busy childhood ....

This Mama really has like 2 post (and more stories) already in motion.
But this Mama has also been busy.
Mostly because of these culprits pictured above.
I guess childhood is a busy business, full of playdates, impromptu walks, a few small quarrels (that Mama or the other mama needs to referee for)... so many things.

We'll try again tomorrow to finish what had been started.
In the meantime, do check Kecil's {photoblog}. This Mama had started it to post pictures when time does not quite allow for full post. It was left empty for a while, but there has been quite a few new pictures. The link can also be found under the big Kecil Stories picture above.
After a visit, you are always welcome to share what you think over here.
Cheers!

Picnic with Totoro

After quite a long hiatus from walkies with Ami, today Mama picked up Kecil from Ami's house only to find TWO little girls very eager to follow me on my walkies.
The walkies, however, was made a little bit more special with the appearance of a familiar, inanimate friend, Totoro.
For those of you who are not familiar with Totoro, he's a cartoon character from the movie "My Neighbor Totoro" by Hayao Miyazaki. It's one of Kecil's favorite movie, and apparently, Ami's as well.

The walkies started as usual, with the little girls deciding on the route, picking up sticks along the way, posing while Mama took pictures ...

And then of course there were swings to play on, once we got to the playground. The Kids continued running around, playing with slides, climbing on the monkey bars, even naming this Mama The Monster while they ran around the playground, screaming on the top of their voices, apparently trying to escape from The Monster.

Until they got tired, that is, and out came all the 'picnic stuff':

Well, granted we only had bottles of juice and water (plus one pink handkerchief), but with good friends, outdoor location, it all can pass as a semi-picnic at least, no?

We all had a good time on our walkies today, even with all the mosquitoes that seem to rise up in great numbers since the beginning of the rainy season. It's a good thing Mama brought the camera today. One can never know when an impromptu picnic is going to happen. Until next time, Ami & Totoro!

The Socials

This week, Mama received some coaching on socializing.

Apparently, for ladies of quality, it means dressing up (in pink!), crafting princessy head gears, donning matching accessories and setting off to explore the potential surrounding.

Flowers are definitely suitable objects of interest. Just beware of the doggie poo poo.

Along the way, there is virtue in using your imagination to turn objects you find to anything that suit your purpose. Like... a no parking sign into an ice cream stall for thirsty little girls ladies, perhaps?

A lengthy discussion ensued to debate the supremacy of pink colored ice cream above any other flavors, including chocolate.

At the end of the debate, it's OK to take out little cute bottles of refreshments right there on the road to quench one's throat.

Oh, and by the way, it's also good to have a traveling photographer to document the social event.

Especially when the said photographer received flowers as form of payment.

Even if the photographer demanded payment often.

Ain't they cute? The girls happen to play together when they decided to make crowns that day. And when I announced my plan to take the Dog out for walk, they both ran to get their respective (pink) bags as well as their crowns. Comments we encountered along the way include the question if there was a birthday party involved.

Ah well... such is the way of Little Ladies, don't you think?

Food Festival

Unbelievably, it's been a year since the last Food Festival.

This year, we are all very excited to troop back to Ami's school for the Food Festival.

This year, we actually made our own way to the book shop to purchase the tickets (at an early bird's discount), and Kecil had her exciting moment of pointing out the similarity of the ticket design to the Food Fest banner outside the school.

Can't you tell if she's excited to go? This was taken as we made our way (on foot) to the school. Mama had dressed Kecil appropriately, because she knows what the main attraction would be for this Little One.

Just to give you a hint, it's NOT the food.

The bouncy mat? Haha.. you bet. As you can see, Mama was left in the dust once the mat was fully inflated.

Which was kind of good, as Mama then can make her way around to take pics.

The school being an international school, of course you'd expect international food abound. And indeed, it was a pretty cool feast.

The Japanese food stall was especially a visual feast with all the interesting details, from brightly colored yukata and obi, the textures employed in the decorations, to Little Ami herself enjoying a spot of onigiri.

Indeed, besides Ami, there are others also in traditional costumes. Even boys (though they moved so much I didn't get a good pic)

Well... soon after, the food booths were opened and lines formed around all the booths.

It kind of marked the end of Mama's photographing spree as we all went into the business of queuing and grabbing our food. Kecil barely ate (nor get photographed) because she was too busy with other things, namely running around looking for her friends as well as playing in various spots with all the other kids.

Rest assured, however, that she had fun.

As night fell and it turned dark, there were students' performances, from kindergardener like Ami to the bigger students from up to Grade 12. 

And as a finale, we had some spectacular fireworks.

Not quite being prepared, Mama does not have any pics of the fireworks.

Perhaps next year. Haha....

Following the Food Fest last year, we had Kecil's Skool Field trip, which is also coming this year at the end of the month. We are excited, but it would seem that the Epic Holiday series would just be left hanging. Haha... We'll see, we'll see.

Sunday Balloons

It was still cold and dark on an early Sunday morning when Mama and Daddy took Kecil from her comfortable, warm bed to travel the hour's drive required to get to the next civilization center. But as you can see from Kecil's expression, she did not seem to mind, despite her preference for waking up somewhat later in the day. Wonder what was going on?

Well... actually last weekend was the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival here in the Philippines. The venue was in the city of Clark, and having heard some good things about it, we decided to go and see what the hullaballoo was all about.
Obviously, there were plenty of hot air balloons involved,

And hand-gliders

And fires on top of gondolas!

Even cute feet on dried grass!

But basically it was all about hot air balloons (birthday cake shaped! Can you see the birthday cake one?)

And more balloons (ice cream shaped!)

And even more balloons 

Due to the long queues, we actually did not go into the carnival grounds itself.

Which is why most of the photos feature the wire fence, haha....

Many people are pretty much settled for the day watching all the flying stuff, bringing their tents, food and all kinds of stuff,

Too bad we were not so prepared,

But still we managed to take some good pics..

Ahem, correction, of course. KECIL did managed to take quite a few good pics.

Here she was, patiently waiting for the perfect moment for the shot...

Shouting encouragements in the hope that the balloons would finally take their position for THE shot...

Even giggled beatifically when she finally got THE shot.

Oh, she's going to be a good photographer all right.

We really have to thank the ever-so-patient Daddy who had carried the not-so-light-anymore would be photographer.

On a more adult's perspective, the whole thing was pretty close to a fiasco. Just for starter, we ended up spending 2 hours (!) lining up for toilet at the nearby petrol station. And to think that we only spent about an hour looking at the balloons!

Not to mention the fact that we did not even get into the grounds due to the long lines.

Am still not sure if we are coming back again next year, but after looking through the photos....

Yes... I guess we did have a good time. Especially Kecil.

So here's hoping that you had a similarly fun weekend last Sunday....

And wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day as well!

As usual, this ended up being the only photo with Mama's face. Will check the other camera later and see if there is more of Mama's face there. Until then!