Trip to Enchanted Kingdom

August 2, 2009 - So the day has finally arrived for our trip to Enchanted Kingdom. The kids surprisingly enough were easy to wake up for our early drive. At first, we weren't sure if the event was going to be postponed because the weather wasn't exactly ideal. But we still pushed on because it's Enchanted Kingdom!!! LOL

Den was going to follow from school with her friends because they had a test scheduled on the same day. We just met her and her friends at the gate when they arrived. Ate Mel unfortunately got left behind because she was feeling under the weather. Too bad.

Let's hope there's another break for us!





When we got there, we headed straight for the Karting area because the competition was about to start. It was fun and looked exciting and I wanted to try it too hahaha After the first lap was done, Patrick qualified yahoo!!!


























I'll just give you the highlights of the rides the kids went on. The Grand Carousel, The Dodge 'em (bump cars), the Roller Skater, the Giant Ferris Wheel, the Jungle Log Jam, the Rio Grande Rapids and other rides for kids :)

The kids also got their face painted, ran around in the kids' playground, watched "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 4D.

At the end of the day, we all took a picture with Eldar the Wizard and a lovely maiden :) We all ended up changing clothes because when riding the Rapids, expect to get wet, wet, wet!! hahahaha

It was a good day! It was a fun day!! Dana can't stop talking about the Jungle Log Jam!

Changing Stanely's Tires

July 30, 2009

When Patrick mentioned that he was participating in a Karting competition in Enchanted Kingdom and that we were all going to go with him, we were so excited and we couldn't wait for the day to arrive.

To prepare for the trip, we took Stanley (our car) for wheel balancing and wheel alignment over at the West Tyre Yokohama shop along West Avenue in Quezon City. W ended up buying two new tires for Stanley because his tires were rather worn out and that was the reason why air seemed to be escaping from the tires on a regular basis. We were just happy that we got a P500 discount for each tire :) That's already a big deal! :)

You can really feel how different Stanley feels with these new tires.. have to save up again to replace the rear ones :)

A New Desktop PC

One of the things on my wish list is getting a new pc. Granted our old one wasn't broken yet but it was on its way there. I have to thank my brother Allan for sending our old one but I think PC's only last 5 years until they start to deteriorate especially if you use it a long time. The monitor was the first one to give up, then the CD-drive, then the hard drive.. you get the picture?

Oh and when Den and I decided to clean the 3-in-one Dell printer, guess what? it won't start anymore - the flimsy cables broke sheesh.. we got a clean scanner but a dead all-in-one LOL

So, instead of just buying a printer on its own, we just decided to get a new desktop and maybe get a discount on the printer as well if we include it in the purchase. We scanned and browsed many shops and I even looked at reviews of cheap-priced parts on the net.

We finally went with Dynamic PC in Gilmore and purchased our new desktop from them. I have to give props to Dynamic PC and their crew, especially Gene. He was very helpful and pleasant and attentive and great with multi-tasking! LOL Here are the specs of our new PC: Intel Core 2 Duo, 500 GB Hard Drive, 2GB Ram, a video card (sorry I'm not tehcnical about this hahaha), a 19" Viewsonic Widescreen monitor, an F4280 HP Deskjet (3-in-1), the usual keyboard, speakers and mouse, a Samsung DVDRW drive.. uhmm what else??oh we bought a Hard Drive enclosure for our old drive, from a Dynamic PC store in North Edsa on a different jaunt hahaha

Kat's quilts

June 24, 2009

I am very grateful to my best friend Kat for making my kids these precious quilts :) I didn't know that she was a gifted quilt-maker, much less had the interest for it, but as you can see she really did a fine job!! I'm so proud of you, Kat!!! My kids love the quilts and are now a constant bedspread. Dana got a Lightning McQueen and Dylan got his favorite Dinosaurs.. Den also got a blue quilt but she didn't want me to take pictures of her on it LOL

Here are pictures of Dana and Dylan enjoying the quilts.. Oh and those clothes are the ones you sent Kat! :) they love them hahaha

Trip to Parks and Wildlife QC

As I was looking at my blog, I realized it's been a long time since I've updated it and so here I am trying to make up for lost time :)

Last June 24, we all went to the Parks and Wildlife in Quezon City. We got tired of going to the malls and figured we needed a dose of nature LOL The last time I went here I was a kid and look now, I'm bringing my kids!

We actually didn't know where to start because the place was huge so we just started walking and hoped it would lead somewhere LOL The first thing we came to was the mini-zoo where they placed rescued animals like snakes, birds and other creatures. We took Dana's bike so she'll have more time to ride it, but unfortunately, the rough terrain (yeah right!) broke it down LOL

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

June 27, 2009 - It was a rare Saturday for all six of us to be up and about. The reason was we're to be at Glorietta 4 to watch a special screening of the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It was a promotional event sponsored by Petron where Patrick (as part of Top Gear) got free tickets to the event. They even gave out P1200 worth of gift certificates from Burger King, free popcorn and a souvenir photo.

The whole cinema was packed and we ended up sitting two rows from the front. Dana and Dylan got booster seats so they'll be much more comfortable (that was great of them!). Since we knew that we were going to watch this movie, we saw to it that we watched the first movie to get back into the action hahaha

Dylan of course loved both movies and his first complete three syllable word is "Bumblebee"! hahahaha

I loved it as well and I won't tell much more of the story just in case you haven't watched it yet ;) If you get the chance don't miss it.. It's really worth it! :) Patrick and I wanted to watch it again but this time on IMAX but tickets are sold out! LOL

Dana's first day in school

June 15, 2008 is a milestone in Dana's life (and come to think of it in ours as parents too). This was the first time that our daughter first set foot in the hallowed halls of learning :) Wow, that sounded so serious it's as if it wasn't me talking LOL

Well yeah, Dana is now 5 and she's now in Kinder II. Actually, their first day was supposed to be on June 08th but because of the A/H1N1 virus (swine flu to others), classes were postponed to give time for families to quarantine themselves if they've gone outside the country for a vacation. At first, we didn't know that the school moved the date of start of classes. Dana and I still went and when we reached the school, we were surprised to read the announcement. She was a little disappointed but kids bounce back so easily. She took it in a stride :)

I was still a bit antsy if I got everything that she needed and that I wasn't missing anything. Pre-school jitters are normal I guess especially for a first-time school parent hahaha This is kinda funny because I've done this school routine for my brother (you know this is true, Allan) and with my niece Den before. It's just that it's been so long and I'm kinda nostalgic that I'm now buying school stuff for my own kid.

On to June 15th. Dana had no problem waking up at 5:30am to get ready for school. She ate her breakfast (cereals) and her milk and then took a bath. She didn't have a uniform yet because the school ran out of it (weird!) so she was still in civilian clothes. Patrick and I were bringing her to school together. So, here she is in her classroom :)



We were finally able to buy her one set of uniforms by chance. So here she is :) Patrick brings her to school everyday because it's on his way to work. It's a good compromise because he gets to the office early and he can leave early too hahahha



I know that she's enjoying her time in school because by the time I pick her up and we walk home together, she can't stop talking about the things they've done. I know she even dreams about the activities when she sleeps hahahaha

Trip to Clark Field (former US Base) in Pampanga

May 23 - 24 - Just shy of a week, I found out that Patrick was supposed to head to Clark to cover an event for the magazine where he works. There was going to be a drag racing event at the Clark Speedway and he needed to be on top of it. Well, I figured if he was going to Clark for the day, we might as well join him and make it an overnight trip :) We haven't been to Clark as a family and this was an opportune time as any. Sort of the last out of town trip before school starts.

So we booked a room at the Lohas Hotel New Well Being Spa. We chose the Suite Room because it offered 2 bedrooms (with queen beds), 2 bathrooms, a living room, a terrace, complimentary water and coffee, buffet breakfast for 4 and sauna treatment for 4. All for only P4500 (excluding the 10% tax). Here are some pictures of the resort:























The Jimjilbang is an authentic Korean sauna. At the hotel, they'll give you a locker key, slippers, towels and sauna clothes. There are separate men's and women's locker rooms but the sauna itself is mixed. You need to pass through three stages: First, the intense heat of the Bulgama. It was so hot that I couldn't breathe the first time I entered the room. As I asked the attendant, the trick was to sit down immediately on the mat and breathe through your mouth just to get used to the sensation. But within seconds, you really will be sweating buckets and I mean buckets!! LOL The nice thing is while you're inside the bulgama, you can order iced tea and other drinks haha If you feel that the heat is getting to you, go out for a while, relax a bit, dry yourself off and then come back inside again. The next round, your body is more acclimatised to the heat and will release more toxins and sweat. When you're through with the Bulgama, you may rest a while in the Charcoal room. The heat here is less intense but the room is lined with charcoal for a better absorption of the toxins that are still being released from your body. Once done, you need to close up your pores and that's where you go - to the Ice Room. To describe it, it's one big refrigerator or freezer hahahaha It's refreshing even though it's freakin' cold! LOL After such an experience, I felt several pounds lighter and cleaner hahaha Patrick's clothes were soaked through :))

Of course, you can't be at a resort and not take a dip in the pool so that's what we did :) The kids loved the pool because it's not so deep, there's a section that's only 2 ft high and the deepest is 5ft. There's even a portion where if you stay under the columns, it's like you're getting a massage from the water that falls on your shoulders.







For dinner, we ate at the hotel restaurant so that we can experience unique and authentic Korean food. Kudos to our Filipino server Ann that night who very patiently explained the Korean dishes on the menu hahaha We had something like stif-fried beef that should be wrapped in veggies with a spattering of special sauce and balsamic vinegar. That was delicious! Spicy but delicious!! woohoo The appetizers were an entire meal itself hahaha There was Kimchi, baked baby potatoes, some squid, an egg roll and some whose names elude me at the moment. We also ordered Korean noodles and all I can say is WOW!!!







Morning the next day, we spent eating our buffet breakfast and swimming some more. The kids were tired and spent some time sleeping too. Then it was time to go and the staff were kind enough to grant us a late checkout without any additional charges. Actually, we were supposed to take advantage of their massage but the schedule got screwed up.

Then we left around 2pm and headed on to Patrick's drag racing event, a few minutes away. We finished the day with dinner at Kenny Rogers along the expressway.

Our stay at the hotel was really good. The staff was great. The facilities were superb. The hotel was really clean and well-maintained. I would recommend Lohas Resort to everyone :)

If you want to see more of the pictures, click here.