Hoover Dam

Mum, Matt and Maddy

Me, Mum and Maddy

Hoover Dam

We decided not to go through the visitors area and just take pictures from above. Was a scorching day but well worth the visit.

Having Fun in Vegas

Nana and Maddy on the tram, on our way to Diegos Restaurant

for Sachi's 090909 birthday celebration

Micah and Maddy having fun with his toy snake - Mandalay Bay Hotel

Massage & Spa treatment - was lovely and very relaxing

The Mandalay Beach - real sand, wave pool, lazy pool and cafes

Out & About Vegas after Dinner

Ngaire, Sachi, Mark T, Ku, Mark and Me

My huge win LOL

Trying our luck

Out and about Maryland - Annapolis and Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

On our way to lunch at Harris Crab House

Downtown Annapolis (lots of small antique shops, cafes and restaurants)

Stopping for Italian Ice-cream

Cafes & Restaurants across the bay

Our boat that took us down Severn River

Baby Niko

Boats out on the bay

The boys having fun on the cruise

Nino steering the boat

Maddys turn

Ivan & Brady Visit DC

My younger brother and his wife paid us a quick visit to DC last week. At very last minute, Brady had a conference to attend in Chicago so before getting to us, they spent two days in Vegas with a visit to the Grand Canyon, a week in Chicago, two days in New York and then three days with us before returning home to Melbourne, Australia.

We had a blast trying to squeeze in as much as we could in the three days they were here. We visited several monuments, a few museums, Potomac Mills Outlets and the mall for last minute shopping.

Birthday shoutout to Aunty Lagi

Happy Belated Birthday Aunty Lagi

Maddy says "Hope you had a lovely day and hope you got lots of presents" lol

Much Love, Maddy, Matt and Rachel xox

Happy Birthday Nana

Much Love, Matt, Maddy and Me xox

Thanks Nana

For the awesome sticker books Maddy's received over the last few months :)

Happy Birthday Papa!

Hope you have a lovely day, from all of us in the US of A!
PS. Check your email for your surprise :)

A Big Thank You

... For all the wonderful birthday presents Maddy received from his family and friends.

Mini-Golf Birthday Party

Dinosaur Cake (someone had already removed two of the dinosaurs before I got a chance to take a picture of the cake lol)

Dillon and Maddy enjoying their pizza and drinks

@ the Jefferson Miniature Golf Facility

Food Time

Enjoying each others company

Avery, Gavin and Gregory

Domenico and Nino

Michael, Maddy, Avery and Dillon

The Boys

Happy 7th Birthday Son!

After a lengthy teeth cleaning session for the three of us at the Dentist this morning, we decided to take Madison out for lunch at one of his favorite restaurants, Sakura - Japanese Steak, Seafood and Sushi Bar, to celebrate his birthday. His actual birthday party is not till next Saturday as it was the only day available to play mini golf.

We enjoyed Hibachi style cooking where the chef cooks in front of you - very entertaining and very yummy food. After the main course, the waiter bought in a cheesecake with a candle on it, and sang happy birthday to him. Mommy and Daddy got to enjoy it on his behalf LOL.

We also got a surprise call from Papa and Nana, after visiting Best Buy for his birthday present - a Wii game console and game of his choice - lucky boy. It was nice to hear from them both. We can't wait to see Nana and the rest of the Mano'o Clan in September :)

Swimming free-style

Swimming Cancelled

Not enough kids enrolled in the 2nd round of level four swimming classes this week, so it's been cancelled. The manager of the pool suggested we get maddy into private lessons, which will only cost us an extra $40 on top of the current enrollment fee we paid for the public lessons. After talking it over with the swim coach, he thinks it will only take a few more lessons before Maddy really knows how to swim free-style properly. He learns the swimming stroke techniques very well, and now it's just a matter of coordinating that with his breathing.

He's come a long way since we started and hopefully, if he's up to it, he might want to swim competitively. We will have to wait and see what his cardiologist says first before we enter him in any competitive races.

Private lessons start tommorrow and ends next Tuesday. He'll know how to swim properly by the end of it :)

Basketball Class

I forgot to charge the camera and missed out on taking more videos and pictures of Maddy learning the basics of basketball.

There were suppose to be 13 kids but only 5 turned up. Not surprising, considering the muck up they had last weekend. Everyone was told different times and venues and two of us weren't told about anything lol. Oh well, at least we made it to this one on time and at the right place lol.

The age group ranges from 6-10, with Maddy and Ben (smallest one) being the youngest of the group. They practiced different passing and dribbling skills and also shooting skills as well. Because they only had 5 players, there were no scrimmages, but they did play a few shooting games. Overall he had fun and didn't want it to end.

Bumped up to level 4

After 10 minutes in the pool during his first day of swimming lessons, Maddy was told by his instructor to move on over to the next class, Level 4. He actually completed Level 3 last summer but because he had not been in the pool since then, we thought it would be best for him to repeat the level again. Boy were we wrong !!! He was way ahead of the others in that class and I was impressed that he remembered most, if not all , of what he learnt last year.

His new instructor worked them hard and had them swim lengths of the pool with only a few breaks in between. When she approached me afterwards, she told me that Maddy has a good butterfly kick and is looking forward to working with him in this class :)

Update on Maddy

Sorry, been busy with other things and haven't had time to post any blogs on here lol.

Since the last post, Maddy has had a fun spring season playing soccer, and at the teams prize giving function, he received a trophy and the ROOKIE AWARD certificate for "seamlessly joining the team this season and becoming one of the Gold Guys!! his sportsmanship and effort are a great addition to our team." He's looking forward to playing again in the Fall.



We attended the Viva Vienna Memorial Day Festival last month and had a blast. There were lots of rides for Maddy to go on, stalls to play games and win prizes, as well as lots of american treats to eat and some light entertainment. Pictures and video to come soon.


I went along to Maddy's end of the year class party on Wednesday and boy did I have a lot of laughs. Because of the rain it was held indoors but the kids still had fun. There were games to play, karaoke, dancing and video time. Maddy especially enjoyed the dancing and will put together a video of all his whacky moves - too funny!


Maddy and I were invited to lunch with our neighbors to Old Country Buffet on Thursday to celebrate one of their daughters graduation from 6th grade. She'll be starting 7th grade at another middle school in our area. The other neighbor and her family are also leaving to go back home to Korea. These are the ladies I meet at the bus stop everyday.

For the Summer, we have enrolled Maddy in Swimming lessons at Providence Rec Centre (two weeks starting next Monday), Basketball camp (one day a week for 10 weeks at PineSpring Elementary School) and Tae Kwon Do (1/2 day for a week) at Mt Kim.

Today was suppose to be the first day of basketball camp BUT when we arrived, only one other family was there and the school was closed. I didn't know what happened and when I called to find out, the office was closed for the weekend. I was not a happy chappy and nor was Maddy. He was very dissapointed.

Anyway, if the weather holds up tommorow, we'll be off to the park for a bike ride and playtime.

That's all folks ... for now :)

In El Salvador

I arrived in El Salvador yesterday via Miami. I haven't had a chance to take a look around yet but at first glance San Salvador (the capital) seems to a nice place. I wish I could speak Spanish though! I'll be here for 2 weeks then it's off to Nicaragua for another 2 weeks then back home to DC on the 7th of July. Missing my family already!!!

A Poem for Mum, by Madison

Her hands are like rough scales on a alligator.

Her hair is like a snake slithering on the ground.

Her face is like a marshmallow floating like a leaf.

Her voice is like robins, chirping in the summer.

Her smile is like licorish bending really softly.