Patrick's Trip to Bangkok, Thailand

March 24-27, 2010

Patrick and I have often argued that his job, though he loves it, has a lot of downsides.  For one, the pay sucks and if you have a family it really can't sustain you.  Sometimes, the work also spills over during family time when on the weekends we have to troop to car events and such because he has to cover them for the magazine or for the website.

However, he loves it and I mean really loves it so what are we to do?  With it's downsides, it does have a lot of perks.  He gets a lot of freebies from the events that he attends, like free gasoline, free motor oil, lots of T-shirts, discounts on car services and he gets to test drive cars that normally he wouldn't able to drive let alone, touch LOL  Also, we can't deny he gets free out of town trips like his stay in Cebu (which we would've loved to be with him) and this time, his trip to Bangkok, Thailand.

At first, we thought he wouldn't be able to make it because he only just applied for his passport and it was taking a long time to process.  It turned out that the DFA (Dept. of Foreign Affairs) was moving it's passport processing department to a new and more modern building.  But in the end, he was able to go :)

When he told me what his first impression of Bangkok was, I laughed, because he said it's very much like Manila except that it has more fly-overs hahaha  Oh and before I forget, the reason why he's in Bangkok was because of the 2010 Bangkok International Motor Show which he had to cover.  He really was astounded by the sheer number of cars and people at the event.  It was like nothing he has ever seen before and he was just amazed at the effort the organizers put in.

Though he didn't really have a chance to go around the city, he did see some interesting sites :) Like, this Porsche "service" station by the side of the road.  And, the great monuments that are easily seen from the many highways in the city.  I was a bit scared for him though when I heard that people were rallying on the street.  Having lived near the Malacanang Palace here in Manila, I was exposed to a lot of coup d'etats and I know how dangerous things like rallies and protests can be.  Oh and he said these pink taxis would do MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando proud! LOL

Anyway, nothing bad happened and he really liked where he was billeted during his stay there.  He was given accommodations at the Jasmine Executive Suites Hotel and he marveled at how big the room was :) He also enjoyed the buffet breakfasts every morning  :)

Though we really missed him during the time he was working, I'm really happy that he got to go on his first out of the country trip.  :)

Here are his pictures at The Bangkok Motor Show.

 

Dylan's 4th Birthday

Happy Birthday to Dylan !!!

He's 4 years old and we're excited because good things are happening to him.  His speech therapy classes are going well.  He's improved a lot considering he has been in therapy for the past 3 months.  He is now able to speak more words although he still needs to be prompted for some stuff.  At least, we've noticed that he's singing more and is more receptive to learning than before.

However, like all birthday celebrants (at least in my family) we always end up in the hospital in some way or another during our birthdays.. In Dylan's case, we ended up at the emergency room on the night of March 23rd because he slipped on the stairs and he got a nasty bump on the head.  Den's friends who were here at that time were almost passing out because of all the blood on Dylan's head but I kept my cool because I knew that head wounds tend to really bleed a lot.

We went to the nearest hospital and Dylan needed to have 4 stitches.  I couldn't bear to watch him because it was obvious he was in pain.  I was thinking that if Patrick was the one who had to go with him, he probably would pass out too.  Injections and blood don't hold too well with him :)  I was also reminded of my brother experiencing the same fate.  But with Allan, he was jumping on the bed, lost his balance and he hit his head on the corner or our Betamax.  He was taken to the same hospital and he also had stitches to the head.  It's funny, because now, Dylan, Dana and Rhys (their cousin) have the same scar on their heads LOL kinda like Harry Potter look alikes LOL

I don't have pictures of him while at the emergency room because it seemed wrong to be taking pictures while he's in pain but I did take a picture of him with his head bandaged and it seemed like nothing happened after the stitching hahaha  In fact, while he was being fixed, he was crying so hard and it was like he took a bath with perspiration.  The nurses had to keep him bound with the blankets so he wouldn't be squirming and moving, it was really hard to watch.  But immediately after the bandages were on, it was like nothing happened.  He was back to his cute and charming self :)

I took about a week for the sutures to come off.  It was hard cleaning the wound and protecting it from germs because of the gauze tape that keep getting attached to his hair LOL that was what was painful to him. :D

Anyway, his wound and scar is a story that he likes hearing about all the time :)

Dana's Graduation from Kindergarten

Here's another milestone in Dana's life - her graduation from Kindergarten.  I can't believe that time has flown so quickly and she's finished with one year of school.  To top that, she's graduating as the Third Honor in her class! I couldn't believe it.  I knew she was consistently the 4th in ranking but she must have really done well during the last quarter of the year which is why she got promoted to Top 3.  You know what she said, "Mama, now that I'm Top 3, you should take me to Subic as a reward." hahahha That's my girl! hahaha

She was so proud to have earned a medal and it was also funny that I also got one, as recognition for parents of those in the honor roll.  So, Dana also got to put a medal on me and both of us went on stage a number of times :) That's what I call bonding moments! :D

This is Dana with her teacher, Ms. Del Rose Fantone.  Dana really learned a lot from her.  Dana even kisses her before leaving the classroom   during dismissal time.

I think it's really important that kids have a good rapport with their teachers especially during this stage in their life because it will define how well they will like school.  Parents can only do so much before kids go to school and then these fine teachers will take over the parents' job.  But that doesn't mean parents won't do anything else.  They still need to support their kids and continue with education at home.  I'm glad that my Mom was a teacher and I learned so much from her.

After the ceremony, we all went back home to rest for a while and change.  We took this opportunity to take some pictures with Dana's certificate and picture :)  Of course, she can't resist making funny faces even though we asked her not to haha