Spotlight on Laird

Laird is three, and almost four. Some things I would like to remember about him at this age:

He talks to anyone and everyone. In the grocery store, at church, at McDonald's - he is our extrovert child. He considers everyone his friend and has a big heart.

He is a great big brother for Lucy. Last week he said: "Lucy, that is not helpful. But we still appreciate you." They play very well together.

He absolutely loves juice. Unfortunately, most juices bother his sensitive skin, so we have to limit his intake. Right now, he gets juice on American holidays and when a babysitter comes. Loves almost every kind of fruit, but especially mangoes. Laird is a delight to cook for. Last night, when he discovered we were having waffles for dinner, he said "I am very pleased with this dinner! Very pleased!"



Laird loves to have Sheralie or me read books to him. Especially Dr. Seuss.

Laird has a good ear for music. He has already memorized many primary songs and even some Tagalog songs (though he doesn't know much of what he is saying). He actually sings pretty close to pitch too.

Laird loves his green blankie (visible in the picture above). He has not been quite so attached to Lego Guy lately, but he cannot go to sleep without green blankie.



Jeffrey and Laird play together a lot. They love to dress up and play knights, jump on the trampoline, swim in our kiddie pool, tinker toys and they spend hours on end playing legos.

Laird loves the "Cars" movie. We had to bench it for a while so we could get some rest from hearing about Lightening McQueen and "Docno" (his real name is Dynaco).

Laird loves to climb into bed and cuddle with people. But only if he has his blankie.



Laird looks up to his big brother Jeffrey and is often crushed he cannot join him. He looks forward to the day he can go to school with Jeffrey and really enjoys having school time with Sheralie. He sometimes joins in Jeffrey's activities, such as Jeffrey's soccer practices in Houston, and his wall-climbing at school here in Manila.

Sometimes Laird is frightened by movies, and this is usually tipped off by scary music.

One of Laird's favorite activities is having "Lego Dates" with Sheralie or me, where we sit and help him build legos for around a half an hour. Laird talks almost all day long, unless he is reading a book. But he would rather discuss a book than actually read it. Just as he would rather discuss a movie than actually watch it.

About half of Laird's days he doesn't have a nap, but he struggles to make it on those days. I think that he is so high energy that he really needs a nap to recharge.



Laird still has problems with "L"s. This is especially unfortunate because it is the first letter of his name, so people often hear "Wared" as his name. To strangers, he now just tells them his name is David (his middle name), which leads to a little bit of confusion sometimes.

Laird is a very happy boy and we are grateful to have him in our family.

Trip to Cebu

On Friday, February 20th, I finally got off Luzon island (the main island) and ventured out to Cebu. I was the "control officer" for the trip to Cebu. This means that I was the point man for all the planning for the Ambassador to take a trip to Cebu. This is something they have all new folks do to get them used to it. It is a bit of a headache trying to figure it all out, but a good experience when it is all said and done. I didn't bring my camera with me on the trip since I was busy with other things, but I will try to tell the Cebu story with publicly available photos.

First, to understand where Cebu is, you should look at a map. The Philippines has three regions, basically north (Luzon), middle (Visayas) and south (Mindinao). Cebu is kind of the capital of the middle region. Their main language is Visayan, but they all pretty much understand Tagalog too, since it is the national language.



We actually flew into Mactan Island, then drove over the bridge to Lapu-Lapu and then to Cebu City.



We got in to the city about 9 am and visited an American business down there that makes automated self-service machines, like ATMs, gas station things, those automated check out things at grocery stores or the airport. They had tons of engineers in one building, and put some of their stuff on display. It was pretty cool.



From there, we did not go to a beach like the one pictured above, but rather headed to an environmental rally where doves were released. I was just happy the birds didn't do any damage.



If we were tourists, we may have hit the cathedral above, which is one of the oldest in the Philippines. It was actually first build in the late 1500s, when Magellan landed here and claimed the Philippines for Spain. It has burned down a couple times though and the latest iteration was built in 1790. That's still pretty old.

But we aren't tourists, so we headed to a radio station for an interview and I got my first airtime since winning several radio call-in contests living in Tallahassee two decades ago. I said good morning in Visayan and Tagalog and said how happy I was to be here (in Tagalog).



From there we were off to lunch and then an orphanage, where a Peace Corps volunteer works. That particular volunteer just had her appendix out unexpectedly, so we met with other Peace Corps volunteers and took a little tour of the orphanage. It was very nice.



Speaking of religious buildings, the LDS church is building a temple in Cebu (artist rendering above). It is expected to be completed in 2010 - we might still be here for it!

After that we zipped on over to Central Command for the Philippines for a chat with a general and some of his troops. I learned an important lesson. When they "give honors" or something like that and form two lines and have the general escort the Ambassador through, you aren't supposed to tag along. Luckily, I did not learn this the hard way, as my traveling companions held me back.



From there we hopped back on board Philippine Airlines and flew back to Manila. Cebu is a beautiful city. It is green, has clean air and does not have the crushing amount of people Manila does. We had a great time.

PB Top 25 Fruits

Ok, I'm a follower on this one, but since my cousins Kent and Heidi have both posted their top fruit list and it is my dream to be as cool as they are, I thought I would let you know my favorite fruits, just in case you were curious. I like to eat all 25, but I enjoy the top few much more than the bottom few.

25. Honeydew/Cantaloupe - Gets a bad rap for being tasteless, but I've had some good melons in my day. It's pretty risky though.

24. Strawberries - I like strawberries, though I'm not crazy about them. This will be the first of 6 berry entries.

23. Kiwi - Good in small quantities. Very sweet.

22. Guava - They used to have a great guava Tang, but it looks like it has been discontinued.

21. Plum - Great snack food.

20. Fig - I didn't know these were classified as fruits, but apparently they are. I've never had one aside from the deliciousness known as fig newtons.

19. Apple - A solid fruit, though I don't usually care for the texture. I can also never remember which of the many kinds I actually like. Great for pies though.

18. Watermelon - Nothing says summer like watermelon.

17. Blackberries - hard to separate all the berries but blackberries are good.

16. Grape - a versatile fruit. I enjoy seedless grapes (got hooked while working in the nursery) and grape flavored Gatorade and Propel. Raisins are awesome too.

15. Lemon/Lime - Sprite has made millions off of lemons and limes. Lemon flavored Gatorade scores highly with me as well. Also goes well on fish. And what about Key Lime Pie?

14. Blueberries - Another solid berry. For some reason, I have an association with Dairy Queen and blueberries.

13. Raspberries - A little more zing than the blueberry. Great for jam too.

12. Grapefruit - I used to hate grapefruit, but it has grown on me. Sometimes tough to find the right kind though. Great for juice.

11. Pomelo - Tasty, but Tang also discontinued this line, which caused me grief.

10. Apricot - Apricot really excels at jam for some reason. I love apricot jam.

9. Coconut - another surprise for me that this is really a fruit. But I like it. The milk is pretty good, though I don't care much for the meat unless it is in a coconut cream pie.

8. Orange - Orange is an all-around performer. A staple in Gatorade, it also shines as slices at sports events, in mandarin form or as a jello flavor.

7. Cranberries - Cranberry scores highly for mixing well with other fruits (credit: Brian Regan). Terrific in juices, it also scores a place on the Thanksgiving table.

6. Nectarines - What a delectable fruit.

5. Bananas - Bananas are not as tasty as several mentioned below, but they win points for versatility. Banana cream pie, chocolate banana shakes (I make these often), banana pudding - the list just goes on and on.

4. Tangerines (Clementines) - A Christmas time favorite at the Broadbent household. We go through these things faster than Halloween candy.

3. Peach - I love a good peach. Fuzzy skin and all. Peaches pack a lot of juicy flavor. Also, my favorite Propel flavor of all time is Peach - and it is nigh impossible to find (especially in Manila).

2. Boysenberries - My dad is somewhat obsessed with boysenberries. We grew tons of them when we lived in California and I spent many an hour picking and eating them. He has tried to grow them in Florida, North Carolina and Houston, with not much success. I especially remember moving from North Carolina to Houston and my brother Phil was charged with holding the potted boysenberries and bringing it into the motel room at night. At one point he set it down on a sloped surface and it almost fell over. From my dad's reaction, you would have thought we were transporting uranium or something. Anyway, boysenberries are awesome - and really shine in jam.

1. Mangoes - I can understand why many people think mangoes are terrible. Because many (most?) of the mangoes in the US are terrible. Many come from Mexico and taste like garbage. I'm not even sure why Mexico keeps sending them up. I guess someone keeps paying for them. The only sure bet I can give you is to ask for "Champagne" mangoes or to buy "Philippine" brand dried mangoes. That will give you the kind of flavor that will do the mango justice. I work with people who have lived all over the world and they all agree that the best mangoes are in the Philippines.

Below is a picture (thanks Heidi) of how to correctly cut up a mango. Unfortunately, I only learned this a few months ago. Previous to this I would just peel the skin and eat recklessly. The reckless method required a lot of flossing after each feeding and was also pretty messy. The method below is definitely the way to go.



Some fruits are not mentioned because I don't care for them, namely pineapple, passion fruit and cherries. Other fruits are not mentioned because I eat them so infrequently that I don't even remember what they really taste like (too numerous to mention)

Spotlight on Lucy

I was reminded by another post from a friend that it is easy to forget things about kids. For instance, I barely remember Jeffrey at Lucy's age at all - the only thing that comes to mind is that he learned to climb out of his crib and injured himself a couple of times. So I thought I would treat this blog as a forum to tell you more about Lucy. This may only have interest to grandparents or siblings, but it is worth preserving for my memory's sake.


Lucy playing peek-a-boo with me on Valentine's Day


Peek-a-boo
Lucy at 15 months:

Lucy is getting a vocabulary: she can say "mama", "dada", "no", "more", "thank you", "bye-bye", "nana" (banana) and "cracker" pretty clearly. She also understands a lot of what we say to her.

Lucy loves playing with shoes. This has got to be a girl thing, because I don't recall Jeffrey or Laird ever caring so much about shoes. She tries on shoes all the time. She will drag her shoes (or anyone else's) with her throughout the house. She also loves playing with bracelets and necklaces.

My favorite part about being a dad right now is putting Lucy to bed. She is a darling. We put on her long pajamas with feet (she doesn't sleep well without footed pajamas) and then she waddles over the bookshelf and I help her pick out 4-5 books. Those books are great to read too, because they're short. Then I put her in her crib and sing a few songs to her with the lights out and leave the room. She almost never cries. And Sheralie is so happy that I am able to do it now that she is no longer breast feeding. Since I have started putting her to bed, Lucy also has started to bring me books throughout the day and have me read them to her. I love it when she turns around and scoots back into my lap.

Lucy is kind of a picky eater. Jeffrey and Laird ate voraciously, but Lucy, being the dainty princess, does not. She loves mangoes, bananas and juice, like her big brother Laird.

Lucy loves playing peek-a-boo, being thrown in the air and being pulled around in plastic containers. She tries to keep up with her brothers, but more often than not ends up being inadvertently hurt.

When I come home from work and kiss Sheralie, Lucy inevitably wants her kiss too. She makes great "mwaa" noises when she kisses. She is also good at blowing kisses if you are across the room.


At the beach

Since we have afternoon church yet again, I have developed the skill of getting Lucy to fall asleep in my arms. This takes a lot of strength to keep her up, but it sure makes church easier. She will also go to the nursery, where there are three boys all within three months of her and they play well, though she will cry if we leave.

Lucy used to sleep through the night quite well, but since we moved to Manila has lost that lovely attribute. She is usually our alarm clock in the morning, though if she is up for a while, she sometimes will sleep in a bit in the morning.

Lucy has been referred to as "Little Cindy Lou Who" because she is so small and petite. We love having her sweet spirit in our family.

To end, I leave you with one of my favorite Lucy videos, "Lucy Crockett":

Ten Things I Love About You

To My Dear Husband,

On the close of our 9th Valentine's Day together, I wanted to tell you some things I especially love about you.

1. Your blue eyes
2. Your charming wit
3. Your insistence on telling the truth, no matter what
4. Your fantastic memory for what you see
5. The way you read bed-time stories to the children
6. How you close your eyes when you laugh hard
7. Your thirst for knowledge
8. The way you hold my hand
9. Your knack for making up new lyrics to old songs
10. Your desire to make the world a better place

Life with you gets even better every year. Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

Sheralie

On the internet

I have recently reflected on the prodigious amount of time I spent on the internet. Here is my feeble attempt to track where I go:

The socials:

Igoogle (from which I link to all recent blog updates, major new stories and my exercise log - this definitely takes the longest)

Facebook (unbelievable waste of time)

Remember to hit the private blogs that I haven't checked in a while - Mark, Heidi, Smiths, Speers, Paces, etc. (in case your blog has gone private and I haven't noticed - you are in "etc.")

Goodreads

The shopping district:

Amazon

Ebay

Paperbackswap

History Book Club

Teaching Company

Craigslist

Netflix

The financial district:

Yahoo Finance

BYUfreefood.com

Wells Fargo

Chase

Bank of America

Citibank

Prosper

Lending Club

Emigrantdirect

Paypal

Bloomberg

The News, Sports and stuff:

Yahoo Sports

ESPN

Wall Street Journal editorials

Economist.com

LDS.com

AFN (Armed Forces Network) - for their broadcasting schedule

BYU Broadcasting/Speeches

My own blogs (writing them, not reading them):

Family blog

Entertainment Reviews

Efficiency Ideas

This doesn't count time I spend at work visiting work-related sites or doing work-related things.

It really boggles my mind that only 20 years ago the internet was unknown except to Al Gore and his ilk. What would we do without it?