Thursday, November 1, 2012

Theater Trip

The child in me was excited to see The Wizard of Oz even before my son had a scheduled theater trip last month. The whole school of 80 screaming and crying kids from toddler to kinder plus the SPEDS went together to see the Wizard of Oz. Punctuality is not one of my good traits, being a heavy sleeper I felt embarrassed to keep the bus waiting so we went on our own instead. It was expensive for P800 per head unlike the real deal which would only cost P400 maybe because of the private bus fare. Anyway, filipino artists are really good compared to the theater performance I saw in Hongkong way back. My son had fun and so did I :)







Macau Once More!

Macau is a place my husband and I always enjoy, every time we go back there it just feels so friendly and accommodating. Our first trip there together was in 2007 afterwards we went to China which was just a border away and Hongkong which was 45 minutes ferry ride away. Second we visited Macau was last year where we back packed, went to the airport on red eye without even booking a place to stay lol good thing we met a nice lady where she took us to this condotel which is a lot cheaper than the hotel I had in mind. This year, we went with our little munchkin Vinn. It was part of the package I got online, this time we came from Hongkong. Macau never fails to amaze me, with their popular casinos and the market stalls in Senado Square plus shopping is more fun there, no tax or anything. Wish I had more time there than in Hongkong :))

here are some of the trip's photos:










Bicolandia

This was my second visit in Bicol this year, went last April with the whole clan, my mom goes there every two months to keep track of this small farm we have back there. It was the town's fiesta this time of year, they celebrated for like a week, had a couple of "baraylehan" town dance and some kind of music festival where 26 folks showed their talents in singing. My mom was one of the sponsors and panel judges for the finals. The contestants not only came from one town, there was even one who came from Makati, one in Bulacan and even Tarlac, others are from Bicol travelled for like 4 hours just to join the contest in Badian, Albay. Yours truly along with my sister are two among the five preliminary judges, I know, I know lol it was not a family career nor was it paid :)) It was fun, my first time to judge a singing contest even for this small town "lakas maka-J.Lo" haha. My husband said I took it seriously, yes I did lol. The only problem in that area was the electric power, I heard the whole Albay has 1 Billion electric debt at ALECO company, provider of electricity in that whole province so black outs are often, good thing generators are cheap nowadays. Anyway, the "probinsya" experience will not be complete without using the deep-well pump which we call "pozo", my son had a blast :). The beach was a few feet away from the house so he was always up and about collecting pebbles and chasing pigeons.

here are some of the photos on the trip to Bicol:













Vinn turns 2

Two months prior to September 22 I booked Mcdonalds Greenbelt Grimace party room for 90 pax for my son's 2nd birthday for family and few close friends. Did the invites on facebook, paid the whole party package for P14000++ games, 30 pcs loot bags, balloons and prices included. For the cake, I ordered fondant cake and 50 cupcakes online toy story themed which costs P4000 all in not bad unlike the one I had last year which cost me P7500. The loot bags are from divisoria which cost P35 each including the toys inside and the pouch bag itself. The buzz lightyear costume was from my mother-in-law. The only downside I had on the venue is that it didn't start on time and they cut it short, the games are not that fun unlike the ones they have in Jollibee. Anyway my son and the visitors had a great time except for the Grimace mascot appearance which frightened Vinn and Eile (one of my best buds) lol.

here are the photos on Vinn's Party:







Simple School Birthday

I miss blogging... been occupied lately for doing some research on this upcoming thing my husband and I had been planning, thank you long weekend for 4 days of peace :) anyway, where shall I start? Oh I recall the last thing I did last September which was our trip and my son's birthday. Okay, for his second birthday we had one at school which was held on his real birthday 18th of September and one for the whole family later that weekend. The school birthday party was prepared by yours truly and my side kick NiƱa lol. The Menu for the 35 pax kids are the following: mini burgers, spaghetti and french fries, for the teachers and staff we prepared spaghetti, potato salad, pansit, chicken cordon bleu and caesar salad. I spent approximately less than P2,000 for the 35pax kids menu and 20 pax staff menu including drinks and organic food boxes. The loot bags were this giant beach balls I bought in toy kingdom for P69 buy 1 take 1 lol, I just added candies and lollipops. I ordered the cake from Goldilocks a day prior to my kid's birthday and asked them to brush paint it blue which costs P50, the cake costs P480 which in total P530, I was aiming for fondant cake just like the ones I had made for him but I was supposed to order 3-days ahead at Red Ribbon cheapest one I liked in fondant costs P1,780 good for 45 servings, anyway the Goldilocks cake was not that bad and it was cheap good for 45 servings also. I borrowed the toy story characters we purchased in Disneyland from my son and used them as cake toppers :)) 

here are the photos from Vinn Nikolai's 2nd Birthday in Playschool Academy:







    

A Visit to Kowloon


Had a weekend in Hongkong last September with my husband and our little munchkin Vinn. Four days in Hongkong was interesting and at the same time exhausting if you are with a small child who wants to do nothing but run, sleep, eat, and run again, it will definitely make you miserable lol. Anyway, I got the airline tickets online it was on sale at P5,000++ pesos for the three of us including surcharges and then I saw this tour online also which includes a trip to Macau, disneyland passes, city tour, all transfers and accommodation for our 4 days 3 nights stay at P9,000++ for 2 adults, not bad. It was a hassle free tour if not for the coach driver who did not pick us up at Disney and on our flight home to the airport, good thing I can get a refund for that. Nothing much to see at Hongkong, Aberdeen fishing Village is so overrated sorry or maybe because I am used to seeing things like that like most Asians, regardless I will not pay another $50hk just for a 30 minute boat ride again. We also went to JC jewelries where they say most of the golds in Ongpin, Manila comes part-owned by Jackie Chan kaching! $$$ moolah much? lol. Also, the guide showed us his house on top of the hill which costs a whooping $70M hongkong dollars my oh my I swooned and drooled a little. Going back on the tour we also visited Avenue of the Stars which is a long walkway by the bay where Hongkong's movie stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chao Yun Fat have their prints carved on the pavement and a star shaped tile where their names are printed, probably to imitate the one in Hollywood. On shopping it is good to stay near Mongkok, the night market was barely a few feet away from us, we stayed at Stanford Hotel, by the budget but clean and comfortable. Tempting as it was we didin't had time to shop for by the time we got back from the day tour, Vinn is already asleep and we're too tired to walk. As for the food, it was great and cheap if you will eat just by the streets and not on their fancy restaurants, a lot fo Street foods in Kowloon but mostly we ate at Mcdonalds lol, I had free coupons for breakfast, cheapskate much! :)). As for Disneyland versus Universal Studios, I think the one in Singapore will be enjoyed by Adults more than the one in Hongkong, Disneyland is generally designed for kids and those kids by heart, well I had fun! lol

let me share some of our photos :)