These Days

*2016 project to take and post pictures of the kids every week. We were at the zoo this afternoon. It was Ela's first time and I like how her face lit up upon seeing some of the animals.

I have been to San Francisco three times, all more than 10 years ago. I didn't realize it was that long ago until I reviewed the pictures. The first one was with Rich and family in 2003. The next two trips were with Intel colleagues on consecutive weekends in 2005. I remember being there on fleet week, which was fun but also not fun because of the very heavy traffic. I enjoyed the tour of Alcatraz, walking on the Golden Gate Bridge, having excellent clam chowder at Pier 39 and being amazed at Palace of the Fine Arts. It would be nice to go back but for now, here are pictures from the olden days.=) 2003 2005

*2016 project to take and post pictures of the kids every week. Another set of pictures in the crib. I need to change it up for next week.=)

Ela is 10 months old! She has been a blast this month. She's more interactive and able to express her wants and needs. And the consonants sounds are coming (d, b, l all together). She has figured out how to walk backwards on her walker. So now she's able to adjust her position and keep going if she gets stuck. She does "close/open" with her hands at will.  She waves if we say hi. She did enthusiastically with both hands when we Skyped with family. She likes to hold other people's hands and control them for clapping motion. And she started clapping by herself, too. We let her crawl around the house. We joke that she's a free-range baby. =) She likes going to Neil's book stack and making a mess. We've been giving her table food more and more. She doesn't like some food and makes a face if we give it to her. She's also very interested in what we are eating and shouts/grunts if she wants a taste. She likes playing with Neil. And at this...

While I don't wholeheartedly subscribe to Valentine's Day, part of me wants to do something out of the ordinary to make days stand out in memory. After church, we went for lunch at First Watch. Our server attempted several times to make Ela smile but she just gave him stern looks. Smiles reserved only for family and friends. As expected, it was busy but we did not have to wait long because I used the No Wait app while we were still on the car. Technology is great. More family pictures at home.

I am participating in a creativity project for February called 28 to Make, hosted by Creative Live. There are daily prompts and video instructions that encourages participants to do small projects everyday. I joined a little late so I did a lot of catching up last week. I have really enjoyed the exercises so far. And if you follow me on IG, my apologies for posting way more than usual recently. You can find the projects on IG using #28tomake. Draw your beverage, houseplant, favorite album art, what's in your bag. Draw a receipt, 30 circles, scribbles and shapes (with Neil), blind contour self-portrait People-watching mad lib, exquisite corpse (with Rich and Neil), photo doodles and mindmap. More to come! =)

*2016 project to take and post pictures of the kids every week.

*2016 project to take and post pictures of the kids every week. Writing notes for his classmates. Showing off a new trick. Neil's first time to carry Ela.

Having a kid in school is also a learning experience for the parents, especially on practices and traditions. On Valentine's Day last year, Neil came home with many notes and gifts from his classmates. We didn't know it was a thing so we did not prepare anything. This year we're making sure he's able to participate in the giving and festivities. They were required to create a Valentine box made of recycled materials. I didn't know what that is exactly, so Google to the rescue. It's basically just a decorated box with a slot for the notes and gifts. There's a lot of really cool ideas online but we settled on a jeepney. It's already boxy and easy to build but more importantly, it will showcase his Filipino heritage.

We've really taken advantage of our annual parking pass to Stone Mountain Park. We visited again yesterday with Mike and Kathy who were visiting from Manila. It was by far our coldest visit. After a few minutes, I could hardly feel my ears and nose, and talking was weirdly challenging. Rich and Ela had to take shelter while I stayed with Mike and Kathy to explore the place and take pictures. I wrapped Ela's blanket around my head to counter the cold. Also, photobombed by Darth Vader. =) Funnel cake needs to come with a health warning.

Today's travel throwback is from one of my favorite destinations ever - Yosemite National Park in California. This was in October 2005 when I traveled to Folsom c/o Intel. I joined some officemates on a day trip to Yosemite which was almost 3 hours away. I remember driving for most of that trip, including going through dark unpaved 2-way roads at night because we picked shortest distance on the GPS. That got scary for a little bit but we made it back to the hotel safely. Being in the midst of big trees and the beauty of nature does the soul a lot of good.