As always, our trip to the Philippines went leisurely and rapidly at the same time.  I'm glad we made the effort both cost and time wise to go.  Although on the calendar it looked like we spent most of August there, in actual family fun time we really only had two weeks.  This time we had the bonus visit of M's friends from Morocco visiting as well ( Read more... )

We leave on Saturday for essentially a month in the Philippines.  I am a little daunted by the 30 hours estimated to travel from Washington DC to Cebu via Doha.  And then we spend the night in Cebu and take the boat to my parents' hometown.  I know we have other possible itineraries but to be honest I am not really keen on navigating between the ( Read more... )

I've been trying to think of the last time I did something fun that didn't involve Z (or Mo). I have a lot of plans that end up not working out. For example I was hoping to see M. Evelina Galang on her book tour for her latest publication, and I couldn't/didn't go even though I knew it was a major event for the Fil-Am community in DC.  Mo was in ( Read more... )

I feel like the summer doldrums kick in once Fourth of July is over.  Z completed sailing camp with only one near capsize and a couple of days shortened due to stormy weather.  Right now he is in camp at our favorite game store.  He is learning how to actually develop a game.  Hopefully he'll have something to contribute to family game night ( Read more... )

Since we are going to the Philippines in August, our summer in DC is really only two months long. And we are already in July!  And halfway through the year.  Panic and run ( Read more... )

Happy Father's Day!  To my beloved and to my dad, and in my father-in-law's memory ( Read more... )

We were planning to visit one of the local community gardens which had a kids' program today and then head to Georgetown to see the lacrosse team play Yale in the first round of play-offs but the rain was a discentive.  When I left work on Friday (in a neighborhood on the opposite end of town from Georgetown) I saw the Yale team carry all their ( Read more... )

I'm the only one in the immediate family who has a fall birthday.  Mo, Z, and my parents all have birthdays in late March and early April.  Z's and my mom's always fall around April.  Over the past couple of years we've had a joint neighborhood celebration with an Easter egg hunt and Z's birthday.  Thankfully this year the weather was lovely. I had ( Read more... )

Today is International Women's Day.  I like to call it the Super Bowl of Gender, or maybe the World Cup of Gender?  At any rate since I switched jobs IWD is a lot more mellow affair.  This year's theme, DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality, falls squarely into my colleague's domain so she took the lead on all the internal comms ( Read more... )

I have loved libraries all my life.  When I was a kid, going to the public library was a rare treat.  For some reason (parent reluctance, distance, irregular schedules) I didn't go often.  Thankfully the parochial school I attended had a substantial library stocked with all the classics.  My parents also went regularly to thrift stores (before it ( Read more... )