What we got up to in Jan & Feb '08

The first two months were quiet in the sense that we didn't go away anywhere, but we were still pretty busy.

Bradley had British-Philippine Culture week at school, and he decided he wanted to go as King Arthur on the last day of the week. I got him a knight's costume made out of some cheap silver fabric, then I made his white overall thing, his crown, sword & shield. He looked really good, and there were a fair few maidens in his year who wanted to be his Guinivere!!!

We've had a few parties to attend, also - well, the boys have! The first was at Rohit's, one of Bradley's friends from class. He had the biggest bouncy castle/slide thing I have ever seen. As we entered the garden of the house, we were confronted with a bouncy castle version of a half sunken Titanic!!! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed they made things like that!!

The next party was very different, but still pretty out there. It was for a little girl called Caity who was turning 4, and therefore loves anything pink, pretty, and ballerina-like. So the highlight of her party was a 5min performance from a real-live ballerina!!

The next party was for Stefan - another classmate of Bradley's. His party was at Active Fun (a kind of KidsWorld place). The kids all had a ball. Bradley really got into the music and was showing us all "a few moves", and Adam got stuck into the pork kebabs.

On the way home from London after our Christmas break, we decided to treat ourselves to a new digital camera. And seeing how John & Bradley are loving their snorkelling so much, we thought it would be a good idea to get an underwater one. What a fantastic idea! We had a little bit of fun with it, trying it out in the pool at home, before taking the more serious shots of, well, fish!

In February, because of the huge chinese population (as with any major city, worldwide, I guess) here in Manila, Chinese New Year is pretty big. The primary school were treated to a Dragon Dance by a local chinese dance company, and that was really something to see. They came to the school and the whole of the primary school came to watch the performance on the covered basketball area. I'm not sure what the younger children made to it, but it was quite dramatic, what with the drums beating and everything, I'm glad I also went along to watch. The PTA paid for it, so I wanted to see what we'd paid for....

Not long after that, Bradley's year group went on a field trip to a place called Casa Manila. Their topic last term was "Houses & Homes", so they went to see how rich Manila people lived at the turn of the century. It is a museum that was built as a replica of the typical house type of its day, as Manila was bombed to smytherines in WW2, and much of the city lost its old buildings from the Spanish era. Then we all went to Fort Santiago (another replica of the Spanish era, now a very pretty park) for a picnic lunch before going back to school.

And last but not least, Bradley can now ride his bike without stabilisers. We bought him a bike before Christmas, and he refused to have stabilsers fitted onto it. So after a few weeks of back breaking trips to the park for John, as he was running along holding onto the back of the seat, he can finally ride it all by himself. It didn't take long at all - I was so proud of him!!! And, of course, there is no show without punch, and Adam refuses to ride his little plastic trike, and insists on riding the old - broken - bike that only has one stabiliser!!!

So with everything that Bradley achieves and makes us so proud, I also feel a little sad, because it takes him a little step further away from me. I especially feel it now that he is losing his baby teeth. Yes, the toothfairy does visit Manila, and she's been not once, but twice to us, so far this year!!!