Happy 4th of July!

It felt like New Year in Pinas though with all the fireworks. Most of our neighbors were out in their driveway with fireworks. It was fun watching it but it was hell for Buddy. He couldn't go potty. He was very vocal about all of it, he barked at it like crazy which is funny since he's so small.

Well, Dad and Pogs came to visit us, too bad they were here for just a couple of days, no matter, it was still great to see them. Thanks for coming! We hope you'll come back and see us again and maybe next time you'll stay longer.

Buddy's doing great, he's eating a lot now. We're still have accidents but now it doesn't take him forever to go outside, just a day. He's doing good in the morning, he'll go as soon as I put him down. It's the rest of the day that we're having problem, I have to constantly watch him when he's not in his crate. (He loves his crate by the way). One thing that we're trying to break a habit of his is biting. Sometimes when he's very excited he tends to bite harder than play bite, he actually broke skin once.

Tomorrow, we're picking up the Gary's Land Rover, 6-hour drive. I don't know how Buddy will take it. Megan hates long drives. Which reminds me, I better recharge her gameboy. Most likely we'll stay the night and come back home the day after.

Home. It doesn't feel much like home yet. It's so empty. Our beds are still on the floor. The frames and other stuff haven't been delivered. We borrowed Pogs TV so it's a little bit bearable now, Megan's glued to the TV now. Our dining table is a patio set.

I have a new favorite store, Hobby Lobby. It's an arts and crafts store AND they sell home accessories. Lamplights, side tables, mirrors, garden stuff, etc. I love it. I refrained myself from getting anything. I have to wait for the rest of our stuff and see.

That's it for now.

Meet Buddy!



He's a fox terrier/pomeranian cross.



Isn't he sooo cute.

It's funny how it feels like we have been here longer.

It hasn't even been a month yet! OK, for the past 2 weeks we've been staying at Holiday Inn and since the room doesn't have a kitchenette, we've been eating out. I was so happy when we finally found a pinoy restaurant. Tomorrow we move back to the Base Hotel. And next week we finally move to our house. I can't wait.

Megan has been doing pretty good with her swimming lessons. She can float on her belly and on her back. She can hold her breath under water for 12 seconds. OH, Meg and Gary went fishing twice now. OK, I hate worms and she used to hate it, too but ever since she started fishing she doesn't mind it. She actually put a worm on a hook. So gross! And, yes, she did catch some and fishing is one of her favorite pasttime now.

Today, we're hanging out at the Library. Right now we just have 1 car so we took Gary to work at 1:30 and now we're just waiting for 4:30 to sign Megan up for the next swimming session. It's almost 3 so another hour and a half. I've read almost all my emails. Unfortunately, the base computer prohibits instant messaging so no chatting.

Yeah, I can't wait to move to our own house, sleep on my own bed with my pillows. I can't wait to cook and use my stuff. I miss my stuff so much.

Ay na lang!

We're staying at Holiday Inn now. The base hotel was full and they only reserved our stay for 14 days even though we're allowed 30 days. I am so sick of eating out. I just might convince G to look for a pinoy resto so I can have my rice. Chinese food just does not fill the craving I have.

Megan has swimming lessons in the morning and she's not too afraid of the water. I mean, she likes the water as long as it does not go over her head. Now, she's doing good. She had 3 classes so far and I think she'd be able to swim by next week.

Holiday Inn is yuck! We made reservations for 2 adults and 1 child and what do they do, they give us a king-size bed which will not work. They cannot move us to another room, they're booked. All the hotels in the surrounding area are booked. Something to do with the NCAA world series (?), I'm not sure, I'm clueless when it comes to sports. So, back to Holiday Inn, they gave us a roll-away bed instead which made the room really tight. One good thing, they have an indoor pool. It almost makes up for everything but not really.

We're still trying to get back on base hotel. We still have 2 weeks left before we close on the house.

I won't be surprised if I gain 20 pounds.

We have been eating out everyday, there's just way too many places to eat. We're slowly building our fave list.

Hamburger - Sonic drive-in. We had lunch there yesterday. Megan was worried that we shouldn't be eating there that we need to park somewhere so we had to explain to her that it was not a drive-thru but a drive-in.

Mexican - Moe's Southwestern Grill. As soon as you open the door, they go "WELCOME TO MOE'S" Food was great, I haven't had a good Mexican meal in a long time, more like Tex-Mex.

Italian- Lansky's Pizza Pasta Phillies. I had a philly, Meg and Gary had pizza and they were really good. Next time, I'll try their pasta.

It helps too that restaurants here looks really great, even McDonalds. Now, all we need to look for is a Japanese & Asian Fusion restaurant. Of course, there were a couple of restaurant that were not-going-back type, Teriyaki Grill & Maid Rite. Maid Rite was good but I'm not a big sloppy joe fan.

And that's just here in our area.

So, the day of our trip, we woke up pretty early. 3 in the morning. We have to catch a bus at 5:15 that will take us to Heathrow airport. At 4, Gary called for a taxi. Unfortunately, the taxi driver said that he's booked up and he can swing by our room after 5. So, we walked towards the reception area and since it's been drizzling all evening the road was pretty wet. It took us about 15 minutes since we have a total of 6 luggages with us not including our hand-carried baggage. We checked out and walked again to the bus stop. We got there with 10 minutes to spare. Whew!

Unfortunately, the bus stops have been changed. So, we have to walk back to the reception area. One good thing, the times were changed, too. We have 25 minutes to get back to where we were in the first place.

5:30 rolled around and the bus showed up. We boarded the bus for a 2-hour ride to the airport. It was pretty uneventful until we got to M25. There was an accident and traffic was backed up. The 45-minute drive took about almost 2 hours. This one girl that was with us actually missed her flight. We were still OK, we still have an hour to check in, pass security, and get to the gate. When we got to the gate, they were about to close it.

We were on our way to Chicago. I just have one thing to say, do not, in any circumstance take American Air. O'Hare was set up in such a way that we have to collect our bags, go thru customs, re-check our bag, take the tram to domestic terminal, go thru security. They lost one of our luggage so by the time we got to customs, there was a long line. There was another long line waiting for us at security and finally, we got to our gate. And once again, they were about to close the gate on us.

Our airplane was really small, it was scary but it was only about an hour and a half flight so that was OK. The landing freaked me out a little bit though. We went to baggage claim and surprise-surprise, they lost our baggages. All five of them.

Finally, we were in Nebraska. It was a shock. We got here and it was 91 degrees outside.

Yipee! I'm online.

So much has happened since I last posted. We're finally here in Nebraska and we are pleasantly surprised! It's actually really nice here. Not what I expected but before I get into that I want to write about our last days in England.

First, our last week in our house, the weather was great! It was nice and warm. After school, Megan would do her homework and then she'd head out to play with the neighbors. She had fun. Our last Friday, Cayden's dad blew up their wading pool, Keely let Megan borrow one of her swimsuits so she can join in the fun. Then, the kids started a water fight. Pretty soon Gary and Cayden's dad were doing a full water battle involving the biggest pot they could find the kitchen.

Saturday, we had planned a going-away party for Megan. We rented a bouncy castle and that was a whole bunch of fun. Sunday, Mother's Day, we just chilled. Monday, we spent the whole day preparing for our final inspection. Then, it was time to check in to billeting (the base hotel). Man, that place was really nice. It's like a one-bedroom apartment and it was huge! Our neighbor said that they stayed in billeting for almost 3 months and they wouldn't mind staying there for 3 years and when I was the new billeting, I understood. We stayed there for 4 days. Friday, we got on the bus that will take us to the airport.

On our way, I tried to keep my eyes open even though it was 5 in the morning. I wanted that last look. At one point, I looked at Megan and saw how much she had grown from when we got here.

UK was definitely a good experience for us and we are very happy that we got a chance to live there.

Happy Mother's Day!

Meg's class had a spring performance a couple of days ago and here is one of the songs that they did. They're so cute! Enjoy.

Our stuff got packed and picked up yesterday.

We're still at the house, we loaned furnitures, the essentials. The house is so empty right now. It echoes. When you sneeze, it sneezes back at you. We have a week left at the house, after which we'll be staying at the hotel for 4 more days and then... we fly.

Right now, our form of entertainment is the laptop, music & playing cards. I've thought Megan and Gary games that we used to play back when I was a kid, like Unggoy-unggoy, bridge & I forgot the name of the other game. I've also taught G tong-its & pusoy dos.

I'm not sure exactly how I feel. I'm excited to go back to the states but I'm dreading living in Nebraska.

two more weeks!

Surprisingly, we're not stressed out. I even have a time to play a new game, Harvest Moon, A wonderful time. It's like living 2 lives.

What have we been up to? Posted new photos in flickr from Easter Egg Hunt (which wasn't much of an egg hunt. The youth center hosted the event and they had 4,000 eggs thrown around the playground. Megan had fun with the bouncy castle and the slide, though. When she got back from the egg hunt, her and the neighbor's kids, did their own egg hunt.)

Megan had her field trip at the Butterfly Park. They had some other animals, they had snakes and a tarantula. Megan was scared and me, too. I hate snakes!

Megan, American Idol Season 30!