These Days

Last weekend was family weekend in more ways than one. Saturday's main event was the Theo Luis' baptism.  He's Joy and Erick's son, and now Richard's godson.  The baptism was at the St Andrew the Apostle Parish in Makati, followed by reception at Racks in Magallanes Square. At the church Racks On Sunday, we attended the 10AM service at VCF Fort.  We had lunch back at the house and attended the family day celebration at Makati Sports Club, sponsored by Richard's company.  It was a grand carnival-themed party!  They had a LOT of food, games and prizes, entertainers (acrobats, magic show, balloon guy, guy on stilts), face painting, princess salon for the girls and free massage for the adults.  Great afternoon. The downside?  I did not bring my camera.  So all we have is this picture from the photobooth.

I've finally caught up on the travel posts.  Time for the serious stuff... Transitions... That's our household theme for the last few weeks.  After over a year of being a stay-at-home dad, Richard started working again on May 9.  We did not have a yaya/helper since November last year but because of this, we had to hire one again.  Training a new y/h takes a lot of work.  Aside from adjusting to a new person in the house, they also make a lot of mistakes in the beginning.  The best that we can hope for is that they learn the first time and the errors don't happen again. After 3 weeks, the new y/h suddenly decided not to stay.  She gave us less than a week's notice, and left on Friday.  We found out from her cousin that the reason she cited, death in the family, was not true. :S So she really just wanted to leave.  We did not ask her to stay anymore.  Three weeks has convinced us that she wasn't a good fit with our family... This y/h...

July 2010, Cariaga housewarming September 2010, Bien's housewarming January 2011, Get-together at the condo May 2011, Theo Luis' christening Our group of friends from Intel Cavite.  We have seen each other get into relationships, get married, have kids.  We've celebrated christenings and birthdays, housewarming, etc.  In the recent months, some have moved to Singapore & Cebu. We enjoy friends while they are close and stay close even if they're away.  -(original quote, hehe...=) 

We love Gymboree! In a previous post , I talked about Neil attending Gymboree's Summer Camp.  It ran for 8 weeks, 2.5 hours per day, 3x per week.  So for 2 months, all our MWF mornings were spent at Gymboree. In the beginning, most of the kids had to be accompanied by adult companions but by the third week or so, adults were advised to stay outside.  Ah, the parents were so proud when the kiddos stayed in class by themselves!  Of course we had to peek to see how they were doing!=) He missed 2 classes while we were in Bohol but he can take core classes (arts, music, play and learn) in lieu of the missed sessions. Richard and/or I were around for all of his previous classes but for his last 2 sessions Richard already had work and I was at the teambuilding so we both missed them.  I was so disappointed... Thanks to Em and Michelle for accompanying Neil so that he completes the rest of the camp. I initially had reservations about enrolling Neil because o...

More pictures from the Batangas teambuilding.

Wee! I won prizes from Animetric , a blog that I regularly read. It was so easy.  I just left a comment on her blog and won these.=) I love the Chapstick.  The first aid kit will come in handy as container for meds during trips.  Halls is still unopened.  I will have Neil try the shampoo one of these days.

The day after arriving from Bohol, I had to go on another out-of-town trip to Batangas.  It was our team's teambuilding, held at Palm Beach Resort from May 11-13.  Palm Beach is right next to  La Luz Resort, where we spent 2 days last year .  We left Makati around 9AM and arrived at the venue by 11:30AM.   I was really impressed with Palm Beach.  Lots of plants and flowers, cabanas are well-maintained, beds feel great and there's a lot of places to comfortably hang around at.  The sand is finer than La Luz and you can walk farther out as the waters aren't as deep.  My first thought was to come back with the family.=) Our package came with buffet meals.  Food was ok. There's a pool on the far side of the resort. Work team.  We had fun but we did some work, too!  We had a SWOT session on the first day and training on the second day but built in enough time to enjoy the place and each other's company as well.  Work-life...

Before this trip, my last visit to Bohol was in 2003.  There has been a lot of changes, to say the least.  Gone are are the stretches of unutilized land along highway.  In their stead are huge houses and businesses that took advantage of the growth brought by the Island City Mall.  There's still a lot of construction going on, the place will definitely look different in a few more years. In Dao, everybody used to know everybody (and in most cases related!), but because people from other areas have settled here, that's not the case anymore.  I somehow miss the place from my childhood.  We used to play patintero on the streets at night, play house, mamayabas sa bayabasan(!) , walk on top of the school fence going to the plaza, watch the basketball games, etc. Still, a few things have stayed the same.  First and foremost, Auntie's house.  It looks and feels the same.  The ceiling is newly added but everything else is still how I remembered i...

Bohol Rent-A-Car .  I found their website the night before we left for Bohol and they have the cheapest rates around.  While most blogs/sites will quote P3000 or P3500, they only charge P2500 for 8 hours which already includes gas and driver.  They also arrange package tours. I was very busy on the weeks leading up to the trip and I wasn't able to fully plan the itinerary, including transpo.  I asked Papang and Mommy to arrange for  a van for the first day, which was more expensive but since the owner was my cousin's neighbor, it wa s easier to change plans as we went along.  Itinerary on Day2 was simpler and we were able to hire Bohol Rent-A-Car for it.  Ramil, the guy who manages this, is very responsive and you can transact with him even via SMS. Except for a slight miscommunication (driver didn't know we were going to Bohol Bee Farm after Panglao), everything went smoothly with this vendor.  I recommend them if you need transpo services ...

The Gabriella Bread and Breakfast was our home during the visit to Bohol.  We originally planned to stay at Auntie's house but after assessing the situation, we decided to take up lodging elsewhere.  We literally just walked and asked around, and we found this place which was a short distance from Auntie's house.  Very convenient since we were still having meals at Auntie's and the rest of the family were staying there. The area was quiet, there's no question about getting a good night's sleep.  The rooms are well-furnished. They have cable TV, a ref, and supposedly wifi connection but since our room was far from the front desk, we couldn't get any signal.  It's not a deal-breaker though because we were out most of the time. They offer a lot of services.  You can check out their website for more info.  After we checked out, I discovered that it's actually rated 2nd in B&Bs category in Bohol from TripAdvisor.  Cool! The only reservation...

Bohol Bee Farm gets my recommendation as a must-visit attraction in Bohol. Our original plan was to go there after Panglao on Day 2, but since we still had time after the countryside tour, we moved it to Day 1.  We liked it so much that we still went back the following day.=) I really had no expectations about the place and was pleasantly surprised at how massive and well-maintained an operation it was.  They had lodging, restaurants, an ice cream bar, shop, art exhibits, aside from the farm itself. Such a pretty, relaxing place... They offer a tour of the bee farm at P20 per person.  We did not do this on the first day because they said bees tend to sting in that weather.  And we still did not go on the second day because of time constraints (Richard was flying back to Manila in the afternoon). We tried most of the ice cream flavors they had, even the more exotic spicy ginger which tastes exactly like the name.  Kuhang-kuha.  I did not not like ...

Day 2 is all about the beaches (and then some)! We wanted to see the dolphins so we started early.  The van was at the inn 5:00AM, and we left shortly after.  We were already at the Alona Beach by 5:40 BUT the weather still was not cooperating.  It was windy and overcast.  A lot of boats were moored near the beach and Richard talked to a few folks who cancelled their early morning plans to dolphin watch. I was on the fence at this point, but we all eventually decided to forge ahead. The boatmen said dolphins don't usually show up in this weather and true enough, we didn't see any.  So we proceeded to Balicasag Island instead.  Again because of the winds, boats are not able to land at the resort side.  We landed here instead. It's rather raw and rugged unlike how I remembered it (resort side), but you get to interact with the locals who actually live there. Dets, Chris, Em and Tiara snorkeled while the rest of us stayed back.  Tiara ...

First up, our travel crew. =) Papang, Mommy, Richard, Me, Neil, Chris, Dets, Em, Tiara, Mark  and Ranil  (driver). Our first stop was the cemetery where we lit candles at Lolo and Lola's graves (Mommy's side).  It was already drizzling in the morning, and that pretty much was the condition the entire day... Then we were off to the Chocolate Hills which can now be viewed from two lookout points, in Sagbayan and Carmen.  Sagbayan Peak is relatively new and except for Papang and Mom, everyone else hasn't been there so that was our first stop. Sagbayan Peak  (Entrance: P30) is a resort and recreation center built on top of a hill.  It has a view deck, that allows for 360-degree unobstructed panorama of the surrounding hills and on a clear day, even Cebu. They have a tarsier center by the ticket booth, with 2 tarsiers. It was already lunchtime when we left Sagbayan Peak.  We decided to eat first before going to the Carmen lookout. ...