Back in the oven

I can’t tell you how nice it is to wake up in the middle of the night and realize I’m sleeping in my own bed and our soft sheets.
Where I was staying in Europe, it didn’t seem like fabric softener and thread counts were that important.
Now if only my dear husband would wake up with the same urge to eat bacon and eggs at 2:50 AM.
As I write this, I’m uploading one of the last batches of photos taken from the trip.
Ben is awake and has moved into my bedside playing with his iPod Touch.
I am contemplating going into the kitchen to take some fresh orange juice purchased at the Hong Kong airport earlier.

Two weeks in Europe with two frisky boys is no joke—even though you’re traveling with a yaya. It is exhausting, even if you’re traveling business class. But it is well worth it. One trip to Europe with your family is worth more than ten trips in Asia, where we are pampered like kings and queens, with the best room service, modern hotels and subways.
On the upside, I didn’t gain weight even though I ate a lot of junk—Coke with every meal and lots of fried chicken wings from Wok To Go, my favorite fastfood joint in Utrecht.

I’m so happy the kids got to know their Dutch side and see where there father and Opa are from, where their dad went to school and grew up.
On our first few days in Utrecht, one of the boys said he wished we had settled in Utrecht instead of Manila because everything there and the people are so nice. Too late now, because we are settled in Manila with our home, business, friends and ties.
I wish Utrecht were just six hours away and I wish KLM still landed in NAIA.
One day I hope to have a place there with Jeroen with two or three bedrooms and fabulous bathrooms, instead of a log cabin in Tagaytay.
I have so much to tell you, so much to blog. It’s just that when I was over there, I didn’t really have time for myself or sit down in front of the computer. It was just busy, busy, busy. You can imagine what Yaya Bhing went through. She worked harder than me, doing laundry and cooking sinigang for the boys. And Jeroen who planned the whole trip definitely worked harder than me.
I was still the princess, but without the time to sit down and blog.
That said, I am now in Manila with so many stories to tell. I just wish the Internet connection would cooperate.
So I found out, even in parts of Europe, there is really bad Internet connection.
When I left Amsterdam it was 3 degrees, when we arrived in Manila, it was 35 degrees.
We just walked into the oven, and I’m happy to be back.

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