The US Trip...in a nutshell...

I know I haven't blogged much yet about our US Trip. You see, after coming from the vacation, I got so busy in preparing stuff for the start of classes of the kids. And the overwhelming work awaiting for me in my desk was something I have to attend to first as well. It has been a week since we arrived from Los Angeles and life has just started to get back to normal.

But I just have to blog because I want to. I want to remember all those happy memories we had while we were there. It was also to document the trip. It would be for my kids as well. I may not have the memory to recall everything in time so it is for me and our whole family to remember.

The 3 weeks travel was all worth it. It's a much deserved vacation of our family. It was pure bonding for me and the husband and most especially for our kids. We were yaya-less for 3 weeks and I am so proud that we survived it. The husband and I worked as a team.

I'm grateful that my kids were both healthy during our entire stay there. They were in perfect shape. Even our plane rides to and from LA was a breeze. It probably helped that they were bigger already this time and that they have travelled already before so they knew very well how to manage themselves on the plane. I don't even have to tell them to put on their seat belts.

From Manila to LAX, it was just 2 movies and sleeping that made their company. I was also surprised that it was easy for them to sleep on their plane seats. No fuss at all.

They immediately felt at home when we arrived in my sister-in-law's place. It wasn't a concern on them being homesick. The first few days were mostly road trips. They also survived those long trips to Arizona, Las Vegas, Reno, San Francisco and Los Angeles. And amazingly they were comfortable on their car seats, which they were not used to have here in Manila. 

Of course, theme parks were their favorites.   We went to Disneyland, Sea World and Legoland.  The husband and I also went to Universal Studios.  We didn't bring them there anymore since most of the rides are not appropriate for kids.  It was my time to enjoy the Jurassic Park, Mummy Return rides since the last time we were there, I wasn't able to ride on it cause I was pregnant with Bianca. 

My kids enjoyed all these theme parks.  It was a joy to see excitement on their eyes.  They can't contain their happiness.  We were all grateful to experience having a blast as a family.  That I cannot trade off. 

Shopping took place on our last week.  Went to few outlet stores and grabbed great deals.  But it was in Las Vegas where we enjoyed much about shopping too, especially me.  The husband gave me a great surprise! That's different story to tell. I enjoyed shopping for the kids too.  I am happy to find the brands that are not at all available in the country.  

We were so happy as well to reunite with my husband's family.  It was so nice to be with them again.  We missed them so much. 

Indeed, the whole trip was a success.  It was a total fun.  And most importantly, we did it as family. 

2 bags...

packed...2 more to go!

I thought we would just be bringing 3 luggage but decided to bring 4 instead so we could have more space to put shopping loots!

Woohoo! Excited!

We are flying to US tomorrow night. This is the much awaited vacation.

Will be back with lots of stories and pictures overload!

Insurance Quest...

We are currently on insurance quest. The husband has been bugging me to review already the number of proposals we got from different agencies including the one from Anthem Tonik. We are not only considering increasing and getting new life insurance for me and the husband but also to increase our coverage for health insurance. I believe the above mentioned insurance covers obama blue cross health insurance that is why we are carefully reviewing it as well. We want to get a health insurance that has a network of doctors and even hospitals that stretches from coast to coast. Any factors I should still consider on this matter?  I hope we could arrive at the right choice. 

Help for a Friend...

A friend is actually asking for reference for some seniors housing Seattle. They need assistance for their grandfather who have been diagnozed with Alzeimer's Disease. I can imagine how hard it could be for them to be in such situation. They really would want to help their grandfather but they also need assistance on how to manage him. My friend have been making a lot of research about the disease as well and I know that her family can only do much. They still need support and assistance. I told her that she can try to check local community boards as well for information as I am sure there would be. Although I know there is a website which collects information on senior housing providers across America. I saw somehow that they do have options and providers listed on the following: for adult family home, residential care, alzheimer's living, independent living, skilled nursing, and of course nursing home. I think they have a good list of seniors housing New York as well seniors housing in Los Angeles so I am pretty sure there's also data for Seattle.

We are...

living on this beautiful house for exactly a month now! And we are so loving it!

Home Sweet Home...

very, very soon!



Can't wait!

My brother...

is asking me to look for tactical pants for my nephew's camping schedule next week. It was actually specified in the letter to parents that kids need to be wearing those kind of pants so that all their tools for the gotcha game can be placed on that tactical pants. I recommended the Operator Tactical Pants I saw online which I think is the best one I have ever seen so far. Not to mention that it is also at an afforfable price of almost about 20% than what you can see off the rack the shelves. It provides more comfort, more pockets and more manueverability.

Bowling Day

Saturday was bowling day for my family and my brother's family. We spent it in Paeng's Bowling Center in Eastwood. Some pics here...

Saturday fun!

The Bday Celebration...

was very simple. I'm happy that it was a non-working weekend so I just savor the time to be with my family.  At first, Dicky wants us to go out on a bar date last saturday night to watch Nina in Hard Rock but I refused as I just wanted to rest early and be with the kids.  So we just decided to head out to the mall last saturday afternoon.  Actually, instead of shopping for myself, just bought shoes and clothes for the kids instead.  And then Dicky treated me for a take out of this...

I was giddy happy for a quart of my favorite ice cream and flavors as dulce de leche and strawberry! Yum, yum, yum. Was munching on it while watching House series when we went back home.

Yesterday, my exact birthday, Margaux handed me a bday card upon waking up. That actually starts my day!

     

She did the card together with her dad last saturday before we headed out to mall, while I was taking my nap. She wrote her name with the help of her dad and she drew those circles inside the cake.  So sweet!

Then we prepared as we heard mass that morning but we passed by Dampa in Libis first to order take-out food for lunch. Bought crabs, shrimps and liempo as my "handa" for a simple celebration with my family. We were all so full for lunch.



Then for the dessert, candle-blowing for me, (hihihi). I bought my own cake! (pathetic) but i forgot to ask for a candle so just grabbed whatever I found in our kitchen cabinet! Notice it was blue! It was so overwhelming to hear my kids sing happy bday for me. Call me "mababaw" but this is one of life's precious moments!


It was just great to spend my special day with my family with no fuss, just plain and happy celebration! Having them is enough! (naks)

Outing again...

We are off to another quick getaway tomorrow.  

We will be in Clearwaters, Pampanga together with the team of Dicky (officemates) and their families.  I bet the kids will have fun in the pool, while us the parents will enjoy the gambling!  hahaha...

I wish we can win P6K again in red dog (the favorite card game of the group!)  just like what happened last year in Subic.  We are bringing booze so walang tulugan ito!

Be back with pictures!

After Visita Iglesia

We went to a friend's farm after doing our Visita Iglesias last Holy Thursday to churches located in Tagaytay and Tanauan, Batangas. The kids have fun playing with all the animals in there, while me and Dicky enjoyed a lot the food prepared by the hosts. It wasn't fasting at all. It was fast eating. Hehehe.

Here are some pictures:

Dicky and Margaux feeding the ducks

Bianca doesn't want to go down with the ducks :-(

With Jon, our host, also Bianca's ninong

Playing with the horse

Bianca loves the dog instead.

Busy playing with Sam

Lounging around the grass

Family Day in Eco Park

Margaux's school had a family day in La Mesa Eco Park yesterday. We had so much fun. The kids enjoyed it. The teachers prepared good activities for all of us who were there. They divided the families to two teams: Blue Team (that's our team) and Red Team.

First, we had an icebreaker game. We were asked to do the "arrange yourself according to certain categories". Our team won that category.

Then, we had a cheering competition. Our first cheer goes like this...

Give me a B...

Give me an L...

Give me a U...

Give me an E..

What does it say?

Black este Blue!

Hay, ang may pa-uso nito eh ang magaling kong asawa. Hehehe.

Then we had the amazing family race. Hay, kakapagod this one. I think I lost 10 pounds there after going up and down twice to the stairs leading to the dam. The last challenge wherein its a mom and dad team up, Dicky and I performed it. We were asked to count the steps in the stairs. Imagine on our first round of going up, Dicky's count was 118 and I counted 116. When he went down to tell the teacher, it was incorrect and my number of 116 was also incorrect so we had to do it all over again. I felt the pressure, the red team was there already catching up on us. (note: now I knew how Marc and Rovilson felt when they counted the steel bars in a bridge incorrectly and they had to do it again). On Dicky's second round, he counted 117 and I was able to confirm the same number when I reached the top so one member has to go down again and tell the teacher. Dicky did that and finally, we got it correctly. Blue team won the race.

But can you imagine, after going up twice, I didn't even bother to look at the dam?! Pathetic. I wanted to see it pa naman. Pero wala na akong pakialam, we wanted our team to win.

Our team (Blue Team) was the over-all champion for that Family Day. It was all fun.

Some pictures here...(sayang, we weren't able to take pics of us doing the amazing race challenges).

On the way to the picnic area...

In the playground...

Bianca on cheering squad...

Margaux playing balancing...

Dad and Margaux biking...

Ready to go home...

Happy 40th Anniversary!

It's my parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary today!

To Nanay and Tatay, good health to both of you always.

We love you!

Update on my brother...

Read here.

Thanks for all the prayers.

I'm occupied.

Read here why I am occupied since tuesday evening. Please pray for my brother. Thanks in advance. I will get back to you on all your comments, link ups, tags and awards once everything is fine.

This weekend...

Oh, what a bliss this weekend! I don't have events to coordinate. Yahoo. I'm just happy to be with my husband and my kids. It's activity-filled weekend.

We are scheduled to go to the administration of the subdivision to talk to the engineer for the approval of the plan. Then we will also meet up the uncle of Dicky to further discuss the next steps on the construction of the "dream house."

Then will meet up with good old friends from our catholic community at Burgoo in Podium then malling with the kids after.

What a good way to spend saturday! Aside from hearing mass, I'm still thinking what's for tomorrow to maximize time with family.

These days are just priceless to me!

Backtrack: Intercon Hotel (December 31, 2007)

We checked in at Hotel Intercon last December 31 and we celebrated the new year's eve there. Upon checking-in, we headed out to the swimming pool. Even cold, Margaux loves the water. Makes me think as when could be the best time for me to enrol her to swimming lessons. She tries hard to kick her legs while floating. I guess she's braver than me with regards to water. I learned to swim when I was an adult already. Would you believe, I had my swimming lessons when I was almost 22 years old? (hahaha, pathetic ano?!)

But Bianca was freezing cold when we tried to dip her into the water.

Here's our family picture in the pool...

And the little girl just wants to relax...
We just had dinner at Modern China?/Asia? in Glorietta. Can't remember cause we were rushing to find a place to dine that night cause Glorietta was closing early. I think it was the only restaurant that was open that time. Afterwhich, we heard Mass in the lobby of Intercon. Good thing that they had that special new year's eve mass. It was a different experience for us cause we didn't celebrate it at home. But it was fun. We enjoyed it and it was hassle and stress-free, at least for me in preparing food during that time. But we managed to also bring in a bottle of wine, with bread and ham. (hehehe). Tipid no?! We also brought a buco salad that my mom did. O diba, may baon pang dessert?

We went down in Ayala Avenue to watch the grand fireworks display near Peninsula Manila. We had to wake up Margaux in time for midnight so we can all go down. Apparently, we didn't let Bianca join us anymore downstairs cause I didn't want her to be exposed to so much smoke as she has very sensitive skin.

Here are some more of our pictures...

Backtrack: Christmas Day (December 25, 2007)

We stayed at the home the entire day as our relatives (my mom's side) arrived in our place to celebrate the christmas day. My tita Ronnie prepared a number of games for kids and adults alike. Didn't have much decent picture as a family. In fact, we totally forgot to take a picture as a family. Pathetic!

Our color theme for this year is Blue. My mom side of the family always come in color coded per family.

Meet my family... Note: Bianca was sleeping at this time.

We are the first degree "apos."

Mga apo sa tuhod at apo sa talampakan...

That is one thing that I'm so proud of my family...we are very close. You can see in the pictures. I'm so close to my cousins.

Here, Margaux and Dicky were part of the game...seems they were really enjoying!

Margaux joined the games...

Margaux dancing "papaya"

This proved that we don't have decent pictures last christmas day...the crying Bianca!

Our Advance Christmas Gift...

We received already our advance christmas gifts. It is such a delight that all things worked out well in our favor. God is so good! It is indeed a blessing. Click here to know what it is all about.

The Shoot...

The shoot with Gladys Reyes for her new show..."Moments" pushed through last saturday. I arrived on time with the calltime of 1pm in studio of Net25 in New Era University. Gladys came in 10 minutes after. We were casually introduced. I find her nice as she was even very polite to me. Then we realized that we are just the same age..."30."

I was suprised to see their set. It was nicely done, very much like a home feeling.

We were requested first to have lunch. Dicky was with me and Gladys was with her husband and their 20-month old baby boy. Her husband is very good looking as well as their kid. We had casual talks while eating and discussed some few things on what I currently do.

Then after eating, we were requested to have our make-up done. I came in with make-up already so the artist just touched me up. She just did my hair cause I wasn't able to blow dry it from the house.

We started shooting at 3pm! Yes, 2 hours after the calltime. They also showed to me as well the preview already of the shoot from the house last Friday. They came in to shoot the kids and me, like an intro avp for the show before the real interview with Gladys.

I was amazed as how it turned out nicely after editing. Feeling ko kasi, super mess our shoot from the house cause the kids are sleepy na that time.

The interview went very well. Para lang kaming nagkwekwentuhan. I was proud to say, walang cut! hahaha. The next mom that they interviewed after me was saying na super kinabahan sya after watching me. Nanlalamig tuloy sya kasi daw para daw akong pro! Hehehe. Well, sanay lang talaga ako sa camera...artista ata ako nung past life ko eh! lol!

It was a nice experience. I enjoyed it actually. My only concern now is that I hope I don't look FAT in TV! Di kasi ako naka-black eh. I hope they were able to get my angle na payat ako! Bilin ko yun sa mga cameraman! Hehehe...

Here are some pictures...


"Briefing"


Before the interview


Were on shoot already!


This is how we look like in their TV monitor.


At may retouch pa in between the segments


Picture taking after the shoot...

The show will start sometime November daw. Of course, I would let everyone know about it. As to what I discussed there, watch na lang the show...hehehe.