(My youngest son with a friend’s dog.)

I grew up having a dog at home…mostly gifts from Dad’s or Mom’s friends which I would take care of as much as I could. (I was a normal student and kid back in those days hehe). I’d feed them, give them a bath and play around with them when I can. I still remember most of the dogs I had and my favorite would always be a bulldog I named Caster.

I’m not surprised that my kids have taken the same liking to dogs as I did. They know  a dog breed just by looking  which amazed most of the owners of those they identify. Like the one below…while on our way home my daughter bursted out “Mom, it’s an Akita Inu!” The owner smiled and asked us if we were Japanese. I explained to him that my kids like learning about dogs and that they knew them from pictures and films. Since then he would let us stroke and play a bit with C (his dog) everytime we chance upon them by the playground. He even let me took a photo of C one  snowy day.

(An akita inu around our neighborhood that we often say hello to.)

Given the chance I’d get us a dog to take care of…it would be nice to have one that would grow old with us as the kids do. Their loyalty has long been tested, remember Hachiko?  I know  too that the kids would learn a lot about discipline having a dog around. Plus, walking dogs is a nice exercise for hubby and I. Living in an apartment is not an appropriate setup for a dog and 3 kids so might as well wait until we get a bigger place…for the meantime, we would just play with friends’ dogs and our kois at home.

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I can attest that other kids are like that too. For example, when I accompanied my son’s class to the Schönbrunn Zoo we passed by a fountain (left photo) at the garden…one of the kids asked for her photo to be taken where the fountain would be at the background. (Can’t post photo of her as I don’t want the parents to question me.)

We visited the sea lions and during the feeding time too. Aside from feeding them, the trainers would throw fishes for the sea lions to follow, water would splash but the kids wouldn’t mind getting wet, they were deliberately making themselves wet.

I bet they had great fun but I’m not sure if the parents didn’t get angry when they got colds and a runny nose.

Sometime last year I went with my daughter’s  class to the ZOOM Kindermuseum which presents the element water. The museum aims to let children know the importance of water in our lives…there were a lot of installation showcased for the kids to understand how water works.
Above, you can see how attentive the kids were during a water experiment. There were aquariums in the museum too and the kids were fascinated with those, especially to aquariums that doesn’t contain fish but other interesting materials. There were also water pumps much to the kids’ delights.

(Little boy was too busy looking at the water flowing basin that he doesn’t want to turn around for a photo.)

Kids are happy around water and I’m glad the city government installed a water playground across our place. My kids would surely have fun come summer.

Aside from books, the little boy loves microphones. He would often burst out into a song while playing or doing his krizzy-krazzy sketches. It doesn’t matter which language, he often does mondegreens especially for japanese songs…

When we read a book, he would hold it and sit on my lap. He would repeat the words exactly how I pronounce and stress them. One time while searching for a page he wanted to read, he hit me with his elbow.

He quickly said “ay sorry!” and I just smiled…then I can’t help but laugh when he started out to a song:

“Ay sorry sorry, hingkaman sampalong…”

Even hubby guffawed hearing him sing. The lyrics should have been “Ay sari sari, singkamas at talong,” which is a Filipino song about vegetables that goes like this when translated: “differently…turnips and eggplants.”

With a kid like this, I won’t need an anti wrinkle serum when I’m older. I only use my muscle for smiling and laughing so no need to worry about wrinkles. Right?

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I was chatting with a friend one lovely afternoon when she suddenly blurted out, “Ang tagal nyo na…” (You’ve been together for so long.) I absent-mindedly ask “Who? H?” We both ended up laughing. “Why, is there somebody else?” was the reply and we had more laughs.

It has been more than 10 years that I’ve known hubby…we’d be celebrating our tenth year as husband and wife 6 months from now. In between almost 10 years we had our quarrels, some petty and some grave enough that I won’t talk to him for 3 days.

I would share more about our life together on this blog but I have to go sleep now. I was actually looking for wedding anniversary presents for couples when I thought of writing this piece. I think the cupcakes above are wonderful ideas to give as personalized items. (If you’re the one baking them.) Any ideas? I’ll really appreciate your input. Thanks!

The kids and I used to spend our free time at this playground. I would read a book and later take photos while they enjoy the slide, and everything in the swing set.

I once wrote that boredom is not in the dictionary of Viennese children. Child-development and well-being is very much a key concern in this city. Aside from lots of art, music, dance and sports development programs, play is an everyday routine. The city sees to it that every neighborhood has a play area. At times…more than one. In our area alone, there is a playground just a minute’s walk from the door of the building. Another is on the opposite side where we just cross the pedestrian lane (that’s where the photos were taken). Walk on the other cluster of buildings and there’d be open grounds, swing sets complete with slides, seesaw, swings and mini-walls to climb on. There’d also be a big sandbox in which sand are replaced on certain periods of the year.

Rides (animals and vehicles) are also prolific, not just in the malls but also on the streets. Also, family fun parks have been sprouting in each district which spells F-U-N for the kids.

Anyway, the swing set was removed and only the sandbox along with the elephant rides were left. This saddened the kids of course, had we a yard to place suchswing sets I’d make sure I’d buy them one, that with just like the photos here, a climbing wall, a rotating seat, slide, swing and bars. These are what makes playing enjoyable after all!

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There are construction jobs going on as of press time…particularly on this lot. As mentioned the swing set has been removed a year ago following a toddler’s accident. (It does happen.) For which I wouldn’t know who to blame, the kid for being very active or the mom who didn’t keep a good eye on him.

I saw a water installation in the works but it’s too early to tell if there’s gonna be a pond…I hope not because they’re putting it on the kids’ favorite spot to slide down when the snow gets thick! Should they decide on a pond,  it would surely be lovely in the summer but a nuisance in the winter.

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Them enjoying the swing set which will now only be remembered in this photo.

Beach, apartment and pool, bridges and gondolas, pizza and pasta…Guess where were we one summer time?

We’ve had fun trips mostly during summer especially when we don’t have plans of visiting home (read: Philippines). Italy was one of those memorable summers we had…though Pinas would have been more enjoyable since we get to spend time with the family not to mention that the money spent  anyway for flight and shopping is the same amount spent for a week at the coasts of Italy. I bet we’d have the same fresh seafoods too!

The apartment we rented in Lignano is in a small compound with it’s own pool and a few minutes away from the beach. When we’re not so ecstatic going to the beach then we let the kids play at the pool. Since this is Italy, where pasta and pizza are originally from, we maximized the opportunity and ate with much gusto…Pasta ala pesto, marinara, carbonara, tomato-based, topped with shrimps, with salmon, ground beef or simply just the sauces, they were awesome. Since pasta can be used/cooked everyday for a year without repeating a dish there’s an endless choice to which we would stuff our selves next. Pizza topped with almost everything edible, cooked by the modern oven or the traditional one…they’re all a delight. We didn’t forget risotto (little rice) too! Chicken, shrimp and anything on it is like eating during a feast at home…and the Gelato of course, pistachio, strawberry, vanilla, straciatella, gum and chocolate, name it and they have it for as low as 0.80€ per cone!

The highlight of our trip was when we visited the City of Bridges, Venice. Armed with a map and our two cameras, hubby and I toured the city well, as real tourists.  We  bought Murano glasses, some souvenirs (no masks unfortunately), we witnessed a musician playing on wine glasses with water and we reached the Grand Bridge and finally ate canelloni just at the foot of it. We got lost once but got back on track and ended up at the Piazza San  Marco.

This summer we would be home for my brother’s wedding. Surely, we’d be having new memories, new photos to take and new friendships to rekindle.

Happy:

(Trying on a new dress I bought from the pre-teens section.)

I realized that my daughter has grown when I started buying clothes for pre-teens and not for little girls. Time really flies so fast and I thought I don’t really want it to go by just like that. Thank goodness, hubby is in tune with this.

We went biking as a family for the first time, the little girl got on her old bike which seems too small now. Good thing I sill have my other bike around, hubby took it out from the cellar and she can ride it well now. Same thing goes for the bigger boy, so we need to upgrade him to dawty’s bike now. Our youngest has yet to ride with daddy as he can’t go on for long runs, he actually fell asleep.

(Dawty on the small bike, son on even smaller bike.)

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We didn’t plan on going anywhere so we just followed the road less travelled…I mean the bike lanes. The city is very friendly for bikers, providing paths for easy travel. We travelled a route that usually takes 15 minutes with a tram and so it was a bit too much for me . Muscle pull perhaps but I did jog a bit before we left, but the pain was too much I wasn’t able to walk the next day. We ended up at the Waßserpark and saw that lots of flowers has been blooming, there were also kids at the playground, families on picnic, old people/couple out on a walk and ducks at the lake. This is after all adjacent to the Danube…I so wanted to come back and take my camera with me to get some serious photos. (Photos taken with an iphone camera, sorry about that).

(Daffodils in full bloom, Ume/plum blossoms in bloom and dawty watching ducks from afar.)

Next weekend would be a better time, the plants would surely have their leaves then. Have a nice week!

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The days are getting longer and it’s ok wearing thin jackets now, so slowly the sun is being nice and sunny! One of the mostawaited to-do-things in the summer is swimming….for my kids anyway. They love the water unlike me, and would spend a whole day there if allowed. lol.

I never allow the kids on water without their arm floats. Safety is of course a primary concern. It is with the help of the floats that they learned how to swim, our little boy learned when he was 2.

Summers…I don’t like the sun too much because I brown easily, same for the kids but come autumn, their color would pale again.  Sun protection is also important when going out in the summer. A lotion with SPF 30 is best during those fun days.

Don’t forget the beach ball, floats, goggles and water gun for additional fun…oh swimsuits and swimwear!!! I always buy one size bigger a year before, (read:when they’re on sale .

Summer means shades, hat and ice cream time too! (Photos are from our Italy vacation last summer.)

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My daughter is in the second grade, and field trips are scheduled often by the teacher and parents in connection with studies. The kids are learning how to read time so we went to a trip at the clock museum last month. Nevermind the cold, the kids had their smile ready as I aim the camera. Below photo is my daughter (middle) with two of her classmates. Whenever we go on trips outside the school they would be in pairs as we walk and if there are available seats at the tram or train they can each occupy one…but as mommy, I prefer walking about taking photos of them.

The museum is located at Vienna’s 2nd district, not far from the city center thereby frequented by tourists. It was a one ride trip to the endstation of the tram, merely 30 minutes travel time. We had to walk from the station and I found some interesting spots to photograph along the way. I haven’t been back there yet, but I plan to photograph the ‘hidden’ treasures of Vienna that I spotted as we walk along. We arrived about 8:45 am and since it was still closed we walked a bit to kill time.

Our guide was very able regarding knowledge of clocks, time, era and he has very effective humor to get the kids listening and “ohhhwing” as he explains. Below is the first clock to welcome us, a 600 year-old ensemble which has been used as a town clock.

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Here, you will see the teacher (wearing glasses) and a parent as they listen along with the children about cuckoo clocks. There were 3 floors of display in total and all of them has a story to tell, an era where they belonged and of course unique design according to trend.

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My daughter was not much in the mood for photos, was glad that her classmate was and she was able to persuade my daughter to smile. I was prohibited to use flash so pardon the blurring of the photos….

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There were so many clocks on display….some were parts of a painting, others were hanging clocks, wristwatches, artisan clocks, those owned by emperors and other famous Austrians, still others were bigger than the kids and I.

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