Powers Family Philippine Biyahe: Intramuros & Play Dates

I know it has been a month since I have last blogged so I thought I would get everyone caught up on what we have been up to. Day to day we haven't been up to too much. I met another mom here Maria Elena and we have hit it off which has been great for me. She has a two year old Isabella who has become great friends of Liam. Isabella is quite protective of her Amigo Liam. (Maria Elena is from El Salvador but an American citizen so they speak both Spanish and English). So pretty much every day Liam and I have been out and out about with them. We go for walks to the park, play at the pool playground, or head to one of the local malls to walk around and get some exercise. They have been a blessing for us keeping us busy and happy : ) Here are a few pictures of some of our outings.

We went to Krispy Cream and watched them making the Doughnuts.

Liam didn't get a doughnut, but he did get a hat : )

Up at the playground by the pool.

As for Liam, he is still growing up too fast and getting bigger every day. He has started laughing at himself a lot and squealing in delight. One of his newest loves is to be naked! He cries, kicks, and fights us every clothes and diaper change. We try to let him have free reign sometines, but he would go naked all the time if we let him. Liam has also figured out how to get into the cabinets in the kitchen, so everyday he finds something new to get into.

I was playing around and put him in the hamper. At first he loved it.....

But then he thought, "Seriously mom don't put me in the washer!"

My mess has a first name and it's L I A M

Ah freedom to air out my tush!

What you looking at?!?!?

The next eventful thing that we did was we went to Intramuros. Which is the old walled city of Manila. This is one of the oldest areas of Manila. Intramuros was once a huge fortress built by the Spanish when they ruled the Philippines. This area has some of those Spanish area buildings and other pieces of Philippine history. The most notable things which we saw there were the Manila Cathedral and Fort Santiago. We started out our day there by attending mass at the Cathedral which is also a Basilica. The interesting thing about this church is that it is actually the 7th church since the 1500s to be in this place. The previous buildings were ruined by earthquake, fire, and lastly by WWII. Intramuros is a large reminder to Filipinos of WWII. Much of this areas former glory was ruined by the Japanese during the war. The second spot we visited Fort Santiago was once the gate and protection of the Pasig river, but during WWII it was occupied by the Japanese and they held American and Filipino prisoners of war. Again this area was in bad repair and much of the fort was reduced to ruins after the war. It was really great for us to see and learn some about Filipino history and it helped us to see why they appreciate Americans so much for eventually kicking the Japanese out and giving Manila back. The other thing that really touched us when we went to visit this area of Manila was how different this area was to Makati where we live. Intramuros was pretty dirty and poor. As we were driving down the street in one area I saw a small girl 7 at the oldest holding a naked 6-7 month old baby in the gutter. When we were leaving church a small boy was pounding on the windows asking for money for food. This was really hard for us and it is so easy for us to forget how poor people are here. We live in a bit of a bubble in Makati where we mainly interact with Filipinos who are affluent and employed. But as our housekeeper Rey told me, "Leave Manila and you will see the true color of the Filipino people." And the truth is that a large percentage of people here are poor and live on very little. Other than this bit of a shock, we had a great day. We went with Maria Elena and her family, so it was nice to have some fellow Americans along for the ride. I will post again soon about our trip to Boracay. Hope everyone has been doing well and sorry it took so long for an update.