God's Blessing

Scott and Bobie...my inspiration and motivation.



I love you guys!

Bobie and the Brownies

Girl Scout cookies anyone? Bobie and the girls had a great time selling cookies and collecting
cookie donations for the troops deployed all over the world. The kids are internally motivated to send as many boxes as they can because they all personally know someone whose in harms way; it's not surprising because it's often their father, mother, or neighbor.

By the way, as an activity, the girls had chose a country that had girl scouting organizations. Her troop picked the Philippines. Instead of Brownies, they were called the Stars for a day. They learned to say hello in tagalog and served lumpia to visitors of their exhibit. In the third picture, Bobie is sporting the typical badges that Filipino children can earn. they discovered that although there were some cultural differences the main theme remained the same: self respect, respect for others, respect for animals, preparedness, and survival skills. It's great the Bobie is getting an opportunity to learn more about the Filipino heritage.

Roman Experience continues

The places we visited were: the Pantheon, the Colosseo, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, Arco di Dolabella, San Giovanni Laterno (my Mom's favorite), Piazza Boca della Verita, Campidoglio, Scala de Spagna (Spanish steps), Fontana de Trevi (aka Trevi Fountain).

There are certain areas within the center of Rome that do not allow private vehicles. Thus, the public transportation system is pretty available and reliable. It was exciting to be among the locals. To be a tourist is one thing, but to be a student of another culture is another. I prefer the latter.

More PIX from Rome

The Roman experience!

Pictures from Rome

We had a great time in Rome. While there, we visited some friends who lived near the city: Reyna, Rollie, Kay, and Chloe. They found us an economical place to stay. 30 euro per person/day. Can't beat that! It definitely did not have 5-star accomodations but it was clean and had a warm shower. The added bonus, there was Filipino store in the next building.

From top to bottom: Saint Peter's Basilica and Vatican Museum.

Family Visit

My Mom from Las Vegas, NV and my cousin Sally and my cousin-in-law Edith visited from California. In this picture, my Mom, Bobie and Ate Sally stand in front of the city of Agrigento. Typical of Sicily, rain clouds pass by immediately followed by bright sunshine! As a result; one or sometimes overlapping rainbows!

I really enjoyed their visit. More pictures to follow....