juls random thoughts

I'll be offline this weekend for a much needer R&R. My side of the family are going to my brother in law's private beach in Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales. We're excited as for two nights,we'll be sleeping on tents by the beach. I am excited for the little boy as it is his first time. For sure we'll all be "nognog" by tuesday.



Picture from Philippine Beach blog searched through Google.

Last saturday, 02/02/08, was baby Joaqui's baptism. Joaqui (full name is Joaquin Julian) is my brother's son. He's now the youngest in the cousins, replacing kurt on his throne. LOL! The baptism was held in Pasay, time set was 10am. Hubby and I woke up really early that day as we'll also be meeting with the lot broker at 8:30am. The broker arrived on time good thing we're done with all the preps, kurt did not throw any tantrums when hubby woke him up. We checked out the lots she's selling and we finally found the lot that we like. I'll just create a separate post about this in time.

So, we're in a hurry for the baptism as hubby's the official photographer, while I am a ninang. We got to the church on time, baby Joaqui's not even there yet when we arrived but we're the last from the family to arrive.

Reception was held in Max's Baclaran, I just love Max's chicken! and after that, we went to Makati. Hubby went to office to checked the status of their UAT while kurt and I went to Power Books as the little boy is requesting that we go to a bookstore. You see, the little boy loves going to the bookstore to check out the books. He doesn't exactly read it but he enjoys looking at them. We've only been there for less than an hour when hubby told me that he's done with work. He picked us up. We're supposed to go to Glorieta for his shopping but we're so tired and sleepy that we decided to just go home.

My migraine was starting to develop when we got home so I went to sleep. At past five, me still with migraine, hubby left for his bowling tournament. We're supposed to go with him but since I have a migraine, we're left at home. I locked myself in the bedroom and closed the lights so I can sleep peacefully, I also took my migraine pills.

Although I feel so guilty, I ignored little boy's pleading that he go inside the room, I have to keep him out as my condition will definitely improve if I let him in. After about two hours, I heard him crying. So I went out and learned that he bit his cousin. Hay naku! Found out that his cousin was not sharing his food that's why he bitten him. I've just decided that we leave the house to cool things out. We went to Hypermart to do the grocery and had dinner in Tiendesitas. We had papaitan, grilled porkchop and barbecue. We enjoyed our date together. We went home almost 9pm.

I have been so excited until the day that we're going to watch comes. Kurt likes Barney so much, as in for a time, si Barney lang pinapanood nya. Though a few days before we watched Barney, he suddenly showed interest na on Dora. Anyway, to go back to Barney, we've been preparing kurt na rin for this pero i think hindi nya alam na he's going to watch Barney live. As posted here, we got the sunday, 3pm show.

Lunch time that day, the little boy had a preview na of Barney. He saw Barney in ASAP, as in he's asking me "Paano?". His dialog was: "Mama, paano?" tipong hindi makapaniwala that Barney is here in the Philippines. So I had a preview na of kurt's reaction when he sees the actual Barney.

The way to Cubao was so bad, as in grabe traffic, kasi we took the mistake of passing by Cubao's bus station, so super traffic. We parked in Gateway, then off we went to Barney.

I've been telling hubby that I am worried that I am gonna cry. I'll cry kasi I know kurt will be very happy to see Barney.

The show started, the little boy's reaction? tulala. As in! nakatitig lang sya, not even participating. As in silently nanonood. Syempre, naluha ako. Medyo, kainis nga later on kasi parang wala lang sa kanya, I guess he still can't believe that he's seeing the actual Barney. When the first part was about to end, they allowed the kids to go near the stage so kurt and his dada went there.

Had a break, then on the second part na, ayun, he asked me to go back there near the stage and he's dancing na but not as much as when he's watching Barney on TV.

In a way, I didn't quite expected that he'll not participate that much, he loves Barney songs and dances and sings with it at home pero that time, not much, siguro nga, kasi nagulat sya na it's a real Barney. Stage design is not that good, simple lang. What we really paid for here is for Kurt to really experience seeing Barney live again. I know na from the start that the show is not that long, kasi syempre, the audience are kids.

Here are some of the pictures:

That saturday night, kurt is really having fun with picture taking.



The next day, he's still in picture mode. As in! He wants to have a picture taken, these were taken before lunch. At gusto nya pa, he's complete with the bonnet and neck wrap.


In Mines View Park:


In The Mansion:



During our merienda in Cafe by the Ruins. Really great coffee, bread and dip, and salad. Expensive nga lang!



Kurt enjoying his hot chocolate:



A picture of me, taken by the little boy:

Still part of our anniversary celebration, we went to Baguio, as planned before we had the "no speaking terms". We left really early saturday morning, dec. 8, stopped over the Caltex station in EDSA to buy coffee and pandesal from Pugon, it's still so dark, kurt is still awake but not complaining kasi layas din etong batang eto eh. LOL!

Second stopover was in Luisita in Tarlac, the sun is coming out already but since hubby is stil sleepy, we went to Starbucks and bought cappucino, Kurt had a blast looking at the old train at the back of Starbucks. We stayed there for a while so hubby can rest then continued on with our journey.

We arrived in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan at I think past 9-10am. We dropped by hubby's lola's house since mommy, daddy, kuya arnold, ate sweet and jonathan are there. We had breakfast, rested a few minutes, looked for lodging in the internet then off we went to Baguio.

We are in Baguio by lunchtime, we went to Microtel Inn & Suites to check in, place is new and located near Victory Liner station. Too bad, the single queen bed room is fully booked as one company have a function there. We no longer had any hotels in mind so we just decided to check in at Prince Plaza along Legarda road. Both hubby and I stayed there in the past on separate instances, for the same client assignment. It was old but at least, we're familiar with the place. Good news here is the room rate is way lot cheaper than Microtel plus hubby got 20% corporate discount. Fixed our things, rested for a while, gave kurt a bath and changed clothes then off to lunch.

We had lunch in Matutina's kitchen beside the hotel. Food is really great. Sarap nung sinigang na fish (forgot the name of the fish) and inihaw na liempo. Well worth it! Rested for a few more minutes in our room then off we went to Philippine Military Academy (PMA). Kurt had a lot of fun here. Here are some of the pics:







Hubby and kurt watching the PMA'ers practicing a drill:

Hubby and Kurt going up the tree house:

Yipee! we finally have tickets for Barney's show. We bought it from SM ticketnet tonight and we got PT106, row A, seats 1-3 for the 3pm show on Dec. 23. Eversince I read in one of the blogs I visit that Barney is coming, I immediately informed hubby about it and asked for his free schedule. I really want kurt to watch this. I am so excited for the little boy. He loves Barney so much. He actually learned about Barney when he was able to watch Barney's show here in Manila last December 2005. He's only 1yr old then. He was only able to go because my brother have 2 extra tickets. And since it was a weekday then, it's only Kurt and yaya who watched together with my brother's family. So now, I am so excited and I can't wait! for sure he will love it. Barney is his only favorite. He watches other cartoons but he always goes back to his Barney cds. He has a lot na sobra. Soooo excited! i can't wait for Dec. 23!

Tuesday, Oct. 30 - I was really so busy already start of the day pa lang (mostly personal stuff kaya PL the whole morning). Paid my two credit cards then went to Landmark to buy Kurt's diapers (which can only be bought in Landmark). Had lunch with hubby (in Saisaki) then dropped by SM to buy Kurt's pajamas. I went home from work after lunch to check on kurt's coughing. After which prepared already for our trip home to Batangas later. At around 8:30pm, we left home and went straight to SM Supercenter in Pasig. It was just me, Kurt and Yang. We bought groceries that we'll bring home to Batangas then stayed for a while in Go Nuts Donuts, killing time while eating doughnuts and coffee. At 10pm, we went our way na to International airport to meet up with my siblings and Francis to pick up inay and tatay who's plane is expected to arrive at 10:40 that night from NJ-Chicago-Japan.

We arrived in parking B at 10:40 and according to kuya, per tv monitor, plane is expected to arrive at 10:50pm. Waited few more minutes then hubby arrived followed by ate gem and family. Kurt had too much sugar na buhay na buhay pa kahit late na. Playing paper airplane with his cousins. Plane arrived as scheduled then we waited for another 30 minutes more before checking on them. Since its not practical for all four cars to pick up on the arrival area, we've decided that the two cars just wait in the nearest gasoline station going to sucat while the crv and innova picks them up. We stayed in Total, waiting for them to arrive. After around 30 minutes, they arrived and syempre, hug-hug and kiss. We said goodbye to hubby as he's not going home to batangas with us yet as he still has work the next day. Inay rode in my car while kuya drove it kasi i'm not confident in driving on wee hours in the morning. While tatay rode the innova with Rani and all the baggage. Ate gem and family on their car.

We arrived in Batangas at past 2am, wednesday, Oct. 31. Had puto and dinuguan for midnight snacks - puto courtesy of ate ireen while the dinuguan was cooked by ate gem. Chika-chika then open ng balikbayan box for pasalubongs. I got a Lauren Style RL perfume and sandals. Hubby got a Polo Black RL perfume while kurt got 2 shirts and 2 pants and of course we have chocolates. Thanks ate! We went to sleep at 4am then woke up at 11am. We had veggies and sinaing na tulingan for lunch then ate gem cooked baked macaroni for merienda. We've decided to go to SM Lipa later that afternoon as inay did not bring any toiletries. So, we girls, with Hannah and Kurt went to Lipa. It was so cold when we got there, gulat ako, tapos raining pa. Bought toiletries and simcard for inay's cellphone. Had nilaga for dinner then everybody's so tired already and went to sleep early. Me, I waited for hubby to arrive from Manila. He left late na kasi he's trying to avoid the traffic. He got there at past 11pm and we all went to sleep na.

Thursday, Nov. 1 - For whatever reason, I've decided to clean my car with matching wax pa, realized that its hard pala. We then prepared food that we'll take in the cemetery. Kuya cooked calderetang kambing, i cooked spaghetti while inay made her undas tradition of sinukmani (rice cake). We left for cemetery before lunch. Kuya has already setup the tent early that morning then he brought table, chairs, banig and tent for kids. Kurt had a lot of fun, enjoy sya kasi he and his girl cousins were watching Dora dvds in Beia and Abie's portable dvd. They're so noisy inside the tent as they are replying to Dora's questions. Grabe! a lot of kids got curious so they're watching from outside the tent. Then when the sun went down, he played frisbee with kuya Janssen then later on with dada. Francis, Patrick and Joshua played chess against ate Swannie's daddy, while I read my scrapbook magazines, and tatay and inay played scrabble.

We stayed there until 7pm while kuya and the guys stayed until later. We had inihaw na baboy and enselada (green mangoes, onion, tomatoes, alamang and wansoy) that I made for dinner. Yummy!

Friday, Nov. 2 - we prepared for a visit to the grave of tatay's siblings and parents and inay's siblings and parents too. Tito Elmo fixed the flowers then after lunch we left already. First stop: the cemeteries in Rosario - we visited tatay's siblings and parents then we went to the old cemetery to visit ate's daughter. We then went straight to Lipa, first to floral garden then Eternal for inay's parents. Last stop is SM to buy dinner for that night. And this is when Hannah and Kurt had the pictures in the previous post taken.

Saturday, Nov. 3 - we had breakfast then prepared for our trip back to Manila. Exciting cause it's my first time to drive back to Manila from the house (as in whole trip, dati kasi I start na sa SLEX). Funny kasi both hubby and I had our cars, Kurt and Yang went with me while tito Elmo, going to Manila too, stayed with hubby.

To those who know us well, they know that hubby and I are layas. We both have nunal on our foot and looks like our son is starting to have one as he is one hell of a "layas" too. After spending an almost whole day of watching dvds, surfing the net, playing "Burger Rush" (that's me) in the 'puter, we've realized that we can't take it not to go out today.

Our destination? Unknown. We prepared with no idea where to go. Then when we're already in C5, that's when hubby thought that we visit his dad's lot in Maris Village in Tandang Sora. They're offering this lot to us but we're having second thoughts on getting it due to its very far location. You see, we work in Makati, my province is Batangas and most of our family are in the south except for ate gem who's living in Kamias, but that's not so far though.

Anyway, we visited the place and yeah, its really far. 2.5 kms from the Tiera Pura gate to the lot then from the Tiera Pura gate to Manila Water in Balara was another 5 kms. We no longer bothered to get the distance from there to Pasig as it is really far.

Highlight of the trip, we visited Banapple Pies and Cheesecakes along Katipunan. You see, I fell in love with banofee pie eversince I tasted Starbucks' version, then I tried Sonjas and Red Ribbon. So far, Sonja's still the best for me. Banofee pie is my new favorite, replacing my old time favorite - chocolate mousse. So, hubby's officemate mentioned about this place and hubby knowing that I love banofee pie told me about it. The place is cozy and is full packed. What did we order? of course banofee pie, praline banana cream pie, americano coffee for me and home made iced tea for hubby and kurt. It was good!!! still thinking though if I like this better than Sonja's.

Here's some of the pictures I snagged from blogs I searched in Google.

http://thepalacioskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/restaurant-review-banapple.html:


http://overdosemd.blogspot.com/2007/09/banapple-day.html:


And here's pictures of the little boy devouring the banana cream pie and a picture of the "abused" banofee pie (LOL!) taken using hubby's camera phone:
Sorry if its grainy, low tech camera phone, P910 LOL!

I was looking for some pictures that I can bring tomorrow for scrappin moms' scrapfest and I chanced upon the cd that contains our family pictorial in 2005. The pictures are so great. Kurt is turning one when we had this pictorial. Pictures were taken in Mount Malarayat Country Club in Lipa City, Batangas. Photos taken by our wedding photographer, Chito Cleofas.