December Fest: Donkey for Sale!!! (Complete Video)

Scene 1: Bedouin Camp


Alfie, the donkey, is found amongst camels by the herders.

Scene 2: Donkey for Sale (song)...Nizwa Market


Alfie is put on sale!

Scene 3: Home...Hillside....King's Party


Alfie, Mary and Joseph head for Bethlehem.

Scene 4: Bethlehem....The Stable


Alfie enlists the help of the stable animals!

Scene 5: Stable Animals and Angels



Scene 6: All To See The Tiny Child (song)



Scene 7: Head of Primary Closing Remarks and Closing Song

December Fest: Vivian's Early Christmas Gift.... to us

Sometime November, Viv's teacher Ms. Smales comes up to me and asks, 'Vivian's good at memorizing lines of songs, that kind of thing?'. I confidently replied, 'Yes, she likes doing those things.' and asked why. Smales smiles, 'Good. We're thinking of giving her a big part in a play for next month.'. I thought, 'Whoa, cool!!'

Week after, the scripts come out and role assignments handed over. My wife and I scan the script entitled, Donkey for Sale. It's KS1's Christmas/nativity play about the donkey Mother Mary uses to travel to Bethlehem. The children's play is a fun smorgasbord of characters from men and women, to all kind of animals. KS1 is composed of three classes each from Years One and Two. So that's over a hundred kids in all.

Vivian says, 'You have to help me practice now.' We ask the little girl, 'So who are you in the play?'. She says, 'I'm Alfie.' My wife asks, 'OK. So who is Alfie?' Vivian replies, 'Alfie's a donkey'. Pause. My wife and I look at each other, I inhale and I slowly ask, 'You're a donkey? Your the donkey for sale?'. Viv says, 'Yes.' I ask again, 'You're the lead character?' Viv says, 'uhm yeah.' Burst of laughter. Mixed emotions... excitement and apprehension all shaken up.



A memory suddenly came to me. Last school year, my wife and I watched a young girl play lead for the KS1's Billy-No-Buzz school play that year. She was so good and we both thought at that time, wouldn't it be great if Vivian gets to be lead and be that good when she get's to that age. That would just be so great.

In preparation, we ran lines with her over and over - even though in less than a week, she already had her lines pegged. When we found out she had a solo part in a song, the more we were smiling like idiots non-stop. It was indeed an exciting time. We were both very proud of her work and confident she'd do very well but, at the same time, worried and praying nothing goes wrong. I had teachers, some of whom I didn't know coming up to me in school and introducing themselves, telling me how great Vivian was during practice. The build-up was unbearable.

We ordered her donkey costume online from UK and got it delivered just in time for dress rehearsals. There were two dress rehearsals planned but one got canceled as schools were closed because of the 'heavy rains'. We hoped that this would be the one and only snafu. Ms Smales suggests to me to attend the two runs of the play, sit up in front and keep a box of kleenex handy. Mental note to self, no crying - no crying during the play. no crying.

Finally. After several excruciatingly long weeks. Two runs of the play. One play a day for two days. Results of all the hard work are in. The play was very good. The children were absolutely entertaining and did a wonderful job during the entire play. The costumes looked wonderful. They all looked like they were all having fun up on the stage. Kudos to the KS1 teaching staff and the parents (especially the class links) who worked on everything and anything.




AND most importantly VIVIAN NAILED IT... on BOTH shows. She was absolutely delightful. She was fantastic. She was adorable. She was funny. She was just perfect. She spoke clearly. She naturally delivered punch lines. Thess and I couldn't be more proud of our darling girl. She was smiling the entire time. She was having a great time and had so much fun with it. We congratulated her right after each play and just gave her the biggest hug we could. Parents and teachers, again - some of whom we didn't know coming up to us after the play, giving praise to the little girl. The feeling is so indescribable. Joy. Pride. Relief that its over. All the little girl's hard work paid off.

Thank you so much, Vivian, for the early Christmas gift!!! Proud parents are we.

First show pictures. Second show pictures.

December Fest: Vivian's Birthday Bash

In the months leading up to December, we'd been playing with different ideas of how Vivian would celebrate her birthday. Past years, we didn't really arrange for any big parties for her but we decided that for this year's 7th, we would make a big deal out of it. A lot of ideas floated about. We settled down to a few choice options but we just couldn't make up our minds which one to focus on. So, finally, we decided to do all three of them instead and not tell Vivian about it.

Vivian's vote was on the nail spa option (this one she knew about) and she never budged on her decision. We made arrangements with Tips & Toes in Bareeq Al Shatti on the schedule, balloons, drinks, nail services and even the child-friendly Piggy paint. And so, a week before her birthday, Vivian sent out her invites to her friends (mostly her classmates). I was fortunate enough to be there when she handed them out and her girl friends learned of the party. All of their eyes lit up with excitement, unstoppable giggles and the 'oh my god oh my god oh my god'. accompanied by the occasional shriek. Ok, maybe I exaggerated a little bit but one thing was for sure, the slumber themed NAIL SPArty idea was definitely sold. Unfortunately, some of the girls already had other plans since it was right smack in the middle of Eid Holidays but most of them came. So, for about two hours or so, donned in their favorite sleepwear, they all took turns daintily sitting on the sofas, primly getting their nails done along with choosing their colors and the designs they had wanted on them, my wife's hair styling services (yeah, she fixed everyone's hair) and, of course, the occasional visit to the food table for quick munches. The little girl was so pleased with the party and she was smiling the whole time looking at her friends having fun too. She was genuinely concerned if her friends were indeed enjoying themselves, so much so, that when one of her friends' emphatically commented, 'best party ever!!!', her smile broadened just a little bit more than usual. At the end, she simply handed each friend a giveaway and said thanks for attending.

Right after the SPArty, we surprised the little girl with yet another one. This time it was a simple dinner at Silk Route with our Filipino friends and their families. Again, some were out because of prior commitments but we all filled up the table nicely. We'd chosen the menu a few days before so the food just rolled in and I must say, it was sooo good. After dinner, we brought out the Barbie Princess' cake for Vivian's birthday wish and candle blowing and had it for desert to close out the night and a rather long day.

What the little girl didn't know was that it wasn't over yet. We surprised her again in school (so that the boys can also join in to celebrate) with a cake and fun hats for the entire class, including their teacher Ms Smales. We brought out the Disney Princesses' cake, while they all sang Vivian a Happy Birthday in several different languages. The little girl made her silent wish and blew out her candle. After having a little bit of fun with the hats, everybody had cake (with seconds and thirds for some). It still amazes me how much these kids love cake. This year's cake was completely finished off by the whole class... as in nothing was left. Last year's, they didn't completely finish it off but I distinctly remember their eyes literally bulging out when they learned there was cake.

It was quite a busy week. I think Vivian would agree though that it was definitely a memorable one. Vivian thanks everyone for her gifts, for coming to her parties to celebrate and those who simply wished her a happy birthday! It truly made her birth week celebrations extremely special.

Mission: Shopping

We had gotten another week-long break because of Eid. That and since December was just around that meant another visit to Dubai for some serious shopping. In retrospect, my wife should be the one writing all this down given the subject matter... pero deadma .... best I got was a something of a mix between a smile and a frown. But I digress...

Everybody (in Oman) seemed to have the same idea. Left and right we saw people from Muscat in and around the malls of Dubai. The malls were packed and shopping was made more difficult . But as my wifey puts it, it had to be done and we all decidedly buckled down and went to it.

We went through our usual lineup of malls. We've actually gotten quite efficient in doing our Christmas shopping over the years. The shopping list for families, relatives and inaanak (godchildren) are quickly accomplished. The hard part about all this was not really what to get them - we gravitate to clothing stores mostly - but whether or not, they've gone through any major clothe-size changes. Deciding solely on the mental imprint of the last time you saw them can be quite disastrous. The shopping objective was not only Christmas shopping but also birthday party (for the little girl) shopping. She excitedly went through Ikea's offers of party hats, toys and bags for giveaways.

The meal breaks in between were just glorious moments. Woohoo, we get to sit down!! From our usual Ikea breakfast, to the Chowking siopao at iba pa feast for lunch. Visited CPK twice and tried out a newly-opened Friday's. The best meal, hands-down, was the gorging of a t-bone and a sirloin at The Butcher Shop & Grill. Really must visit that place again.

Was able to meet up with my cousin, whom I didn't know was in Dubai until some months ago. Last we met was about 6 years ago at our province in Tanjay, Negros Or. Good thing is his mag-ina (wife and son) just joined him recently so their Christmas will decidedly be much much better this year. He and his family seem to be liking their environment so I hope everything works out. Their living with his other cousin and they all seem to be doing quite well.

After about a hundred shopping bags and all that credit card swiping, we merrily declare mission was ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Lateblog: Birthday Chuckles!

First off, Happy Birthday to my dear wife!! While we weren't really able to plan something to celebrate, it was nonetheless a fun fun time.

Before I tell the story though, understand that the little girl is really bad at keeping surprises a secret.

The story starts off in a not-so-good note, a few days before her birthday. After an emergency check-up, we were advised by the doctor to take things slow and that she be on bed-rest for the next few days. (Baby's ok now and doctor gave the green light already so no worries) This gave me an excuse to do our weekly groceries by myself and try to get her a gift she's been eyeing. As I was sorting out the plan in my head, Vivian then declares, 'oohh I wanna go I wanna go'. There goes the plan, I thought.

Hoping for the best, Viv and I left the house and then I let her join-in on the plan - emphasizing to keep things quiet over and over and over again. We ended up buying three separate gifts. We got home, gifts hidden with the groceries, and Vivian came up to her mum and passed with flying colors. No 'knowing smiles', no 'uncontrollable giggling'... she was calm and perfect - nobody would know something was up.

The entire afternoon went without a hitch, but I could see in her eyes she was growing impatient with the plan - give all the gifts on her mum's birthday the following day. So I gave in, I told her ok let's give one gift now and still keep the other two a secret and give those the next day. As soon as it was agreed, she jumps up, grabs the gift and runs to her mum. She excitedly gave the gift and yells, happy birthday!!! and successfully surprises her mommy. Unfortunately, she didn't stop there, she continues on with a complete account of our day... from the shop to the groceries and to wrapping...and she led off with, 'oh yeah, we bought you three gifts but we're going to give it to you tomorrow, ok?' We all laughed our heads off for a good long while.

Fancy Dress Party '09

While thinking of how exactly I should blog this year's fancy dress, I got this idea of rifling through Halloween parties of past years. Reminiscing, Thess and I were laughing our heads off - it was indeed a treat - so, we'd thought we'd share them Halloween 04-08. (hit the flickr badge for more and look for the halloween sets)

This year the little girl came in with a simple Gryffindor robe (she decided to be a bit low-key this time) and pretended to be Hermione. Last year, all of the kids just stayed inside the disco hall but this year, there were lots of games held outside too. Upon arriving, she found her best friends and had a blast. Here are some of the snaps.

Parent Sharing

BSM recently cooked up a new program - Parent Sharing. Purpose is to provide parents a peek into their kids works so far this year. So, we got to spend about an hour inside Viv's classroom. Viv gave us a tour of her room, her schoolwork and her varied projects. The room was packed with excited parents and kids. With all the materials stuffed all around the class, it was indeed a very busy room. The short of it is, she's doing great in all of her subjects. She's always eager and inspired and Teacher Smales' feedback during a subsequent PTC was very very good. Feedback on the Parent Sharing thing was positive so I think this'll be a regular thing now. Keep it up Viv!

Digger on Ice!

Digger, the class puppy, gets to go home every week with one of the class' kids and they get to keep record of it on Digger's journal. We take Digger along our usual weekend ritual of eating out, groceries, shopping and as it happens, a birthday celebration!

Thanks to Ate Rachel for inviting Vivian to her birthday weekend celebration... on ice. The celebrant spent her afternoon with her close friends, and Vivian in tow, at the local ice rink. The big-little-girl excitedly put on her ice skates and hurriedly went on to the rink. After one round on the rink, she comes back with a face like she's about to hold a spider in her hands. After some time though, she bravely went back on the ice and after a few more rounds, had a respectable stance and a not-so-smooth jerky forward movement. That first round was so

far behind her and she was definitely having fun. Her last round she did all by her lonesome. She bravely pushes away from the wall, for the very first time. She was doing great...until she slips and falls. Sat there for a few seconds, looking at us from afar thinking of how to deal. She realizes the solution and starts crawling to the nearest wall...just as the official clangs on the gate, signaling the end of the skating. Zamboni comes out and does its job.

Amazon & Aramex

Tried for the first time ordering online while here in Oman. Back in Manila, I had Johnny Air who gave me my US Address for free and just charged me for shipping at low enough rates... low rates compared to here anyways. We took the plunge and subscribed to Aramex's Shop N Ship for a one-time fee of 17USD (discounted 50%) and got us an address in both US and UK. Ordered several books and a networking tool kit (for work) from Amazon UK and US and tried out the service.

The shipping time wasn't so bad. The fees were not as low I'd wanted them to be...the shipping of one book cost more than the book itself (boo!) The test wasn't so good though since the books came from different Amazon merchants so they arrived at my UK mailbox in separate shipments. So, naturally, Aramex shipped them across to Muscat in separate shipments also - I asked but they couldn't hold off on shipping to wait for all of them to come in at one time. Any case, the wife and I got our books safe and sound. The tool kit arrived at the office intact. I tried out the Amazon Prime option (note: the US and UK subscriptions are separate agreements ipso facto separate subscriptions costs) and I'd forgotten the one-month free trial was up and got automatically billed the yearly subscription. One can still cancel and get the refund but better to just unsubscribe right after the trial run...lessens the hassle. Might keep mine though... wonder how much it'll cost for the lens... :D

Oh Ondoy!

That Saturday, arrived at the office and I chanced upon a news feed... storm in Manila, streets flooded a bit more extreme than usual. I sms'd my mom and just asked how they were, in general, and just put in at the end that I heard another storm was up and about. My mom answers that yes there was and that our street was already flooded and water had already gotten inside the house - in her usual frantic-toned text (can't explain it, just that I know when my mom exudes panic on something as emotionless as an sms). Got a little bit more worried but then my mom does exaggerate sometimes so I casually replied asking had she meant it had gotten inside and up the garage already. My mom says no - it's inside the house already.

Panic! Next few hours since, I just kept trying and trying to call our house in Marikina City. No joy! My only thought was to try and give instructions on what they could do - ie turn off the mains/breakers, instruct them all to just stay at the second floor and such - sms was barely working. I tried calling my sister who was also stranded in Makati City by the floods. We both were trying to contact Marikina but voice calls were just impossible. Eventually, they turned off the electricity and my parents and two helpers settled up on the second floor for the night. My parents saw neighbors having to leave their homes. I kept praying that the rains stop soon otherwise, they'd have to start considering leaving our home as well.

The flood got up shoulder height inside our house before the rain stopped that Sunday morning and the water started receding. Our refrigerator toppled over including the washing machine. and TV. Everything inside and outside the house was covered in mud...thick thick mud. Hearing and seeing all the photos and updates that had circulated that time - we were just blessed and thankful that that was the extent of it for us. It could've been much much worse. Our families in other cities - Makati, Cavite, Pasig were also hit somehow but nothing that couldn't be fixed given time.

Growing up in Marikina, floods were plainly normal...and regular. I remember as a kid I'd seen black-top (asphalt) roads of Champagnat St. Marikina Heights lifted and thrown to the sides by floods and rains, as if they were carpet rugs. The house I grew up in had parquet flooring. I dreaded everytime the floods would come - not because I was afraid of the flood per se - but because I knew the pain-in-the-a** job I had after the flood had long gone, rugby back into place the flooring. After a few years, my parents decided we'd had enough of getting flooded and so we raised our flooring by about a foot and that flooring level held for a long time - storm after storm. After a few years, I had even raised the floor level further a few more feet when the new house had been built. So, much like every Marikeño, I had learned how to deal with the threat of floods from childhood. How to plan for in case it was a little more than expected, how to lessen the damage, and how to just simply 'be' around floods - how to drive around floods, how to wade around floods, things like that. Ondoy was humbling. I wanted to spare my parents the strain and aggravation we all felt when I was a kid during rainy season but all the planning and preparation was for naught. When nature wants to be heard, she gets heard.

To all our friends and families, thank you to all who helped out including those who tried and offered to contact my family for us. Those who offered and helped out after the storm, we deeply appreciate it. We pray that everybody continues to be safe and that everyone recovers quickly enough. When things settle down again, let's not forget and dismiss it as a fluke... make time to make new and better plans.

Stars and House Points for Green Gubrah

School started first week of September for BSM. Since then, we've all been too busy trying to keep up with whatever needs attention...including the blog. So, there'll be a flurry of posts in the next few days, hopefully, starting with this one. We're somewhat reaping the benefits of all that hard work...each and every one of us, including our big-little girl.

Fresh from summer break, on her first week of school, Vivian gets a star - certificate on the left is for her Good Manners token. Something about her graciously giving way to another. Last week, she excitedly showed her mum her double-house points for one of her school works (right). Great start baby!

Eid Break!

The holidays declared for Eid Al Fitr gave us almost a full week off. We planned that for most of that week, we'd just rest up in Muscat...but not before having a little bit of fun. We went back to Al Nahda, expectations high because we enjoyed our first visit so much.

The place was still great and we still enjoyed our stay a lot...but there were a few hiccups here and there. Had a small argument with the restaurant. The pool got too crowded during the late afternoons. The food was good but not as good as the last time. The pickup during checkout took more time than it should've (considering they kept reminding us to checkout otherwise we might get charged extra). Even thought the list seems long, the stay was still great overall. The little girl was just happy to be in the water with us and rode her bike whenever she could. Seeing the local version of the karitela (horse-drawn carriage) was a wonder for her - should probably try out the horse ride next visit. The wife spent time at the spa...and I got my massage (insert big smile here).

Lessons learned: don't go during Eid break or long holidays, they can't keep up with the volume of guests. Thursday dinner buffets (seafood) are the best... food the rest of the week is not as good. One day is too short, 2 days is too long.

Heely's

Bought the pair for the little girl sometime April (same time we bought the Wii). Few weeks in she'd be scared and quite tentative, since we didn't have much room to practice around the apartment, it took her a lot of time to get rolling. Getting to practice only during the weekends or when we'd be around the malls or hitching herself up to a grocery cart... slowly got confidence and she finally got it. Great job, V!

Going coastal

Spoke too soon. I mistakenly entitled (and implied) the other blog entry as the last summer escapade. I was so wrong.

We'd visited this Shangri-La before, during our first year here, walked around just to see the place. We've longed since to actually try the place out...and so...(hit me).

Shangri-La is Shangri-La. Been to four so far and this Barr Al Jissah is the best we've ever tried. There are actually three different Shang hotels along the beachfront. We'd stayed in the Al Waha one which was on the far right of the strip, nestled and cupped by a mountain ridgeline behind it. The room and view was fantastic. The cove beachfront was wonderfully peaceful and serene. The staff was (more than just) helpful and attentive but never came close to being overly done. We were a bit wary of how it was like around the resort, it being Ramadan and all, but it was still very much relaxed. Drinking water was free albeit one had to be somewhat discreet. Pool bars were open for orders for food as well.

Downside to having three different hotels with various restaurant options was the travel between them. Looking forward to the seafood buffet at Al Tanoor (Al Bandar hotel side) , we decided to walk along the beachfront to the hotel on the far side only to find out it had been changed to an Iftar buffet for Ramadan. Still pining for seafood, we decided to go back to the Samba restaurant and asked the concierge to drive us back. Now driving to Al Waha, even while inside the resort, meant going thru this massive hole in the mountain with a traffic light - one way traffic at any time; I thought it amusing. Needless to say we gorged on Samba's oriental buffet.

The little girl was looking forward to some turtle viewing also but frowned in finding out that the turtle egg hatching season was over. Typically, hotel guests were prompted, even during wee hours of the morning if it came to, when the eggs would start hatching or when mother turtles would come to shore to lay their eggs. In-house Turtle Rangers make sure they are protected all year long. We even found some protected nests along the beachfront.

Upside was that she found one of her best friends from school running around the pool area with her siblings. The girls' eyes lit up when they found each other, gave each other a big big hug, and proceeded to forget their parents and play around as they wanted.

Time came to check-out and head back to the city. The girls' were comforted in knowing they'd see each other back in school soon. We definitely have to go back... if only for the turtles.

Late Blog: Two Front Teeth

In time for Christmas? Our girl lost another one again. The top couple are both with the tooth fairy.

This last one had been loose as a goose for weeks already but stubbornly hung on to the bone. She didn't want anyone to mess with it. So, as always, it came off during a meal. It was the fish fingers this time.

Final Summer Excursion

Yet another Dubai trip for another Cisco training I was fortunately made a part of. Timed two weeks before school starts, two weeks before 'summer' ends, couple of weeks before Ramadan, final days of a Priority Club promo and right smack into the final week of the great Dubai sale. Fortuitous? Probably.

Hence, the same routine. Nexus Class during the day through lunch and (much-needed) coffee breaks while the mag-ina goes off to the mall-of-the-day. While the class was very engaging, I couldn't wait to follow the girls.

One of the highlights of this trip was our very first visit to the Dubai Outlet Mall. As advertised, the mall had great brands and great discounts (the city-wide Dubai sale also upped the %s). Needless to say the wife (and my colleagues wives who went on a different day) put the mall up near the top of list of Dubai-Malls-to-visit-on-every-Dubai-trip. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sale season as well but the real highlight of that day was the siopao and halo-halo dinner... at Chowking. Good value for money shopping and pinoy-food craving satisfied!!

Another highlight of the trip was the visit to the famous Dubai Fountain beside Dubai Mall. We never had time to see the show(s) during previous visits - timing was off. This time we got to see two of seven programs of various artists. Some things are becoming a routine or ritual for us already... a visit to Festival City's IKEA and its restaurant is mandatory, Friday's at Mall of Emirates for our final meal before driving back to Muscat, among others.

This trip was great as usual with the exception of one weird evening... the little girl suddenly wakes up in the middle of the night crying that her tummy's hurting. She gives it a try in the bathroom several times but it wasn't letting up. So, while trying to keep my panic in check, I dash down to the hotel lobby. No in-house doctor at that time & the doctor on-call is about an hour away. Fearing the worst, I risked finding my own way to the nearest hospital, Jebel Ali hospital... after getting quick directions, I sped off in scabbers with both girls at the back seat - the wife comforting our baby as best she could. While I tried staying true to the directions given, I couldn't totally ignore signage to the hospital. Panic and unfamiliar roads, of course, leads to - getting LOST. With the help of my colleague (Sadiq - who I thank wholeheartedly for waking up at 2 am to help me coordinate directions with the hotel), I am able to finally arrive at the Jebel Ali hospital. Turns out... there are two different hospitals, both located in the Jebel Ali area and having exactly the same name. Go figure. Anyways, after some time in the ER, the little girl felt better - no more aches and cramps or anything so the doctor cleared her. We stayed a bit more just to be sure but we quickly went back to the hotel room as if nothing happened. Was most likely gas or indigestion- a big whopping tummy ache.

Notwithstanding that fluke of a night, it was a great trip all around. While generally, it is thought safer to drive back to Muscat during daylight, I find it easier (more ways than one) to do it at night. Either way, the 5 hour drive is always bearable with live entertainment inside the car.

Movie time: Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

Last month we watched the latest Harry Potter movie , The Half-Blood Prince. It's a different experience with Vivian as she has not read any Potter books yet. She said " it's not a happy ending, I'm sad". We actually explained to her and promised that we would watch the rest of the HP movies...yes , we started from The Sorcerer's Stone and we had a movie marathon, all the way to Order of the Phoenix. Now we can't wait to watch the final movie/book, to be shown next year and 2011 . We're wondering which part of Deathly Hallows will the first movie end with?

Rest of the Holiday

The not-so-little girl made herself busy with her scrapbook for the remaining weeks of school vacation. She was decorating and organizing pictures of her school activities, events and celebrations and picking art materials to put on every page. This is a nice way of letting her develop her artistic skills. We've been doing this every year since her LEAP school days in Philippines so she will have something to remember, the experience of going to school and how fun it is making a scrapbook.

Dubai Fountain

Dubai Mall's fountain show. Seven different shows accompanied by different music that lasted for about 3 minutes each and with an interval of 20 minutes per show. We were able to watch two shows that night.

Show No. 7: Shik Shak Shok by Hassan Abou El Seoud

The Climb

Vivian sings "The Climb" by Miley Syrus featured in Hannah Montana The Movie. When I got the movie soundtrack, she loved to listen to this song and asked me to get the lyrics. After a few days of learning the lyrics and the song, here she is singing it everytime.. everywhere...

Now, I'm thinking of enrolling her for voice lessons.

Al Nahda Resort and Spa

Suffice to say - this was a great idea.

We'd been hearing of this place since the first summer we've been here. The place is about half an hour or so from Muscat (around 50kms away I guess) so we'd put off going there until now.

We unceremoniously decided to check-in early and was expecting them to ferry us off to the pool until the proper check-in time but... pleasantly surprised... they gave us our room that early in the morning. From the fist buggy drive to the room, we were simply amazed at the size of the grounds - the front gate was indeed deceiving. The resort has a good-sized pool with a kid's area. The little girl couldn't wait to get to it and make the most out of the day. Bikes made available for families roaming around the grounds. Play areas with swing and the like for kids.

After setting up camp by the pool, the wife quickly made her way to the Spa reception (and good thing too!) to arrange for our Spa schedules for that afternoon. Apparently, a big group had also checked-in and we were competing for the slots with them. Fortunately, she met a kabayan who was the supervisor there and arranged for extra schedules just for us. Note to self, lesson learned - arrange for Spa schedules well in advance. I can't say enough good things for that massage - that alone is enticing enough to go back with the family for another round.

Good thing we got our massages at the right time of the day - it made our evening just perfect. Our dinner at Al Khalab Restaurant was the perfect way to the end the evening. It was a glorious (!!) seafood buffet with lobsters, crabs, prawns and a bunch of other delicious... stuff with an equally amazing desert collection - we shamelessly took out half of the crème brulée tray.

As with all things, it came to an end but it was a sign of things to come... we now have a place to run to now for a quick weekend getaway.

Charity Work

The little girl (and mum) spent a few days to clean up her room and along the way sorted out several stuff including her toys. Since toy storage boxes were already bulging at the lids with too many toys, the little girl (with some coaxing) agreed to donate some of her less-played-with toys to charity. They'd already done this exercise once back in Manila (thru CRIBS) and with so much charity-stuff going on at school the concept isn't new to her. The little girl dropped off her big bag of toys in the big donation box and wished whoever got it had as much fun as she had (yeah, seriously, she said that).

Our Angel in Heaven

There's a reason behind it. They say.

I love my wife. For her inner strength. For mourning the way she does. For finding shards of light as easily as she does clouds of grey. Ability to push past her fears... and the tears For being every bit beautiful through all of it. Keeping faith in God and his plan. Keeping sane throughout. Trying to move on.

Trying to be strong for my family but really, I get my strength from them. My wife and I count ourselves lucky we have our not-so-little girl around to cheer us up - more so, at the most inappropriate moments - which just makes it the more hilarious and we love her dearly for that.

Our family has grown. We are now blessed with our own beloved little angel, tuldok. We love you baby.

My 1st Week of Vacation by Vivian Undag

Even if it's holiday we had an agreement to practice and continue all the lessons taught in school. Today is cursive writing and I instructed her to compose about the things we did last week.

"My First Week of Vacation"
When me and my mum were making puppets we had so much fun
and I liked my horse puppets. My mum helped me to sort my clothes
some didn't fit and some did fit. Next I sorted my toys and gave some
to charity. Then when mummy went to the shoe cabinet she cleaned up
my shoes and I helped her. My first week of vacation is tiring.

Note: Please click picture to enlarge

3rd milk tooth

Another temporary lower tooth fell today. Good news is the permanent tooth is coming out.

Movie time: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and others

The latest movie we watched last thursday was Ice Age 3, I asked my daughter to write something about it...

"When me and my mum and dad went to watch Ice Age
it was so funny and there's dinosaurs under the ice.
Then a big T-rex saved them from a big dinosaur. I wanted to
watch it again the end."

Some more movies we watched that were truly entertaining.....
June 24, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
June 11, Up
May 30, Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Now, we are excited for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!

Mufti Day - End of Year 1

The little girl is moving up. Wednesday (July 1) was BSM's last day of school and its summer vacation out here. Some families I hear are going out to cooler climates. A lot are sticking around Muscat also...much like us. We'll probably travel a little bit but nothing definite yet...taking it easy for tuldok.

So ends Year 1...Year 2 starts in a couple of months. Said the usual farewells and thank-you(s) to her Class 1-EB (Teacher Ellman-Brown) classmates and teachers. The school year really zinged by so fast. Some of her friends have left (moved to other countries and not coming back next school year), some have moved to neighboring schools (moved to ABA). This time last year she was sad school was over. This year she's happily looking forward to summer break. No more waking up early for school...and that goes great for the dad too!! :D

That night we had dinner out at Trader Vic's to celebrate. According to Mrs. EB's reviews throughout, she had a wonderful year and really has been doing well in her school work. She's been more focused (but still has some room for improvement - hehe), her reading (and comprehension) have developed a lot more, plus her math and spelling quizes are almost always perfect. The little girl had her favorite Ebi Tempura and the highlight of the evening was 'burning banana' - flambe. Congratulations Vivian!


sidenote: Several of her classmates have been moving out of BSM into ABA since last year...all boys. I got to chat with one of the parent's recently and he was moving his boy bcoz BSM wasn't working out for his kid. That ABA (American-British-Academy) was more adaptive in its teaching approach to kids who had a different learning pace from the rest. Not the first time we've heard this but the little girl seems to be doing ok so no fret, at least for her. ABA is actually cheaper (I hear) but its darn hard to get in.

World meet tuldok!

The wife suddenly IMs me one fine afternoon and says 'daddee...can you buy pregnancy tests pls?' Heart jumps, deep breath, played it cool and said, 'Sure. How many?' We'd gone through this same exercise about a year or so ago and I've learned not to get my hopes up too much. What I didn't know was...she had already chucked off a few that afternoon and had been pumping large amounts of fluids into her system in anticipation of these 'revelation' sticks I'd brought home. She gets the stick, hits the bathroom and comes out (in less than the prescribed time) and shows me... the plus sign. Then she proceeds to tell me its actually the third test today already and shows me the other two in the bin.

Fast forward two weeks, 3 ultrasounds, a blood test, a urine test, two ob-gynes and a german-measle-scare...and tada))))...we have a heartbeat!! Tuldok - as we've endearingly christened him - is a temporary name of course until we decide on a new one...it'd probably come in time for his or her 23rd birthday. The name caught on during the first ultrasound and as one would expect five weeks in, it was simply ...a dot.

The little girl was with us during the second ultrasound. So, tuldok and bilog have met already.

measles shmeasles

I decided to work on something until a pretty late hour one night and just as I was about to hit the bed, I heard whimpering. The little-girl was sitting up, a bit weepy, a very sore throat and having a 39.1 temp. The panic begins.

Past weeks, there had been several cases of German Measles (presumed) and each of the little-girl's classmates were getting hit one by one. We thought she'd already outlasted this strain but apparently not...and with the wife's condition it was a very risky predicament.

Tried to get her to the doctor but her regular pedia was out of the country and I couldn't get around work. As the day progressed, the rashes started coming out and we were really on the assumption it was German Measles already. I shouldn't have left them alone as the wife really had to be physically away from the little girl but I just had no choice. In any case, went back home as soon as I could, got an appointment for the girl with a different doc and got the news we'd been hoping for. It wasn't measles... it was pharyngitis and apparently, the rashes were a normal symptom. Whew!!! The little-girl was ecstatic - 'Yey! I don't have to stay away from mommy!'

Big Star

With the school year winding down, this may be the last one for now. They had story-writing tasks today and apparently she did very well. Looking forward to reading it soon. Woohoo!

Ballet End of Year

Another ballet year ends. The plan was supposed to be a recital much like last year's but I think something misfired and the kids ended up with a quick-and-easy moving up day. You could tell from their faces, the kids were really concentrating and giving their best. Teacher Alena made sure everybody was attentive and performing well in front of the parents. After the hour-long program, teacher started to call the girls one by one and handed out their certificates. The little-girl did well and was looking forward to ballet again next year!

ZZizzling Heat!

For the past couple of weeks, the heat has been very unforgiving to Oman residents. Not only has the temp reached (unofficial) heights but the humidity has gone up as well - in a normally dry environment, we're being pegged with 55% humidity whereas (to my knowledge) 30 is the norm.

So that, plus me having worked 14 days straight prior and the little-girl having a 1-day mid-term break (haha! notably shallow enough reasons), we trooped to much cooler scenes. We first loaded up some needed calories for the day's activities - continental-style breakfast at Stomach in Al Jawarahat (friday's breakfast buffet - kids eat free until end of June - but that was before they saw the big-little-girl eat so I dunno :D -- geez I zinged my own daughter - bad bad bad father)

After the much needed flexing (of the tummies), we headed for Grand Hyatt's pool. Luckily, there weren't much people around and we came early enough to get good poolside seats. We even got to have our lunch on the pool bar. The water was nice cool and the artificial-river-esque-canal never got boring. Leaving the pool only for the occasional pee and the mandatory sunblock re-app, we kept ourselves submerged until we were all ripe and pruny and the little-girl was just the right shade of cherry tomato.