Officially Summer

We finished teaching on May 31. And we finished working on June 1, after a quick trip across the stage in honor of five years of service at ISM. Crazy that it's been that long already.

We spent two blissful days at home with Ace, attempting to find a balance between quality independent time with our son, quality personal time for our own interests and then quality family time as one unit. I think being here this summer is for a reason and so far, things have been great. I have already done some major cleaning and sorting (you don't know how ridiculously happy that makes me!) and Cory has already gotten into the writing and wall-climbing groove.

Ace is talking more and more every day. He now has a repertoire of about 50 words and can understand way more. He blabs constantly. He is such a joy to be around. So full of energy and smiles and laughs.

Recently, we took a five-day trip to Siquijor, an island south of Luzon. Mom had arrived the day before and after four modes of transportation, we arrived to a quiet, secluded and laid back atmosphere at Coco Grove. Being the low season, our five days there felt like heaven and a VERY welcome respite from the Manila heat and grime. It was consistently breezy with a few storms here and there. The fresh air was intoxicating. We spent most of our time reading and playing by the pool while listening to the ocean waves crash nearby. Aiston absolutely couldn't get enough of playing in the pool. It had several tiers to it, which meant that Ace could sit on the top step and play with his toys, then walk along the second tier and occasionally "fall off" into the deeper end, with us in grabbing distance of course. He would come up with a huge smile on his face after choosing his own time to finally put his head underwater. He was so much fun on this trip, minus a disastrous first night's sleep and zero afternoon naps. The resort was perfect in that we had two rooms side by side and could put Ace down for bed, then head over to mom and Kristy's room, enjoy some wine, play a game or chat and then head to dinner without a worry. The one downfall of the place was the food, but considering we got just about everything else we could have asked for, including incredibly friendly service, we couldn't complain.

It was also a wonderful way to farewell a very dear friend of ours who is returning to Canada. We knew her from our Egypt days and after spending four years together in Manila, we have become quite close. We are so lucky to have spent such amazing times together and to have such beautiful memories. Kristy will be dearly missed, as a colleague, a friend and an auntie.

Here are a TON of photos. I just couldn't pare them back any further!