juls random thoughts

Though few days late already...

Hope everybody had a merry and blessed Christmas, a time with family and friends. I have saved some of text messages that I have received from friends. Posting here those that I love the most because of the message it conveys:

From my co-reviewee, Lesley:
Wishing you the timeless treasures of Christmas, the warmth of a home, the love of a family and the company of good friends. Have a blessed and happy Christmas!

From my college friend and JPIA co-officer Yvette:
I wish you peace, love, good health, good people around you and the contentment of being with a happy family. Merry Christmas!

From my officemate Inah:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the governance will be on His shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 May Jesus reign in our hearts always! Merry Christmas!!

From my officemate Ryan:
May Christ come to you and your family this "Christmas" with the gift of Love, the blessing of Hope and the promise of Peace.

From my co-reviewer Mark:
Great gifts are not found in any store. The best present is stored in the hearts of people. It has unlimited supply and bears no expiry date.

From my sister in law ate Ireen:
May Christmas blessing shine on you and may the special love of Christ be with you and your family all year through.

From my brother in law kuya Arnold:
It's time to reflect the true meaning of Christmas in our lives. A Blessed Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I wish I can write here what I truly feel this holiday season. But it is something that I will keep only in my heart and my hubby's sister in law's (ate Sweet) heart as she knows some of it. LOL! These feelings made me not wish for any material things. I guess that's the lesson that I got from this experience, that true happiness cannot be bought from a store, that happiness can be obtained when you feel peace in your heart.

As for the little boy, he was very happy this Christmas, he got all of his wishes:

• Hubby's officemate learned that the little boy wanted to have the Ben 10 ultimate omnitrix, kind of her that she bought it and gave it to the little boy as her gift.


• For the Bakugan battle brawlers, my boss (our wedding ninang) gave him three of these then hubby's officemates gave him too so he have a total of five Bakugan now
• While for Tech Deck, good thing his mommy2 and daddy2 gave it to him as a gift as that is one of his wishes for santa but "santa's helpers" couldn't take buying that toy for him as "they" find it so impractical. LOL!
• Santa claus gave him the big bike. The little boy is so happy. Santa gave him a really big bike that even I can ride it. The little boy enjoyed using it around the street, he actually knows already how to ride and get off it. Too bad thought that when "santa's helpers" were looking for the safety gears, they're out of stock so ayun, nasugatan ang little boy sa tuhod when he fall off. Good thing it was a small scratch at hindi naman sya nadala to ride the bicycle. And another good thing that we were able to see knee pads, elbow pads and hand guard from SM toy section in Megamall the other day so the only thing lacking now is the helmet and his all geared up.


• Our gift for the little boy is a billiards table. Funny, as it is not only the little boy who enjoyed, even the titos and lolos are playing it.

Obviously, hubby and I are not thrilled on buying toys influenced by Cartoon Network as we both find it overrated so good thing that he receive gifts of these toys as we'll definitely not buy those. We both agreed that we'll only buy practical toys. I guess it's also because of the fact that the little boy will only play with these toys while it's still new. He easily lose interest with these types of toys as he prefer outdoor activities.

I already took pictures of him on his bicycle but haven't uploaded it yet so will post it once I am able to empty my camera phone.

Remember this post? well, here are the overdue pictures:

This is the beach used in Maging Sino Ka Man book 1, the island where Sam stayed. The silhoutte of a boy is my nephew seating on a banca on the picture below:

The 7-people capacity tents that we used. The red cover can be removed and a see-through net will be seen, very nice for stargazing:
Kurt playung with his two cousins:
My nephews. Then on the far hut is where we keep the food and at the back of the hut is my car parked:
Kurt and his cousin enjoying the sand:

So how did our long weekend r&r turned out? Relaxing yet tired. Weird huh?

We are supposed to leave early Saturday morning but since I sent a text message to my sister at 1am that I might not be able to make it early, they thought that we would really get to her place late morning. You see, I was so pissed off Friday night, its way over midnight already and yet the little boy is still awake. I need to sleep early as I’ll be driving early morning and add the fact that it’s my first long drive (wouldn’t count drive to Batangas as long drive). Hubby can’t join us yet as he has his bowling championship game that night so I am tasked to drive my car, he’ll just follow us the next day.

Even if I went to sleep at past 1am, I was still able to wake up at 5am, took a bath, did some last minute packing (pillows, beddings, kurt’s milk) then at 5:45am we left home going to my sister’s house in Kamias with just kurt and the yaya. I was surprised when I get there that my brother (who’ll be coming from batangas) is not yet there, he’s usually early. I later on found out that they really thought that I’ll be late, even my sister is not yet done packing. To make the story short, we left for Zambales at 8am. Three cars on convoy led by my BIL, followed by me then my brother at the back. We’re hoping to take the new highway from Clark to Subic but we were informed when we paid the toll fee that it only opens at 12 noon. So we have no choice but to drive by the traditional route of San Fernando and Lubao, Pampanga, totally not thrilled to pass by the uber traffic Lubao. We had our first restroom stopover and stretching in the first Total gas station in San Fernando right after the exit. Was so pissed off kasi super traffic sa Lubao, as in! and we’re oh so glad when we finally reached Dinalupihan, Bataan, kainis talaga traffic sa Lubao! We arrived in Subic at past 11am and was in Subic Yatch Club for our second stop over by quarter to twelve. Stayed there for a while, restroom break then picture taking with the yatch. It’ll be a less than an hour travel from Subic Yatch Club to my BIL’s resthouse in the town proper of San Antonio, Zambales. We’ve decided to have lunch there first before proceeding to the beach. By 1pm, we’re already having lunch in my BIL’s resthouse then by 3pm we’re already in the beach. My brother took the tricycle as his lowered car can’t take the load and rough road/soft sand at the same time. I was surprised when we get there as there is already a developed beach resort beside their property. The place lost its virgin beach appeal because of that resort. Apparently, the cousin of BIL’s dad sold the property to an American who developed the property into a resort. Too bad for us as it’s no longer a private get-away. Checked out the beach and that’s when BIL told us that this beach stretch is where Maging sino ka man book one was shoot. Remember the island where Sam Milby went? This is the place! And to those who watch Marimar, it turns out that the mansion, Villa something is the resort (probably 500 meters or less than, away from BIL’s place) owned by her tita. Hmmm… Pundaquit is now being exposed to the public, good for the locals but bad for us who love its virgin, isolated appeal before. By 4pm, we’re setting up the tents. We got three good for seven coleman tents. We even raced as to who will finish first. Our tents look so good when it’s all set up, maganda kasi pare-pareho kami. I decided not to hit the water first, will do that the next day when hubby is with us na. I took a bath sa poso wearing my clothes. There’s actually an option to take a bath in a closed cube kaso iigib pa rin water sa poso and syempre mainit and for experience I preferred to take a bath sa poso. Sarap! By night time, naka-rechargeable lamp na kami sa kubo with papag. But when you walk towards where the tents are, grabe! Ang dami sobra ng stars, I’ve never seen such plenty of stars for a long time. Had dinner then my nephews started lighting up the bonfire, nagtyaga talaga sila maghanap ng kahoy so we can have the bonfire. Ako naman, I brought huge marshmallows and long barbecue sticks so we can grill the marshmallows. It was my nephews first time to try it and they loved the soft liquidy inside of the marshmallows right after grilling it. While my brothers and father drank the night away, my sister watched dvds on her portable dvd, I just sat on the foldable beach chair (a Christmas gift to us) and gazed on the stars until I became sleepy and joined kurt and inay inside the tent to sleep. Our first night sleep in the tent was so hot, the tent has a cover kasi, we did not remove it kasi baka maghamog in the morning or baka umulan, some parts of the tent kasi has net lang. sa sobrang init the little boy was sleeping without any shirt on. While ako, I realized na mas malamig if hindi sa kutson, if it’s just the blanket kasi malamig sa labas so malamig ang sand.

The next day, Sunday, we woke up early but the sun is up already pero as usual, the little boy, tulog pa rin. My sister and BIL went to the town proper market while the rest of us stayed and just made tambay. Francis arrived before lunch with my sister and BIL, it turns out nagdala rin sya ng kotse, di natiis pero iniwan na lang nya sa house sa town proper. We had a yummy lunch, inihaw na ribs and fish with seaweed salad. Yum! Yum! Talaga! Slept for a while sa papag then went swimming na. good thing I wore life vest kasi malalim ang tubig may nephews naman buried Joshua under the sand while he’s on Indian seat, the little boy was so inggit so sya rin nagpacover ng sand, too bad nga lang we weren’t able to take a picture kasi when hubby left to get camera pagbalik nya, umalis na little boy. BIL walked along the shoreline until he reached her tita’s resort Punta de Uian and according to him, totally different world there, parang Bora sa dami ng tao and the viva hot babes are there. Funny my nephews kasi punta agad sila. That night was more peaceful, wala na kasing maingay na guests yun katabing resort and mas presko na kasi we did not put na the tent cover.

Our last day, Monday, light breakfast, others went swimming while kami, pack-up na to go back to the house in the town proper. Bought total of 15 kilos of almost ripe mangoes from the town market then left for Manila at 11am. This time, we were able to take the Subic-Clark-Tarlac highway and what can I say? It’s so ganda! Smooth ang road, daming hills na hinati just for the highway and I agree with Jody para akong nasa US, feeling ko I’m driving in I-280 from San Jose, CA to San Francisco. Galing talaga! We had lunch in Jollibee in North expressway and arrived Manila at past 3pm. It was tiring yet relaxing vacation. I wish we’ll go back there and this time sana eh di na kami tamarin that we can go and visit the papaya plantation and makapaglakad-lakad sa beach.

Pictures to follow.

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.

It started from a discussion of Eastwood's 200,000 eggs on Easter sunday. My MIL heard us talking about it and suggested that we do it instead at home. It was wednesday night, three days away from Easter sunday and we're talking of starting from scratch. But since we all loved the idea, SIL and her sister went to Divi on saturday to look for plastic eggs while my other SIL designed the real eggs.

When we got back from Batangas for our Holy Week vacation, this is what we saw on the dining table:

Cutesy thirteen boiled eggs dyed with food color and designed with glitter glue. Then on the buffet table was a big plastic full of various sizes of plastic eggs. While written on the white board in the refrigerator are the rules of the easter egg hunt.

Apparently, there are 101 eggs, 13 of which are the original dyed eggs which if found is equivalent to P100 each, while the plastic eggs contain various goodies inside. The smaller ones are sealed when they bought so we have no idea what goodies can be found inside. The hunt will start at 9am, kids only and no eggs will be hidden inside the cabinets, cars, bodega.

Funny as before the hunt starts, the little boy was playing with his shape sorter, when one shape fell and was under the sofa, as he was trying to get the block, he also saw one of the hidden eggs to which all of us shout. We just told the little boy that, that is what the eggs that they will look for look like, at ang nakakatawa, bigla syang sumigaw na there are more pa outside! LOL! you see, the little boy woke up early then played outside with the yaya and nung andun pala, nakakakita na sya ng mga eggs so bigla tuloy nilipat ng taguan. Funny talaga etong little boy ko.

Here are some pics during the day. Hoping to get the other pics from hubby as these were taken using my phone.

Kids given instructions holding plastic bags where they can keep the eggs they got:


Their baskets being filled with eggs found. Nearest in the pic is kurt's (together with the plastic box), then followed by sean's, pau's, giang's and the farthest gelo's.


This pic shows the kids making reklamo of hubby kasi he's helping the little boy. As he is the youngest qualified sya to have an adult companion. Same as Gelo, his yaya is helping him. The adults are not actually showing where the eggs are, medyo nili-lead lang nila to where it can be found.

Showing the contents of the big eggs:

All eggs on the table:

To follow is the picture of the kids with their basketful of eggs and their picture on the move, I still have to get it from hubby.

I have to say that MIL and SIL really did a wonderful job with this egg hunt. Since galing pa sila sa easter vigil, they started hiding the eggs past midnight and they ended at past 3am, complete with flashlights (ala bulglar) they placed the eggs strategically all over the house and even in the garden. Galing pa kasi they prenumbered the eggs and logged where specifically they placed it para we would know kung nasaan yun mga hindi pa nahahanap. I wish I had taken pictures of where they hidden the eggs kasi ang galing talaga that i think even if kaming oldies ang naghanap eh for sure mahihirapan din.

The kids searched for an hour. The winner was Pau with 21 eggs, followed by Giang with 19 eggs, Sean with 18 eggs, Gelo with 15 eggs while Kurt (the youngest) got 14 eggs. But lucky for my little boy as out of 13 true eggs, he found three so he got P300. Pau got P200 for finding the most egg.

Now we started a fun family tradition. According to FIL, next year, he'll be adding more prices for those who'll find a certain number of egg.

I have always been very grateful of the technology, most especially the yahoo messenger chat with voice and webcam (not very techie and new but super useful). Countless times, we gained a lot of benefits with this service. One, when I was in the US, I celebrated my son’s 2nd birthday with them here in the Philippines, via webcam, I was there when he blew the candle on the cake, me even singing with them the happy birthday song, live through YM instant messaging. Another thing, my siblings and I also used to chat through YM conference, me in California, eldest sister in New Jersey, another sister in Kamias, QC, my two brothers in Batangas but separate houses, my other brother in Singapore, my sister in law in Pasay and hubby in Pasig, complete with webcam and voice chat. Technology is great, really! This task is really hard to manage if through the phone, not to mention, expensive.

Technology again, bridged and made us closer to relatives on the recent hard times on hubby’s side of the family. Last weekend, we went home to Pangasinan for hubby’s uncle’s burial. It was a tragic death, soon, unexpected, sad and more that I can’t disclose anymore in this blog. Hubby’s side of the family is close to their second cousins. You see, his dad has only two siblings but they are close to first cousins. Meaning, the sons and daughters of FIL’s dad’s siblings. Magulo ba? To explain in tagalog, FIL’s dad and his 3 other siblings family are really close na tipong kahit tatlo lang na magkakapatid sila FIL, it doesn’t matter kasi part of the family talaga yun cousins nila, kumbaga, you will not see the distinction kung sino lang ang magkakapatid. FIL and his cousins are 19 all in all, some in the US, some in Canada, some in Pangasinan and others in Manila. Basta they are so close so the unexpected death of one of the cousins was traggic for the whole family. Two siblings of the cousin who died went home to the Philippines but other cousins were not able to do, so that’s how technology bridged the distance. All throughout the lamay, we’re connected with them, online, through the internet with voice conference and webcam, they are with us through all the puyatan. They saw the casket, the visitors and even the nechrological (not sure if right term) service the night before the burial. They were there even in the inuman of the second generations (hubby and his cousins).

We arrived in Pangasinan, Friday night (night before the burial) and sa buong time na gising kami for the lamay, the relatives in the US, Canada, Korea and Saudi Arabia stayed with us through the internet. Kahit na malayo sila, nagpuyat din talaga, for those in the US, nag-leave sila from work, as gabi here is daytime there.

Mas nakakaiyak nung actual libing na, they were there to witness yung paglabas ng casket from the house and they all cried with us. We actually tried to look for a “WeRoam” user sana para even in the church service and the actual burial eh we can go online kaso we did not find any na. When we got home after the burial, they are there waiting for us and even the next day, which was the 9th day, we spent it together. They also have a gathering in the US for the padasal and we connected through the internet.

Hay, galing-galing talaga ng internet, kasi even if people can’t physical be there, they can be there through the net. Good thing din that hubby’s brother installed wireless internet in Pangasinan and that the entire family compound has a signal so they were using two laptops to broadcast the happening.

This is the question that we're thinking. You see, hubby's grandparents in the US loves going to the casino. They always look forward to the occasions that they can finally go there and play. Once they are there, they forget about everything. They do not notice the time and all. However, these past few days, they have been weak and sickly. Hubby’s relatives wanted to let them play because when they’re playing they feel good but taking them there is not an option as it is hard for them to travel.

So, we're thinking that probably online casino would do the trick. It may not exactly give them the same experience of actually playing in the casino but it will give them the same thrill of anticipating for their win. However, we are confused as there are a lot of online casinos available. It is hard to tell which one is reliable and can be trusted. Good thing I chanced upon Pro360. This is a big help in filtering out the different online casinos. Of course, we all want to make sure that our hard-earned money does not go to waste by playing on untrusted online casinos. It is good that they provide the following information about each casino: a general info, editor and player ratings, game experience such as selections, graphics and speed, and really important is the trust score: of course, we want to make sure that we are given fair play and has good customer support and payout. They even include reasons why a player should play on that casino. And best of all, they have a list of the top 20 reviewed casino! That will definitely give an online casino player greater peace of mind. And they don’t only just offer ratings, there are even beginner’s guide to gambling (not that hubby’s grandparents are beginners though!), how to play casino games, and online gambling tips – this I think will be of big help for hubby’s grandparents as they are newbies on online gambling.

So now that I learned about this, we can inform the relatives that online gambling is possible but they have to check Pro360 first to choose the best, safest and most applicable online casino for the oldies.