HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to you & your family!

The fireworks here in Manila were phenomenal! I have never seen anything like it before in my life! Beautiful, spectacular shows that filled the night sky all around the city. In fact, after it was all over about half past midnight, a thick cloud of smoke hung over the entire area as far as I could see. It was truly awesome! (The fireworks... not the smoke.)

I hope you all have a wonderful 2008 full of life, love & joy!

At about 11:30 pm, we decided to join thousands of other spectators at a huge countdown party right around the corner from our home. We had been watching several beautiful fireworks shows in the direction of the bay, but tall buildings were blocking our view of this particular show, which I had heard would be excellent. So, since the kids were still awake, we asked them to get shoes on & we quickly left our room. It was very crowded, but tons of fun! I'm sure this is the closest to a New York like countdown I'll ever get, so I was glad we made the decision to join in the fun. It was exciting to be a part of the actual countdown with thousands of Filipinos and other people from around the globe. (One thing about Filipinos is they sure know how to throw a good party!!) And, the fireworks show at the stroke of midnight lived up to all the hype we had heard about. Spectacular!! Here are some pictures of our fun New Year's Eve celebration:

Making our way to the party!
(Samuel likes to pretend the huge spotlights are actually enormous Star Wars light sabers!)

Getting closer to the bands & dancers at center stage...

MIDNIGHT = FIREWORKS!!

Our kiddos watching the cool fireworks.

(A bit loud for Nick's little ears.)

The throngs of crowds making their way home after the huge celebration.

Sam also put together another great video of our evening. You can check it out here!