philippines.

we have this little tradition:
our kids take turns going with husband on his work trips to the philippines.

it’s really a win/win for husband and the kids. big papi gets homesick and really starts to miss us while taking 2-3 week work trips & having a kiddo with him totally helps + it’s very important to us {if you haven’t noticed} that we get our kids out-n-about in the world, we want them to love/respect other countries – admire people everywhere – and really have a good understanding/experience of the world around us. so, these little trips conquer multiple areas of good.

we have gone through the cycle once in this order: myla*kiana*kj, {unfortunatley, sela isn’t in the rotation yet!}
and we were back to the beginning again, so it was myla’s turn this past august to go to work with big papi.

they headed to the philippines via japan, and like the last trip she took with him – our poor moosey was SO sick on the “long” flight. we think she gets altitude sickness {i actually have trouble with altitude when i’m in really tall buildings, it’s strange – i have no control over it, and big papi has serious motion sickness, so the combination of us has settled in her, unfortunately} when she’s on a flight that lasts longer than 3-4 hours, because this little girl has gotten violently sick on her last two overseas trips when on the 13-hour flight.

lucky for her, her daddy is the best, most patient and loving parent {between the two of us} when our kiddos are sick and she’s in good hands when the symptoms strike. this time, the flight attendants felt bad for her & when they made it to japan for their lay-over, they offered them two days of discounted hotel stays so she could rest and get better before continuing on to the philippines.

sure enough, after some rest she was totally better and they continued on to where they should be –

then, this lucky girl went to boracay for the second time on this trip – one of the best islands/beaches in the world! she doesn’t remember her first time there because she was a baby — i haven’t been to boracay since myla was ten months old, so i’m hoping my turn comes soon!!! boracay is unbelieveable.

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{written by big papi}

Have you ever heard of “MineCraft”? I feel like I could write a Wikipedia piece on it after spending 2 weeks with Myla in the Philippines. The girl LOVED this vacation (while dad was working) mostly because she got a chance to indulge in her newest favorite video game… and when I say indulge I mean 10 hours a day online building!!

But we had a good time. We started out in Boston and flew to Atlanta… it was an innocuous enough beginning but then about 2 hours into the flight from Atlanta to Tokyo she got sick. This was already the longest flight I had ever been on and Myla puking only made it longer. The poor marine sitting on the aisle seat from us had to move about every 20 minutes… yep… that made it about 30 times. By the time we hit Tokyo she was WIPED OUT!

{myla leaving the plane by wheelchair—}

Delta was wonderful and put us up in a hotel at their discounted rate and bumped our flights on to Manila back two days without a fee. We secretly think Myla just loves Tokyo as this is the SECOND time she’s done this… poor thing!

When we got to the factory Mine Crafting began… she really only slowed during our visit over the weekend to Boracay…

We had such a good time there. Myla caught about 300 hermit crabs and played with them endlessly.

We skim boarded and snorkeled and just had a great time. Myla wouldn’t go too far out with me and it was probably good. At one point I played with a cool looking white and black striped snake I found. When I got back to the room and looked it up it said it was a banded sea snake… HIGHLY VENOMOUS! Who knew!

The trip home was peaceful but I’m not so sure she wants to try it again.

{photos by big papi, too!}

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one more picture – husband sent me this, it’s myla and peter, he is the main driver at the pro look factory, i think this was probably taken when he picked them up at the airport after their boracay trip…

keep in mind: if you don’t know myla, she’s very petite! ::lol!::

and, one more story: myla took her rather large duct tape supply on the trip & had “craft hours” with the girls at the factory to teach them how to make duct tape flowers/etc. — i love that!