Cons of Jungle Living:

UNRELIABLE INTERNET SERVICE!!!!

I am sorry to my friends & family that have checked this site for almost a month now anxiously awaiting an update. Here is the update I've been promising...

Don't get me wrong, I love living in a quiet, remote, mountainous, jungle area, but I sure wish the Internet service was reliable. I went almost 2 solid weeks without any internet at all!! That was HARD! But, I did get all caught up on my book club reading. So, it wasn't all a waste. And, I did discover how beautiful this area is when explored on foot. And, I also found out that I need to get out & hike more often to use these muscles that have been dormant for a while. Maybe I need to take an Internet break more often...

The kids have been enjoying school. The twins studied Dr. Seuss last week in school & had so much fun! They had a "Wacky Wednesday" where they got to dress up in crazy, mismatched clothes. They were quite a spectacle amongst all their uniformed classmates in chapel that morning! Their teachers also turned their classroom upside down. They loved it! On Thursday, they wore crazy, mismatched socks with their uniforms. Sydney had some fun colored socks, but poor Samuel only had white socks. So, I dug through my box of winter clothes that somehow got shipped to the Philippines where we do not have a winter. I pulled out several of my long, striped winter socks & a couple of warm, fuzzy patterned socks. He put a few of those together & thought it was great fun! My camera battery died, so I don't have pictures of either, but I will get some from their teacher. On Friday, they made green eggs & spam. Their teacher mentioned that some of the kids gobbled it up, some ate only a little & some didn't touch their plates at all. I'm willing to bet my kids were grouped in that last category! I can't even get them to eat "normal" food at home! They had a fun & full week at school.

On Tuesday, I made a special presentation for Nick's class all about America. His class is studying different cultures & apparently, I was the only American (out of 3 in his class) willing to do a special presentation. The Koreans did a fun project, one Canadian put together a nice morning for the kids & the Filipinos went all out with yummy food & stories. I think I represented the Americans well, but it sure would have been nice to have help. The kids had a great time & learned about the American flag, so my job was successful!

Sam & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Thursday, 2/28. TEN years?! Seriously?! Come on... we're still just kids ourselves! Time is sure catching up with me. I turned 31 on Valentine's Day, we've been married for 10 years & the twins will be 6 on March 12!! Some days I feel like we've been married forever & some days I think back to our dating years & long for the simplicity of those days. But, never have I ever regretted my life with Sam. I can't imagine my life being any better than it is now! I love all the adventures he has taken me on & I love growing & learning new things with him every day. What a ride these last 10 years have been & I sure hope to have just as much fun the next 10+ years!

If all goes well, we will be moving into our Subic home about the middle to end of this month. I cannot wait! I'm a pretty carefree, happy go lucky, easygoing girl, but it has been a bit hectic not having all our belongings unpacked & within reach. Of course, living in temp housing for 2 months has also taught me how much "junk" we actually have that we do not need to survive. Why do I have SIX mixing bowls?! Why do I need TEN purses when I just use the same one over & over?! I always hope to downsize when I unpack boxes from a move. We'll see how good I do in a few weeks.

I have made so many new friends here in Subic, for which I am so grateful! There are about 70 FedEx pilots & their families stationed here. I have met several of them & they have taken me under their wings. (Not literally... although I wish! Only free flights for immediate family members.) We play tennis every Wednesday morning & meet for lunch every Friday afternoon. They are a fun bunch of ladies & I would literally be lost without them! They have helped me navigate the streets of Subic & it's outlying town, Olongapo. They have helped me locate the best markets, the best spas (ahhhhh...), the best restaurants & so many other great hidden places that I'm sure I would have never found otherwise. I am blessed to have met so many wonderful ladies & their families!

We are attending the International Food Festival tonight at the kids' school. This is their big fundraiser for the year & is a pretty huge deal for the school. Each nationality is responsible for setting up a booth. I am providing chocolate chip cookies & cornbread for the American booth. I volunteered to make chili, but a few other northerners beat me to it. I'm scared. If it tastes like a can of Wolf brand, I will be so mad! I have heard that the Japanese booth has the best food, so I need to get there early to taste it before it's all gone. We'll see...

Have a great weekend! Hopefully, it won't be so long before my next post!

I'll leave you with a few of the latest cute photos:

Each of the kids got to hold a white mouse at the start of the Aeta trail we hiked a couple of weekends ago

The kids loved learning about jungle living, so they came home & pretended to be Indians. Don't know how they made that connection, but it was cute!