I Miss You

Shelley Dee Brown (Feb. 28, 1970 - Aug. 1st, 2007)

Today would have been your 39th birthday. Although I honour your memory today there isn't a single day that goes by that I don't think of you.

The video below is of a song that was on one of your CD's. When I drove your car up to Quesnel I listened to it over and over and over again. For that reason it will always remind me of you.



I miss you

Unpacking

Well I have been migrating some of my old posts from the blogsome site over to this blogspot but it turns out to be not very easy to do. As a result I only moved the last 10 or so posts which are basically our Boracay time.

Hope you like the look of the new blog ... not sure if it will get me to post more.

Shan TianFang 单田芳

Whenver you jump into a taxi in China about 80% of the time you will hear the great storyteller Shan TianFang 单田芳 doing what he does best. Arguably the most recognized voice in China and I love listening to the guy even though I cannot understand what he is saying. You really don't need to speak Chinese to appreciate his art.

Take a listen

Guilty Pleasure .. I'm So Sorry

Ok .. we all have 'em and we love (for some reason) to dig 'em out of our closets and share them. The guilty pleasure. That tune that you cannot get out of your head and you hate yourself for liking it but you just can't help it.

In Boracay I heard this song played quite a bit on the speakers blasting from all the bars and coffee houses.

Ladies and Gentleman I give you Beyonce (that's bee yawn say) - Single Ladies


Of course such a worthy tune deserves to get spoofed and it was in spades. Thousands of YouTube videos offer their favourite take on this song including an ugly fat guy in a leotard (my eyes are still burning). However the winner goes to this Barack Obama spoof. Enjoy

Boracay - Portraits

Won't you be glad when these posts don't start with "Boracay" .. I won't. Today is our last day. You would think hanging out on the same beach for 16 days straight would get tiresome and to be honest there have been days where it seems that way but overall we love it.

This entry is a few portraits we have taken of us as a family and some individuals ... no slide show here ... we need to see the real McCoys

A Future Michael Phelps?

Well .. Michael Phelps without the marijuana photo we hope.

Over the last several days Carter has finally found his braveness and is attempting to learn to swim. For a long time he has been using a tube to kick around the water with. We finally convinced he and Nathan to try water wings (with a lot of ice cream treat encouragement) and they took to them like a fish to water (ouch!). Nathan has done fantastically but is content to float around and kick a little. Carter has taken it to a whole new level (again with the requisite ice cream treat encouragement).

We reminded him that his bestest buddy Magnus can already swim and his competitive nature just took over. Stage 2 was jumping into the pool with water wings which required him to learn how to hold his breath under water albeit for a brief period. In stage 3 Alice convinced him to wear the goggles to keep water out of his eyes and he concurred despite his earlier objections. This led quickly to stage 4 - putting his face in the water voluntarily for extended periods. I coaxed him to play a game where we wave at each other underwater but he quickly realized that the water wings wouldn't let him go to far under so I seized the opportunity to move immediately to stage 5 - goggles, face underwater and NO WATER WINGS! He was great at it right away and just began swimming by himself.

Boracay - Sunsets

If ya can't figure out today's theme by the title ... well .. I can't help ya.

Boracay - Nathan

When you spend 16 days on a small island you run out of things to blog about .. beach great, food great, pool great, family great etc. So today's entry is a few shots of Nathan. I got a comment from someone who shall remain nameless (SS) that Nathan was looking far too serious in his pictures and I have to agree. He is actually quite a little goof and is always "fooling around" with Carter but so far he has shown a serious, comtemplative side in his pics. Hopefully some of these shots will show his other side ..

The Nemo Boat

For the first few days we were here Carter and Nathan seemed to notice only "The Nemo Boat" as they called it.



We finally relented and went on the boat one afternoon for a two hour cruise which included snorkelling for the adults. The boys loved the glass bottom boat and Carter even put on the life jacket and swam a bit off of the boat. He claimed he was cold but in fact he was a bit frightened but we were very proud of him to try something new and overcome a bit of his fear.

The boys saw one of the boat guys swim underneath the boat to clean the glass bottom and they wanted me to do that. I didn't think it was a big deal as it was a very small boat to swim under but I could not believe how much I panicked once I went under. It felt like the boat was going to crush me and I was going to drown right there. I very quickly kicked my way out leaving my family very disappointed that I didn't wave at them but I thought returning safely would be more of a treat for them.

I snapped a few shots through the glass bottom but it wasn't made for picture taking only viewing. We don't have an underwater camera unfortunately so most of our pics are of us on the boat and some surrounding scenes.

Boracay - Day 1 of Sun and Sand

Our first full day of sun and sand had us on the beach in front of the Villa Camilla (no it isn't a scary place Dad) and then down the beach path on the hunt for dinner. We chose an Indian restaurant on the advice of Susan C. and she was bang on about how great it was. You will see in the pics that you sit on the floor on giant yellow silk pillows. We all loved it!

Our days have started to follow a predictable but happy pattern. The boys wake up around 7 am and play with each other waiting for us to roll out of bed around 8 am or so. We hang out in the hotel getting ready for about an hour and then venture to the same breakfast place (they other love us or hate us). Breakie is done about 10 am or so and it's off to the beach and/or pool until about 12 noon. We cook in our hotel room (simple meals usually noodles) and the boys nap around 1 or 2 pm until 3:30 or 4:00. During that time Alice usually stays back at the hotel and catches up on her Korean shows on the portable DVD player we brought (what a godsend) and I walk up and down the island looking for adventures, the internet and a cup of coffee. When the boys awaken we usually hit the hotel pool for an hour or so and then off to find dinner. It's been a great time I'll tell ya.

Check the slide show for some pics of day 1.

Boracay - Arrival

Once we landed in Manila we grabbed some coffee, french toast and donuts for breaky in the airport and then slept for 2 hours on our luggage waiting to check into our Cebu Pacific flight to Caticlan (the closest airport to Boracay). I must say this plane was much improved over the one we took from Shanghai and we all crashed for the 1 hour flight.

Upon landing in Caticlan we were whisked (and I mean whisked) by porters from the airport to the motorbike taxis which took us to the port. At the port we took a 15 minute boat ride to the jetty port on Boracay. From there it was another motorbike taxi ride to our hotel .. the Villa Camilla. We were pretty pumped to arrive but were still exhausted from all the travel so we got set up in the room, ventured out for a quick bite and then all fell asleep by 1:00 PM until 6:00 PM.


Carter on the airstrip .. it was a tad loud.


The hotel we call home now


Waiting patiently while we check in


The first shot from the lobby of the hotel.

Welcome To My New Home

If you were able to follow the link from my previous location for this blog then I would like to welcome you to my new home.

I will undoubtedly be screwing around with the format of this blog as I learn more about how to post and design it to my suited needs.

Stay tuned .....