Mother vs. Child.

While lying on the bed, watching tv...
Me:  Hey, Gabby!  You sleep on your bed tonight.
My boy:  No... (in full American accent -- where he got it? Playhouse Disney!)
Me:  Why?!?
My boy:  Why not?!? 
I won.  I transferred him to his bed while he was in deep sleep.


While trying to play with him and make 'harot'...
Me:  Kiss Mommy!  Kiss Mommy!  Kiss Mommy!  Kiss!!!
My boy:  No, no, no.  Not today, Mommy! (still in full American accent)
I won.  I am still stronger so I was able to kiss him.


While having an argument over the food on the dining table...
Me:  Why won't you eat?!?! You are not eating your food so Mommy is very, very sad.
My boy: How about Gabby, Mommy? 
He won.  I served him his favorite Libby's sausage instead.


Summer time... lights out, about to go to sleep, electric fan in max speed...
Me:  Mommy is going to change sleeping clothes.  It's too hot.
My boy:  Aircon?
He won.  I switched the aircon on.

 

Birthdays Finally Celebrated.

It took a Checheboobear to finally gather everyone.

The date was to, first and foremost, celebrate Che's birthday on May 22 (today!).  Past birthdays -- Joy's in January, mine in February and Faye in April -- went by without us seeing each other so we had to include those in our agenda.

No one really picked the Spiral in Sofitel as the venue but somehow we ended up having our small dinner party there.



As usual, food was great and PLENTY.  But my main target was the dessert buffet.






Catching up chikas... we will never run out of them.




In the middle of everything, we learned of another reason to celebrate.  I am keeping it a secret for now but here is the bearer of the good news (wink).


We enjoyed the dinner so much, we were there until almost closing time.


And we just had to take a peek of the nice pool area of the hotel.  Here were are just before going home... (birthday girl took the picture).


Happy birthday, Checheboobear!



Digicam Photos courtesy of Faye.


 

Hubby's Back.

After one looooong month, he's back.

And here is my prize.

From Digicam Shots

It's an Op Art Coach wristlet that I have been longing to have since two years ago. 

Yey!

Touring Eric: If These Walls Could Talk.

Part of working in a multinational company is getting to work with people from different countries.  Usually, you would communicate with them via the telephone and email... and you both get by by doing just that.  

It would, however, make things easier if you put a face behind the name so site visits are welcome news for us.

Meet Eric.  He is one of the people we work with in Tampa.

From Digicam Shots

He was in town during the last week of April.  And because it was his first time, we thought of making his stay a memorable one.


Since we had little time to tour him to the beaches and provinces, we did a tour of Manila... Intramuros to be more exact.  The buzz on the Carlos Celdran tours have been around for quite sometime so, a group of officemates (Marianne, Cindy, Pierre, Imman) and I decided to take Eric's stay as an opportunity to experience the Walk This Way tour.


It all started at the Fort Santiago where we, along with more than 50 folks, both Filipinos and foreigners, gathered in one corner of the park.

From Digicam Shots

Carlos gave a brief history of the Philippines and Spain, then, off we went.  Here is Fort Santiago.

From Digicam Shots

Here is us (Cindy taking the picture).

From Digicam Shots

And here are Jose Rizal's footsteps to Bagumbayan or Luneta.

From Digicam Shots

After Fort Santiago, we took a calesa (and pedicab) ride to Baluarte de San Diego.

From Digicam Shots

The Baluarte de San Diego is where the artillery of the Spanish soldiers were kept.  Walls in this part of Intramuros were built to have the cannons mounted on them.  Right now, it has a nice garden and you pay a minimal amount for a visit (tour participants exempted).

From Digicam Shots

During our stay in the Baluarte, we got to see Carlos Celdran up close.

From Digicam Shots

Had a much needed drink (not free... Php20 per bottle).

From Digicam Shots

And had CHOCNUTS!  This time free.

From Digicam Shots

Our next stop was Victoria St. where the headquarters of Gen. MacArthur once stood.

From Digicam Shots

This was the most moving part of the tour since he discussed the horrific parts of World War II in Manila.  Many of the things he said I have never heard before in all my history classes which is sad because, in a way, we erase some important parts of our story as a people.


We, then, walked our way to San Agustin Church, the only structure in Intramuros which survived the war  (He is, by the way, not allowed to conduct the tour inside because of the Damaso act months back).  Look at the wonderful church door which I learned is authentic.

From Digicam Shots

Here he talked about Halo-Halo and how it represents Filipinos.

From Digicam Shots

Then, he brought us to Barbara's for FREE halo-halo to end the tour.  Yey!

From Digicam Shots

From Digicam Shots

It was humid and a bit rainy that day but I had lots of fun.  As Cindy would put it, it was the day that we became tourists in Manila.  It was great to re-discover the capital city via Intramuros.  The things I learned in the tour, I would forever remember.

Walk this way!


Photos courtesy of Cindy.

For more of the Carlos Celdran tours, please visit this website.

First Time Schoolboy.

Last Saturday, my little boy attended play school... for the first time.

It was a trial run in the Learning Lab class of Gymboree but my kid had a grand time so I paid the membership right then and there.  Next week, we will enroll him to the class.

Annual membership fee is Php1,800 while the lifetime membership (which is not truly lifetime because this is just until the kid is 5 yrs old) is Php3,600.  Your kid must to be a member before s/he can enroll to the classes.  For the classes, you would need to enroll your kid to a minimum of 4 sessions and this is around Php3,400. 

They have Music classes, Art classes, Sports classes and the School Skills classes.  The Learning Lab is a School Skills type of class.

Learning Lab are classes with activities which are "designed to help children build essential skills including letter and color recognition, counting, and shape identification".  Learning products from Leapfrog school are used.

In my little boy's trial class, they were asked to identify shapes, letters and they tackled the number 3.  There were only 5 kids.  The teacher provided interactive activities and sang during most of the class.

From Iphone loads

From Iphone loads

From Iphone loads

I was just looking from the outside during the one hour class.  His Ate (read: nanny) was with him inside the classroom but I thought he would still look for me.  BUT he did not.  School was waaay fun.  

So yes, it is growing up time indeed.  I am both excited and scared.

For more information about Gymboree, please visit their website.

William, Kate and I.

Ecstatic I witnessed another history...

Last April 29, Prince William married Catherine Middleton in a classy ceremony at the Westminster Abbey.



And because I wanted to be celebrate this happy occasion, I wore my own version of THE engagement ring.

From Iphone loads

Way smaller... and with my birthstone, Amethyst.  But just like the blue sapphire ring on Princess Kate's left ring finger, it was meant to remember Princess Diana.