Author Archives: fotinitheo1

This year when I asked Adam what kind of birthday party he wanted, he had only one answer- Optimus Prime. Not Transformers, Optimus Prime.  This for me was…a hard theme. I had no idea who Optimus Prime was.  The boys have only watched Rescue Bots transformer (the less scary Transformers) and Optimus Prime is inContinue reading “Optimus”

There are a million reasons why I love Adam but for his 5th birthday I’m going to name my top five. 1.  Even at five there is no fooling Adam. His logic is dizzying and I am already terrified of when he outsmarts me daily in his teenage years.  2.  He loves to learn. IContinue reading “5!”

Christmas celebrations start in September in the Philippines. Trees and lights come out. Songs are playing in the malls. But in the Ali home we waited until after Thanksgiving to pick up our tree. There are very few real trees in Manila. So I put my name on the list at SNR (the Filipino Costco)Continue reading “Ber Months”

For our second day in Bohol we decided to rent a boat and go to a beach where we could snorkel.  Of course things don’t always go as planned in the Philippines.  My friend had given us a number to book tours.  It had worked the day before so we went ahead and used themContinue reading “Snorkel and Goggles”

We wanted to bring Grandma somewhere fun in the Philippines while she was visiting. We had been to Bohol a long time ago when I was just pregnant with Malcolm and loved it, so we decided to go back. It’s amazing that the last time we were in Bohol Adam was this size and MalcolmContinue reading “Back to Bohol”

Guess who came to visit us last month. Grandma Yuyu!  Everyone was excited to see Grandma and everyone was even more excited when they saw the amazing presents she brought.  She brought an Air Patroller (if you don’t know what this Paw Patrol magic for kids is, consider yourself lucky) and an awesome construction benchContinue reading “Grandma comes to town!”

By far one of the best parts about living in Manila is that we have by far more leeway than we would in the U.S.  Recently was the closest supermoon in 68 years.  Our apartment building is 53 floors and by simply asking all residents were allowed to traipse up to the roof on floorContinue reading “SuperMoon”

I am way behind…let’s blame Christmas Cards, picture book making, Christmas and Birthday planning and of course Black Mirror and Crown watching.  So let’s catch you up! When Randy went to Thailand two weeks ago, the boys and I decided we would go to the beach with Victoria and her family.  It’s about a twoContinue reading “Not a Real Vacation”

Every year the Embassy Marines here in Manila (and around the world) host a big ball in honor of the Marine’s birthday.  This year was the 241st birthday, which is pretty crazy when you stop to think that the United States is only 240 years old.  Good old Wikipedia filled in the gap for me.Continue reading “Happy 241 Birthday Marines!”

Ever since we moved to Asia, whenever Randy asks me where I want to go my answer has been the Great Wall. For the longest time either tickets were expensive or fight times were terrible or we had not enough days off to go. But this time all the stars were aligned and we madeContinue reading “The Great Wall That Almost Wasn't”