Trip to Tagaytay and Enchanted Kingdom

August 29-30, 2009

First of all, let me greet Den, my niece a Happy 18th Birthday!!! It is on her account that we're going out of town because we want to celebrate her 18th Birthday in style :)

So we chose Tagaytay as our destination for three reasons. First, we've never been there as a family and staying overnight. Second, it was on the way to Enchanted Kingdom where we'll be spending the next day at. Patrick got free tickets again as part of Enchanted Kingdom's media blitz. And, Third, we reserved a room at the Days Hotel Tagaytay because we wanted to test the discount card that I was a member of. For P3K annual membership, we get 30%-40% discounted rates at Days Hotel rooms nationwide and the same goes for their affiliate hotels.



Our first stop during our trip, believe it or not, was for lunch at the Rose and Grace Restaurant along the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Highway. For P1K+ we got our fill of Bulalo, Beef Steak, Lechon Kawali, a Tower of Nestea Iced Tea and 2 orders of Fresh Lumpia and bowls of rice! :D Not bad!! and Great Tasting too!!

It was just in time for checking in when we were done so we headed to the Days Hotel Tagaytay where we were booked at their Deluxe Room. There was 1 King Sized Bed, a couch that turns into an extra bed and our very own jacuzzi in the bathroom!! All for P4650 (inclusive of 10% surcharge). Oh and there was a balcony/terrace where you get to hang out and enjoy the scenic view of the mountain.


We then headed to Tagaytay Picnic Grove because we heard that there was horseback riding there and we wanted the kids to experience that. So off we went!! And sure enough, there were horses there, you can tell by the stench! LOL My allergies started acting up LOL But all for the kids so I soldiered on LOL For P200, 2 people can ride one horse for an hour. It's a boring one hour because they only get to go around in circles in a paddock type of field. For an additional P150, you supposedly get an adventure tour (but we didn't try that out). The kids enjoyed it though :)


After that, we went looking for the Zipline and Cable area. Arfie recommended this bit so thanks to her :) That was an awesome adventure!! Den and I decided to try the zipline. You are suspended from these zipline cables. You choose to lie flat or to sit (we chose to lie flat it was more exciting that way!) and you're zipping across the mountain. It was a rush, a scary, but exhilarating rush!! So we went both ways because it was tiring to go back up the trail on foot hahahaha The kids, Ate Mel and Patrick went on the cable car which will take the same route only on a much sedate pace. Dylan was pretending there was a dinosaur hiding in the trees LOL So that was a worthwhile experience :)




After all that excitement, we all trooped to the swimming pool at the hotel even though it was pretty cold so we didn't stay long. We then spent a long time in the jacuzzi LOL that was something :)


Time for bed!! We have an early day because we still have to go to Enchanted Kingdom :) But we still managed to sneak in a dip in the pool hahaha


And that was our trip to Tagaytay:


Our trip to Enchanted Kingdom is pretty much a rehash of what went on the last time.. Full of rides but since there were more people at the park, there were long lines and it wasn't really that much fun. I did have a chance to get a foot reflexology and whole body massage at Enchanted.. and it was heaven!! LOL You just don't know how long I've wanted to experience that ! LOL



For more pictures (and there are many!) just click here:

It's a good thing it was a 3-day weekend. We needed one day to rest before school and office started again LOL

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