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 :)

Celebrating Sharon's birthday

In our family, we hardly celebrate birthdays but we never forget to greet our family members on the day itself.  I guess it comes from having limited funds most of the time so the funds get earmarked for something else.  But sometimes, it happens when there's a windfall and we do get a chance to go out and have lunch somewhere.

Such is the case when my sister Sharon had her birthday this year.  When I greeted her on Facebook, I jokingly asked her if we can eat at Dampa along Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay.  It was a place we've always wanted to go to but never found the opportunity to do so.  Now, Sharon gives me a call and tells me that we were indeed going ahead with the plan.  Imagine my joy! hahaha Now, for those who aren't aware what Dampa is, it's actually a wet market where you can buy fresh seafoods at really low prices.  After you buy them, there are restaurants just a few steps away where you can go to and have them cook your food for you in whatever way you want.  For instance, if you buy prawns and go to the resto, you can have them cook part of it for sinigang and another part for chili garlic prawns.  There's a cooking charge for every dish that you have them cook.

We were running a little late because Bourne Legacy was shooting and they closed down some roads which led to all traffic right in front of our place.   As you can see, A.H. Lacson literally looked like a parking lot  for cargo trailers and trucks.  Normally, you wouldn't see trucks on the service road.  They usually took the flyover.  This is how bad it got.

It took us so long to even get out of the garage because the trucks wouldn't give way.  After a harrowing exit from the garage gate, we were finally on our way.






Sharon and the family were ahead of us at the resto so they were already able to buy from the market and have it cooked while waiting for us.  We stayed at the Sharmila restaurant.  They ordered chili garlic prawns, adobong pusit, crabs, sweet and sour lapu-lapu, baked clams and lots of rice and Coke :)  Can you say I'm in heaven hahaha

Even with all the food in front of me, I only actually ate the prawns and had a little taste of the steamed lapu-lapu :) I really love prawns so I literally feasted on them hahahaha

Dana loved the adobong pusit and Patrick loved the mussels :)  Den also ate a lot of the prawns hahaha

Like mother, like daughter :)

Loanzon kids

Jowell and Sharon

Mother and daughter

Sisters and cousins