Happy Birthday, Mama!

Mama and her darling baby Marle

The family celebrated Mama's 77th Birthday by going out to dinner. Mama's choice: Outback. She had the Lobster and Mushroom Topped Tilapia. We're still not very sure why she picked Outback. It was pretty random for Mama. Maybe it's because Outback is the closest she gets to Australia which is the closest she gets to the Philippines? Whatever. The birthday girl gets what she wants. We had fun as usual. Grandson AJ joined us. He was a pretty good sport sitting there eating his steak surrounded by what must seem like the tower of Babel going on around him. We tried to speak English so he'd understand, but you know how that goes :-). But it was appreciated. If his Filipino grandmother was rich he'd have a big chunk of an inheritance written in the will :-) too bad she is poe!

Mama's Boys minus Jerome who is in the Philippines:

Mama's Girls minus Vicvic who is taking the picture:

AJ (in the yellow shirt) patiently humoring the Filipino-speaking people around him with his courteous presence :-)

Two Beaches On Opposite Sides of The Ocean

Posted by Marivic Marsden:

One of my earliest memories as a kid was spending almost every weekend at the beach. That just seems like the natural thing to do when you grow up on a tropical island and when your maternal grandparents' home was walking distance to the beach. I remember swimming with my siblings and cousins in the placid waters of the sea. Not quite like the violent, adrenalin pumping surf of the waters on this side of the globe. My parents watched us, of course, but for the most part we splashed around uninhibited. I played my heart out during the day. I ate a lot, too. Somehow I always associate going to the beach with grilled fish and steaks. On the ride home my brothers and sisters and I would fall asleep and next thing we knew we were in bed. It was a carefree, fun and happy time in my life. Somehow that sense of well-being is partly recreated for me when I go to the beach now that I am an adult. I'm sure it is for my brothers and sisters, too.

This summer I was able to spend time on a beach in San Clemente with my kids and husband and his extended family. I didn't splash around in the surfy waters, because I'm just not that carefree anymore, but I still had a blast.

Meanwhile, my brother and his family also spent their vacation on a beach eight thousand miles across from me on the Pacific Ocean. Here are pictures of my brother, my ister-in-law Tina and their kids in Moalboal, a resort on the island of Cebu in the Philippines.

Here are photos of me and my family in San Clemente in Southern California.

One day soon, we hope, our families will be able to spend time together on the same beach on the same hemisphere. He probably will not like the surfy waters on this part of the globe :-) but he'll get used to it and learn to like it like I did. If he doesn't, well, I'll just tell him to because I'm the boss. I'm firstborn and he's the baby, and what I say goes :-) (Just kidding, Bro!)