New Year's Staycation at Hotel Jen (formerly Traders Hotel)

January 1-2, 2015

We started the New Year with family, particularly Patrick's brother Stevie's family.  They invited us to spend a night at the Hotel Jen (formerly Traders Hotel) just to catch up and be together.  Naturally, the kids were excited because it meant getting out of the house and they also wanted to see their cousins Lance and Hannah again.

All of them have already grown so big!  Two Tadeo cousins were missing though, Dimples' kids, Rhys and Vito, whom we haven't seen in a long time.






Though it was very cold and raining, that didn't stop the kids from taking a dip in the pool.  They were chilled to the bone, their chins were quivering and still they swam!  Poor daddies, they had to be cold with the kids too!

By the time, everyone came out of the pool and took a bath, it was dark and that was our view from our 14th floor connecting room.  The kids were busy running around and playing between the two rooms and Patrick and I just settled on the couch and took selfies LOL It took a number of tries till we got one right hahahha

The next morning, I was woken up by Dylan's incessant kicking so I decided to wake them all up for their early morning swim hehehe No one seemed to complain though since they wanted it anyway!  We left the kids in the care of Stevie while we bought breakfast at the nearest Jollibee in Harbour Square across the CCP.

We all lazed about while waiting for check out time.  At the lobby, the cousins took pictures for posterity.  

Meanwhile, Dylan was entranced with the revolving door and wanted to try it out by himself.  But, he backed out at the last minute and had to wait for Dana to help him out :)

Kids: A Night of Rama Hari

December 05, 2012

Dana and I were very lucky to be able to attend "Rama Hari" a Ballet Philippines presentation at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.  Rama Hari is based on the Indian epic, the Ramayana.  Alice Reyes choreographs, Ryan Cayabyab sets the music, Bienvenido LUmbrera sets the libretto.  There are two sets of major characters - those that will narrate through music and those that will interpret through dance.  Our close friend, Kalila Aguilos will be playing the musical voice of Sita, Rama's love interest in the play.

You can see from Dana's face prior to the start of the show how excited she is :)

We really had no idea what to expect when we first arrived.  Having no prior knowledge of the previous stagings of the musical, we were innocents and were just anxious to watch and enjoy the program.  We weren't disappointed.  The music was engaging and evocative.  It's a plus for us that the actors we saw that night weren't celebrities like Karylle and Christian Bautista (who were also playing on alternate dates).  We weren't star struck and so we were able to totally get into it with the music, with the dance and the whole atmosphere of the show.  Kalila, of course, goes without saying is a pro and is a joy to watch on stage and I'm not saying that because she's a friend but because it's the Plain and Stark Truth :)  Her partner, OJ Mariano had a commanding presence on stage and you can't help but focus on him when it's his turn.

The dancers we saw for that night's show were Richardson Yadao (Rama) and Katherine Trofeo (Sita). They were both brilliant on stage and we were just mesmerized by their performance.

After the show, we were able to have a chance at autograph signing and picture taking with the lead cast. Forgive the blurry pictures, taken only with a camera phone hehe

Kalila Aguilos, Sita (Music)

OJ Mariano, Rama (Music)

Katherine Trofeo, Sita (Dance)

Robert Sena, as Ravana

Richardson Yadao, as Rama (Dance)