Travel: Trip to Subic (Day 1)

June 08, 2012

Our summer vacation came a little late this year but as they say, "better late than never".  The kids, Patrick and I went to Subic for 3 days and 2 nights and we were lucky enough to be test driving the 2012 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for Top Gear Philippines in the same trip.

Our first stop on our trip was the Teriyaki Boy Restaurant in the Petron compound along the North Luzon Expressway.  We all love Japanese food and Dylan especially loves California Maki as you can see from this picture.

The rest of us had Katsudon,gyoza and the rest of the Maki.

It's just great that my kids really love trying out new food for themselves. :)

After having that hefty lunch, we all trooped back to the Subaru STI we named "Ghost" in honor of John Snow's direwolf in Game of Thrones.  Why Ghost?  Well, he's silver (close to white) but he's so ferocious on the road.  He can reach up to 200 kilometers per hour and there's not even a hint of hardship on the engine.  He's as cool as they come.  I didn't even know we were running at that speed!  But sshhh! I don't think that's allowed :D  I did have a problem with it being too sporty as I felt it was a bumpy ride.  I ended up getting a headache upon arriving in Subic.  This car is an animal on the road!!





We arrived in Subic in record time. We checked in at the Bayfront Hotel which was were we usually stay when in Subic.  We were surprised to see a new hotel in front of Bayfront.  It was still under construction when we last came to Subic.    Now it was called the Terrace Hotel and it looked interesting from my vantage point.  At first we had a problem with checking in because the room that they assigned was not the one that I requested when I made the booking.  Then they couldn't accommodate the request because they were fully booked.  Good for them so I settled with a different room.  This one had twin beds which still wasn't what I asked for and not what I paid for.  Eventually, they got it right.  It was a good thing I was still in a good mood or else ...  With this setback, I was considering trying out the Terrace Hotel on the other side the next time we came to Subic.


So we just rested for a while with the kids just watching TV.  In the end, we opted to go to Royal Subic to buy our snacks for the beach trip tomorrow and to see if there was anything worth buying :)


Right after buying what we needed to buy, it really didn't take us long, we went to Meat Plus Cafe for dinner.  It was a good thing we didn't take too long at the Duty Free because when we reached Meat Plus, there wasn't that many people lined up and we were able to get a very cozy table.  Right after we ordered, the people started coming in...

Here are pics of us waiting for our orders at Meat Plus Cafe.

And here are our orders:

Tenderloin Meal

Meat Plus Burger Meal

Hamburger Steak Meal

After a satisfying meal, we all went back to the hotel to rest.  I also had to pack our stuff for our trip to the beach the next day.

Kids: Another baptism, this time in Silang, Tagaytay

May 12, 2012

I take to heart whenever someone invites me personally to a gathering.  To me, when you're personally invited, it means that the person doing the inviting deems you important and valuable enough and sincerely wants you to be there.  If you think about it, especially now with emails and texts, it's easy enough to send out invites.  Personal invites just bears more weight to me, that's all..

So, when my friend John sent a message on FB, sent a text to my phone and still called me up to personally invite me to his daughter's baptism, I knew I couldn't turn him down.  It didn't matter that it was in Silang, Cavite which was really far :)  The trip took longer than we planned and we got lost somewhere along the way hehehe but it was an adventure and we loved it! :D

Finally we got to the venue and were welcomed so warmly :D  After feasting on the good food that was laid out, the kids couldn't wait to try out the swimming pool.  It was Tracy's first outing after her baptism so it was also a milestone for her.

Couldn't resist posting this because Dana looked so funny!

Both wearing plaid.. :D

Kids: Tracy's Baptism

May 6, 2012

Today was Tracy's baptism.  It was held at the Santisimo Rosario Parish in UST where both Dana and Dylan were baptized too.  Everyone woke up early to prepare for it and for once, we were early to an event LOL  We just hung out at the benches in front of the church while we waited for the rest of the party to arrive.  We were actually the first to sign up for the baptism (which was a mass baptism held every Sunday).

Here's what happened at the Church:

Registration

Opening Prayers

Blessing of the Priest

Anointing with holy oil

Rites of Godparents

 While the rest of the other baptism celebrants took their positions, I took the time to just take pictures of the attendees.

Godparents on the Front Row

The Immediate Family

Ninangs Uye, Pat and Mira

Ninong Gelo and Ninong Mike

After the ceremony, we all took our time taking pictures.  One of the benefits of being first in line is that you don't have to wait for anyone.  You have first dibs on everything.

Ninang Glen in pink and the Grandfather on the far right

After the baptism, we all trooped to our house for the "reception".  Patrick missed the first part of the ceremony because he had to go and pick up our order from Amber's in Timog.  We forgot to take pictures of the cassava cake.. oh! that was really good too~!  :D

Barbecue

Lumpiang Shanghai

Spaghetti

 More picture taking happening at the house with the guests.

Ninang Danica and Ninong Edgar

Ninang Glenn and Ninong Gelo

Ninong Mike and Ninang Uye

Kids: The SkyGarden Sea Explorer's World at SM City North EDSA

May 01, 2012

Today is Labor Day and as such, it's a holiday and it's time for the working people to have a break.  So Patrick and Den are on break.  We took Den and Tracy to Erghie's place in Project 8 so that Tracy can spend time with her dad and granddad.  Meanwhile, we (Patrick, the kids and I), went to SM City North Edsa to check out the SkyGarden Sea Explorer's World exhibit.  Naturally, you can't visit without taking pictures so here are a lot of them :)

Orca - The Killer Whales

Sharks!

Mumble, is that you? :)

Sea Lions

Dolphins!

Now, after taking pictures and walking along SkyGarden, we got hungry and stopped at Longganisa Express for a bite to eat.  It was our first time to eat there and we were quite curious as to the kind of longganisa that we can taste.  They have a longganisa platter which allows you to choose 5 different kinds of longganisa from Baguio, Cebu, Vigan, Pampanga, Lucban (Quezon), Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija), Tuguegarao, Calumpit, and Laoag.  You can order rice to go with it, whether plain or fried.  Their pitcher of home-made iced tea is really refreshing.  Their prices were affordable and reasonable.  They also have long-si-log meals which come with a side of atchara and a drink.  We will definitely be back.

Different types of vinegar from all over the Philippines

After our excursion at the mall, we came back to Project 8 to fetch Den and Tracy.

Kids: Tracy's first outing at the mall

April 21, 2012

Today was one of those days when I was just itching to get out of the house.  Do you ever have one of those days where for no reason, you just want to get out and smell the "fresh" air?  Well, this was the day for me and so everyone just trooped to Robinson's Otis for a short trip.

We ate at Mongolian Quickstop, our favorite Mongolian barbecue restaurant.  Then, we just loitered around the area and the kids hopped on a ride :)