I posted here last week that I wanted to go to Tagaytay during the weekend. But Howell was really tired after his photo shoot last Saturday that we decided to just go to Robinsons instead. But my dad was game for our initial plan to do some shopping at the Outlet Store at Paseo de Sta. Rosa and then go to Tagaytay after.

Since we woke up late, we left the house around 1 PM and we arrived at Paseo de Sta. Rosa around 2 PM (thank God there is no traffic). We checked out almost all the stores and I was able to buy a swimsuit at Speedo at 50% off, a swimsuit for Bela at 20% off and my mom, my sister and my dad was able to buy swimwear too at discounted prices. Howell was not up to buying swim wear at Speedo but he was able to buy running shoes at Adidas at discounted price also. We also check out the Havaianas outlet store but they still don’t have the glow in the dark slippers that my sister wants and they don’t have the available designs that I want for Bela.

By the time we were finish shopping, it is already 5 PM and hubby and my dad said that it is already too late to go to Tagaytay. So instead of going to Tagaytay, we just went to Amici at Tomas Morato for merienda then we went to church after that.

I posted on Bela’s blog that we bought her a new bed. The package that we bought is the 5 piece Toddler Room in a Box set and it comes with a toddler bed, toy organizer, table and two chairs.

Hubby was able to assemble the tables, chairs and organizer last week and Bela used it right away. Hubby said that he really recommends the product as the material is really good and it really looks durable. Plus it is really easy to assemble that he was able to build it even without the manual.

Bela loves her new table set and toy organizer. She immediately moved all her toys on her new table as soon as her dad is done with it. Plus the toy organizer is really very helpful since we sorted all Bela’s knick knacks per container so it really serves its purpose since Bela’s toys are more organize now.

Last Saturday was the advance Christmas party of the Twitter gang. It was held at Citadel Inn in Makati and was organized by Katie (aka Joy. Thanks sis for organizing this).

We really had a blast – we had a lot of food, good chat, we even have our exchange gifts and the kids really had a riot. Thanks to Kuya Joaqui, Asher, and Sandy for all the gifts. Bela love all of them. And to Litzie, thank you, thank you for my book. I love it!

It was really nice being able to put faces behind the names. Howell, Bela and I really had fun and it was really nice meeting all of you. Till our next meeting.

(I really haven’t sorted all of the pictures. I just selected a few for my weekend snapshot entry but I promise to post more stories and pictures soon).

No weekend snapshot entry for me today. Hubby sent his camera to Canon Service Center for cleaning and maintenance last Monday. It was already ready for pick up last Saturday but we were at the Ortigas area and did not find the time to drop by Makati to pick up his camera.

So even though our weekend is filled with a lot of activities hubby was not able to capture it on camera. So hopefully next week, I will be back with my entry for the Weekend Snapshots.

Since we arrived early in Tarlac than what we expect, we decided to drop by at the Our Lady of Manaoag Shrine. It is my and my dad’s second time here and the first time for hubby, my sister and Bela.

“Our Lady of Manaoag (formally: Nuestra Señora del Santissimo Rosario de Manaoag, literal translation: Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Manaoag) is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, associated with a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, said to be from the 16th century. She is the patroness of the sick, the helpless and the needy. This holy image is very popular among Roman Catholics in the Northern Philippines, and has been much popularized among the inhabitants of the Pangasinan provincial Area. The province of Pangasinan is one of the Philippines' most widely visited Roman Catholic Pilgrimage sites. Many people from across the Philippine archipelago come and visit the town of Manaoag, where the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is enshrined in a church dedicated to this name.”

Source: Wikipedia.org

Last June, my husband when to Majuro, Marshall Islands for a three weeks temporary duty. During his stay there, he did some online shopping at Amazon and bought a Little Einsteins toy for our daughter. The item was supposed to arrived in a week but he left Majuro without the toy that he ordered for our daughter.

My husband knows how much my daughter loves Little Einsteins but up to now the toy is still at Majuro. He asked one of his officemates there to ship it to us but unfortunately, it has been more than a month already and the Little Einsteins toy of my daughter is still not here.

So out of my husband’s frustration, he bought a Little Einsteins toy for my daughter (this is cheaper than what he ordered from Amazon). My daughter just loves it and she immediately asked her dad to open the box. She played with it right away while she is watching her Little Einstein DVD. Look at the picture and you can see how happy she is with her new toy.

We hit the mall again last Saturday as we always do almost every weekend. We were all tired after going around the shops at the mall but we are all happy as we were able to have some quality family time again.

My husband worked over time the whole day Saturday and my daughter was not in the mood for her swimming class so my daughter and I just stayed a home the whole day Saturday.

But we had a busy Sunday since we went mall hopping. I am having second thoughts again as to the party venue for my daughter’s third birthday so I asked my hubby if we can drop by at Fun ranch to check the restaurants there. Howell was armed with his SLR camera and video camera since there are a lot of great spots at Fun Ranch for a photo opps. But it was raining when we arrived at Fun Ranch and since we only have one umbrella we have to stop by this shed to wait for the rain to stop. And there was a small pond with lots of Koi fish so Bela really had a great time watching the fish. And of course, my husband couldn’t stop clicking his camera, so Bela and I gamely posed for Howell.

One of the shows that we were able to watch at the Singapore Zoo was the “Elephants at Work and at Play” show. It was really entertaining seeing how the elephants played with the audience by splashing water on the audience, showing their tricks like how they pull a log or balance their way to a log and a lot of other tricks that my daughter really enjoyed. Even we adults really enjoyed the show too.

These pictures were taken upon our arrival at Singapore airport. I booked the first flight from Singapore to Manila for July 10 which leaves at 6:35 AM. We are lucky as our flight was not delayed so we reach Singapore airport around 10 AM.

While I was busy falling in line to get some Singapore dollars, my photographer husband didn’t get tired of taking pictures of our dear daughter. And even though she has to wake up early too, she looks like she still has all the energy as she gave her dad different poses. I figured, maybe she knew that she is in a different place that is why no matter how sleepy and tired she was from the flight, she was so active, cheerful, happy and excited.

After our small get together yesterday to celebrate my grand mother’s 83rd birthday, we (me, hubby, my sister and my two cousins) decided to go bowling.

It has been a long while now since we last played. Bowling is one of our favorite bonding time since all of us (well not so much for me) are avid bowling fanatics. My daughter even had her first try with this sport and she loves it (although she was a little scared at first with the loud sound that the bowling ball makes when she tried to roll it on the lane).

But we had fun. I played one game only since Bela got bored already after finishing one round so I have to take care of her while my two cousins, hubby and my sister played for a second round.

Hope we can this more often and I’m sure Bela will be a good player like her dad someday.

My husband discovered about this secret garden in Tagaytay when he read about it in magazine. So one weekend, he just drove us to Tagaytay to have a late breakfast at the Moon Garden Restaurant.

Initially it was set up for family gatherings of the owners of the restaurant but since a lot of people are inquiring from them, the owners decided to open it to the public. You would see a lot of smiling moons hanging from the trees as one of the owners is fond of it.

They are open for breakfast from 7am – 2 am and you have to make a reservation at least a day in advance if you want to have lunch or dinner at their restaurant. They also organize moon parties there every time there is a full moon (this one I got to try).

The food is not really extra special but what I like abut the place is it is really not crowded. We have our own nipa hut where we had our brunch and we were really able to have a breath of fresh air and a taste of nature.

These pictures was taken during our daughter’s last Show Day at the Little Gym. Parachute time is one of Bela’s favorite activities at the gym. Even though she is always wandering around at class, as soon as she sees the parachute she will right away join her teacher and her other classmates for the parachute activity. Look at the smile on her face which shows how much she likes this activity.

She has been enrolled under the Beasties program of the Little Gym for three quarters now and I can say that it has really helped a lot for her psychomotor and social development. We decided not to enroll her for the next quarter as she will be starting her classes at preschool come June but we will definitely come back at the Little Gym come summer time.

This picture was taken last Friday at Fort Santiago. My daughter was one of the participants for the Santacruzan. We were informed that assembly time is 4:00 PM but the program didn’t start until 6:00 PM. Good thing, my husband was able to find a way to entertain my daughter while waiting. My daughter just so loves to play with bubbles. She saw one of the kids in the park playing with bubbles and she immediately ran toward the kid to play with him.

I just so love this picture. I took this picture just last week while my husband and our daughter were watching Baby Einstein. Look at how glued to the screen my daughter was. She just loves this show that it has become her daily bedtime routine. She has to watch her favorite Baby Einstein series first before going to bed. But I think this is good as the show is really educational and I believe this is where she got all her knowledge about animals.

This is also our bonding tine before bed time as my daughter loves us to watch and enjoy the show with her. She would identify all the animals that she can see in the show, she would sing all the songs and dance while singing too.

Right before bedtime, Bela would love to read books. This is one of her CD Story book which I bought when I was still pregnant with her.

She loves browsing through the pictures as the book includes stories of her favourite Disney movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. She was even laughing while she was browsing the book.

And you might ask why she is wearing a Christmas hat. She saw this when I was cleaning up our cabinet and she kept on saying “Merry Christmas, Ho, ho, ho, ho.” At first I can’t understand why she was saying Merry Christmas until I saw this hat inside the cabinet. And so I gave it to her and she excitedly wore it and kept on saying “Merry Christmas, Ho, Ho, Ho.”

I took these pictures during my daughter’s swimming class last Saturday (Yes, I’m the photographer this time as my husband has to accompany my daughter to class).

My daughter just loves her swimming class so much. What I like about the class is they tailor it base on the children’s age. They use toys like plastic balls and rubber toys so students will be entice to play while they’re in the water.