David Gets his 'Student of the Month' Award

Just like last year, David got chosen again as 'Student of the Month' and the trait is for 'Honesty'. This was on March 18. The school year is 3 quarters out and we're happy that he got this award before the school year ends. The students are the ones who vote for the awardee and I coudn't agree more, David is such a sincere and truthful boy! The kids know and are quite aware that being thruthful regardless of whatever mistake or wrondoing they have done, they have to let us know. Of course, it was not easy at first and there were some struggles in the past but I believe they have learned their lessons and have learned them well. This is very important to us and we're fortunate that we have instilled this trait in them in a very positive way. Hopefully and prayerfully, they will not forget as they grow older and wiser, even when there are more temptations and influences that can affect them.

Meeting Pastor Rene

Every year, we almost always never fail to meet with our pastor from the Philippines and that's what we just did on Mar. 7.  Pastor Rene Atienza visits regularly this part of South Florida for the Evangelism Explosion International Conference at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale. This mega-church founded by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy is the HQ of E.E. Inter'l. Chito and Cindy Abadines who have become our friends too through Pastor Rene always play hosts in their home in Margate and that's what they just did on Mar. 7. We have always received an invite every time he's here since David was still a baby.  Although we missed a few through the years, we always try to be there especially when we don't have prior commitments and it has always been a pleasure meeting our dear pastor. 

Memorial's Annual Picnic at the Park

Last March 1 at C.B. Smith Park for Memorial Healthcare's Annual Picnic. As usual, when David and Missy have days like this one, they always sound out 'best day ever' after the event. 'Can't blame them.

On Top of Planet Everglades

Since I came across this Photoshop tutorial on how to make your own 'planet' from a panorama, I wanted to make one with my family on it and that was probably two years ago. There were a number of opportunities when I could have done it but I always forget until I have to wait for another one. This time, the Everglades would be an appropriate place so on the way out, we stopped, set-up my tripod on the other side of the road and made a number of family photos. To complete, I just added two more images for the 'sides' to make a panorama from.






Then with just a few steps in Photoshop...

A Day Trip to Everglades National Park

The best time to visit this park is always winter. This is the time when you can see more of the migratory birds compared to other seasons and more importantly, there are less mosquitoes if any to bug you. In summer, it's almost impossible to escape from the bugs even with a ton of repellent on you.

The forecast was for a cooler weekend (low 50's to high 60s) and since we're all free, we planned to visit the park on Saturday, Feb.21. The last time we went was like 2 or 3 years ago and I don't want to miss it again this year. The kids were excited to have a sort of picnic at the Everglades and at the same time check out the alligators.

We left home at 8am and by 9am we have reached the park entrance. We checked out the visitor center first, then we went straight to Anhinga Trail where one can see closely the alligators, the anhingas, herons, gallinules, vultures, etc. This is after all the best place to see wildlife up-close. An alligator was directly on the 'walk', you can't get any closer than that.

It was already 12 Noon when we left the trail, drove for about 20 miles to reach the 9-mile pond were we planned to have our lunch. Fortunately, we found a nice spot and a vacant table right away. We just brought MREs for lunch, remnants of emergency food we keep for the hurricane season. They're not bad at all and since they're self-heating, was very convenient.

Stayed there for a few hours more while the kids and Ophine enjoyed 'blowing bubbles' and 'pretend fishing' since I didn't rig the rods. We were planning to fish in the marina area. Too bad, the spot didn't have any toilets and soon we were on our way. Visited the other spots, albeit hurriedly now until we reach the marina at the end of the park. We didn't do any fishing anymore after checking out two guys who said the fish were not biting. After the marina, we went around some more and by 5:30pm, called it a day and soon we were on our way home. It was a wonderful time spent with the family and I'm glad we got the Everglades N.P. already bagged for the year.