Filipiniana

This week kids will celebrate "Filipiniana" in school, sort of a tribute to our lovely host country, the Philippines. Hana was asked to send in a couple of pictures from different parts of the country, as they were going to do some kind of visual exercise on the beauty of this place. Going through our photos from last year I really was amazed of how amazing this country actually is - even remembering you cant really capture it in pictures. And yeah I'm happy rainy season is almost over and we can get back to our out of town (down our mountains) weekend escapes habit again!

Some memories from last year.

 Hidden Valley Springs, Laguna.


Maricaban Island, Anilao, Batangas.

 Pinto Art Gallery, Antipolo, Rizal.

 Coco Grove, Siquijor Island.


Banaue Rice Terraces, Ifugao.

 Aninuan Beach, Puerto Galera, Mindoro.

 Kinabuhayan camp site, Laguna.

Beverly Hills, Antipolo, Rizal - our street!

Garden flowers

Well, still in the middle of rainy season we don't really go anywhere, I just travel around my green garden. It's starting to flower.

Tae Kwon Do

Kai's new favorite after school activity.

 Discussions with the coach.

Don't know if this is really a Tae Kwon Do move, but looks kinda cool.

Pixie and Jack

A couple of months ago we adopted Pixie, an adorable puppy girl, from Cara Philippines. She had been found roaming the streets of Greenfields together with her brother Jack, tiny, skinny and miserable. After a couple of weeks at the vets they looked much better and were ready to move on to new homes. Still tiny and shy we couldn't leave Jack behind when we came to pick up Pixie, so took him along for fostering, until he finds his real home (some friends of ours claim he already did, lets see...). So cute, fun, friendly - and troublesome!

Just arrived.

Certainly being cuddled enough.

Enjoying the garden.

Happy Birthday Kai!

Two weeks ago already, we celebrated Kai's 8th birthday, with traditional morning singing, cake and presents in bed on the 27th and then with a big and fun party the day after. Twenty kids going wild on what must have been the first sunny afternoon in weeks.


Early (very early) morning celebrations.


Pool party fun times.

 Catching tadpoles.


Game time.

 Mums' corner.


And dads' corner, too.

Lunch time.

Cake time! Big thanks to all friends who came and helped us make this day a very special one!

Despicable me III - the Jeepney adventure

Let's goooooooooooo!

Garden details

So here I am, like in a dream (sometimes a little bit nightmarish, but generally a wonderful one). Living in a huge house with an amazing tropical garden where I can just go wild, in the countryside, with stunning views and just outside a big (very big, one of the biggest on Earth) city. Yeah, just what I always wanted. And seriously, I can't get enough of the tiny details.