RANDOM THOUGHTS

European Vacation - England

2010-08-30T03:57:00.004-04:00

We got back from our vacation in England and Italy over the weekend. I must say it was a fun and memorable vacation but very exhausting and expensive too.

We left at dawn on Friday the 13th bound for UK, and we arrived in Heathrow at past 10pm. It was raining and a bit cold. Good thing I packed light jackets in my carry-on, it was a last minute decision as I literally grabbed the jackets on my way out to get on the car to the airport. I was ready for summer escapade in Italy as I packed all summer outfits - shorts, leggings, sleeveless tops and t-shirts for me and my boys.

My hb insisted on renting a car and drive from London to Liverpool to visit my father-in-law and some relatives. I was very reluctant on this decision because it has been a long time since he drove last in UK, say in the early 90's. It was late at night, raining and we're driving on the opposite side of the road [left side rather than the usual right in US] with lots of round abouts. Twice we almost got into the right side of the road and then realized we had to go on the left. I must have called all the angels and saints in heaven praying to protect us on the road. It took a while to find Marriott Hotel in Windsor, we arrived there at way past midnight. We were tired and very hungry and had dinner in the hotel's cafe.

The following day we checked out at mid-morning and were ready for our long drive to Liverpool with our ever reliable GPS. Hb finally got the hang of the car and the road, and we got to Liverpool without any problem around 5pm.

Feeling Better and Taking Vacation

2010-08-12T18:06:00.005-04:00

Thank God I feel much better now. No more annoying coughs and nasal congestion. Tomorrow is the 10th day of my antibiotic intake so I am really hoping to be on clean bill of health by then. Especially so that we're going on a trip to UK to visit my father-in-law (FIL). It wouldn't be convenient to travel with a cold and with a little guy in tow too.

I'm excited for this trip, one reason being -it would be a 'real vacation' where we could have hb all to ourselves. Well you see, on our last so-called vacation, hb took us on his business trip so it was a working vacation. And worse, we all ended up getting cold so we didn't really go anywhere as much as we'd love to. I sort of just went to NJ to see a doctor and take medicine to get better. But this time, hb won't work [I won't let him peek in his laptop promise] and we are all feeling better, so this is really a nice summer get-away.

Please pray for our safe trip. Enjoy the rest of the summer friends.

Thank God It's Friday!

2010-07-23T06:41:00.005-04:00

It's Friday once again and I got up early as usual even if the little guy has no summer camp today. My two boys are still sleeping upstairs while I'm trying to catch up with what's going on in my friends' lives on FB and of course reading and replying to emails. Ahh it's just a good feeling not having to rush and watch the clock.

What to make for breakfast? I'm thinking of making oatmeal with crumbled walnut for a change rather than the usual eggs and toasts and pancakes. Hb's usual breakfast includes fresh fruits like blueberries and strawberries topped with plain yogurt. My usual breakfast is cereal with 2% reduced fat milk. And the little guy's fave breakfast is egg, usually done over-easy.

Though it's a slow day, it's not without any plans. Later today we're going to head out to the little guy's pre-school buddy, his namesake, for a swimming playdate. This playdate has been a long time coming. It's always hard to get a date available for all of us.

I hope everyone will have a great TGIF!

I Love Fridays

2010-07-16T11:27:00.005-04:00

Ahh, it's good to wake up this morning without getting stressed with looking at the clock all the time. It was a very relaxed and easy-going morning, but nevertheless an early one. No matter how late or early I retire to bed the previous night, I seem to still get up early as usual. Anyway, Fridays are off days for the little guy, there's no summer camp today.

So I didn't have to worry about what snack to pack. I didn't have to cook breakfast right away. I didn't have to remind the little guy constantly to hurry up and we might get late. I didn't have to rush leaving the house so I won't drive at the time when all the big trucks are also out on the road. Nothing of all the stressful stuffs. We had pancakes with syrup and chocolate milk. Then I was able to clean up the kitchen really good, the counters are all clutter-free and the stove top is sparkling clean.

But we need to get ready soon though. We're going to see our old friends from Gymboree again. It's playdate day today at our Korean's friend's place this time. We both can't wait. Happy Friday everyone!

Extreme Sports Summer Camp

2010-07-12T10:54:00.006-04:00

This is the second week of summer camp but the first week of my son at the Mass Premier Court doing sports and other fun and physical activities. I enrolled him in the full day session which starts at 8:45am and ends at 3:00pm. When I enrolled him online, the program says that it is open to children aged 4 to 12, but didn't mention anything about which age should be enrolled in the half or full day sessions.

I enrolled my son in May while he was still attending the regular classes on T-ball and Soccer and I mentioned about it to the Director of the Day Programs. The director said that my son might be too young for the full day session but they will see how he will keep up with the activities. Hopefully he'll be focused and participate in all the events and will endure the 6-hour session.

When I left him in the class I was a bit teary-eyed. I'm not used to leaving him in school or a camp for more than 3 hours in a day. But I would love for him to enjoy summer, learn discipline in sports, and have interaction with other kids his age. I'm also on stand-by, I couldn't do much in the house because I'm also anticipating a call from the director whether my son will stay till 3pm or he will just stay for half day session. We'll see.

Fun with Water

2010-07-11T09:14:00.005-04:00

Every afternoon the little guy and I water the lawn and plants and then play with the sprinklers. It is really fun to be a kid again pretending to play in the rain and get excited to see rainbows form behind the reflection of water mist. Rainbows really give both the little guy and I a kick. Each watering time, we end up soaking wet but we still enjoy every minute of it.

But yesterday we got some rain so we didn't get to water the plants anymore. But the little insisted that we could still go out even if it was raining, that we just have to use umbrella so we won't get wet, that was really funny. My thirsty lawn and plants got some badly needed rain after those consecutive scorching hot days.

Today seems to be another hot day, I guess I'm hoping to have a hot half of the day only so that all the kitchen and bathroom rugs that I hanged on the deck furniture yesterday would dry up. And then maybe let it rain around afternoon so it would be nice and cool at night.

By Hook or By Crook

2010-07-08T11:16:00.002-04:00

It's the third day of summer camp and the little guy is slowly getting used to the routine. My son is very active with tons of stored energy, so he really needs some fun and worthwhile activities each day. Thank God for summer camp, and this will go on for the whole month of July. I love the three hours free time to myself.

Hopefully I can stick to the schedule I made for my online course. I started an online course in November last year. It was a great start considering all the holidays and parties along the way. Early part of the year, I began getting back to it again and was almost done with the first course, I only have a final exams to take. But this was rudely interrupted again by a death of relative and I couldn't get back to the groove since then.

Now I'm trying to get back the lost momentum and gave myself an ultimatum to finish it by August this year - by hook or by crook. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can stick to my schedule, wish me luck.

The 4th of July Celebration

2010-07-06T12:54:00.005-04:00

We hosted a cookout on Sunday, the 4th of July with a very small group of friends and their kids. The kids had fun in the pool and sprinklers while the adults had fun chatting and pigging out. We've got so much food we could hardly finish them all. With all the playing in the pool, running around and through a sprinkler, my little guy got very exhausted and went to bed early, which I really liked. I was going out with my girlfriends to watch the fireworks in Boston so I was really praying that the little guy would go to bed early. Hb would rather watch his crime shows and of course I wouldn't like to tag my little guy to watch the fireworks with us so it was perfect that my two boys would just stay home.

So at around 7:30pm I picked up Josie and Joan and drove to Lea's place. Then Lea drove us all to Boston. She's a very good and patient driver who doesn't mind long drive and traffic. We parked along Charles St. and walked quite a bit to the Charles River where the fireworks will be lighted along its banks. There was a sea of people walking and most roads were closed to traffic. We stayed atop a ramp across the Mass Gen Hospital so we had a pretty good view of the display. But it didn't start on time, it started around 10:35pm, and I was really exhausted from walking and really tired since I stayed very late the prervious night for the cookout. Anyway, it was a great experience, my first time actually to be there in Boston. I normally just watch the fireworks on TV.

I got home at past midnight, but didn't go to bed till around 2am. I cleaned up a little bit in the kitchen and worked some in my computer.

Lazy Saturday

2010-07-03T10:37:00.004-04:00

It's a quiet Saturday morning. I'm taking it easy. Hb went back to bed for a nap. He needs to rest badly he's been working his ass off for the past three weeks. The little guy is busy watching Toy Story 1 dvd on the flat screen this time, while playing with his Buzz Lightyear interactive toy. He started watching it in his tiny dvd player.

I was supposed to go to the gym for the Body Sculpting class but changed my mind. After that painful tummy condition the past two days, I wouldn't like to jiggle my tummy at this time. But next week should be work-out as usual. I am anticipating a lot of pigging out tomorrow in our cookout.

Yup, cookout is tomorrow so I plan to clean and put away toys downstairs. Then after lunch I will start prepping some food so tomorrow I wouldn't be facing the stove while the guests are already here. It should be fun tomorrow as the last time I heard, the weather will be in the 90's, really warm. The kids will have fun in the pool.

I'm Feeling Better Today

2010-07-01T18:37:00.008-04:00

After that uneventful Tuesday night of vomiting and abdominal pain, I feel a lot better today. Better that is, my tummy doesn't hurt as much as yesterday. But I'm still careful about not moving very fast because sudden movement really cause a stabbing pain on the right side of my tummy. From what I've read about food poisoning, the effect like abdominal pain usually go away within 24 to 48 hours, so hopefully I'll be a lot better by tomorrow.

I put off food shopping for tomorrow so I better be up for shopping then. I need to buy food for our cookout on Sunday. I'm expecting some of my mommy friends and their kids and hopefully their husbands, and a handful of single ladies to join us on our 'annual' 4th of July cookout. This will be our 4th year of doing it. The weather will be very warm at 85 deg. F so we'll do a kiddie pool party for the kiddos too.

How about you, what do you have planned for the 4th of July?

Not Feeling Very Well

2010-06-30T07:27:00.004-04:00

I thought I could hit the sack earlier last night. But as it turned out, I stayed up late waiting for my laundry to get done. I didn't know I ran some dark clothes in the washer during the day so I had to finish the load and wait for it to dry and then fold. I was not really very hungry last night I could have gone to bed without dinner and it didn't really matter. But since I was waiting for the laundry to finish, I ate left over food from Sunday and a couple of toasts while watching reruns of Grey's Anatomy. I felt bloated afterwards so I waited for a while before going to bed which was around 1:45am.

I was restless in bed I woke up around 3am. I couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with me. I have my monthly period and I'm having an unusual menstrual pain around my tummy and lower back too. I couldn't figure out what position to do in bed, all positions seemed uncomfortable. Also I was so cold and was wrapped with blanket and comforter while hb was all exposed. I even got me a pair of socks. I went downstairs to pop a couple of Naproxen to relieve me of the pain and even put a couple of Salonpas [pain patch], but nothing helped.

Around 3:30am the little guy woke up and transferred to our bed and slept in between hb and I. I got up and tried hard to pass some air with the hope of easing the bloatedness. I struggled but a little air passed and suddenly I felt really hot. A surge of sweat came out from all my pores then I felt funny I wanted to puke. Geez, I puked maybe 6 or 7 times and I felt weak. I woke up hb to get me a cup of hot green tea, I was all sweaty. The green tea helped, I burped and passed air too, and it felt really good. Thought right now I have a little pain in between my tummy and chest, but compared to last night it doesn't hurt that much.

Today I don't really feel a 100% ok and I also feel like just staying at home but I promised to attend a playdate at a friend's house. I'm picking up a friend to get there too. The little guy is also looking forward to it, so we will go. The things you do for your kids are endless, pain is not an object

Mommies Don't Make Plans

2010-06-29T21:23:00.005-04:00

I planned to work in the yard today. I thought of starting the day with pulling weeds in the front yard and then moving some Hostas from the side bed to the middle bed in the yard. But of course when you have a little boy, making plans is kind of useless, more often than not things don't happen the way you planned it.

Since school is out this summer, and the camp is not starting till first week of July, everywhere I go, the little guy goes. With all my garden tools at hand, I went in the front yard to work. I was able to pull some weeds and the little guy was even helpful with watering the plants in the front yard. And when its time to water the plants in the backyard, that's when 'trouble' began. He saw his pop-up pool and asked me if he could play in his pool instead. The weather was really hot and humid so I thought it would be perfect for a dip in the pool. So I set aside the plan for yard work and watched the little guy have fun in the pool. So there goes my plan to do yard work, of course I have to watch the little guy.

Maybe after an hour, hb called and asked us to have lunch in Kyoto. With reluctance, the little guy got out of the pool with the promise that I will buy him the pool toy that he always wanted, so I did. After lunch and a quick trip to the store, he went back in the pool. His friend Kristen even came by to join him in the pool and afterwards they played with the outdoor toys. It was a busy day for the little guy so he got wiped out. He retired to bed at 7pm!

I'm so tired myself, I will hit the sack soon. I am a very organized mom, I have my to-do-list for the day that I plan to follow, but for some reasons not everything or none at all in the list is done. A few adjustment or changes here and there happen especially if it's the little guy who is involved. One thing I learned, mommies don't make plans, they just let the day unfolds for them.

Fun Day at a Birthday Party

2010-06-28T14:06:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we attended our good friend's son's 6th birthday party. We miss my hubby, It was the first time that we attended a party without him. He was doing some work at home and he wanted to get a lot done so he won't need to go in this week. But unfortunately, he even had to go in the lab on a Sunday to fix some equipment that quit working, otherwise he won't be able to access the network and work from home.

Anyway, the party was a lot of fun, the little guy really enjoyed himself in the bouncy, he didn't even care to eat anything. That's the way my son is, he doesn't eat much or at all during a party especially when he enjoys playing with other kids. So what I do is to pack some food to go so he can eat on the way back home.

I met a lot of old and new friends at the party and the usual faces of bff's relatives. The food was great as usual, bff cooks great food. I feasted on crab, I was even hesitant to get my hands messy but I was glad I did, it was really good. I ate too much I actually, I was really bloated when I get home. The little guy finished two big slices of pizza in the car, he was really hungry. Who wouldn't be after a lot of jumping in the bouncy and running around in the yard.

Anyway, we left at 4:30pm and I thought the little guy would fall asleep on the way home, but good thing he didn't. He really needed a good bath after getting soaked with sweat after each jump in the bouncy and his feet were really dirty from running barefooted in the yard. He obviously had fun in the party. He had a really good night's rest, all wiped out.

Morning Habits

2010-06-27T06:00:00.004-04:00

My little guy always transfers to our room around 4-ish or 5-ish in the morning when he wakes up. He will climb up to our bed and take a little snooze in between hubby and I, and then after a few minutes he'll wake me up to ask for breakfast. Today he might have climbed up around 4:30am and soon after that, my hubby hopped in bed too. What, hubby just finished working? Geez, when I said in my previous post that he's been working hard and late the past days, I meant that literally. Then around 5:30am, the little guy insisted that I make breakfast for him, he was very hungry. Poor mommy wanted to sleep some more but had to get up pronto.

My son's fave breakfast is Egg [any way] & Toasts. Today he asked for boiled egg but I suggested poached egg instead. It takes a while to boil an egg but it only takes 45 minutes to poach an egg in the microwave, he didn't argue. So around 5:45 the little guy's breakfast was done and he was happy. He had poached egg, toasts and chocolate milk. Now he's resting in his tent. I told him that we should go upstairs again and go back to bed but he wanted to rest in his tent.

We planned to go to church early today but I guess it won't happen that way. Hubby needs to get some sleep so I'll give him that. We're going to attend my bff's son's 6th birthday party today so I'm pretty sure it's just gonna be the little guy and myself who will drive there now. Since we're up very early anyway, I guess we can go to 7:30am and hubby can go to 12 noon mass, sounds good.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone, enjoy the summer heat!

I Love Weekends

2010-06-26T16:47:00.004-04:00

Weekends are family days. It's the time of the week when I spend more time with hubby as he's not working much. Well sometimes he works in his upstairs office even on weekends. He's been working hard until late at night for the past weeks so he really needs to unwind from time to time. This morning we had breakfast at our fave diner the Cafe of the Common. I wanted to still stay for a while in bed but he was very hungry he wanted to leave as soon as he woke up. When the little guy woke up and asked for breakfast, that's the sign that I really needed to get up too.

As soon as we got back home from breakfast, I spent a few minutes with the little guy biking across the street to the house. Then it was time to get ready for the gym, but the little guy insisted on coming with me. Since hubby went back to his computer, I decided to take the little guy with me since I was late for Body Sculpting class anyway. In fact I was 30 minutes late so I just worked out on my own while I left the little guy in the play area with another kid. Then at the last 30 minutes of my work out I brought him to the women's area and he imitated me working out.

After the gym, I went home just to take a shower and got ready for lunch with my two boys. We tried this new Indian place in Sharon called Coriander Bistro. The place was actually the former French resto that we used to go to, but now it's a totally new resto with the same name. The food was good, not very expensive, and closer than the Indian resto that we go to in Norwood.

Right after lunch we went straight to the movie theater to watch Toy Story 3. The little guy was really excited since this morning, he couldn't help but talk about going to movie theater. It's gonna be his first time to watch a movie so we're not sure if he will like it. Anyway, the movie was great, he was ecstatic holding a bag of popcorn while watching. The movie was amazing but with a sad ending I thought, and the little guy did pretty well in the movie theater, didn't get scared at all. This will be the start of more movie dates with my family.

Movie Outing with Girlfriends

2010-06-26T12:10:00.003-04:00

Late afternoon yesterday, my good friend called to ask if she left a pair of sunglasses in my place, and actually she did. So she swung by to pick them up. When my girlfriend arrived, the little guy and I were in the yard watering the plants and pulling weeds, so she got out of the car to chat. That time it was the little guy who was holding the hose. He is really very helpful he wants to try everything I'm doing. But out of the blue my girlfriend kidded if the little guy could also hose down her car. Then without both my gf and I noticing it, the little guy was already by the car hosing down the wheels and the side of her car. That was really funny. And mind you the little guy did a pretty good job cleaning the car. I could have just asked him to clean my car too instead of taking it to the car wash and spent $21 the other day, ha ha ha.

Anyway, my gf stuck around and we had dinner together. She was actually going out to watch a movie with our other gf and she was inviting me to join them. I was reluctant because the little guy was not in bed yet, and hubby will still work some in his computer. The movie will not start till 9:45 yet anyway, so my gf volunteered to read the little guy his bedtime stories and we left just after he snoozed. Perfect!

So we watched Knight and Day which starred Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. It was a very funny and action-filled movie, and some scenes were shot in Boston. Geez, I just wondered how they were able to shoot all those chasing and shooting scenes in the busy Boston and even at the tunnel. And also at a corn field where a plane exploded. Anyway, I don't want to spoil the excitement for the people who haven't watched it yet.

Oftentimes, the spur of the moment thingy works perfect for me. There are times that we plan to go out and it doesn't happen due to conflict of schedules. I had a great time last night and I'm looking forward to watching another movie, this time Toy Story 3 with my two boys.

Another Busy Day for the Kiddo

2010-06-25T11:01:00.005-04:00

I'm just waiting for my baked Shrimps to get done in the oven and then we're off to another playdate. The little guy is getting excited so I just turned on his favorite show on TV to redirect his attention, otherwise he's gonna be bugging me to leave already. Anyway, this group of friends we're meeting today is the usual group that we see maybe once a week. This group is composed of Filipinos, Indians, and Haitians. But this time our other Ukranian friends and her two daughters are joining so it's gonna be extra exciting to see them again. I so love summer because we get to spend a lot of time outdoors with family and friends, and the fun activities with kids are endless.

Reunion with Old Friends

2010-06-24T22:11:00.004-04:00

The weather was great today, so perfect for outdoor activities with kids, exactly what we did today. The little guy had a playdate with his two old Gymboree buddies today, Jake and Daniel. They had fun time playing in the popup swimming pool; taking turns in squirting water everywhere; jumped back and forth through a sprinkler; played golf; and a lot of running around. They played really well, was very good in taking turns in using some toys [most of the time]. They had a snack of pizza, frozen yogurt, pospsicle, and ice cream.

Of course the moms had a great time chatting the time away, catching up with all the happenings in our respective lives. If only Jake didn't have a baseball class late in the afternoon, we could have stayed for much longer. But I could see that the kids were a little tired already and I was predicting that they will have a good night's sleep. True enough, during the long car ride, the little guy fell asleep easily, he was actually wiped out.

We missed our friends badly, we all thought we should do playdates more often. That's why we planned another one in mid July at our Korean's friend's house this time. We hope to invite the other Gymboree buddies to complete the gang.

Zumba or Body Sculpting?

2010-06-24T08:41:00.003-04:00

Last night was the last day of Zumba session. Another session will start next week, but they removed the Saturday classes and retained only the Mondays and Wednesdays ones. It's not all the time that I can attend weekday classes because hubby is always busy at work and I have to take care of the little guy till he retires to bed which leaves me no more time go to the gym. But luckily for two Wednesdays in a row, my good friend Josie has been very accommodating enough to babysit the little guy while I hit the gym. But I don't want to abuse her kindness by giving her additional responsibility with taking care of my kid when she's got a toddler herself. What to do, what to do?

Actually they replaced the Saturday Zumba class with Total Body Sculpting which is quite more intense and hard. So I'm having second thoughts about taking that instead. My instructor told me that I could do it, but I doubt my capacity, lol. I really love Zumba, if only hubby ccould work from home again often so weekdays wouldn't be a problem. But I will try the Body Sculpting this Saturday and see how I do. Wish me luck.

Such a Scare

2010-06-23T15:30:00.002-04:00

I came back home today to a smell of gas leak lingering in the whole house. When I checked the stove I saw that one of the burner's knobs was turned a bit. My little guy probably played with it while waiting for us to leave for his swimming class. This is just the first time it happened. The aircon was on so there were no open windows at all. So the first thing I did was to turn off the a/c and open all the windows and doors to let the awful gas smell out. We left at 15 minutes past 12pm and returned around 3:30pm, so it has been over 3 hours that the gas was leaking.

Anyway, I was glad I came back home when I did because I was even planning to go to the mall to buy the little guy another pair of Crocs. Otherwise, I don't know what could have happened if the gas was left leaking for few hours more. I don't even want to think about the worst. It's my habit to check the stove, oven and coffee maker if they've been switched off all the time, but for some reason I forgot to check it today. I'm just glad nothing untoward things happened, thank God. The little guy has been told what to do, I hope he remembers.

Dealing With Impossible People

2010-06-22T09:14:00.004-04:00

What ticks you off? Is there any person you wouldn't like to have interaction with but just is not possible? Well I know exactly who this person I don't want to talk to as soon as I wake up in the morning. This person has got too much negativity, potty-mouthed, cynical, and has the habit of twisting stories.

This person asked me a favor to buy some stuff with the condition of paying me later. I mailed the stuff to the person in two batches. But since I couldn't visit this person anytime soon, I asked that this person just send me a check. But to my surprise this person only sent me 2/3 of what this person owes. When I called this person a few minutes ago, this person claimed that apparently I told the person that the other 1/3 was free and it's a gift from me. This person even accused me of being forgetful.

Geez, the nerve of this person. I never told the person about anything for free, I was just doing the person a favor and here I am being short-changed. Anyway, the person agreed to pay me back but after the struggle of putting some senses into the person's head. I hate dealing with the person but I have no choice.

I pray to God to give me more patience and understanding and strength to deal with impossible people.

What to Do, What to Do

2010-06-21T09:54:00.003-04:00

So my little guy's pre-school ended on Tuesday last week. It means I should think of activities to entertain the guy without driving me nuts, ha ha ha. You see he's very helpful in the house. He loves helping me in my household chores to the point of me not finishing anything at all. He loves to be in the middle of the action. If he hears me vacuuming the floor, he would stop whatever he's doing and he'd offer to help, "Mom, I'll help, I'll help!" Everything seems to be like play to him. But I miss the three hours that he's in school when I can do so much stuff in the house. Oh well this is a job for supermom, think something creative and fun for the kids.

Today, we're going to the store to buy food. One of the things he loves to do in the store is to help me scan the items and the car cart ride. After our trip to the store, I will let him play in the yard for an hour or two and then head back in the house for lunch. Rest time after lunch and then do some art work. In the afternoon, we're going out to the yard again to ride our bikes or perhaps take a trip to the playground. That's a great plan for today.

It's Officially Summer

2010-06-21T07:59:00.003-04:00

Finally summer has arrived. Summer is my favorite season of all, it has the longest days and shortest nights of all the seasons. It means that my family and I will have a lot of time to spend outdoors again.

On Memorial Day weekend we went to Carson Beach in South Boston where we had a picnic and went biking in the bike path across the beach. Then over the weekend we went to Scusset Beach in Cape Cod for a fun time with friends. The water was a bit cold so nobody went swimming. But we just hanged out in the sand while we eat our packed food. We watched the kids having fun playing in the sand. We even braved walking, hopping, and jumping through a long stretch of big boulders to get to the Lighthouse. It was a little scary since I have my little guy with me, but it was a total fun, especially after reaching the Lighthouse.

This is just the start of more fun time with family and friends. We are thinking of going camping next and more beaches and biking too. Enjoy your summer everyone!

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T09:09:00.004-04:00

Today is Father's Day. I'd like to honor all the fathers out there especially my tatay [father], my husband, my brother, my brother-in-law, and everybody who have sacrificed for the welfare of their families.

Dad, you're someone to look up to no matter how tall I've grown. ~Author Unknown

Busy Day

2010-06-20T08:54:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a very busy day. I started the day early to get the house ready as we have some company coming. We had a great meal and exchanges of pleasantries. Then right before our guests left, two girlfriends arrived to pick us up for a stroll in the beach. But before we even left, we passed by the house of our good friends where the convoy started. They've got all kinds of food packed like Dinuguan [Pig's Blood Stew], Pinapaitan,. Pansit, Sinigang na Isda [Fish Stew], tacos, spring rolls, and cassava cake.

We went to Scusset Beach in Cape Cod. We left quite late at past 4pm but it was perfect as there were not a lot of people in the beach so its not crowded. It was a long walk from the parking lot to the shore but my little guy enjoyed every minute of the walk in the sand. He loves sand so to say that he was very excited is an understatement. It was breezy and got a bit cold afterwards. We had tacos, spring rolls and cassava cake while sharing a lot of laughs. But the highlight of our stroll in the beach was the walk on the long stretch of big boulders to the lighthouse. You have to be really careful as you hop and jump from boulder to boulder passing small and big cracks as one wrong move would either make you fall in the crack or scrape your legs. I had my little guy with me so I was extra careful.

Then after the beach we went back to our good friends' house to finish up all the food. We stayed there till about past 11pm. We had a great time. It was great to join the group even in such short notice. We always enjoy their company anyway.