New Addition to the family

While I was away on business Amy and the girls got a new pet - Wiener the dog.

Business Trip to Shanghai, China

January has been a busy month for me at work so I have not had much time to update the Blog. I made my first trip into China (Jan 16 - 25) for business. Below is a copy of the Pearl of the Orient TV tower in downtown Shanghai (on the Pudong side of the river)


The Shanghai skyline is incredible for day and night. Below is a night shot

Below is a picture of me in front of the TV tower

Below looking out over Shanghai from the top of the TV tower

Below is a photo of me with the Jin Mao bldg in the background. Jin Mao building the currently the 4th tallest building in the world. they have just started construction for what will become the tallest building in the world next to the Jin Mao tower.

Above is a photo of Yu Gardens - one of many shopping districts. In the center of the shopping district is the Yu Garden that dates back to the 1500s.

Food Quest is Complete!!!

As most of you know Amy and I are crazy about New Mexico style mexican food - specifically anything with green chilis. About three weeks ago, we found Hatch green chili sauce, then we found corn tortillas (frozen) and today we found diced green chilis - mild, but beggers can not be choosey. We are making green chili enchiladas and I will make my homemade salsa for dinner tomorrow night. I even found cilantro for my salsa. The food supply chain is not very reliable so if you find something in the store - buy it all. As you can see by the photo below we have stocked up on our favorite food.

New Year's in the Philippines

Lets just say fireworks are very!!! legal in the Philippines. I have never seen such massive of fireworks from the "guy down the street". I wish I could attach a video clip so you could get the sense of how loud it really was. Everyone in the village was lighting off fireworks. It truly sounded like we were in a war zone. It was incredible. thank goodness no one was harmed and our house did not burn to the ground.

Happy New Year!!!

Santa

This post is a little out of order. We did manage to find a Santa. We had Christmas lunch / dinner at the Shangri-La hotel in downtown Makati. Awesome buffet. Below is a photo of Maria and Catalina with Santa. Catalina was not really in the "Santa" mood this year.

More Boracay Photos

Sunset on the beach


Amy on the beach

Maria in the water and with some of her new friends. Note: how clear the water is.

Christmas in Paradise

We took our first vacation in the outside of metro Manila. We went to the small island of Boracay south of Manila. Google it and check it out. Boracay was as beautiful as advertised. White sand beaches with crystal clear water. Water temp was probably in the mid-80s. It was fantastic!! . Below is a shot from the beach in front of our hotel. Our hotel was right on the beach. the walk from our room to the beach was maybe two minutes.
Photo of our beach from the ocean. Maria and I took a banana boat ride with a couple of other kids & adults we met on the beach. We had a great time. Photo from the our daily breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Given the beautiful beaches, building sandcastles is the natural thing to do. There are several folks that build huge sandcastles everyday. Below is a shot of one of those sandcastles.

What would a wonderful day on the beach be without a truly awesome sunset.

The sky is falling

This is just one of the many random sightings in around the Philippines. We were driving down the street in downtown Makati and saw the sign below. This sign is located in the heart of their financial district. It was just too funny to pass up.