It was a well-spent weekend with the family.  Two days of just plain fun of being together, eating, watching TV/DVD and even played some board games and outdoor games like badminton.  Kids went swimming this morning.  Read a book and heard mass too.

Now back home and tired already.  Husband and kids are now sound asleep.

Looking forward to a brand new week.  Good thing, I got recharged.  It’s a busy coming week.

Hope everyone had a great weekend too.

While having our quick vacation this weekend, I got few unnecessary and annoying calls from some marketing companies offering me different kids of services. One call is about a pre-qualification to some personal loans, another one is about hotel membership and last was about some “free” cleaning services for mattresses. I wonder where these companies got my contact numbers specifically my mobile number. Do you also get these kind of unnecessary calls?

I know of a certain company like TransUnion, who sold some confidential credit information illegally from some marketing companies in the US sometime 1987 to 2000. A number where affected by that disclosure of personal credit information and many have filed a TransUnion Lawsuit. I hope these companies calling me are not getting it from such illegal sharing of personal information like what TransUnion did. Otherwise, this should be consulted to some known lawyers who handle such expertise. I wish there is something like O’Hanlan, McCollom and Demerath lawyers here who have experiences handling the case.

this morning. We would stay there for the weekend. Looking forward for this quick getaway with the whole family. I can’t wait to just lounge around and read a book. Brought with me “Eat, Love, Pray” book. Also bought a number of DVDs with us. I’m sure it would be movie marathon as we enjoy the cool breeze of Tagaytay weather. The kids though are hoping to go swimming on the clubhouse on Sunday. I hope I can survive SBD while there. But I am taking a break from my regular menu order on Sunday. Just one cheat day for the week.

Now, got to pack our stuff…

The above photo was taken during one of our stops on our road trips. This was in Hoover Dam. It was a tourist attraction once known as Boulder Dam, that is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado Rover. It is actually a state line between Arizona and Nevada. This was just about few days after we landed in Los Angeles and look how much weight we gained already just looking at our picture. That made me think to buy diet pills then. But instead of looking for one in Las Vegas as we were headed there after this stop, we ended up eating mostly buffet in Vegas hotels. So don’t ask how much weight did we gain from the trip ok?

Let me jump off my story about our US vacation with one of my favorite shows among the Theme Parks we have been to. We went to 4 Theme Parks. Universal Studios in Los Angeles, Disneyland in Anaheim, Sea World in San Diego and Lego Land in Carlsbad. My kids do remember clearly about Shamu, the adorable whale from San Diego. It was one of their favorites. As for me, aside from the show of Shamu, my favorite also in Sea World San Diego was the Pet’s Rule show. It was an amazing show of animals, from dogs, cats, pigs, birds, ducks. I have never seen like it before. The show was actually very witty and entertaining. Example was like the a golden retriever dog preparing their canine cuisine for a dinner date with a poodle dog. Amazing how those animals were trained to be able to do great tricks.

I am pretty sure the trainors are like providing dog gourmet treats. I wouldn’t be surprised if their dog breakfast would be a bunch of new york steaks or even some fillet mignons? lol!

It wasn’t only the dogs who performed. There were cats, a pig, some ducks and birds who were part of the show. Look at some of the pictures we took…

I will be celebrating my 26th birthday, lol! It will indeed be a memorable bday celebration for me as our family will be in Las Vegas that time. That would be our 2nd just for this trip. No major birthday present as I would probably would just like to get a new fitness equipment when we go back home. It would be definitely a better option for the husband and I to use to shed off those extra pounds we have gained so far. Hope I can resist all temptations in Las Vegas! lol!

Went to 4 theme parks this week. We went to Universal Studios, Disneyland, Sea World and Legoland. It was all fun. Though we didn’t bring the kids in Universal Studios so it was just a date for me and the husband. We drove on our own going there so it was also a great experience. We loved riding on those scary rides. Anyway, it was safe and heard that these theme parks are even deploying their staff for some bpi training. My favorites, Jurassic Park in Universal Studios and Indiana Jones in Disneyland. We failed to ride the Atlantis in Sea World as we didn’t have much time. Legoland was all fun too especially the miniature of the US cities. Their roller coaster ride called accelerator was also much fun. Will blog more about these theme parks individually once I downloaded the thousands pictures we’ve got.

The best experience I had from this trip was to experience and play in the snow in Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe! The husband drove from Las Vegas to Reno at -4 degrees celsius! Then we went to Lake Tahoe (just an hour from Reno) and was at 0 degrees celsius at that time. Of course, aside from pictures, all our happy moments were captured using the camcorder. It is one of a kind experience for us already since it was our family’s first time.

You may call them my fashionable jet setter kids…

Left Manila last May 13 at 10pm and we safely arrived in Los Angeles Airport at 8pm, May 13 (LA time). Purposely, I had the girls wore skirts so it would be a lot easier when they need to go to the lavatory. You know how tight it is to be in there. Asked them to wear those easy slip on shoes as well so it was also easy to remove their shoes during check-ups/screening in the airport. Notice that I also wore a dress instead.  It was indeed a breeze to move around and to manage the kids with their wardrobe.  I just brought with me some leggings for them to wear whenever they feel cold.  I think we would make it  a habit when travelling.

I’m officially done packing our stuff for the trip.  I had to finish still some pending emails to answer and I also cleaned up my mess in my home office.  I told the maids to polish my office furniture also my while I am gone.  I also told them to clean up all kitchen cabinets.  It would be a lot of work for them as well as I told them to do general cleaning.

Whew! We are finally leaving! I almost can’t believe it! Have waited for this so long really. We are all excited.

It’s going to be an exciting 24 days!!!

This is the itinerary that my beloved sister-in-law emailed to us:  

May 13 ( Thursday)-  Airport Pick-up

May 14 (FRIDAY)-  REST DAY and Old Town Temecula

May15 ( SATURDAY)-  PROMENADE MALL/Lake Elsinore Mall

May 16(SUNDAY)-  Departure for Grand Canyon. Check-in Marriott

May 17(Monday)- Leave Grand Canyon. Departure for Las Vegas. Check-in Paris

May18(Tuesday)- LAS VEGAS BABY!

May 19 ( Wednesday)- Leave Las Vegas…Drive to RENO

May 20( Thursday)- RENO. Then Departure for San Francisco. Check-in Marriott

May 21 ( Friday)-  Leave SFO. Back to RENO.

May22 ( Saturday)- Lake Tahoe

May23 (Sunday)- GO HOME TO TEMECULA

May 24 ( Monday)- Rest day/ Temecula Wineries

May 25 ( Tuesday)- Disneyland. Check-in Marriott

May 26 (Wednesday)- Go to Los Angeles. Queen of the angels Cathedral, Griffith Park, The Grove and Beverly Hills (Rodeo Drive), Hollywood

May 27( Thursday)- Free day ( Lyn’s Grad Banquet)

May 28 ( Friday)- LEGOLAND

May 29 (Saturday)- Seaworld ( San Diego)- Bring three cars to pick-up Erick at the airport

May 30 ( Sunday)- Lyn’s GRADUATION CEREMONY

May 31 ( Monday)-Shopping At CABAZON BABY!!!!!! Yipeee!!!! Memorial Day SALE!

June 1 (Tuesday)- Jody’s BDAY!  ;)

June 2 ( Wednesday)- Universal Studios

June 3 ( Thursday)- Last Minute Shopping

June 4 (Friday) – Rest

June 5 (Saturday) – Departure for Manila

Yeah, looks like an amazing race trip for us as we road trip from one city to another.  But I’m sure it would all be fun.  I just pray that the kids would really be healthy all throughout the trip.

And did you notice that I will be celebrating my birthday there?  So happy, so excited.  

1 more sleep and off we go!

As we are bound for Las Vegas in two weeks time, I can’t help but really get excited. I have been thinking to watch a Cirque de Soleil show but I haven’t checked on the available shows possible while we are there. We are staying in Paris Hotel this time. I hope we can quickly go down as well to the casinos to try some slot machines On the other hand, I saw this Las Vegas Limo Service available in the strip. It’s going to be cool to try one of those Las Vegas Limos. Wouldn’t it be nice to move around the strip riding a Las Vegas Limo? That would be so fabulous. They have different packages to offer as well and you can even create your own package. The packages comes with complimentary ice, water and soft drinks and even a choice of audio CD’s and DVD’s available from their library. They have the All About the Kids package that includes a Mini Grand Prix, South End Games, North End Games, All Strip Game Package, Fun, History and Science-a trip to the Lled Children’s Discovery Museum and my favorite Chocolate in the Garden with Marshmallows. It is a trip to Ethel’s Chocolate Factory. We are all excited for this grand vacation as a family!

I have few more errands to finish before we leave like 13 days from now. I am telling myself that I can do it while squeezing in between my meetings. I also need to do a lot of writing and reviews every evening. Good thing, I still do not look too awful since I have been using an eye cream for dark circles. Few things that I have accomplished already are:

1. Renewed passport of Margaux. Glad it arrived on time.
2. Enrolled both kids in school.
2. Ordered for their school uniforms.
3. Had the shutter of Nikon D60 fixed already.
4. Bought new luggage

Few more things to do:

1. Renew driver’s license so I won’t get penalized
2. Finalize and firm up our insurance policies
3. Inquire for travel insurance
4. Process papers for the new acquired “baby”
5. Have my hair color/hair cut.
6. Bring kids for pedia check-up

I would like to finish the rest within the coming week. I really hope so. Good luck to me as I am doing these things in between meetings as well.

Before I actually review the North Carolina health insurance that my aunt is asking me to read, let me post first the pictures from our quick get-away during the Holy Week. We took advantage of the vacation time two weeks ago. The husband cannot take off any additional vacation leaves so we are relying to regular work holidays to have quick trips like this. We really have wanted to take the kids for a trip to the beach but we just couldn’t find an available resort during that time. Lesson learned really to book way in advance especially if it is the Holy Week.

We went to a nearby resort, Thunderbird Resort in Rizal. After staying in their othe resort in La Union, I find their service very good. I love the spacious room, the amenities, value for money for their room accommodation. Both of their resorts (La Union and Rizal) have a casino inside.

We only stayed there for overnight from Holy Thursday to Good Friday. The kids of course enjoyed swimming to bits. It’s just good to have a relaxing moment during that time.

Some of our pictures…
 

The above is the two double beds inside our deluxe room which we booked in Thunderbird Resorts. It’s nothing fancy but I tell you, it is just so comfy! We were even joking that it would definitely be a hemorrhoids relief to our friend if he is with us! harharhar lol! The pillows are just fluffy and soft. The bed is just so soft as well.  Sleeping was actually a highlight of this simple vacation!

So what are your plans for the holy week? Hope everyone would get to have a blessed and meaningful week ahead. As for our family, aside from the usual Bisita Iglesia which we would actually do by early Thursday, we are also off to stay in a nearby resort. I heard the resort exemplifies a very refreshing ambiance and even have those mahogany shutters on their rooms. I am just excited to relax a bit before I get off to a very busy April.

Even if we haven’t gone yet for our major vacation this year, we are already planning for our Orlando vacation next year maybe? I hope we could really push through this time. We are also looking to go to New York or Canada so we could visit our other relatives there. We would have wanted to do it all together this may but I just can’t afford to travel just with the two girls since the husband cannot take a longer break from work. Anyway, there would always be a next time. For the meantime, we are so looking forward for our trip to the West Coast on May.

I’m overly excited!!! It’s actually an understatement.  But i just love that my SIL is doing a preparation already for our upcoming arrival in the US.  In fact, she did some bookings already in hotels where we would stay.  Although, we won’t be able to include an Outer Banks vacation this time since we are just going to stay in the West for our total of 24-days stay in the US, we are still pretty much excited about the trip. Itinerary includes Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Reno, SFO, Lake Tahoe, San Diego and hopefully to even include Yosemite if we can still squeeze that in.  It’s one challenging amazing race for us but definitely an enjoyable road trip.  Can’t wait. We can’t really wait!

We rented a self-driven car on our 3rd day.  We got it for only $45 for 24-hour rental!  Yeah, cheap!  We enjoyed the day just hopping from one mall to the other.  Our first destination was Guam Premier Outlets.  It wasn’t that big and not too many stores to really enjoy but got really nice stuff from Nine West, BCBG and Ross.  We ended up getting a small balikbayan box on our way back to Manila since I hoarded about 5 sets of bedsheets.  I was very happy to have found nice bedsheet sets in Guam for our King Size bed, which were only from $16-25, for a 4-pc set.  What I like most is that these sheets are at 300 thread count and can even accommodate a 17″ mattress.  I usually find it hard to get nice sheets here since we pretty have a think mattress and most of the local manufacturers can only accommodate up to 8″.  I even got a 450 thread count for just $25.  Those were really steal.  

The kids were very cooperative during our stay in Guam.  As they say, it’s getting easier each trip.  Thank goodness, they can be coached on what to do.  I thought I would even need those wrinkle creams to battle my stress during the trip.  But no, I didn’t need any since I also don’t want to fall prey on those creams that claim 100% benefit.  I would have wanted to check also on youthology scam before buying any.

We also went to Micronesia Mall, Tumon Sands, Tumon Plaza and K-Mart.  We also went to Two Lover’s Point, the highest point in the island of Guam. We had nice pictures from here.  We went back to our hotel almost 10pm already.  (yes, sinulit ang car rental).  We just ate in one of the restaurants in Micronesia Mall which I actually forgot already.  

All of us were literally dead tired for the whole day so we just capped the night easily.

I know this has been a long overdue post about our trip to Guam last November. Nevertheless, here it is…

It was our first time in Guam. Thanks to Mabuhay Miles promo again last year that we were able to claim 3 roundtrip tickets to Guam. Actually thanks to HSBC Mabuhay Miles credit card. It was so worth it to spend using that credit card. Proof? Our HK trip last September for the whole family were all miles redeemed so as this trip to Guam. We only got a paying ticket for Bianca.

We decided to choose this island for our destination last november. We didn’t regret it. We had a great time. It was family bonding again. And as me and Dicky who took care of the kids for 4 days, i didn’t need any of those ephedra diet pills since I pretty lose about 5lbs in that quick span of time

We left Manila for late flight of 10pm. We were in the airport by 7pm. Again, since it’s Philippine Airlines, it was just a breeze in check-in counters. Guam is ahead of Manila’s time for 2 hours. It was just a quick 4hour flight so we technically arrived Guam at 4am. Upon landing in Guam International Airport, we went straight to the taxi bay to get our ride to Westin Hotel. Our driver was Filipino so we felt at ease. Our room in Westin were already reserved the day before so we were allowed to check-in right away. We were happy with the size of the room. A typical deluxe room for a 5-star hotel. There’s a veranda overlooking the beach and the whole stretch of Tumon Sands. We decided to rest and sleep first before we made our first day adventures.

The next day, we woke up almost 1030am already. We decided to go out and check out Tumon Sands Plaza and DFS Galleria. (yes, shopping right away ;P). Since it was close to lunch time, we took our brunch in Outrigger Hotel. We went to the Underwater World within Tumon Sands Plaza. The place is pretty small. Manila Ocean Park is actually bigger than this. Nevertheless, we still want the kids to see it. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel after strolling around the nearby mall and going to DFS Galleria. We changed to our swimming attires and we were off to the beach afterwards.

Westin Hotel is beachfront.  Guam beach is beautiful. They kids didn’t want to stay in the sands so we let them stay in the pool instead. But we also tried the kayak and then we stayed in the pool area until sunset.

We went back to our hotel room almost 7pm already. We cleaned up the kids and they were snoozing as early as 8pm. Dicky just grabbed a take-out food from a nearby restaurant. We were both tired as well so we just ended the night early.

Day 2 coming up…

Some of our pictures from Day 1…

It’s already mid-February and it’s been hot already on our part of this world. I am hoping to hit the beach this summer with the whole family. Need to get a quick weight loss for me and the husband so we can be back to shape before this trip. Still no final plans yet but we are looking to bring the kids to those nice resorts in the south. I just hope the husband can find time to take a leave from work

Literally! I am planning for a quick getaway for the family this summer. Still needs to decide among the choices we’ve got. If lucky enough, we can trade off our deposit week from our timesharing membership. I would be happy for an out-of-the-country trip. There are so many good places to go to and that includes panama city florida. I hope we could really go to this place in the future. It’s so stunningly beautiful! And there are hotel resorts that are on unbelievably low rates if you book early. For the meantime, let me compare the quotes I’ve got and work on our travel budget sheet. We need to decide soon as airfares and accommodations are getting fully booked already.