Monday 31 December 2007

At last, I have my own Starbucks 2008 Planner!


At first, I was thinking of just buying the planner from a fellow nawie for P800, but later I decided to enjoy the beverages and the excitement of getting stickers everytime I go to Starbucks. Thanks for my co-workers who helped me fill it up (eto na yung bayad sa counselling ko sa inyo regarding KOKEI, hehehe) and also my kids for sharing our cups and especially Lito for the support. "Daddy, don't you worry, This is not just a planner, I will make a scrapbook album out of it" to maximize its use. Finally, I have my own Starbucks 2008 Planner - proof of being a Mocha Frappuccino and Passion Tea Addict. "Parang nanalo ng award!"

Thursday 27 December 2007

New baby, My niece -> Candace Ysabelle


I was so excited. While having lunch with the Castillo clan at Barrio Fiesta. I got a text message that said Wendy already gave birth to a baby girl. So after the lunch with Irvin, Faye and Lito's family, I went to Asian Hospital immediately. Can't wait to see my new niece. I was teary-eyed because I saw my little sister in her. Parang kailan lang, I was holding my little sister this way and little brother Roty was there too and now she's a mother herself. Congrats sis and welcome to sleepless nights este motherhood pala... :)

Tuesday 25 December 2007

Gingerbread Man


Aloysius has seen the cartoon flick Hansel and Gretel on cable and I told him I would buy him a real gingerbread man and he got excited. I knew for a fact that I can buy that in Starbucks, another reason for us to go there and complete my sticker card hehehe...He enjoyed the Strawberry Cream and I enjoyed my Grande Mocha Frapp.

Marry Christmas!

Monday 24 December 2007

Enchanting Weekend (Aloysius' Birthday)


One of Irvin's promises to Aloysius is to bring him to Enchanted Kingdom as birthday present and today he fulfilled that promise. it was an advanced birthday gift because he is turning 6 years old on the 24th. We enjoyed the EK trip even if it is short-lived, we got there around 4 pm and left at 9:00 pm. It was our first time in Enchanted and most of our time were spent in picture-taking - loved the place!

What's amazing is that my Aloysius rode adult rides and there was not a hint of fear in him. We rode the Roller Skates, Up, up and away, Wheel of Fate aside from the kiddie rides. He especially liked the Rio Grande Rapids where we all got wet and also Rialto where Spongebob was showing. While at the top of Wheel of Fate which is very high, he saw the Space Shuttle and Jungle Log Jam. He said he wanted to try them. It's a good thing Jungle Log Jam was in the other corner we never saw it while the Space Shuttle is undergoing maintenance check because of the incident and so I didnt have to explain that he cannot take those rides which are dangerous for his age. We got a chance to watch the Oliver's Water Show where we enjoyed the high dives. We had photo ops with the divers from Europe and also with Santa Claus before we headed out. It was indeed Aloysius' day, you can see all smiles from him but Kyle also enjoyed the rides especially the Air Ptyodactyl where he rode alone and the carousel ride. Thanks Irvin and Faye!

Saturday 22 December 2007

Christmas is for Kids

Eversince Irvin and Faye arrived for the holidays, my kids' christmas already started. Their pasalubong included lots of toys for the kids and looks like it's never-ending. Today, we went toy shopping (again) at ATC and checked out the new Toys R Us store but eventually bought from Rustan's. The CAT version of a Megabloks Construction station - a Tower Crane almost as tall as Achilles and a TOMY Rescue Truck added to our collection of Megabloks and TOMY toys. I wished I was young again. It was a different feeling looking forward to receiving gifts and goodies rather than giving them (although it also gives a different sense of satisfaction) Here is a proof of joy in my kids eyes:

Startin'em young (Starbucks addiction)

I was collecting stickers for the Starbucks Planner so that means I need to purchase 24 hot or cold beverages to complete the sticker card. It's a good thing that they issue double stickers as 10th anniversary treat during 12:30-2Pm and 8-9:30Pm. It was during this time that we dropped by Starbucks ATC and treated Irvin for a green tea frapp and Lito and myself our Peppermint Mocha Frapp. Little did I know that my kids loved them too. Oh well they might think they're just another smoothies but Lito & I almost did not finish our tall cups because the kids shared in sipping the coffee hehehe. Bad mommy, starting them young to be Starbucks addict like herself.


Tuesday 11 December 2007

Day 2 - Palawan Underground River Tour, Sabang Beach, Daluyon Resort

We woke up early to see the beautiful sunrise at Puerto Princesa. Our hearty breakfast at the Tribu Restaurant of the Puerto Pension where we stayed added to the ambience of the place. I was too excited that I forgot to mention that I had no regrets choosing Puerto Pension as our place to stay(BTW, Puerto Pension is included in Lonely Planet’s recommended places to stay). I liked the native-style interior and exterior design of the place. The room is small just enough for the two of us but the service, location, free transfers and breakfast was a great value-for-money deal. Even Lito was impressed. The Palawan Underground River Trip they arranged for us was fantastic. Our tour guide Jeff was accommodating, dami ksi naming tanung from the historical stuff to Malaria, other places to see in Palawan and mga chismis on Dos Palmas. Our other companions were friendly too. I was hoping that our tour companions were not “thunders” buti na lang my prayers were answered. We enjoyed the company of young people - a Chinese national, a balikbayan, 2 lovely girls from Unionbank and BDO whom we exchange cameras with to take pictures of each other and a mid-age couple.

Our trip to Sabang going to the Underground river was 2 hours and the banca ride was almost 30 minutes because it was high tide that time or maybe the waves are really strong in that area. I believe it was already South China Sea. The view going to underground was breathtaking. I love the rock formations. When we arrived on the beach, it’s parang deserted island. There were animals roaming around – the big lizard, the monkeys. When we reach the mouth of the underground cave, I felt nervous. I thought, what if there’s an earthquake and we will not be able to come out. But when we wore the helmet and the floater – I became excited once again. After taking pictures, we boarded the boat. Lito and I had no choice but to take the front seats and I became the holder of the light.

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Once inside, we were awestruck. We were amazed and amused at the sight and the description of the rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites by our Manong Boatman. Too bad, it was not captured by our camera, na lo bat! After the more or less 40 minutes, we were out the cave. We went back to Sabang Beach. By this time, I was already hungry and we had to walk to the farthest resort to get our food. Haay! But the long walk by the beach is worth it. Our lunch was served at Daluyon Resort – the newest resort in Sabang. The ambience and great food served was perfect. I loved eating by the beach.

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Daluyon Resort, Sabang -The resort is yet to open but looks like its going to be a hit. I love the rooms they showed us and the amenities are high-class. They have an infinity pool. Here are some of the pictures I took which I promised to promote through this blog.


On our way back, we were stranded. It was raining and the road was muddy and the mini bus before us got stucked. We were afraid we’re going to spend the night there, e pinaguusapan pa naman naming yung Malaria case ni Reyster Langit. It’s a good thing a big truck came to pull the mini bus, we were back in Puerto Princesa before it got dark, but we were already late for a sunset dinner at Badjao Seafront Restaurant kaya we had dinner na lang at Bilao’t Palayok. The ambience is also nice and the food was served in a bilao’t palayok.

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After dinner we went first to the baywalk to check out the biggest Christmas Tree to take pictures. Then we headed to Tribu restaurant at the rooftop of Puerto Pension to wind down for a cup of coffee and cool beer. The scenario brought back memories of our bf-gf days. We enjoyed our bonding moments without the kids but we also miss them so when we went home the next day after buying fresh seafoods at the market, we were glad to be home with our two boys.

Monday 10 December 2007

A December Affair to remember – Our Palawan Get-away

Thanks to Cebu Pacific for giving us the opportunity to travel again thru the Piso fare promo. I was about to re-book our Bohol trip last October because Aloysius had exams scheduled on that week. After I was told that I will be charged more than 3,000 pesos for the 2 sectors each times 4 persons, I realized that it’s better to avail another trip than pay 3K. So I had reasons to purchase that ticket for a trip in Palawan - this time with Lito in celebration of our 8th Wedding Anniversary and his birthday. Would you believe that our ticket costs only 4,180 pesos? So I just added a thousand for the rebooking, it’s a good thing that the exam schedule was moved. We enjoyed that vacation. You can read my blog entry for the Bohol trip here.

This is supposedly a surprise for Lito, but since I was planning to buy him a camera then I mentioned that we can practice shooting in Palawan. Kahit kailan, can’t keep secrets to myself hahaha. Surprise Spoiler!

Day 1 – A little bit of everything (City Tour, Honda Bay, Great Food)

We arrived at Puerto Princesa City, Palawan at around 10:00am and was able to check-in at Puerto Pension (I love the place-though the room was small, ganda naman ng ambience) around 10:30am. After that, we had early lunch at Balinsasayaw. I ordered the Tanigue ala pobre and Lito had Grilled Tuna Belly, we also ordered their specialty Nido Soup, ang sarap! The buco juice and green mango shake were just icing on the cake. Sarap kumain! Mura pa…our bill cost a little over 300 pesos. Sulit! While eating, Lito and I was voting on what to do next, either we can go island hopping at Honda Bay or have the city tour. And since the scorching heat was unusual these days (it was raining in Manila when we left) we opted for the latter. It’s a good thing our trike driver/tour guide affirmed that we can have both worlds. We just spend little time for each. And so by 12:30 pm, we started the city tour. We first went to Butterfly Farm. Lito had a great time taking pictures using his new DSLR and we finally saw them flying all around. When we were in Bohol, the butterflies were all sleeping because of the cold weather. Then we headed to Crocodile farm, the tour started at 1:30pm, we enjoyed all the great photo opportunities there.


While Lito was busy clicking his camera, I was recording video footages of the little crocs. I had the chance of holding one too. Not too scary because his mouth was tied up. After that, we headed towards Mitra’s ranch, we were not able to go inside because they are expecting foreign visitors. We enjoyed the view overlooking Honda Bay. Next stop was Baker’s Hill. The food was yummy but the garden, mini zoo and statues made the trip there worthwhile. I’m sure my kids would enjoy seeing Snow White, Bugs Bunny and Santa Claus here.






After long trips in between the sites, we finally reached the wharf that will lead us to the islands of Honda Bay. We arrive around 3:00 pm and we are supposed to come back around 5:30 pm just before the sunset. So we barely had 2 hours, we chose to go snorkeling at Pambato Reef and Snake Island. We reached the pambato reef site and it was in the middle of the sea. I was thinking its near an island. It’s a different experience because there’s a current na dinadala ako and the reefs are amazing. Ganda talaga! I just wished that we were here while the sun was shining brightly to see them clearly. We were able to take pictures using the underwater camera but it’s not the same when you seen them up close. I hope the reefs will be preserved. I saw some of them already broken because they are being stepped on by snorkels.





Next stop –> Snake Island. I chose this because this is where I can feed the fishes. We arrive there around 4:00pm so we had the island to ourselves. Awesome place! I enjoyed seeing the fishes coming towards me each time I let go of the bread. We were not able to roam around the island anymore because it was already getting dark so we just took some pictures then headed back to the wharf. It was a long trip going back, we just passed by the Pandan Island, Starfish Island, Cowrie Island which was being rented at that time and lastly the Bat Island. The sunset view from the boat was spectacular. There was a huge outbreak of bats coming out of the island. There were thousands of them flying above us. The boatman said that it’s time for the bats to find food (fruits). I was secretly hoping and praying that we will reach our destination before it gets dark (or before the bats think of us as food). God is good and He made us reach the wharf just before dark as in right after we stepped out of the boat, dark na agad. As expected, we were the only ones the people from the station were waiting.

It was around 6:30pm when we left the wharf. I asked Ms. Bel, the friendly receptionist at Puerto Pension to reserve a table for us at Ka Lui at 7:00 to 7:30 pm. So upon reaching the pension house we just took a quick shower and headed to Ka Lui’s. We ordered the Ka Lui Special, it’s good for two. It was a delightful experience, the food, the ambience, it was amazing! Best of all, the value is so sulit, we had the lato appetizer, the prawns in garlic butter sauce, the grilled tuna, the chicken inasal, the halaan soup and fruit bowl for only 365 pesos. No wonder Ka Lui is really that famous here in Puerto Princesa. Seated next to our table is no less than Gov. Joel Reyes but we were not sure then if it was really him, we took photo ops sana with him.



I was a wonderful day on our Day 1. We had so many activities squeezed in for the day tiring but worth every second of it. A good night’s sleep (without the kids) was all we needed to recharge for another adventure in Palawan.

Wednesday 5 December 2007

AMDATEX Retro Fever – 2007 Christmas Celebration

Our company Christmas celebration started in November where several contests and preparation for the big event in December already took place. This year our theme was retro – 60’s, 70’s, 80’s. My look and attire was not spectacular compared to others who really prepared to become the Star of the night but I was glad that I was still chosen as one of the semi-finalist for my era –80’s. I just wore a black shirt with Rock print in front matched with white fit jeans and a hat ala Michael J or Gary V. The only drama there was my back which was exposed – Backless po yung shirt. Hahaha. The nerve ba to put on such get up?…para di halata na late thirties na…Anyway, here are my pictures together with the other finalists. The one wearing apro wig won. And the other picture with the young girls of Tech Helpdesk (from the IT Dept.) who were teasing me about my back. O di ba belong pa din ako sa kanila?

Saturday 1 December 2007

Pampa



Pampa is the name of the mascot of Pampers diapers. It's an elephant, the first stuffed toy that Aloysius received when he was still a baby. It was mailed to me by P&G when I submitted empty Pampers wrappers as proof of purchase. Since then, Aloy called all his stuffed or furry toys Pampa, (One of Kyle's first words is also Pampa). I used to be against playing stuffed toys because it's not good for the kids health and it's a girls toy but when I realized that these toys are also their comfort toys (they can't sleep without it), I let them play as long as it is not too furry.