A fun day at the FUN RANCH

Fun Ranch, Tiendesitas - February 06, 2010

We had a mission today and it was to find clothes fit for Oneal and Rej's wedding on the 20th.  It's an important wedding for us because, first, it was a privilege to be invited so there was no question of not going, nor were there any second thoughts at all when we received their invitation.

Since this was going to be the kids' first formal gathering, we knew we had to invest in good clothes.  We even considered having Star Wars costumes made for them, but it was going to be cutting it too close.  We did look at websites (as recommended by Oneal) so maybe one of these days the kids will have their own Star Wars costumes :)

Anyway, we first went to Greenhills but we couldn't find anything suitable.  We then decided to try going to Tiendesitas because we haven't gone there at all and we thought that the kids would like to have fun at the Fun Ranch which was just across it.  We first ate lunch at their Food Court where there was a lot of food choices to suit many discerning palates.  After that, we went around for a while - there were a lot of home furnishings, many pet stores ( a whole section dedicated to pets), native delicacies and even kalesa rides.  It was a good place to walk around if you don't mind the heat but there are a lot of bargains if you have the energy to explore the many nooks and crannies ;)

The Fun Ranch was a really big place.  We got all-you-can-ride tickets for the kids which they proceeded to use on the carousel, the bumper cars and the other different rides.  Unfortunately, we only had a mobile phone to take pictures with so you'll have to bear with us.  I think our rechargeable batteries need to be replaced LOL

The kids had fun riding these bumper boats!  If I were younger I probably would too hahaha  At least there weren't too many people that day so there was really no waiting time and the helpers were more lenient about the time the customers stayed in the boats :) or maybe it was just us because my kids were cute ! LOL

This was actually the first ride they lined up for but they all got dizzy including Ate Mel! LOL we needed to take a break, get in some air and just chill for a while before trying out any other rides.

At the end of the day, it was nice that we were all together having fun and making memories to last a lifetime....

Tripping at the Manila Zoo

When we asked the kids where they wanted to go during the weekend, they immediately answered, "Manila Zoooo!! Now, how can you say no to such an enthusiastic answer like that? Hahaha

So, while getting ready to go out, we were surprised when visitors arrived.  Dimples and Rhys came for a visit and what perfect timing!!  We all ended up going to Manila Zoo together and it was a great way to start the year  - with close family bonding.  It was really a spur of the moment thing otherwise we would have also invited Stevie, Toni and the kids with us.  It's been a long time since we saw these two and I am glad they dropped by :)

I just love this picture.  The elephant was moved to a new and improved area and I think he loves it!  He's more active, moving around his pen and the kids were so excited to see him eating his grass :)  They found the perfect position to watch him - near the fence! hahaha







For the first time in all the years that I've been going to the Manila Zoo, I saw some monkeys escaping from their cages.  First, there was one.  Then there were two.  Then there were three!  I don't really know where they went but I expect they've been jumping from tree to tree all over the zoo LOL

Here are Dimples and Rhys when we were taking a break, having a snack near the playground.  There were too many kids to really enjoy the slides so we just savored each other's company :)

To end this post, here's Dylan saying "Happy Holidays" :)

Disaster strikes in the New Year

This is not good.  What would you feel when you were coming home feeling all content and happy because you've just celebrated the New Year with your family and then all of a sudden, a commotion happens right in front of you as you're parking your car.

That's what happened on January  2.  We came home to people running around, shouting and screaming just across the street.  At first, we thought there were gang members rioting or neighbors fighting.  I then asked Patrick and the kids not to get out of the car in case we need to make a hasty exit from.  Then we started to hear people shouting, "Fire! Fire" and that made me nervous.  I automatically looked into the sky to see traces of smoke and sure enough, just across our car and the street, there was a blazing fire in one of the buildings.  By then, people were running around looking around for the fire trucks.  We immediately parked the car in the garage because we didn't want to hinder the passage of the fire trucks.  I learned from Patrick that fire trucks have every right to blast their way on the street and if you don't want to get out of the way, then good luck to your car! They've actually done it before too wow!

Patrick took some pictures of the commotion from the street and from our room in the house.  Here's a picture of the first fire truck making the scene. It's funny that there are a lot of people hitching a ride on the truck thinking they can help the firemen out.  But what firemen want is for them to leave them alone so they can do their job better because sometimes, these people simply get in the way and may end up getting hurt because they don't know what they're doing.

Here's a picture of the fire from our room.  It was really scary because I kept remembering that it was the same time last year that we were also in the middle of a scary fire.  Remember?  A tanker truck blew up in front of the house and for a while we couldn't get out because there's a huge wall of fire outside our gate. whew! really horrifying and even Dana still remembers that night..

The street across the house looked like a parking lot of fire trucks.  I pity the vehicles who got caught in the middle of this event because they got stuck in the middle of the fly-over and they couldn't back out.









The fire was put out after 30 minutes maybe but the firefighters stuck around for a lot longer than that.  It was really scary but it also made me thankful that it wasn't us and that there weren't any injured people in the accident.