My little brother is back home…


The title is a misnomer actually…coz he’s not so little anymore. In fact, he’s physically much taller than me now and he’s home for a vacation after spending more than two years as a layout artist/graphic artist for a big-time advertising outfit in Abu Dhabi so that makes him pretty much a BIG TIME GUY! Coz he earns a 6-figure salary …about 5 times more than I make in a month!

And truly…I find that ironic…Since back when we were younger, my brother was the one who usually gets scolded for having failing grades…he regularly attends summer classes …and gets a tongue lashing for coming home with his notebooks devoid of lecture notes and his books often left behind inside school classrooms, cafeterias or even during his jeepney rides home. Instead, his notebooks are filled with drawings of cartoon characters and other famous super heroes back then…I guess, he truly wasn’t into REAL STUDYING even back then…real according to normal standards of schooling, which is why he was always on the brink of failing although he did manage to finish high school.

Then, in college he went against my father’s (subtle) wishes to follow his career path of entering military school…well being the only son it was more or less implied that he would follow in Papa’s footsteps to the PMA and have that military career he never truly had. But instead, my brother chose to follow his heart’s true desire – to DRAW. He also sported long hair, tattooed back and arms (some of which he himself drew) and indulged in music (drums and electric guitars) My father never openly opposed any of his whims but he was disappointed and it shows through in not so many ways…still, he just let him be. In fact, my brother did not even finish his college degree because he did not want to take up ROTC because he’d have to cut his long hair short. He worked in small advertising firms and generally lived a musician bum’s life for quite some time…jamming with friends, chicks and booze.

Until he sired a kid…and I guess that’s what changed him…made him truly look at life seriously this time. He began to hold serious jobs, and for a time had a family – with wife and kid. But it was temporary – like most things in his life… just another thing he took seriously but only for a time until he got restless again…and he moved on. Except for the fatherhood thing – that is one thing I believe he would never renege on. And I guess it’s what pushed him to seek greener pastures abroad.

He’s been working in Abu Dhabi for more than two years now and I’m glad he’s making good there…now at least he can provide well for his family (he has 2 kids na though he’s long been separated from the mom…don’t ask me to explain coz he can’t either…) And he can also afford to indulge in his hobbies – photography and music during his lonely times working abroad…Now, he can also afford to shoulder some of Mama’s needs (even whims!) and can give generous gifts to his siblings (including me!), pamangkins and even friends.

But I guess more than the financial stability that he has achieved… I guess my bro can now lay claim to being ‘successful’ in his own way despite all the pitfalls and insecurities he had as a child. And in spite of all what the doomsayers and naysayers may have said about his future as a rebellious child. Now, he can thumb his nose at all of them and just be proud of what he has become…but I don’t think it is in his nature to do that… I guess what matters to him now is the recognition and importance granted to him now by my father – who is in a way, quite mighty proud of what he has achieved…coz no one ever expected that the one among us who did not finish college would be the one most successful!

God truly moves in mysterious ways…For what someone may lack in diligence and intelligence in studies, He would more than make up in talent and grit…and I guess these my brother had in abundance, and it paid him off very well…I can say without a hint of envy (okay maybe a bit) that I am also quite proud of what he has become. I just pray that he would continue to take advantage of all the opportunities that comes his way…that he would not just splurge all his earnings on highly technical non-essential gadgets and instead set aside something and plan for his and his kids’ future. I know that despite the good pay, it is hard to live and work abroad, staying too long away from the family – and I hope God continues to give him the patience and tenacity to survive loneliness and whatever hardship he may face there. Be strong bro… we’ll always be here for you!

FAILED TRIP TO MALAYSIA

Last year, at the height of the airline booking bagsak presyo frenzy that was started by Cebu pacific (with its PISO fares)…other airlines followed suit and among them Air Asia. At that time, my sister was still staying with her BF in Malaysia/Singapore and so my mother and sister decided to take a trip to visit her. It also happened that at the time Air Asia was giving its own gimmick with ‘zero fares’ which is why we were able to book tickets to Malaysia at only PhP500 per person …two-way trip huh! Imagine that! It’s even cheaper than our own Palawan trip at PhP1200 per person and our recent Bohol trip at PhP1500 per person!!! WTF?!?? Good thing too I had a recently acquired passport at that time and so I consented to go on the trip with all four of us girls…that would be exciting! That was last year…this time though it’s quite a different story! As the date of our flight nears I began to get apprehensive that I may not be able to join them after all…For starters, there is the matter of the budget. It had been barely a month when my resources had been severely depleted by the kids’ enrollment and the buying of school uniforms, books and other necessary school stuff and after a month, I have not been able to get back on track with my finances just yet…Then, there is the other matter of the current changes happening in the office…we have a new boss, I have just been recently transferred to a new unit and now have new jobs/tasks that I am still learning to do, new people/officemates to adjust to…so I couldn’t very well just get up and leave them after only a month!?!? So what am I to do???? I guess the fact that this trip was partly unplanned had something to do with it… Maybe it would have been better if we had all sat down and planned this trip together, arranged an itinerary, and maybe even set up a ‘common fund’ to ensure that we’d have money/savings for the event…oh well, as it turned out even Mama was hesitant to leave her teaching job (because classes had already started, in fact last month pa). And what’s more, Marn is back home here in Pinas so I guess the real essence of the trip isn’t there anymore …so I guess we also need to work out the proper schedule din next time… make the trip during vacation time so the Mama will be able to join us…oh well, I sure hope there’s gonna be another time! As it is, only Anna will be able to make good on the trip…alone! Good luck to her! After all, she doesn’t have any family or kids or bf to worry about…go girl and have some fun in Malaysia and Singapore!!!

TRANSITIONS

We're in the midst of numerous changes... we have a new president...and since I work for a government office, it is expected that we would also have a new boss. This has led to some organizational changes and quite unexpectedly... our unit was dissolved. It seems our new boss had no love lost for the media and doesn't fancy himself being interviewed incessantly unlike the previous boss so he deemed it unnecessary. At first we were apprehensive, wondering if together with the dissolution of our unit (comprised of 3 personnel and a unit head), we would also be retrenched. But thankfully, we were not and instead just transferred to other units. What's bad though is that we all weren't together anymore. I'd surely miss the people I have been with these past four years. I would also miss the job of handling media events, a job which I was trained to do in college and which I have been doing for the most of my working life...I also miss reading my newspapers every single day; and always being on the lookout for important news 24 hours of my existence (be it on TV or radio). For a time, I thought I have reached my saturation point of breathing and living on nothing but news...but now that it's gone... I realize I missed it. But I knew I have to accept this... who knows, there just may be something better in store for me.

A NEW REF FROM PAPA!

I received an urgent text from Papa asking me to call him at the office (well, all texts emanating from him are classified as urgent since if you don’t respond immediately he’ll call and ask what’s wrong!) And dutiful daughter that I am, I immediately called him and good thing I did too because it seems he won something in a raffle at one of their golf tournaments (again!). He asked if I had a ref and I told him the one I had came from him a few years ago and it was previously owned by original owners of his condo. I also told him that the bottom part was a bit rusty na and that I was planning to buy a replacement by December…and so he said he’d give me the ref na lang and I could pay for it when I have the money na! So I said YES! YES! YES!...I just hope he doesn’t mean that I need to pay him the entire amount huh? I am thinking maybe half is a good deal…after all I am his favorite daughter???

The hubby and I decided to get the ref immediately that night…so that he won’t have the chance to change his mind! And besides the ref is just placed downstairs behind the guard so we could easily pick it up no matter how late the hour is…and it was a Friday so expectedly they still weren’t home when we got the ref from Ateng at around 9PM. Upon arrival home, we excitedly opened the box and saw that the ref we got was in our favorite color pa – a six feet gray Panasonic ref! Thanks again Pa for an advanced Christmas gift!!!

ATE FELY’S HOME


My hubby’s sister is home after two years of slaving away in Qatar…I am not sure if this is the first time that she’ll be coming home but what I do know is that this is the first time we will be going over to the airport to pick her up. It was just too bad that her flight home is too late (10 or 11 pm I think) but I guess that’s the promo package that she got so who am I to complain. It was a weekday when we picked her up so after delivering the shuttle passengers at SM Fairview, we picked up Kaye and Ditse at SM and went to the airport. Expectedly, we were there early at around 8 so we had to wait for like two hours more before she went out. We ate our dinner there at a Jollibee kiosk inside the waiting area. Much has been improved with the NAIA terminal but it still leaves much to be desired.

When finally, Ate Fely came out, we travelled all the way to Bahay Pare to bring her home to Inang and the others who waited up for her arrival. Of course, we had to stay for the opening of the packages so we can have our share of the pasalubongs… I don’t remember anymore what she got for me or my kids but what I do know is that she gave Jun rubber shoes – black Adidas which is a bit small but can still fit him. And of course, chocolates! We were able to go back home at 2am na…but I’m just glad the hubby is happy not only with what he received from his sister, but also to be able to spend time with her. At least, if even for just a month, they would be able to spend precious moments with her before she goes back to Qatar for two more years of hard labor.

AUNTIE JINGAY’S BIRTHDAY


We visited Auntie Jing’s house today to celebrate her birthday. It was an afternoon gig and quite understandably so because these people have a late night clock so they usually sleep in late and get up at around 11 am na for brunch. So maybe that’s why she invited us for a late lunch/ meryenda sena at 4pm. The food was plentiful and the kids took to the pool at once upon arrival. We all had fun eating and bonding with relatives whom we do not regularly see. Which is why I am glad that the hubby gamely brought us here even if my aunt’s house is in faraway Pasig…I know after eating he becomes quite bored and just whiles away the time watching over the kids or chatting with my cousins (who have become his friends) but of late, I have noticed him just patiently waiting and not putting any pressure on us to hurry home…I guess he realized that it’s the same thing we do when we’re at his home province…wait until he decides he’s had his fill and takes us home.

While chatting with Tita E, I learned the good news that Rachel and Jon are finally leaving for Dubai , well good for them! Then I heard Tita E mention that Jun is next on her list…she’d try to look for a job that would fit his qualifications so that we too would have the chance to go abroad together – even just the two of us so that we could finally have our house renovated and maybe even buy for ourselves a van…well, it doesn’t hurt to dream diba? Who knows, God may just grant us this wish if we pray for it hard enough…

SWIMMING AT MALAMIG RESORTS

It’s Angel’s birthday and lucky for her and her mom---they won in jueteng! So what better way to celebrate than have a …swimming party!!! It’s our third actually for the month of May but the kids don’t ever get tired of a pool – any pool! So off we went this time to visit Malamig Resorts, another pretty cool although already quite an old resort in the Bulacan area…














There were many pools…two kiddie pools, a wave pool, numerous deep pools for adults and teens and their biggest draw – the slides…which the kids truly enjoyed!













Still another outing with minimal costs on our part...it's nice having some people to share the costs with like this...because we do really want to make the kids happy all the time...but we just can't because of budgetary constraints, especially with school opening getting near and the expenses that entails! So I hope, our outings would be more collaborations like these...so it would be easier for all of us!

SWIMMING AT GALILEE

This weekend we had another ‘instant’ swimming outing because (unknown to me) the hubby texted pala last night to ask me if I wanted to join Edward and his family in an outing to Jed’s Island Resort. But since I slept early last night, I never read the text message, so when he came in at around 5 in the morning, he wondered why we weren’t ready yet…so we hurriedly fixed our things to join him since it would not entail much expense on our part. You see, Edward’s sister recently arrived from Japan and her daughter couldn’t really take the heat hence the decision to go swimming. They needed the hubby to drive for them and so he would be taking us with him…I relented to go since it would be one of the few times we’d be joining his family FOR FREE! So even if I do not really know this people all that much, I figured, maybe it’s time to get to know them now…after all, they were still Jun’s relatives!

We first went to Jed’s Island Resort but since the place was full and didn’t look very nice, we went to a different resort – Galilee which was very pretty. It had many pools, I think around three but there was very little shade once one gets in the water. Even the water seemed clean…my only beef was the restroom/shower room but I didn’t have to stay long there naman, so it was OK.











What was more than OK was the food…it was simply overflowing! Which suited Kit very well…he also was able to adapt well to the people around him since being him, he gets friendly with almost anyone even if he just met them. Totally unlike Kaye and myself since even if we talk a bit with the people around us…we would often just keep to ourselves, swim quietly in our little corner and just play with each other…well, I guess that’s just how diverse our personalities are…

A SIMPLE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION


We had a simple birthday celebration lang today for Kaye’s birthday since it was just the four of us here at home at San Jose…so rather than cook for four or order take-out, we just spent the evening at SM Fairview. After work hours and since it was a Tuesday (so that means no shuttle for the hubby), we texted Kit to just meet us at SM Fairview around 6PM. Our first stop was Tom’s World where the kids (and even the hubby!)had fun playing games and collecting tickets to get a pretty gift for the birthday girl… while I just took pictures of them playing and goofing around…














After the kids had their fill of games, we ate dinner at KFC then before going home, we bought a cake at Red Ribbon which she blew and we ate at home na…truly a simple yet still fun-filled celebration even with just the four of us…

SWIMMING WITH THE KIDS AT VILLA CONSTANCIA


We had an “instant” swimming outing today because the kids just won’t let go of their week-long plan to go swimming at a pool this weekend. But their ‘plans’ fizzled out when they realized that the pool they’ve been eyeing to visit is five feet deep all over and thus is not ideal for kids like them…But they won’t give up that easily since they already requested P50.00 entrance fees from their parents and had bought chichiria as their baon and so they ‘pestered’ Jun to bring them somewhere…anywhere…where they could swim and so we ended up going to Villa Constancia in Tenejeros.

The place had two pools – a small one for kids and slightly bigger one for adults. The place was clean naman and what’s more we had the entire place to ourselves. The smaller pool even had a tent above it so that the kids weren’t so exposed to the glaring sun.





We brought the food much later, coz Jun brought the kids earlier, after eating breakfast this morning – just adobo (which Ditse cooked) and some hotdogs for the kids to eat as snacks. We also bought pakwan for dessert and a huge pot of cooked rice. There were just a few of us…since this wasn’t exactly planned but we all had fun and even Ditse who had no plans at all of swimming had no choice but to swim too because the heat was just too much to bear…it was one good way to beat the heat even for just one day!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 12: Polvoron ala Lucy

Today, my daughter and I shared another bonding moment when we made polvoron using a recipe from Lucy Torres-Gomez which I read in an old newspaper entry( I just forgot when???) The recipe called for the following ingredients (which we were lucky to have on hand) – ½ c toasted flour, ½ c skimmed milk (in lieu of Birch Tree which I understand Lucy is endorsing), 2/3 c white sugar, ½ c unsalted butter.

My daughter just watched and asked a myriad of questions while I was toasting the flour, then she helped measure out the sugar and milk and in mixing in the butter. But what was truly fun for both of us was the molding and wrapping process – we used pretty red Japanese paper to wrap the 23 pieces we were able to make…well, some of them got eaten even before they got wrapped! Which is why our plans to sell sana our polvoron went pfft! The resulting polvoron was so good so we just decided to eat them all!!! Next time we vowed to double the ingredients and take note of the cost of the items we bought (well, because the flour and the sugar was already on hand, I couldn’t recall how much they cost!) so that even after we’ve had our fill of this very delectable dessert, we’d still have something left over to sell…

ON KIDS AND COURTSHIP


Yesterday, I had a funny yet totally disturbing conversation with my daughter - she told me that her cousin who is nine years old (just one year older than her) already had a boyfriend…a classmate who was also her textmate…When I asked how he became her boyfriend, she just said that he was her crush and she was likewise his crush and when they both knew that simple fact – that was it! They were ‘ON’ na!!! And I go what??? It’s that easy!?! No more courtship??? No more getting-to-know-you stage??? Grabe naman! I never realized how quickly times have changed…before courtship was a very long and tedious process that starts with friendship…(well, my grandma can argue they had a more difficult time – I’m sure!) But still…I wonder??? What happens when they realize they don’t like each other pala…they drop the relationship like one hot potato??? Oh dear, so that’s why I have been noticing that this niece of mine has long stopped playing with her other cousins whenever we come home to the province to visit, while my daughter and her other cousins play ball and bathe outside by the poso, she just sits in her corner, texting and mostly keeping to herself…I just hope that my daughter won’t do the same thing her cousin did and have a boyfriend at such a young age…if my wish would be granted, I hope she enjoys her youth and plays with her friends and her girly toys for a long…long…long…time! After all, she’d have the rest of her adult life to worry about boys and getting into (and out of) relationships!!!

PIAO outing @ Subic and Olongapo

Finally, we had the chance to experience another real outing with the PIAO staff… because for the past two years we have not been able to go on what others may consider a REAL team-building because we only just go to Tagaytay to eat and tour the sites (visit zoos, ride the zip, do some souvenir shopping) then eat; pose for pictures and eat again…before heading home without sleeping over…really just one big food trip and daytour (whatever you may wish to call it…)






But this time, we decided to visit Subic and sleepover at a nondescript inn at Olongapo city that’s well within our budget (hehehe coz we can’t afford to stay inside Subic eh) …our group left early at 6am so we could travel to Subic within three hours. We had a short side trip at Jolibee in Tabang for breakfast. We reached Ocean Adventure at 9am but only Kaye, Kit, Jairah and I entered because the others didn’t feel like watching e…or maybe they didn’t want to shell out that much money. Instead, they went to JEST camp for some trekking and survival training (which I believe only cost about PhP150 or PhP200). But then again, I wouldn’t trade our Ocean Adventure for anything because WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!...and its PhP 500 price tag is truly truly worth it!!! Just too bad for the others huh?







The adventure started with a short briefing about the animals we would soon encounter – the seals and dolphins they have acquired and named liked regular pets. Then, we visited them in their pens and cages and we saw even then that they were truly such playful creatures…after about 30 minutes of just idle browsing, off we went na to our first show – The Sea Lion Show!








It was funny and at the same time educational – the seals displayed their tricks and antics really well and taught the people (esp the kids) in the audience the importance of caring for the environment. The next show was a bit boring – on jungle survival and they showcased some jungle animals that had been trained to do some tricks but it wasn’t as engaging as the previous show. The most exciting part (well, for me that is) is the Diving Act It was truly amazing and quite funny too – how the Australian divers interacted with the audience and with each other so they just didn’t do one dive after another but instead had a funny story to tell – their stunts were truly death-defying and breathtaking! And last but not the least is another great show which the kids truly loved – the dolphin show! It would have been fun to be able to interact live with the dolphins but we heard it cost an arm and a leg so we just contented ourselves to watching them from afar…anyway, it was fun just being there and watching them perform…













It was even worth it to have missed the lunch that they had at JEST camp because the show ended at past 1:00 PM already and so we only passed by a Jollibee drive-thru en route to Olongapo’s By the Sea Resort so the kids and I can eat lunch in the van. We reached Olongapo after an hour and we rested a bit inside the room before the kids hankered to swim in the pool and so I just let them go ahead while we just stayed inside to enjoy the room's airconditioning. Around 5, Joey and I went out to try to scout around for a restaurant for our dinner tonight and luckily we found one just walking distance from the hotel/inn. By 5 and it was already a bit cool, the hubby and I decided to join the kids in the pool.













At around 7 we took a bath na so that we could be ready for dinner at 7:30… After dinner, we went back to the inn where the boys had some drinks (at an outdoor bar) while we just hanged out and took advantage of the free wi-fi in the bar. By 10, we went back in the room, watched a bit of TV and fell asleep shortly…









The next day, we had breakfast at a nearby Andok’s resto then the kids took an early morning dip (both in the beach and in the pool) The hubby and I decided against swimming with them na and instead just took a bath in the hotel bathroom. By 11:30 we checked out of the hotel na and proceeded to buy some Lotus slippers (in Olongapo market) and do some duty-free shopping at Puregold, Subic. By 1PM, we had lunch at JEST camp (again!) although we should have called them first so that they could have prepared for our meal ahead of time… as it was we waited a bit for the food to be cooked. Ended up leaving for the office at 3PM na and reached VLuna at 5:00 …waited a bit for the shuttle and finally got home at 7:30 PM…truly tired but so much satiated at how well everyone enjoyed our office team-building no matter how simple and tight-budgeted it was…

A BROKEN MP5


…my daughter’s heartbroken…because her MP5’s LCD got broken…We were home for BP for the weekend and I was inside the room alone since the kids were noisy - dancing and singing outside. When suddenly my daughter barged inside the room crying, she said her MP5 was inside her pocket and as she was trying to take it out to play with it, it suddenly slipped from her hands AND …IT…JUST…BROKE! And it totally broke her heart too…I knew how devastated she felt but there was nothing much I could do about it??? I’m not even sure if they do repairs for such kind of damage…or if I could go to Quiapo to have it fixed…well, considering that I still have to pay for the MP5 for two more months (we just bought it last month as a graduation present!)…I guess I should be more devastated than she is!?!

A new credit card!

I got a surprise visit today from Metrobank who came to deliver my NEW CREDIT CARD! It was truly a surprise because the last time I heard I was blacklisted from ever getting a credit card because as my dad says my name was included in the list of people who still have pending loans…mine was incurred from my previous credit card when I was still in college. Then, when we moved from place to place, my address was changed constantly so they had no way to trace me anymore…and besides they have already been charging me for incurred interests that amounted to almost P10K when in fact my credit limit was just P4K!

I am just glad that Metrobank merely took into consideration the fact that I am currently an accountholder with their bank and so they offered to give me a card and notwithstanding my previous record, decided to take a risk on me since anyway, they could always freeze my money if I don’t get to pay diba? And besides, they just gave me a teensy credit limit of 15K so I guess it’s one drawback I had to live with after all I still have to prove that I am quite capable of keeping and holding a credit card once again…

TAKE 2 AT KWEBANG LAMPAS

It’s our second time to visit ‘Kwebang Lampas’ at Pagbilao, Quezon but this time we’ll be joining Ate Ne’s family (her sisters and their families plus Inang) …my only regret is that Kit would not be able to come with us because they have quite a big brood and so it was quite difficult to fit him in anymore …anyway, he says it was OK naman daw for him since he had already been to that place before…but still I could not help but worry…

With a heavy heart, we left him alone at home last Saturday morning at around 3 am to pick up Ate Ne’s sister and mother at Sapang Palay and Garay, respectively. Then, we proceeded to Lagro to unload some of the passengers to Ate Ne’s Revo and April’s car. We finally left at around 4:30 and after 3 ½ hours of traveling reached Ate Ne’s house in Pagbilao. Her new house there was huge and very airy…with very large windows that lets in so much air…it was already quite finished except for the paint and we ate breakfast there first upon arrival before leaving for Kwebang Lampas at around 10 am. Kwebang Lampas was still as beautiful as I remembered it – its water still pristine, its pure white sand beaches still untouched by commercialism. The wooden huts still remained the same, just blending in the background, never sticking out like a concrete sore thumb like in most popular resorts like Puerto Galera or Boracay…and I hope it stays that way…







The only thing was that there were more people now, so I guess the place is not our secret anymore…it’s become popular not just among the locals here but even to some outsiders since it truly is like Boracay but without the crowds and noise. I guess it would be quite difficult to keep a secret like this for very long huh?











We returned to Ate Ne’s house for dinner and to retire for the night…the main house had (I think) four bedrooms and a huge sala upstairs which can be slept in too… but we slept in our own room in the next house (where Analyn stays in) which had three more rooms – so I guess her place is truly fit for an office outing eh? Maybe next year? (saying, I forgot to take pics of her house)

We had a good night’s sleep and were, in fact, the last ones to awaken. We then had our breakfast, took our baths, packed our things to leave and waited for the others to get ready. It turns out we’d still have our lunch here pa pala and so we ate first before leaving for Tayabas, Quezon or maybe it was already Lucena …to visit the Kamay ni Hesus shrine. We went up some 300 or so steps to reach the statue of Christ with arms upward to the sky while the old ones stayed down and heard mass lang. We said a prayer and lit candles lang for our own personal intentions. After that, its time for more picture-taking, souvenir shopping before finally leaving for home at around 6 pm…just stopped over at McDonald’s at Tiaong, Quezon for a bit of dinner and finally got home at 12…

KIDS ON VACATION AT AUNTIE JING’S

Today, I left after lunch to bring my kids for a short vacation with Auntie Jingay in her house… she has long been asking me to let the kids come over and stay even for just a few days and finally after so much thinking over I finally relented and allowed them to stay for three days in Pasig…why just three days? Well, because our office had an outing on Thursday so I had to pick them up Wednesday afternoon so that they will be able to join us in our Subic-Olongapo outing.

But why the dilly-dally when in fact, I myself have been the product of too much shuttling from one relative's house to another…especially during the summer break. Well, it’s actually because times are different now and I do not trust my kids to behave properly if they are away from me for too long…it’s actually Kaye’s first time not to sleep beside me (although she has slept with Ditse or even Inang or Alona) whenever she goes on vacation in the province…but this is different, these are relatives she sees only very momentarily at least once a month or not even that often… so I wouldn’t know for sure if they would enjoy being there…or even if my relatives (Auntie Jing, in particular) would enjoy having them around…hence, the reason for my hesitation.

But I guess the time has come when I should learn to let them go and start living on their own…and what better way to train them than by starting now…anyway, I am sure my kids will be well-fed there. And they would have no time to get bored since the entire house is equipped with numerous games/gadgets for kids to enjoy…and there’s always the swimming pool…I just hope they have fun there! And maybe…just maybe, (if they behave well) I’d let them stay even longer next year…

FAS OUTING AT ANAWANGIN

…this is our first outing without Ate Ne …well, because her hubby is home and I guess he wasn’t really in the mood to join the entire office in some jolly-making just yet... which was just too bad for us – because the outing just wasn’t the same without her!







…We had an early start because we would be going back home in the afternoon, so we left the house at around 3 am to pick up Ging then Jojo and we reached the office at 4 am…however, we waited for the others to arrive so it was thirty minutes later when we started traveling to Zambales. We reached Pundaquit in 3 ½ hours and after a bit more of waiting we were on the boat to Anawangin …by 9 am we had our first glimpse of the beautiful cove.






…upon arrival they prepared lunch while I headed out to the beach to take some pictures and watch over the kids already swimming… the water was great – it was calm but not too shallow that it would impede the swimmers from swimming freely, but the waves weren’t crashing either which makes it ideal even for the little ones just as long as they stay within their depth…By 12, we had a fun and raucous lunch, there was so much food with one table laden with pork bbq, grilled fish, the usual adobo, and so much more while the other table was filled with fruits…just too bad that I wasn’t able to take any pictures – everyone was just too hungry to bother with the camera na e!
















…after eating and while the others were playing games, we went back to enjoy the water some more since they said we need to be ready to leave at 2 pm… too bad huh because we truly enjoyed swimming in the cool clear waters of Anawangin even if the sand wasn’t pristine white, it was soft on our feet…I guess the only complaint was that the tables were quite far from the water so when resting, you couldn’t see the people swimming in the water. Also, the distance was difficult to traverse especially if walking on the very hot sand… and the flies…though the place seemed clean enough there were just too many flies!








…we left the island of Anawangin after we all had our baths and got dressed using the poso and some makeshift bathrooms in the island. The place had no true facilities - no water, no electricity, no hotels, no restaurant… but I guess it’s better that way otherwise, all its purity and simplicity would be spoiled… as it is we said goodbye to the beautiful island with a promise to return and savor its raw beauty once more.