Down the Rabbit Hole

Tull Lake is a man-made lake in the White Lake Charter Township in Michigan. A day after Ninang Trining's birthday , we drove over to visit Kuya Lemuel and Ate Adora. They have a house by this lake and invited us Californians over to experience riding a pontoon around the lake. Their house is a back split-level home. From the front, the house seemed to have one level. However, the backyard is sloping, with outdoor stairs from the deck leading to the lake on one side, and a lower level visible on another. The deck is equipped with lounge chairs. Mommy certainly had a field day relaxing on the deck. The backyard was huge! My son found a patch of garden soil very interesting and spent a good hour there. He had fun putting soil into a toy bus that we discovered during our exploration of the backyard. In the process, he also smeared soil all over his face and clothes; but no matter because he had such a wonderful time playing. The highlight of our visit was the boat ride around Tull Lak...

On COVID-19 's third summer, I opted to bring my son along to my aunt's 80th birthday party. Since the party was in Michigan, we had to fly (we could have driven across the continental USA, but that's way too long for a toddler). And I have learned a thing or two about flying with a toddler. Here I share what I think are the top 12 things to bring when travelling with a toddler by plane. Car seat, travel cart, and gate-check bag For this trip, I opted to take the Clek Foonf over the Diono Radian 3QXT  because the Foonf has adjustable recline settings in its rear-facing mode. I was a bit concerned that he'll find the Radian too upright in the Toyota Highlander we would be using while in Michigan. He was not comfortable riding in the Radian installed in a Toyota Prius, most likely because of the steep angle, and so I decided that having recline angle options would be better. Due to space constraints and the challenges of multiple installations in such a short amount of ti...

I was tapped to speak on behalf of my cousins during Ninang Trining's birthday party. When I first heard about my assignment, I intended to talk about how Ninang Trining helped me get into the sciences. As I walked to the stage to start talking—and a true testament to the impromptu nature of my talk—I decided to change course and ended up saying something similar to this instead: This is a story of a little girl. Lola Bats used to talk about how studious this little girl was in school. She decided to study nursing. Mamang and Papang were there to help starch her uniforms for nursing school. Many years later, she found herself in Michigan, still displaying the studiousness and industry that fascinated Lola Bats so much.  She has been a big influence in the career paths of Ate Liza, Ate Maddie, and Anna, who are all registered nurses. She played the role of a second parent to Kuya Rico, Kuya Allan, Ate Marissa, and Ate Grace. She is a role model of what a Filipino professional workin...

Virtue signalling. Microaggression. Radical honesty. Generational trauma. These are terms mentioned during a virtual seminar I attended today. The speaker, Dr Devon Lee, talked about healing from trauma by (if I understand his presentation properly) addressing these four concepts, among others. Two colleagues who are children of immigrants—one was born in the USA and the other born overseas but immigrated as a preschooler—kept nodding their heads in affirmation as Dr Lee got the virtual audience to participate in the discussion. Honestly, I was just lost in the discussion because I grew up in a different context: I come from a culture in which thriving in adverse conditions is the norm, merits are given where merits are due, and strong family and friendly ties provide moral support and sounding boards that people need to decompress. So here's my attempt at dissecting the topic. Based on how I understand Dr Lee's presentation, an organisation has to provide the space for its emp...

We opted to celebrate Val's birthday on a different day so that we could invite as many of the family as possible. This is in such a sharp contrast to last year's birthday celebration at home because we had to limit the number of guests to his party.  (Thank you, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and booster shots, California, and medical professionals for slowly bringing us to something near normal!) The Fuji Sushi Buffet in Concord was in its soft opening period when we celebrated Val's birthday.  When we arrived, we joined the queue by registering on the restaurant's waitlist. A few minutes later, we were ushered to our dining table and our drink orders were taken. The server also listed down our orders for appetisers, soups, and salads. However, the server did not hover too much since the stars of the show were the sushi... and we could get them on a centre island where chefs worked their magic. Thanks to my allergies, I could not explore all the options that the chefs ...

Just before I migrated to the USA, I attended a migration seminar (a requirement for emigrants) where I was given a chance to register as an overseas voter. Naturally, I signed up; but I didn't give it much thought. So when the election day approached, I felt sad that I wouldn't vote this time around. But a few weeks before the election day, I received my own ballot in the mail. This was interesting: I had always voted in my barangay precinct back in the Philippines (and I treated my indelibly inked finger as a badge of honour). But now that I'm permanently residing in the USA, I mailed my ballot to the Philippine Consulate. Initially, I wanted to drive all the way to San Francisco (with Val and the wee one in tow) but the driving distance and the cost of parking discouraged me from going). But the USPS staff told me that my mail would arrive in time, so I felt that a drive to San Francisco was not needed. This national election is certainly heated. I have been invited to p...

The wee one has started to be fascinated with vehicles, particularly trains. On a clear Saturday afternoon, when the early spring blooms appeared, I brought him to the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City, along with my parents and my sister. The museum is unique because it is one of the rare places where visitors are allowed to ride the exhibits, rather than just stare at them. In fact, a major attraction for us was the train ride on the old Sacramento Northern Railway Line. The railroad segment we were on took us from the Rio Vista Junction to the Pantano Station in Birds Landing. Along the route, we saw jackrabbits who dared cross the railroad while a train was approaching, colourful spring flowers, spinning wind turbines on many hills in the area, and historical buildings from the time this route used to be busier (with lots of commuters on trains).  We definitely enjoyed our day out into the grasslands of Solano County. Its biggest selling point—to me—is the friendliness and ...