We put the younger boys to bed and left Adam to watch some Clifford before bed and headed out to a yummy Tapas dinner.  Our friends took usto this restaurant Las Ramblas a couple weeks ago and we’ve been obsessed with it ever since. It’s owned by a Spanish chef who makes the best Tapas.  Once again the tradition continues of Kate and I taking only one not so great picture the whole visit.

See Randy’s spoon? On this spoon is what may look like a regular olive but it’s actually a delicious olive paste surrounding an inside of yummy feta that melts in your mouth.  Photobomber is the chef/owner.

Then these two mischievous boys got into the tissue box. I didn’t even stop them. It was jsut too cute to stop (I did pull out the tissue pieces from Malcolm’s mouth when he tried to eat it).

For dinner we all combined forces and split watching the three kids and cooking dinner. We must have mentioend ten times how crazy it must be to have three kids and cook dinner with one person (Megan we’re talking about you!). Here the ratio was one to one and it was still a zoo at times!  Kate did the bulk of the cooking and made us a delicious kale salad. I don’t even like kale but this was amazing! Maybe I do like kale Now, if only they would sell kale in Manila for less than 20 USD a bunch 🙂

The next morning we had grand plans to go to a bazaar but Manila had other plans for us.  We took 2/3 of the boys (Adam and George, Malcolm stayed home with Randy) but made it about five minutes into the drive before we hit standstill traffic.  We were really lucky and managed to turn around before we got stuck and headed back home for some cuddles, playing and pool time.

This is old news but still I’ll repeat it. We are SO LUCKY to be so close to Kate and George and to get to see them so much. I never in a million years would have imagined three years when Kate and I said goodbye in London that we would end up halfway across the world, an hour and a half hour flight away from each other! I can already tell that is going to be my favorite part about living this foreign service life. You meet so many people and become very close to a some of these people.  You have to say goodbye but you never know when you paths will run across again and it will feel like you never said goodbye. I consider myself very lucky to have a few very close friends that no matter how far away we are or how long the lapse in between visits or even emails we pick up right where we left off and I still feel as close to them as I did the day I left them. 

We of course forgot to take any pictures of the party but it was a great success! Randy made a yummy cured salmon recipe that Grandma Gretch always makes and delicious slow cooked tacos.  I was in charge of spinach pies and salad. Oh and the cake which I got from Dimpys is our new favorite. Its a super moist, chocolatey, fudgy cake.  Everyone had a great time! Most people left around 11 (we are 34 after all) but a couple friends hung around chatting until late which was loads of fun.

The next morning I let the birthday boy sleep in and woke up with the boys at 5:30.  At least that meant I had plenty of time to decorate, make yummy scones and wrap presents. All this and it wasn’t even 9 yet.

Then it was everyone’s favorite time, present opening time.  Adam was super excited about showing Randy where he had signed his card.  When Randy said ‘I wonder what my present is’, Adam proceeded to answer, ‘Headphones’.  I guess we need to work on his secret keeping 🙂

1. His attention to detail in everything from his work, to the boys, to vacation planning. 
2. How quickly he can get either boy to laugh. 
3. When we’re putting Adam to bed and Adam always insists on one more songs Randy always stays behind for that one last song.
4. He loves popcorn as much as me and Adam.
5. He voluntarily signed up for a diplomacy seminar at the Embassy and handed in his homework assignment four days early. 
6. Organization is not Randy’s strong suit but when we moved he kept me company the whole time I unpacked and put everything away. 
7. On our drive into work Randy finds interesting podcasts and audible books for us to listen to. Currently we’re listening to New Yorker Fiction Podcasts and Great Course-Scientific Secrets to Raising Kids who Thrive.  
8. When I’m not around Randy listens to a 30 hour Great Courses on classical Bach and the Highbaroque.  This is the sequel to a 48 hour Great Course on How to Listen to and Appreciate Classical Music and a 25 hour course on 30 Great Orchestral Works. And he still finds time to help feed, bath and put the boys to bed. 
9. We’ve off to Phuket this weekend since Grandma Yuyu will be here tomorrow to help watch the boys.  I gave Randy free reign on booking the hotel and he chose the nicest one in town. He says we deserve it and I agree 🙂 
10. When I went shopping with Kate during her visit last weekend, I texted Randy to ask if I should buy some fancy French Sole shoes, fully expecting his reply to be that I was crazy. But his reply was, ‘They’re nice!’ 

Adam’s bff Victoria came by to see our new house during lunch time and spent some time skipping in circles with Adam. Cultural difference number 160 in the Philippines, lunch breaks here last about two hours, a looong eating session followed by a looong nap.

After A VERY LONG day, we finally had all our stuff moved and the beds and monitors set up, bare bones but that was all we needed!

This was my favorite part about the move, cultural difference number 161.  My clothes were labeled Mam’s clothes and Randy’s clothes were labeled Sir’s clothes.  My favorite is when I’m addressed as Mam here (which is all the time) and because it’s pronounced with a British accent and it sounds like Mum, Adam always thinks everyone is calling me Mom. I’ve had to explain that I am in fact not the mom of the building engineer, the lady at the supermarket or the taxi driver.

We got there just in time for lunch. Someone wasn’t sure about the food.

1our little hut was very cute.  We all got comfy and then put our bathing suits on.

Look what was next to the pool!  A caribou!

Here’s where things took a turn for the better for me.  Malcolm and I headed back so Malcolm could nap and luckily he fell asleep super quickly which left me time to enjoy this.

After our long walk we headed up for dinner outside.  The food was pretty good.

We headed out and went to Antonios for breakfast on out way home.  It’s the most famous restaurant in Tagatay and it was delicious! Even though it’s an hour away from Manila I’m sure we’ll be back!

The most delicious hot chocolate ever!

Even though this view is through a screen you can still see how beautiful our view was.  We were there really early (thanks to the two early risers we have) and it was nice to be there so early and eat in the fresh air, something that doesn’t happen too often in Manila!

On our way out we found this magazine with my friend Jackie on the cover! Jackie is Devon’s mom and originally from Brooklyn and loads of fun.  She just opened an awesome baby store in Manila and was in Town and Country talking about it! Adam was really excited, actually he was really excited to eat the magazine 🙂

All in all it was nice to get away from Manila for the night and see something different and witness a beautiful sunset.  But we won’t be back to that hotel.  Our search for a hotel within driving distance of Manila continues.

I couldn’t get a picture of Malcolm laying on the blanket because he kept trying to crawl over and grab the camera!

Look who wanted to take pictures of his first day!

And here is the best shot of the three of us I could get, ah toddlers!

After just a couple of weeks I can see a change in Adam, he’s more patient and observant and wants to know why about everything! When we’re reading a book and there’s a lot going on a page he asks us to ‘Talk about it’.  He wants to know how every animal walks and talks, since they do alot of that at school.  He shows me the yoga and handstands that he learned at school.

In honor of his first day of school, here are my current top five that I love about Adam.

1) Every night we have to sing Happy Birthday before Adam goes to sleep, tonight we sang Happy Birthday to his and Teo’s dinosaurs, yesterday it was to Gregory’s fish and rabbit.  You always know what’s popular in Adam’s word because they’ll get a shout out during Happy Birthday.

2) The past couple night after a couple Happy Birthdays and a couple verses of Wheels on the Bus, Adam cut us off with a ‘Niiiiight’.  After years of trying to convince Adam that it’s time for bed he seems to have finally had enough of my off tune singing.  Randy and I walked out laughing, maybe our days of singing ‘Happy Birthday to the firetruck’ with us elbowing each other at the ridiculousness of what we were doing, are coming to an end.

3) Adam’s now entered the ‘Why’ stage.  He asks Why after everything.  He asked if we were in an elevator the other day and then asked why it was an elevator….very existential of you Adam, but I have no clue!

4) He loves moving his chair over to watch what we’re cooking and he now cooks us pretend cookies.  Then he presents them to us and tells us they’re hot and that we can’t have any until after dinner.

5) He LOVES horses.  Every time we let him pick a little toy at the toy store he chooses a horse, we now have 6…and just this weekend he decided that the bench in our room is his horse gate.  When I asked him what his horse’s name is, he replied ‘Al Capone’.  I should just leave it at that, but I’ll explain, when we went horse back riding back in Baguio (before Greece!) his horse’s name was Al Capone, it must have really made an impression because he remembered it all this time later!

He sits in there and has feed him carrots and hay.  It’s pretty much the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  I have no idea where he got the idea but he will sit there and eat the imaginary hay out of your hair so gently it makes me want to scoop him up and give him a million kisses.

2. Celebrating our wonderful nephew/cousin Roman’s fifth birthday beautiful niece Isla’s second birthday from afar but with lots of love!

3. Passing time in traffic during the looong commute home.

4. Adam’s first play, Pinocchio.  He was scared at first and at certain times but overall it was a great experience.  He loved it and we spent a lot of time talking about the differences between plays and movies. It was nice to have a little Adam and parents time as well.  Adam has been so great with Malcolm, attentive, loving and not jealous that it makes it even more special when we get to spend some time to focus on him.

When I asked Adam who he wanted to take pictures with he only wanted pictures with the the cat and the fox (who even knew they were in Pinnochio), but as soon as we squeezed our way up front they were just saying their goodbyes.  Thankfully, Adam just rolled with it and was happy getting hamburgers and ice-cream instead.

5. Malcolm moved out of our room and into his own room! I miss having him right near me but it is nice to be able to read books in our bed again instead of having to quietly sneak in in the dark.  The Arms Reach co-sleeper was amazing and we used it the entire time Malcolm was in our room.

I love when babies reach the stage that they sleep with their butts up in the air.

6. Every day when we get home from work we all spend a half hour on our bed.  All four of us will cuddle and talk and hang out.  It’s my favorite part of the day.

8. We decided to try Ihop over here.  It was markedly less good than Blackbird, but Adam enjoyed his pancakes.

We also picked up this guy.  We’re actually moving apartments in two weeks (long story but our landlord isn’t renewing our lease so the Embassy is moving us to a nearby building which is also super nice)…so we’ll have to find a new fun place for these two additions in our new home.  For now they’re just handing out in our living room.

10.  This little guy is almost too big for his chair! I know I say this all the time but I can’t believe he’s already this big!

I see with Adam how quickly times passes and how fast he’s becoming a strong, independent, wonderful little boy.

You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your
last dirty face.
They will one day run to you with arms raised,
for the very last time.

The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time
Until there are no more times, and even then,
it will take you a while to realise.

So while you are living in these times,
remember there are only so many of them and
when they are gone,
you will yearn for just one more day of them .

                                                                             -Author Unknown

I know there will be a day where these two don’t want to hang out and cuddle on our bed with us…but I hope that day comes a long, long time from now.