Quick One

I still won't be able to stay long in front of the computer but I just need to make a quick post to tell everyone that we're already here in HK. We arrived yesterday at around 1:45pm... our flight was supposed to be at 11am but was delayed for about an hour so you can probably guess that we were already soooooo hungry by the time we got on the plane and the food was served. We were just disappointed that they only served us sandwiches and fruits. But in fairness the ham and cheese sandwich was tasty :D Important thing is we got here safe and sound... and the two days we're here was already tiring... ha ha ha... I'll try to post later on tonight.

Finishing Touches

Today we did our last minute errands: paid the remaining bills, deposited to WVI for our sponsored little girl's monthly allowance for August and of course prepared our "baon". Also did some nth last minute checking of our stuff so we won't forget anything... and I do hope I won't forget anything... he he he... I hope little boy will sleep early tonight so that I can wake him up early tomorrow. Our flight's at 11am so hopefully we'll be at the airport on or before 9am to avoid long lines at the airport. Although I've already checked us in (online) last night and we already got seats. I was so surprised that a lot have already done that coz I did have a hard time finding us good seats. Most of the good ones are already taken. I hope that what I got were really good and that we won't have to change it once we claim our boarding passes. MIL is a Marco Polo member and online check-in is one privilege if you're a member. I was supposedly going to just check her in but when I saw our names too then I grabbed the chance of checking the three of us (Benji, me and Colin) in too... he he he... that reminds me I have to change our Asia Miles membership to Marco Polo and apply for Colin's as well. So yey! we're already checked in so hopefully we won't have to line up in the long queue... just check the baggages in and get our boarding passes then immigration then just wait for departure time. I just hope someday waiting in the our airport lounge can be as fun as when you're waiting let's say in HK or Singapore airport. You can do all sorts of things while killing time before boarding when you're in those airports. Dining is such a pleasure, last minute window shopping is irresistible (which should really be a no-no... ha ha ha) and I think you can even watch a movie . Whew! How I wish! Forgive me for being too critical but waiting in our lounges is really a bore. At least, for Terminal 2 the place is a bit nicer compared to the old NAIA but still nothing much to do and see while whiling away time except to stare at planes that are either landing and taking off... he he he... oh well... So just one more night then off we go...

Colin and Mita's day-out

Since Colin won't see his Mita for almost a month I decided to make up for those times by taking Mita out. Just like last Sunday when we took her to Serendra and Market! Market! for lunch and a little shopping. Then today we took her out again to Makati. Just me, Colin, Mita and Ate Rose. Benji had a lunch meeting so it was just us. It was an uneventful day out... Colin was a very good boy during lunch time... would you believe he ate all by himself? Yey! He was so happy and content with his serving of fries and spaghetti from Pancake House as he was also humming and reciting a few lines from Elmo's World. At least we all had our lunch at peace... ha ha ha... I am really one proud Momma! :D My Mom was telling me how amazed she is because Colin's growing up so fast and every time she sees him it's as if there's always something new for him to show off to his Mita. As much as possible I want Colin to see his grand Mom from his mother's side as often as possible. My Mom's two other grandkids from my younger brother, both boys too, just migrated to Australia. That's why my Mom's a bit low-spirited because it will be awhile before she sees them again. So, I try to let them (my Mom and Colin) have
some bonding time especially now that we'll be going away too for awhile. Only consolation is at least we'll still be coming back. =)

Everything In One

Last night I started packing all of our things in one BIG suitcase. My goal was to pack everything in in just one luggage and I think I'll be a success on this. Hooray!!! So far I've already packed all of our essentials from clothes down to the toiletries... and that's for all three of us. And there's still a little bit of space left... which I am trying so hard not to fill up just yet. This space is reserved for whatever last minute essential item I might think of bringing. So are we ready for the trip?... Yep, I think we're pretty much ready. Just two more nights to go! :)

Trip to the Barber

The boys (hubby and little boy) had their haircut this morning and I was so proud of little boy... I didn't have a hard time making him go up the stool and sit right away. He was happy upon entering the shop that he was smiling all the while the barber was trimming his hair. The cut lasted about 15-20 minutes and was I happy that everything went on without a fuss... my baby is really growing up so fast!... He's no longer a baby.

Packing Away

I've already started fixing our things to bring for the trip. I just can't seem to make myself do the "pack light" thing. I am aiming at bringing just one big suitcase for all the three of us but with the rate I'm doing the sorting and fixing I might not accomplish that. Tsk, tsk, tsk... It seems I always find a reason to bring this or that. Hmm... what am I to do? I don't want to be lugging two suitcases when we leave coz I know we will surely add one suitcase-full of things we bought when we return home. So as much as possible I really, really, really want to bring just one suitcase. Let's see If I'll be successful. I've also asked Ate Rose to wash the pads of Colin's stroller. Maybe by tomorrow I'd be able to assemble it back to one piece :D

...And how was your weekend?

Our weekend was pretty busy... Saturday we did some grocery and window shopping for Manang and Ate Rose (Colin's yaya) as well as some "pabilins" of SIL. This time we opted to go to Makati (Glorietta area) instead of our usual Las Piñas/Alabang area weekend shopping haunts. We got there at a little past 12 so we had lunch first at Yoshinoya. I'm really happy lately because there's little fuss in feeding Colin. I had little trouble feeding him that day. Since he likes something a little crispy, he was content in eating rice and Ebi Tempura. After lunch he was already asking me if he can go play already. Meaning I have to go find a play area/playhouse where he can have some fun. Nowadays, he's been so addicted to playhouses/play areas that every time we go out he requests for it. It's totally ok with him if we just leave him and Ate Rose there at hours end that he actually doesn't want to leave even when it's time go. There were only two (paid) play areas in Glorietta, Kids at Work and ABC Learning House. I opted to let them stay in the latter since it's less crowded. Kids at Work was teeming with kids so I know Colin won't enjoy playing as much. Little boy was so happy that he didn't mind being left there to play (of course with Ate Rose). After dropping them off at the play house we went to SM. I bought a box of disposable bottle liners, some sandos and a polo shirt for Colin. Then we headed off to do the grocery. We went gaga over the food stalls just outside the supermarket. There were so much food choices from viands to sweets to "kakanins". We ended up buying a few kakanins, meringue and our viand for dinner. We went straight home after picking Colin up. Colin didn't sleep at all while at the play house so naturally he was dead tired by the time we reached the van. He was asleep all throughout the ride home.

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Sunday, I woke up at around 8am to check on breakfast. Hubby and little boy were still sound asleep. Prepared Colin's things for our Sunday "pasyal". We were taking out Mita today after hearing mass. I had to wake up the two boys by 9am else we'll be late for mass. We had a quick breakfast then asked Ate Rose to give Colin a bath and dress him up quickly. After the 10:30am mass we picked up Mita at their house then headed off to The Fort area. We had lunch at Portico in Serendra. Too bad I wasn't able to take pics of the yummy food we had. We ordered Bokchoy/Mushroom (veggies), Poached Gindara (fish/seafood) and Boneless Chicken Leg Bbq (meat). They were all tasty! After the hearty meal we took a short walk around the area. We weren't able to go to the Bonifacio Heights area since it was a tad hot that time and walking under that heat was certainly a no-no, so we had to make do with what we can explore in that area that we were already in. Had desserts at A Different Boostore... ordered Mango Tiramisu and Mango Cheesecake with their homemade iced tea... yum! yum! yum! :D We then proceeded to Market! Market! where we tired ourselves in going around the tiangge area. Was able to buy a blouse for Mita and a bag for me... teehee... :P Also bought the (portable) steam iron so we can bring it to our trip. It was already 5pm when we finished window shopping and we had to bring home Mita already since I still have a class at 7pm.

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My student was absent so I just surfed the net. I'm having a hard time posting at night since Colin is already here with us in the room. Either he wants me to play with him or he wants to watch Elmo on the computer... so you pretty well know where that will leave me... ha ha ha... oh well... and how was your weekend? :D

Davao in September

It started last year when I first stumbled upon the GO fare promos of Cebu Pacific. September of last year we went to Cebu for 3 days 2 nights. It was how I wanted to celebrate Colin’s 2nd birthday (although we still had a small celebration on the day itself) and it was also a birthday gift for Mita,my Mom. She has the same birth month as Colin so I thought it’s like shooting two birds with one stone. So after that trip I thought why not make it a yearly (around the same time) thing if I’ll be able to get cheap tickets. So for this year it’s Davao! Since we’re somehow set for our HK trip and at least I’ve made a list of what to buy and bring, I’m now busy fixing our the Davao trip. I want to have a firm hotel booking for our Davao stay before we leave for HK. We’d be staying for two nights at a city hotel (which I haven’t decided on yet) then one night at Pearl Farm. I’ve already inquired thru email to two city hotels, Marco Polo Davao and Crown Regency and also to Pearl Farm. So far only Marco Polo has responded. I’m still waiting for the other two. If until tomorrow I don’t get anything from them, maybe I’ll just give them a call. I do hope they answer soon. I’ve also started listing places to visit and things to do while we’re there. A lot have said Eden Nature Park is really a must-see so it’s on top of my list. I’m sure Colin will love it there. I’m sort of torn between checking in a city hotel and just take a day trip to Eden Park OR just check-in at Eden Park so we get to do all the things without worrying about the time. At least if we stay there we can go back to the room from time to time to get some rests in between. Hmmm… maybe I’ll just ask from people who’ve already been there. In the meantime I’m sticking to the city hotel first. Hopefully I’ll be able to make progress in the next few days.

Actually...

There was one time Colin said this word out of the blue while playing.

Scenario: One afternoon, both me and Benjie were busy typing away on our respective computers while Colin was with us inside the room busy minding his own business. He has this habit of having a monologue while at play. Then out of nowhere he just said,

…”Actually…”

then stopped dead on what he was doing and looked at us for any reaction. Naturally his Dad and I turned around and started laughing. When he thought that he said something funny he started laughing himself and kept on repeating the word. Oh my! I hope he doesn’t get used to making this word a part of his every sentence… yaiksss!

Where to now?...

I have been out of blog mode for a number of days. My bad! Been a bit busy preparing for our trip come month end. Yes, we’re going on a vacation… We’re Hong Kong bound again! Yipee!!! It’s our first for the year… would you believe it took us this long to have one for this year. Usually by first quarter of each year we have one but not this year. Mainly because for the first half of the year Benjie tried to have a 9-5 job again. So he can’t take a leave yet so planning and going on a vacation was a no-no around that time. Good thing he decided to go back to doing the work-from-home thing again… he he at least now I can go on planning mode again. Ha ha… that’s just one thing good about his job… he can “almost” take it anywhere… just as long as he has a laptop and internet connection then he’s good to go! Especially now that we’ll be gone for one whole month… yup… you got it right! One whole month… that’s why we’ve all been quite busy here preparing and making sure everything will be alright when we leave. SIL is currently living there that’s why we can afford to stay there that long. No hotel bills for us this time. That said, I’ve already paid all the bills, requested for a bigger credit limits for hubby’s and my mobile, made a checklist of what to buy and bring to HK (it’s always easier for me that way), prepared the stuff we need (well, at least am almost done with this). We’ve actually bought the tickets already so you can say we’re pretty much set to go. I haven’t made any itineraries yet since I was thinking we’ll be there for a month so I guess we’ll pretty much have a lot of time doing everything. We’re not time-strapped, if ever there’s such a term…he he. We’re all excited because we’re also visiting Macau… it’ll be the first for me and Colin. Maybe we’ll go to Lantau too to visit the Big Buddha. We always miss doing that every time we’re in HK. Maybe or maybe not we’ll go to HK Disneyland again. Most probably we will. Hmmm, what else? Of course lots and lots of shopping! Ha ha ha! Especially now that’s it’s sale time there… woohoo! There’s still lots of things to do before we leave. That reminds me I have to book our hotels for our Davao trip on September. Now that’s a different blog story.

Leslie's Bulalo

Last Saturday Benji decided to have lunch at Leslie’s Restaurant. No, not the one in Tagaytay but the one in Alabang. Yup, there’s one now here in Metro Manila. Goody, goody, goody! Now we don’t need to go all the way to Tagaytay just to have our fix of Bulalo… he he he… From the outside the place looks like an old church; not sure though if the walls are really made of adobe, but looks like it. It has a pond at the front door/porch, only the water in it is stagnant and already has lots of moss. It is relatively new but the upkeep of the pond is a bit poor. They should put some janitor fishes there too to help eliminate the moss that’s been multiplying. As you step inside you’ll be greeted by a waterfall/fountain. We opted to dine on the second floor so that we’d get a better view of the whole place. Wasn’t able to take some pics of it but the place is cool. We ordered Fried Tawilis, Barbecued Chicken Breast and of course their specialty… Bulalo! We definitely loved the Bulalo as well as the Tawilis; can’t say much though for the Bbq Chicken.

their famed Bulalo… yummy!

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crispy Tawilis



Bbq Chicken Breast

After eating we made a beeline for the “pasalubong” area near the entrance. We bought a few goodies for take home… piyaya, barquillos and meringue… as if we hadn’t had our fill already… :D. Colin had fun roaming around the grounds. Had a blast going up and down the huts at the garden area… he likes going up and down stairs…

All in all we did enjoy our hearty lunch.

Baby No More

It still amazes me on how fast our little boy is growing up. Benji would always find me staring at our little one. May it be when he’s asleep or when he’s at play. I would always tell him that Colin’s no longer a baby… hu hu hu… not that I’m not happy… it’s just that in couple of years he’d want to do things more on his own. I know, I know I shouldn’t baby him too much. There are times he’d tell me to go out of his room when he’s playing. He’d say that Mama should go work-work (do whatever it is I’m doing on the computer) because he’s already playing. Funny when he says it but I still get a little hurt. Maybe because I got so used to him always clinging to me and wanting me around him every second. Oh well… at least I know he’s learning how to be independent.

Lucky

Hope this day will bring luck to everyone *fingers crossed*

This is how I eat my noodles Elmo

Colin is such a big Elmo fan... see the shirt? :D he he... anyways, earlier during lunchtime he was so in the mood not only to eat (which is something rare!) but to chatter too. He was having a monologue of some of the lines in his Elmo DVD while having his lunch. You see, we have around 6-7 DVDs of Elmo’s World and there was a time he used to watch 2-3 DVDs in one sitting. One DVD lasts for about 30 mins. with 3 stories/topics being shown. So you could just imagine that all of us here have already memorized the lines and the song. We’d (me and hubby) even hum (unconsciously at that!) the theme song… he he he. The lines for each story are (almost) practically alike only the topic differs, so it’s fairly easy to remember.

Back to the story… so there we were at the dining table… he was actually eating (noodles) on his own this time and was also murmuring some of the Elmo lines…

Colin: Elmo this is how I eat my noodles

then twirls(!) his spoon to pick up some noodles but fails… he he… eventually he just spoons up some

then proceeds to eating the noodles on his spoon

He does this monologue routine before taking a spoonful of his noodles. Here are some pics I’d like to share about this mini show he had.

yum... yum...yum

Since he ate a lot without a fuss he had a reward... dessert!

Halo-Halo

I was supposed to blog earlier today but I got so caught up with reading about how to blog, how to make your blog nicer, etc...etc... that it's only now that I can do the posting... being a first time blogger I really need to read up. I also did some tinkering with Photoshop... it was so fun... ha ha ha... I got to resize my photos and do a lot of other stuff... of course I got a little help from hubby...but hey, I'm getting there.

I got so many things to talk about today because I didn't get to post last night as I was soooo sleepy already. After my 10pm class I had to put Colin to bed already but the little tyke still had so much energy that putting him to sleep became a real struggle for both of us... I had to fight off my sleepiness since Colin was still so wide awake... was I successful?... NOT! I actually dozed off as soon as my body touched the comfort of our bed. Well so much for that...

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Yesterday, we accompanied Mommy (MIL) to the doctor for her (almost) weekly check-ups. Since Mommy's appointment was at 2pm we had a bit of an early lunch. We didn't have a driver for the day so hubby had no choice but to do the driving. We left the house a little past 1pm and was at Makati area (where the Dr.'s clinic was) around 2pm. We can't go with Mommy to the clinic since Colin gets bored easily. Besides, the clinic is not that big and if there are a lot of patients for the day it gets a bit too crowded. So we just dropped her off then headed off to the park nearby. It's really a good thing that there's this park (Jaime Velasquez Park) near the clinic so that we can while away our time. Colin enjoys going there because he gets to play to his heart's content! Never really gets tired of running around and going up and down.

We were at the park for nearly two hours and he didn’t seem one bit tired. It really amazes me where he gets all those energy. Oh well… He only stopped playing when we told him we had to go and eat merienda already AND only if we promised we’d go back there again after eating. We had a quick bite at Bento Box a few blocks away and it’s a good thing we did so at that time because as soon as we gave our order the rain started pouring down… tsk, tsk, tsk we can’t go back to the playground now… hmmmm… poor little boy. As soon as we finished eating the rain also stopped. We headed back to the playground since that’s where we parked the car . Little boy was asking if he could play again and I said he might not be able to since it rained and the slides and swings are all wet. Well, we still passed by the play area and he still managed to play a little and go up and down. After a few minutes it was time to go and we just told him we’ll go back some other day. On the way home we was so dead tired that he slept all the way and just woke up when we were home already.

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Last Sunday we were at SM Southmall and bought Colin a vintage, statement shirt (if there’s such a thing). We actually saw this shirt a couple of weekends ago at Gingersnaps in MoA but just had no luck in finding his size. Luckily, there was an available size at their branch in Southmall so it was really a must that we buy it for him already. Why was this shirt a must-buy? You be the judge…

Ain't it cute... Teehee

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And since we’re in the topic of buying, I’d like to share some of my multiply (finds and) buys.

I have been (quite) addicted to online shopping for sometime now… sssshhhh… it’s my little secret! ha ha ha… and I must say I’m happy with my purchases… good thing I have a little part time work-from-home thing… else, I might not be able to buy any kikay stuff for myself at all… that’s one trade-off for being a SAHM… no income!… This lot is just part of the last batch I got from multiply. I just received another batch this afternoon but haven’t taken pics yet. I”ll share my other finds in my next posts.

Me and My Family

This is us...

our active little boy

Benji and Me

With a son who looks up to me like I am his everything and a husband who is so supportive in whatever I choose to do, life couldn’t be any sweeter.

Finally!

At last!… after a very looooong time of contemplating when to start blogging… here it is… my first post… I still have a lot to learn about posting and stuff but I’m hoping I’ll get the hang of this… hope this works…