Smelly chicken and sugar rice

Back in the Philippines now, adjusting to hot season (hello banana shakes!). We went shopping right after we got back for the essentials, ie rice, and look at what we found:

For those who can't tell (I won't ask why), these bags say 'sugar' but are actually filled with rice. bins and bins of rice filled sugar bags...

And while we were gone, we had 9 of our chickens stolen. Bummer! And we lost one the other day. She died and we tossed our outside our gate, about 30 feet away. Of course, the slight breeze would blow from that location towards our house. And of course, it would be right into the office window, where I am sitting all day today at the radio. So, in lieu of air conditioning, I set up our fan with a blueberry candle burning behind it. It's quite nice. Why, you may ask, don't you just move the bird to some other location. Hmm....two day old bird, tropical decaying process...I don't think so.

Cleaning up

And lest you think that he was all hick, my sweet hubby cleaned up real nice for the wedding, although I caught him talking during the signing of the marriage certificate. tsk, tsk.

Our Canadian Kids

At the end of January/beginning of February, we went to Canada for Ben's brother's wedding, two weeks in northern Canada and one week in the southern part. It was the first time ever for Ellie to hit the snow; the first time Ty would remember. Sledding/snow fun looks like it is in their blood. It was a new thing to see them both all bundled up like marshmallow people, but they loved it. And Ellie only needed a couple times to convince her that snowpants are a must. Below is her "smile for the camera" face.
And Ben was smashing in his winter get up. He was, as he says, very happy to breathe in COLD, CRISP air, as opposed to our normal atmosphere of a humidifier...

And he enjoyed helping his brother on his house and hanging out with the family.

And I got in the action, too. The first day we arrived (after falling over a stationary set of building supplies *blame sleep deprivation*), I went sledding with the youngins on the sledding hill. Very fun. The bump didn't mind the ride, either. Well, until the kids put a jump into the sledding hill. Then, I became a spectator.