Torrado-Jose Nuptials, April 7th 2010

Believe it or not, we've been invited to another wedding!! hahaha Our frocks are really worth it now hahahha

This time my cousin Francis and his fiancee Macole are getting married at the Sto. Domingo Church and having their reception at the Fernwood Garden in QC.  Last Sunday, we were able to catch up with our relatives from the Paypon side because they're here to attend the wedding.  We also found out that Den will be a proxy bridesmaid to replace one who got a scheduling conflict.  To prepare for the event, Den had a dress fitting (fortunately,  the dress shop was near Dylan's school so it was easy to go to) on Monday.  We were worried that they wouldn't be able to repair the dress on time but they pulled through :)

We all went to Hot Nails Spa (our spa of choice!) for some foot pampering :)  We timed it well so that Den would know what color her dress will be to coordinate the color of her nail polish as well.  The next day, we all went to Torre Venezia where the kin were billeted.  Den needed to spend the night there in order to be bright and early the next day.  Preparations for the actual wedding will take a long time so it's better that she be there as soon as possible.  We had dinner together with Tita Letty, Josh, Mar and Alyssa at Gerry's Grill.

On the day of the wedding, we (minus Patrick who was coming from the office) went straight to Sto. Domingo.  It was a solemn but touching ceremony.  What is it about weddings that really brings people to tears?! :D The bride, Macole, looked beautiful and Francis looked excited ;)  These are the pictures taken immediately after the ceremony, outside the church.  Don't they all look n ice? :D

The drive to Fernwood Garden was short.  Patrick got caught in traffic on his way from the office so we were a little behind.

Upon arriving, we took pictures, of course! :D


We got to our seats and we waiting for the bridal entourage's entrance.  It was really cool and cheery :)  We just took the time to take pictures of most everyone we know :)

Family (L) and Philip and Den (R)

Ate Mel and Dylan (L), Daddy and Dana (R)






Tita Cora and Tito Angel (L), Tita Letty and Josh (R)

Tito Ping and Tita Beth (L) and Tita Ofel (R)










This time, we were able to take a picture of the huge swans and koi in the ponds.  Dylan kept calling out, "Farmville" hahahaha

After the ceremony, more pictures taken with the family.

Easter Sunday Celebration

Happy Easter everyone!

After a restful vacation in Subic and being cooped up in the house for the remaining Holy Days, it was time to get out of the house for Easter woohoo.. !!!  

The plan was to watch the movie, Clash of the Titans.  The kids have seen the original movie, with its clay animation and loved it and so they were as eager to watch the movie as we were.  However, when we got to the cinemas, the lines were so long and it seemed that it was everyone's idea to watch the same movie all at the same time LOL  It was even funnier that while waiting and pondering what to do, we often heard comments like, "What IS Clash of the Titans?" People were puzzled why it was such a big deal hahaha

So rather than subject ourselves to the long lines for the movie, we chose to watch instead the animated film, How to Train Your Dragon.  It was such a great movie! It was fast-paced and as usual the animation was superb! I really enjoyed Toothless hahahaha He's like a huge Pokemon! hahaha there's so much character in him :) Dylan of course liked the big dragon which they had to fight in the end because it looked like a dinosaur :)

After the movie, the kids took advantage of the free face painting being offered by the mall.  Dylan had a spider and web drawn onto him while Dana had the glittery fairy/butterfly face paint.

After, we went to the Paypon gathering in North Susana because our relatives from New Jersey and Calayan Island are here in Manila to celebrate Francis and Macole's wedding on the 7th.  Den it seemed was going to be a proxy bridesmaid at the wedding :)

Holy Week Vacation

March 30 - April 01

The busy and hectic lives of people have certainly changed the way the Holy Week is commemorated.  Take our family for instance, we hardly have any days for vacation because of Patrick's schedule which often includes weekends especially during the summer when there are a lot of car-related activities going on.  The Holy Week is the only holiday time when you can take longer with your vacation instead of just the usual weekend.  Of course, you have to file your leave applications beforehand and at the earliest possible time.

Anyway, Patrick and I have decided we're going to go to Subic during the Holy Week and spend 3D/2Ns there in celebration of the kids' birthdays and Dana's excellent performance in school.  Unfortunately, we left it too late for scheduling and we ended up reserving for Holy Tuesday up to Holy Thursday.  It was still fine and it was actually better because Subic wasn't going to be so cluttered with people and by the time that we're going home, that was the time when people will be arriving so we'll be against the traffic.

Our first stop during the trip was having brunch at Delifrance along the North Luzon Expressway.  We haven't really tried any of their dishes but we're a fan of their baked products.  The store was airy and cozy and the food was great!

It was smooth sailing going to Subic via the fast and smooth Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).  We made it in such a short time.  You can however observe that there were many people heading to Subic because of the number of vehicles that were traveling at the same speed as us hahhaha After checking in at our favorite Subic Bayfront Hotel, we all changed into our swim attire and headed for the pool.  In our excitement, we forgot the cameras so we don't have any pictures hahahaha

We timed it well though because we finished swimming with just enough time to spare to head to Meat Plus Cafe so that Den will have a chance to try their great steaks (it's Den's first time to be with us in Subic).  We were all famished and ended up eating so fast we didn't have time to take pictures (gluttons!) hahahaha

With a huge dinner in our stomachs, we needed to walk all of it off so we headed to the beach.  The kids were running around and building sandcastles even though they can't make the sand stick LOL

 The next morning after our buffet breakfast at the hotel's Japanese/Korean Restaurant, we climbed into Stanley in search of a beach to swim in.  We kinda new where to go because we've already scouted some of them in our previous trips.

We didn't go to Camayan because we knew they're fully booked so naturally there'd be a lot of people on the beach.  We headed to All Hands and true enough the beach was packed.  Dungaree beach was relatively peaceful so that's where we stayed.  The beach was clean, the huts were comfortable.

We had lunch there and we all had a blast.  The water was warm, the beach wasn't rocky.  With the kids' floaties, they were able to swim freely  which they loved.  The sand got too hot though and Dylan got a little scared when we tried walking across it the first time to get to the beach from our hut.  We had to run and when our feet touched the water he was all smiles again! :P

We spent the whole afternoon there and we had so much fun.  We're going back for sure!

 We came back dinner time and we had hotpot at the hotel's restaurant.  We just love eating there hahaha We just spent the rest of the night in our room watching cable TV hahaha (a luxury we can't afford!)

The next day, going home, we stopped at the duty free shops where I was able to buy 2 pairs of Land's End jeans that fit me so well and they were so cheap - only P250 each!! Den was able to buy for herself a pair of jeans too :)

It was a great and relaxing vacation :)