than the trip back to Manila alone with Addie and Bella the newborn after my trip to the States for her birth. That trip I was carting much more stuff, using my breast pump every few hours on and off the plane, and still healing from birth. That trip was my benchmark for toughness. Everything gets compared to THAT flight. I thought everything after that extreme travel was going to be a piece of cake. This trip was difficult or plenty of reasons a few being:

*The trip started off with the Delta check in guy asking for my foreign residence card after he learned that we live in the Philippines. "I'm a diplomat was my response" he then informed me that they need some kind of verification since it's the Philippines. Since when? Ch**st it was going to be a long day.

*As I was getting a tag for my gate checked stroller the Delta woman at the gate asked if my car seat was airline approved for flight. I told her I didn't know but that I had been using it for flying for the past three years. She informed me that wasn't good enough reason for her to allow me to use the car seat on this flight. That's when I got a tad crazy and she went off to contemplate how likely it was that I was going to fly off the handle. I guess she decided she didn't want to hear a crazy Mom causing a scene and shuffled me and my car seat to the quick-board line.

*Bella hates sitting in her car seat and really despises it when her sister isn't in one but instead gets to move around in her big seat.

*With it being our first trip flying coach instead of business class, we had to rely on our portable DVD player for some video entertainment (distraction). It was useless since the batteries died two hours into the first 10 hour flight we had.

*Addie used all her magical powers to defy sleeping the first flight (10 hours), she finally nodded off when the captain turned off the seat belt sign when we landed in Japan and all the passengers started to exit. Not kidding.

*Bella cried/screamed for at least two thirds of the first flight for one of the following reasons: she didn't want to be sitting, or holding my hand walking down the isle, she was mad I picked her up over and over when she'd try to sit in the isle, I wouldn't let her walk where ever she wanted to go, she had fallen asleep and woke suddenly from a strange noise or I'd try to relieve my cramped arm that as holding her. Overall she cried a lot.

*I couldn't give in to Arabella's whims to roam around because Addie wanted to tag along and wouldn't sit in the seat alone.

*One gentleman flight attendant gave me loads and loads of crap about wearing our seat belts at all times "for safety". Yeah I know the drill sir. Thank you. When he suggested I chew up a cookie and give it to Bella to stop her crying I knew I had a real helpful winner of a guy trying to give me a hard time.

*I was the Mom with the screaming kids on both flights because after Adelaide's great no-sleeping feat for the first flight, she passed out during the second flight (4 hours from Japan to Manila). During the four hours she started herself awake twice with a night terror both lasting around 30 minutes each. She screamed, kicked, jumped, pushed, and wailed with no waking. She just kept screaming "Mama" over and over again. I did all I could to calm her and tell her Mama as right here holding her in fact. When that effort was proven futile I tried to wake her (not the suggested method for night terrors-she gets them often when she is overtired). After that was worthless I just tried to contain her. It was awful, embarrassing, exhausting, and exasperating. Both times it happened she woke up her sleeping sister who would just wail right along with her. People were staring because it sounded like they had both just broken a bone. A big painful broken bone. And there I was in between them looking and feeling completely helpless.

*Someone on the first flight actually started making really loud comments so that I could hear about how he was annoyed but never actually said something directly to me. I wanted to cry. I teared up a few times but then channeled that energy into keeping my eye lids open.

*I had to battle carrying all our gear, gate checking the stroller, lugging the car seat, plugging it in, and then having the flight attendant come and ask me to move the car seat to the inside seat just as I had plopped my butt down.

*The airline broad casted the new Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland at 7PM (right about when Addie started yawning). I spent the next hour and a half telling her not to look at the TV because she was scared but just couldn't look away. That's one freaky movie.

*I always sit and wait for all the other passengers to exit the plane before I try to gear up the kiddos, gather our bags and unhook the car seat. This trip I had to lower my eyes as everyone walked by and gave me pitying looks. One man actually said he felt sorry for me.

When we arrived in Manila all the Filipinos working at the airport gawked at the girls and I as we made the tedious trek from the plane to where Justin was waiting for us. I was dragging the car seat and pushing the stroller with one hand while holding three bags; not one of them offered to help until my husband flagged a guy down and asked him to go help me since Justin was standing there watching me struggle but they wouldn't let him come in to carry anything.

After no sleep and a tedious day I was frazzled. My verdict about flying business v. coach is that it makes no difference if you are flying alone with small children. The experience was no different for me in coach only that we had less space and less buttons for the girls to push. The only perk I can think of in business class I missed this trip was the free alcohol that can take a little of the edge off. Trying to restrain and calm Addie during her night terrors might have been less stressful if I were a little buzzed.

Enough whining.

So we made it, just barely, but we are home. We are tired and jittery with that fierce hunger that accompanies serious exhaustion. The girls are in love with Daddy. He's their knight in shining armor after the horror of international travel. Lucy greeted Arabella by squeaking and then rolling on her back and peeing on the floor. That's how you know you've been missed.

heading home

Photo taken in week 6 of our 6 week stay in the States. The girls have changed so much!Our bags are packed and we are ready to head back to Manila for our final ten months of living in the Philippines. We are all sad to leave Washington; this beautiful place I called home for my entire childhood. I am so happy that my girls have been able to spend so much quality time with our family and friends who live in the Pacific Northwest. My parents have been absolutely wonderful hosts for the past 6 weeks and I know they are very sad to see us go. They are spectacular grandparents and I know my girls are building close relationships with them that will last a lifetime. We were so lucky to have had so many visits from family, my sisters, and friends. We drove across the river to play, shop, eat and be with family more times than I can count. Summer in Washington and Oregon is glorious. I am sincerely going to miss everything about being in the U.S. during the summer. In this part of the world, and the country, it is still cool at night even after a hot sunny day. Coming downstairs after a good nights rest and feeling the cool early morning breeze drift through the house and having the coffee maker percolating while I wake up is the perfect way to start the day.

Mid visit picture at Lincoln City, OregonThe girls have so many new things that are part of their memories now; filling up the kiddie pool with the hose, darting bees on the clover in the yard, getting pitch on the bottom of their feet from walking barefoot outside (always), riding a tricycle, taking a wagon ride, picking flowers, twirling in the grass, laughing at the squirrel runs across the power line, running through the sprinkler, rolling down a hill, swinging on the monkey bars, driving fast in the car (so fast they actually doze off for a car nap), and so many more things that make me feel so grateful for having my folks in Washington to visit and stay for our summers. I am lucky and my daughters are lucky.

Early visit photo taken on day two after our arrival. Six weeks is a long time in a little girl's life. Addie and Bella have grown as fast as the vegetables in Grandma and Grandpa's garden

We are going to miss everything about being here but are ready to get back to our life and home and especially Daddy in Manila.

This will be our first time flying coach around the world. I'm trying not to think about it.

DeNicolas with the Greats

Monday evening my Grandparents treated the entire family to DeNicola's Italian for dinner. The girls enjoyed their spaghetti and had little bites from all of our plates. Arabella devoured her food and made the biggest mess I have ever seen her make at a restaurant. I had dressed her in this adorable little yellow and white checkered seersucker dress with green ric rac trim and a big white collar. Not the best choice for this dinner since I forgot a bib and she would have torn it off even if I had brought it (as she tore off the napkin I shoved down her dress a moment after I took this photo). I spent quite some time at my Grandma's house scrubbing out the stains after dinner. Even more time scrubbing it at my Mom's house that night and the next day. Addie kept reminding me the entire evening that I was forgetting "great" when I spoke about my grandparents. How wonderful for my girls to get to know their GREAT grandparents. Bella ran around outside in her bloomers while I soaked the dress. Both girls ran circles in the beautiful yard then fell right asleep when we got back to the house. Their spaghetti full bellies helped them sleep really well that night.

Finding all the secret spots in Great Grandpa and Grandma's house.Scrubbing out the stains!Super cute recyclables

R&R shopping

The past six weeks in the United States for R&R has been wonderful. We've seen family and friends, enjoyed the Pacific Northwest summer, played at the Oregon coast, and had endless amounts of fun just being at my parent's home doing the things little kids should be doing in July in the United States of America. It's been awesome. I've loved every moment of it.

I've also loved all the American retail that I have been able to partake in during this trip! I'm definitely making up for the trip to the States last year where I was either pregnant or postpartum the entire 3 months and not in any condition to shop. We save a ton of money when I am pregnant and have a newborn because I have no desire to spend money; especially not on my big tired self.

This R&R has been full of lots of fun shopping adventures and I've devoured every opportunity to get some really fun stuff for, well, mostly myself. There have been a few things for my husband and children and the household but, for the most part I've made some selfish purchases over the last 6 weeks. Consider it my "push present" for Arabella (since I got purple amethyst when I gave birth to Adelaide).

Here's some of my finds:

I picked up this soap dish at the local Salvation Army half price sale. I think I paid a dollar for this adorable little thing and it makes me love it even more. I have a thing for soap dishes and I accidentally left one on the side of the bathtub back in Manila one day and Bella went directly for it before I could catch her and it fell and cracked. Boo for my old leaf soap dish. Yay for my new perfect blue hued one.

A big thank you to my girlfriend Allison who tipped me off on the new Target Up & Up brand diapers. They are less than half the cost of Pampers. I gave them a try and they have definitely held up similarly to Huggies. I generally prefer Pampers over Huggies but paying $14.99 for 86 diapers has helped me change my mind. I bought a ton of Up & Up size 4 diapers to bring back to Manila with us. Plus the polka dots are so adorable.

I nabbed these hot black suede sandal/bootie wedges by Mia (I love Mia shoes) at Nordstrom Rack in downtown Portland on the second weekend I was here. The Nordies shoe guy even buffed the suede for me before I tried them on. I got a little weak in the knees when I saw these on. I love these shoes so much and have not had an opportunity to wear them here in the States. They will be making their debut the first date night I have with my hubby upon our return to Manila.

My Mom and I hit a great estate sale this week that had over 1,000 pieces of costume jewelry. I picked up a few interesting pieces costing me a total of $7.50. I love a good bargain and it was great to see my bargain hunting Mom in her element. Plus you gotta start the kids young at garage/estate sale shopping. So after all that hunting through cases and cases of jewelry that day my Mom pulls out her little clip-on earring drawer from her personal jewelry stash at home and lets me pick out a pair to take home with me. These little rhinestone numbers I chose are by far my favorite new ball gown accessory.

Another cool Salvation Army find was this ugly owl for 50 cents. I knew when I saw him that he was just enough hip, just enough vintage, and just enough ugly for me to take him back to Manila to perch on my bookcase. 50 cents...done and done. He only stands about 6 inches tall, so not to worry sweet husband of mine.

While hurridly browsing Whole Food's selection of natural sunscreens and bug sprays for the girls I came across this great product on accident. It's Thayers Rose Petal Witch Hazel toner and I'm completely in love. It makes my skin feel great and it works well for that mid-day wipe down to refresh my skin and remove any dirt or oil that's built up. There is no alcohol in the product so it's non-drying. It actually makes my skin feel moisturized. I was really happy to see this product available more places than just Whole Foods. (side note: while at Whole Foods I had one of their little sushi lunch trays that completely took me back to my days working for Booz Allen in D.C. when I'd walk to Whole Foods for lunch with co-workers-the luxury of time I had then is almost unfathomable to me now.)

The greatest vintage piece I picked up was also at the Salvation Army half price sale. This rabbit fur coat with "dramatic" shoulders was mine for $22.50 and needs absolutely no altering whatsoever. I put it on and immediately started fantasizing about the things I could wear this with. My yellow satin gown came to mind as well as a printed casual sundress and even skinny jeans with heels. It's an original Wilson's Leather coat and I have no idea how old it is. I'm guessing late 70's maybe. Then to top it off, I opened the latest issue of Elle magazine (American magazines have been on my shopping list since being home too-it's so great to stand in the check out line and read an US Weekly while waiting. So great!) and was floored to see that fur is in for the Fall 2010 collections and they are pairing it with absolutely everything. Who knew? The only difference is that faux fur is on the runways! Mine isn't exactly PETA friendly but I figure recycling an item is better than buying it new or letting that poor rabbit fur go to waste. It's too great a coat to not be worn and my gratitude to the original chic owner who kept it in such great condition all these years. (side note: those gold chains are all second hand too. I got one at the estate sale and Mom picked up the other one for me. Most versatile accessory I own.)

Ok, enough of me trying to pretend I can blog about clothing. It was all about happy shopping for me!

Voodoo Doughnut

My dad and I ventured to Voodoo Doughnut in Portland tonight to try, for our very first time, the doughnuts that have become legend in this city. They were pretty amazing and the combinations were really interesting. I love that they sprinkle flavored drink powders on the frosting. Genius! Dad with his maple bacon bar that was nothing less than perfection. We ended up in line to buy a second one to bring home to Mom.They displayed the doughnuts they had available in the spinning display case.Pictured here is the voodoo doll doughnut complete with pretzel stake in the heart, maple bacon bar, lemon chiffon cruller, tangfastic (Tang drink powder dusted on top), and old dirty bastard (chocolate peanut butter with Oreo on top-very, very dirty).The magic truly is in the hole!

The list of doughnuts and prices. A bit pricey for some of them but they are huge doughnuts! Definitely worth the stop if you are in Portland! Open 24 hours!