To See Is To Believe

There is that all familiar "Paris in the Spring" sign shown below with a couple similar signs.

Here we have MyGirl on the ferry with a note meant for St. Peter.

But this one takes the cake.

Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend gathered family members at Jersey Girl's place.

This is probably one of the most complete family pictures we'll have in a long time.

In this picture, Mother is with five of the ten children, three of the five sons-in-law, the only daughter-in-law, and seven out of the twelve grandchildren.

Father's Day

It is a special day today. It is the birthday of someone very close to my heart.

It is Father's birthday.

I decided to post pictures of Father one would see around the house. These are really gifts given to him probably because it is difficult to give something to someone who seems to have everything. (Just tell us, Father, what it is you want. You know we will try our very best to give it to you if we can.)

Father is well-loved and deeply respected.

And by anyone's standards, he is quite successful.

Happy Birthday, Father! We love you.

Gallery -- Part 9

This is Mother's latest gallery.

The left side (not in photo) has photos of relatives, the middle has photos of the grandchildren, and the right side has photos of us when we were young.

Mother says her favorite ones are the pictures on the right, when the children were 'young, carefree and unattached.'

Contortionist

Contortionist?

... not really.

Poor RD. Yesterday morning, I found his brother's leg resting across his body. Both of them were fast asleep.

(I was only allowed to post this picture to ensure that RD does not fall to the #2 slot when it comes to number of blog posts about the children. At this particular point in time, MyGirl has 44 blog posts tagged to her while RD has 43. When I hit the PUBLISH POST button, RD and MyGirl will be tied again at 44.)

My Little Speedster

We had a wonderful two-week vacation at Castle Hill in Australia. My brother-in-law's place was right beside the park. The park was conducive for outdoor activities. All of a sudden I realized that we had been so deprived of clean, open spaces.

GI spent most of our vacation afternoons in the park with a soccer ball. RD enjoyed the swing and the playground. MyGirl had a chance to learn how to ride a scooter.

We have an old rusty scooter at Makati which MyGirl didn't seem to be interested in. Earlier this year, when we were invited to a house blessing at Tagaytay, I recall her testing the old scooter which was there. But I didn't realize that she was really into scooters until I saw her trying her best to ride her cousin's scooter at The Entrance. She kept getting back on the scooter and just wouldn't let up.

When the family across the street at Castle Hill opened their doors for a garage sale on our first Saturday there, it was the scooter sitting at the corner which caught my eye. I had to figure out whether this scooter would be something I could stick in the luggage so that we could take it home with us. The minute I got a GO signal from MacGyver to consider the purchase, I was on my way back to the garage sale to get the 'previously owned' scooter.

(We all know that BMWs are not considered as "second hand cars", they are marketed as "previously owned.")

MyGirl was tickled pink at the prospect of getting her own scooter. She was all smiles as she watched the neighbor spray WD40 on the scooter to get it to fold. She was ecstatic when we told her she could ride the scooter back across the street.

That same afternoon, I found MyGirl speeding along the park path on her newly acquired scooter. Her skill level had gone from beginner to expert in that short span of time. She was just speeding along. It was so wonderful to see her go off with such grace and confidence though I must admit I was afraid she'd lose her balance on the slope and get hurt.

My fears were baseless. Just watch this video taken before we left. This is MyGirl less than a week after we got her the scooter.

The Entrance

The Entrance is named because the area is the entrance of the coastal waterways into the ocean. Tuggerah Lake is part of a coastal lagoon of an interconnected lake system that is 80 sq km in size, but less than 2 meters deep. The Entrance is located on the New South Wales Central Coast where the magnificent Tuggerah Lake meets the Pacific Ocean.

It is a great place to visit if you are the type that enjoys the wind and the water. People were walking and playing on the beach. There were some children swimming, even if it was quite chilly when we went there. I saw a couple of men with their hooks and lines going fishing.

The highlight of the visit to the Entrance was the pelican feeding. Every afternoon at 3:30, pelicans gather to get a chance for some free fish.

It was at The Entrance that MyGirl first got over her fear of birds.

Gallery -- Part 8

Just when I thought there would be no additional gallery photos, Mother decides she can spare another wall (or two) for more pictures.

Here are Father and Mother...

That's Eldest Sis and her husband.

Here is a picture of London Eye...

... and a picture of Sister Deer.

This is me and MacGyver on our wedding day.

That's Slash M and his wife. She's Swedish.

This is Sunshine and her husband. He's English.

Here is Jersey Girl and her husband. He's Taiwanese.

This is Mindy with her Irish husband.

And last but not the least are J and Z.

Yes, we are like a mini-United Nations scattered all over the globe.

ANZAC Day

Last 25 April 2009, I attended the ANZAC Dawn Service with my sister-in-law, her two daughters and several hundred other people.

ANZAC was the name given to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey early on the morning of 25 April 1915 during the First World War (1914-1918).

The ceremonies started before 6.  A typical ANZAC Day service would have the introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, laying of wreaths, recitation, Last Post, a period of silence, Rouse or Reveille, then finally the national anthem. 

We were standing right in front of the lone bagpiper.

Many people attended the service.

It was a clear day. According to my sister-in-law, it was usually cloudy or rainy during the previous dawn services she attended.

People listened intently.

The flag was lowered to half mast in honor of the soldiers who had offered their lives.

Representative from the schools, clubs and organizations laid wreaths around the rock.  (Am not quite sure what the rock was supposed to represent.)

After the ceremonies, the war veterans and some other people marched out as part of the parade.  There would be breakfast served at the local club or RSL (Returned and Services League of Australia). 

From the Australian War Memorial website:

Why is this day special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only 14 years. The new national government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies. The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.

Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as the "ANZAC legend" became an important part of the national identity of both nations. This shaped the ways they viewed both their past and future.

Now Read It Again

While we were in Australia, we passed by a church with a big sign in front.

The sign said :

G O D I S N O W H E R E

NOW READ IT AGAIN

Did you read it again?

What did you see?

I found that sign really interesting.

It reminded me of a story I heard a long time ago.

A psychotherapist was having a roaring business since he started from scratch. So much so that he could now afford to have a proper shop banner advertising his wares. So he told a kid to paint the sign board for him & put it above his shop entrance.

But, instead of his business building up, it began to slacken. He had especially noticed the ladies shying away from his shop after reading the sign board. So he decided to check it out himself. Then he understood why !

The boy found a small wooden board so he had split the word into the 3 words

Psycho-

the-

rapist.

More Than Six

No, actually I'm not six.

But ...

I'm more than one

I'm more than two

I'm more than three

I'm much more than four

I'm even more than five

Can you guess how old I am?

Oh ... to be seven.

Even MyGirl can tell me that 4 + 3 = 7.