Family @ the District Convention

Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday my wife, kids and I went to our yearly District Convention for Jehovah's Witness. It was great but the only part I have hard time with was waking up at 4am in the morning so we could get good seats. It's hard waking up that early but you gotta do what you gotta do, self-sacrifice so to speak, otherwise we would have been in the sun all day. My wife got her camera back from the camera shop early so she was able to take a lot of pictures. Here are some pictures of my kids dressed in their best outfits. They look so cute huh. We learned a lot about love, enmity, and other personal qualities. Happy BPC everyone!

VIDEO CHAT WITH MY PARENTS

Thanks for the post from Barney Crosby

I have enjoyed using my clear internet service to video chat with my parents. My husband and I recently moved two thousand miles away from home. That is a really long way away! Especially when you haven’t ever lived more than two hours from your parents! I taught my Mom and Dad how to create Gmail accounts. Of course I had to walk them through step by step about how to use the video chat function, but once they got it, they love it. I chat when them about three days a week. I have given them a tour of the house. They also like to see my dog, Henry, on gchat. He lived with them for a while and I know that my Mom really misses him. I’m glad that we have so many technologies today. If it had been twenty years ago, when you still had to pay for long distance, I don’t think that I would be able to live so far away from my parents. I know that sounds silly, but I don’t think that I would have been able to move that far away if it weren’t for everything that we have now!

Another year comes and go's

Another year has come and gone and one thing my wife and I like to do is to take care of doing our taxes early before the mad rush comes along so it's out of the way and we can take care of some bills in the process. Already my financial commitments for this year feel lighter. This year we decided to purchase an annual membership to Disneyland since last year it was Sea world. If your planning to go to Disneyland more than 3 times this year I suggest you purchase the Southern California membership because you can go to Disneyland as many times as you want whereas if you buy the single membership, and go 3 times, you'll be wasting your money because you have to spend one hundred dollars each time you go. One of the things my wife wants to do this year is go back home to see her family. She will take our son and daughter and I will stay here because it is just too expensive to go. At least her parents will be able to see them as my children can talk now and are a little older. I'm excited for them to go to the Philippines. It will a good experience for them.

Daddy’s girl

I love my children so much. My wife tells me that my daughter is such a daddy’s girl person. According to my wife, she’d be looking for me a lot when I’m at work and when she’s disciplined, she’ll utter daddy until she falls asleep. Even though I get annoyed with my daughter especially when she does things that she’s not supposed to, I still love her so much. Whenever we get the chance to bond, she’s like super glue, she won’t let me go. I had to bribe her just to calm her down and so she won’t follow me. The photo above, we were in the Mexican restaurant at the time for lunch and she was just all over me. She keeps kissing me. She’s a sweet little girl. My son is kind of like momma's boy. We have one of each.

He loves his bus

My son will never sleep without his bus with him. Whenever we tuck him in to his bed, he’d make sure that the bus is there otherwise he’ll be looking for it and won’t sleep until it’s found. For some reason my wife ruined his old bus and he kept on complaining about it, so, I decided to give him a brand new one. I checked online to see if I can get it and unfortunately there weren’t for sale. We actually got that bus from the tradeshow for free a few years ago. I went to the website and emailed to the admin. I asked them if they still have the bus and fortunately they responded my email. I was told it’s not for sale but they can give it to my son for free including the bus piggy bank. I was so happy and I didn’t tell my son about it until it arrived. It was precious and priceless to see him smile upon seeing his brand-new bus.

Spending quality time with my family

Yesterday was my day off, my family and I went to the Chula Vista Nature Center to see what animals they are preserving. I had been working overtime lately and I owe my family some quality time with me, so I thought of taking them to this place. My wife hasn’t seen this place yet since she came here in America and she wants to go there. This place is actually nearby our home and we never go there but those places that were actually far from us like Zoo and Wild Animal Park, SeaWorld, Legoland and Disneyland we’ve gone there already. There weren’t so much to see at the Nature Center but it was still fun for my kids.

Home made pandesal

Today I wanted to make fresh hot pandesal for the family. Pandesal or The Bread of salt (which is also the title of a popular short story written by NVM Gonzales) is probably the most popular bread in the Philippines. This bread is the favorite "agahan" (breakfast food) of most pinoys (slang for Filipino) and can be eaten plain or with "palaman" (filling). In the Philippines, all bake shops and bakeries sell Pandesal. Sometimes, this is sold in rolling stores (usually a honking bicycle with a big box on the back). When purchasing from a neighborhood bakery, be sure to be there before 8 am because the supply runs out after that time. We usually have a favorite place we go to in national city to buy fresh Pandesal but my wife found a good recipe for fresh Pandesal online so we tried it and the kids just loved it. We also gave some to our neighbor. It's taste the best right out of the oven. It was great and we'll eat it for breakfast tomorrow. If you want to make it, here is the recipe. Hope you like it.

2 cups bread flour

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

5 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 cup fresh milk, warm

1 pouch rapid rise yeast

1 tsp salt

1 cup bread crumbs

1 raw egg

1 tbsp cooking oil

1. Combine the yeast, sugar, and warm milk and stir until the yeast and sugar are fully disolved

2. In the mixing bowl, combine the dry ingrdients starting with the flour then the sugar, salt, and baking powder . Mix well by stirring

3. Add the egg, butter, cooking oil, and yeast-sugar-milk mixture in the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients then mix again until a dough is formed. Use your clean hands to effectively mix the ingredients.

4. In a flat surface, knead the dough until the texture becomes fine.

5. Mold the dough until shape becomes round then put back in the mixing bowl. Cover the mixing bowl with damp cloth and let the dough rise for at least 1 hour

6. Put the dough back to the flat surface and divide into 4 equal parts using a dough slicer

7. Roll each part until it forms a cylindrical shape

8. Slice the cylindrical dough diagonally (These slices will be the individual pieces of the pandesal)

9. Roll the sliced dough over the breadcrumbs and place in a baking tray with wax paper (makes sure to provide gaps between doughs as this will rise later on)

10. Leave the sliced dough with breadcrumbs in the tray for another 10 to 15 minutes to rise

11. Pre heat the oven at 375 degrees fahrenheit for 10 minutes

12. Put the tray with dough in the oven and bake for 15 minutes

13. Turn off the oven and remove the freshly baked pandesal.

14. Serve hot. Share and enjoy!

San Diego county fair

San Diego County Fair

Truck ride, son's favorite

Boat ride with all smiles

Mom and kids on the tea cup ride

A few weeks ago I took the kids and wife to the San Diego county fair. This is another place that I've never been to in the 25 or so years that I have lived in San Diego. We heard a lot about this fair that happens ever year and we wanted to see what it was all about. We had friends who went there and said they had a lot of fun. There are many exibits to see as well as rides for the kids and adults and lots of food. I mean every where you look there's a food stand. There's even an area that displays live farm animals for the kids like cows, horses, pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep and lambs. I think we went to the fair strictly for the kids so they could have some fun and see all the things that the fair has to offer. They had a great time as well as mommy and daddy. Here's the photos to prove it.

Father and Daughter Share Love of Tennis

Thanks for the guest post by Jo Levy

Almost every Saturday morning my daughter and I will play tennis together. We have been playing tennis ever since she was 6 years old. I love playing tennis with my daughter and I can remember when she could hardly pick up the junior racket I had bought for her. Now days my daughter can whip me easily.

My daughter plays on her high school tennis team and is amazingly great. Before a tennis match me will set our home security alarm (adt security Tampa prices) and then head out to the high school. We will always get there early and I will smack some tennis balls her way to let her warm up.

The coach of the tennis team will then show up and ask how she looks for tonight and my response is always the same when I say “She Looks Great”. When the rest of the tennis club shows up I disappear over to the edge of the courts and chat with the other parents who have kids that play on the tennis club.

It amazes me that so few of the parents play tennis. Most of the players on the high school tennis team never played tennis until they where freshman. The coach has done an amazing job over the years teaching the fundamentals of tennis to the kids. My wife says that I would make a great coach but I tell her she is wrong. I just want to spend some time with my daughter.

Day at the beach

Today I have the day off so I will take the kids to the beach to get some fresh air and a little play time in the water and sand. They really enjoy the beach because they can find all kinds of curious things for their minds. My son likes to bring his dump truck, beach bucket and shovel, and anything else he can think of. Of course I will bring the umbrella and some towels to keep out of the sun and dry just in case my kids decide to go in the water. Today is probably going to be the last day of the heat wave we have been experiencing here in southern California so we'll take advantage of it. Later, when I return home, I'll post pictures of our little adventure today. Until then, take care.

Faces on the mountainside

Guest post written by Grace White

Our family has always been really interested in history and because of that last Christmas I promised my grandkids that we would go around the country and see a lot of historical sites. This summer one of them that we saw was Mount Rushmore.

Our trip revealed a few things about all of us. First was that our grandkids do not like country music like me and my husband do. Then also, I realized that my hearing is getting kind of bad.
So after got back to the hotel after seeing Mount Rushmore I looked up Miracle Ear locations. I decided to buy some hearing aids in Wyoming when we got home and made an appointment at miracle ear Rock Spring WY.

Having that off my mind helped me enjoy more of our little trip. We have lots of great pictures and are even taking the ones of us and the grandkids to get made into pillows to give to them for Christmas!

Our next little trip is going to see the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia when they get a week off for fall break.

Son is in trouble

Today we woke up and I was chosen to make breakfast for my family. (urghhh) everyone wanted french toast so french toast it was. After cooking and eating, I started to wash the dishes and clean up when I noticed my son had the bottle of syrup in his hand. I walked over to see his plate loaded to the brim with syrup so I yelled at him and got mad. His mother came over as well and we scolded him. Later in the day, I was sitting on the couch when my wife called for our son with no reply. She walked to the bathroom and yelled "YIKES" My son had poured a bottle of victorias secret hand cream all over the bathroom sink. Son, one more mess-up like this and you will be put in the time out corner.

Time to update my blog

I've been really lagging about keeping my blogs regularly updated. I'm not much of a multi-tasking person you know? I'm sure some if not most of the blogger's out there know what I'm talking about. We all get caught up in our daily routine and put all our other projects on hold. We get lazy or we don't know what to talk about which is the excuse I'm using now to explain why i haven't updated my blogs. I was going to take the family to the Imperial beach pier today to do some fishing but it's too windy right now so that ideas mute. I'm hoping it will warm up soon so we can go fishing. That's all for now.

Back to work

I have to go back to work tomorrow but i don't want to. I want to be home to take care of my wife and 2 kids but the paid family leave just doesn't pay enough to get all the bills paid. I will get 3/4 of my pay check but that's all that paid family leave will pay. It's really my money that the state takes out of my paycheck every 2 weeks and puts it into whats called "SDI" or state disability fund. They sure didn't make it so you can survive on it. But i need to go back to work because I've used up all my PTO or paid time off and now i have to start all over again to try to build it up for a vacation to the Philippines that i don't even know if i will ever be able to take. If i continue to use my PTO time at the rate which i have been using it, then i might as well kiss a vacation goodbye. Well, I'm starting to get depressed now so i will end it here.

Our son is growing

Our son Ethan is really growing up so fast and now he's learning all kinds of new words and can talk to us much better now and understands many things we tell him to do. I really love our son so much. He's our first child but we have one more coming sometime around September. We're praying for a baby girl but if not, that's ok. A co-worker told me today that girls are high maintenance and it's better to have a boy. He told me that you have to worry about your daughter getting raped and things like that. Geezz! I never thought about this until he mentioned it to me. I guess he's right with a crazy world that we live in. It's so sad we have to worry about our children these days. There's lots of crazy and unstable people in this world and unfortunately we have to keep a close eye on our precious children so nobody hurts them. Children are our future and we need to give them as much attention as possible so they can learn and grow. That's all for now.

On the job training as a "father"

I'm the proud father of a 2 year old son and a beautiful wife and i really cant ask for more but since this is my first child, it has been quite a learning lesson for me. My son is really growing up fast and he's getting big. He's daddy's little hero but he's also developing an attitude of his own and that worry's me. Now, whenever he doesn't get his way he will fall on the floor and start kicking his legs and crying. Today when i came home from work he was really irritable and he keeps saying "choo choo" and pointing to our next door neighbor so i take him over to the neighbors house to play for a little while. When i come back later to pick him up, he has a big toy car in his hands but i tell him to put it down because he has his own toy cars at home but he doesn't want to give it to me so i had to grab it from him and he got mad at me and started to cry and so i picked him up and brought him home and he was kicking and crying so hard and he wouldn't stop. He cant be taking the neighbors toys all the time and bringing them home. I hate to tell him he cant take the toy home but it doesn't belong to him and he needs to learn. I really wish that there was a book i could buy that teaches me how to be a father. I would pay good money for that book. This parenting job looked easy when i was a single man but now that I'm in the middle of this thing, its not as easy as it looks.

Being a good role model for your child

Parenting is one of the hardest jobs in this world today. As new parents my wife i are always looking for helpful advice to teach our son Ethan. When you brush your teeth does your son watch you? My wife is teaching our son Ethan how to brush his teeth and he's only 21 months old. What about wash your hands, use your napkin? If not, remember that your child is always watching your example. So always remember to practice what you preach. Are your expectations for your child too high? Can he hear you OK? Does he understand the words your using? Are you saying your words too fast? We must consider all these things in our child because every child is unique and develops on his own timetable, not ours. Considering ways to motivate your child to do the things you ask him/her to do is not always an easy task. Considering your child's point of view is the first step toward finding ways to motivate him. Is he afraid of something you ask him/her to do? Does he watch his favorite TV shows? Does he play with his favorite toys? Once you understand his/her agenda you can help him/her meet yours. I hope this information will help all those parents out there.

Day Off With Family

Today. i took the wife and son to my sisters house so that we could teach her how to do this blogging thinggy since she's not working right now and she has alot of time on her hands. I hope she will be OK. my wife taught her a lot of things about blogging like how to make the main template and putting widgets and other things on your blog. She showed her how to do a post and she showed her the major advertisers of blogging like pay-per-post, smorty, sponsored reviews, blogvertise, and review me. So we got her set up with her first blog and I'm hoping those who read this would take a few minutes to drop by her blog and give her some tips on improving it so that she can start to get some traffic coming in. Did your hear that friends? If you can spend just a few minutes to drop by her blog i would really appreciate it ok. Also for those who know about the breast cancer walk, she is a big supporter of that program and she will be participating in the walk this year. well, thats all for now. till next time....

Flower Field

My wife, son and i went to the flower fields in Carlsbad last Wednesday . We had so much fun especially my wife, she almost took a picture of every angle of the field. I'm so happy that she enjoyed it that was my surprise for her. This coming day off again i will take her to Coronado beach where she can find the huge Coronado hotel, one of the tourist spot here in San Diego. Its my idea to start taking my family out more often so that we can see more of our beautiful city. There are many attractions here in San Diego that I've never seen so it's a win win situation for all of us.

What Training to Provide for your Children?

Taking a cue from these findings, many parents not only go to great lengths to send their children to the right day care but also spend lavishly on music and art classes. Some believe that if a child practices everything, when he gets older he will be able to do everything. Specialized tutoring programs and preschools are proliferating. Some parents are willing to do whatever they possibly can to give their children an advantage over others.

Does this type of devotion prove entirely beneficial? While it may seem to offer children an upbringing with boundless opportunities, in many cases these children miss the crucial part of the learning experience that comes through unstructured play. Spontaneous play, say educators, stimulates creativity and develops a child’s social, mental, and emotional skills.

Some development experts believe that parent-led play is creating a new type of problem child—micromanaged children who are stressed and emotionally volatile, cannot sleep, and complain of aches and pains. One psychologist observes that by the time these children reach their teenage years, many have not learned to develop coping skills and are "burned out, antisocial and rebellious."

Thus, many parents are in a quandary. They want to help their children to reach their full potential. Yet, they can see the folly of pushing small children too hard, too fast. Is there a way to strike a reasonable balance? What capacity do young children have for growth, and how can it be nurtured? What can parents do to ensure that their children will be successful?