Celebrating Father's Day

We were totally unprepared for Father's day. There are a lot going on at the moment (mostly with work) hence the absence... at isama na rin dyan ang mga gawaing-nanay/bahay, lol =)

But we had a little celebration pa rin dahil nakisama si Mr Sun sa amin.

We've been trying to be good by not eating out so much but we decided to break that for this special day. We went to Nandos Chicken for lunch, where we ordered Lemon & herb grilled chicken for thr 3 of us, plus bread & butter and Sweet potato mash for Poj. It was yummy not to mention hassle free, medyo nagsawa na ata kami sa luto namin, lol. On top of that we were given 20% when I showed my work ID. =) Not bad, right?

We went to our fave park at the mo, The Common, here in Southampton. We remembered to bring Poj's bike and we let him ride it until he got tired. Eksaktong andito na kami sa lake nung abutin sya ng pagod kaya ibang scenery naman (normally hanggang playground lang kami nakakapunta and he wants to stay there to play). Nainggit sya mega sa mga taong nagfifishing doon. We promised to do that  sometime this summer.

We stayed here for a while, simply enjoying the sun and the view. We wished we were more prepared and have brought bbq or picnic man lang....  (insert parinig kay Papa E to be more organized next time, lol).

 Ornamental Lake

On the way back to the car syempre nadaanan namin ang playground at hindi pwedeng hindi magstop-over! We let Poj play there for an hour. Thank heavens for long days of summer, kahit late na mataas pa rin ang araw =)

Papa E said he had a lovely time, to follow po ang gift ah? 

Although I wish we were home to be able to greet my daddy in person. But for now Skype had to do.

Happy Father's day to my Daddy, to Papa E and to all amazing Father's out there! 

My Baby is Now Three

And just like that our baby is now 3...


I can still remember the pregnancy, the labour and his early days... but I still can't get over the fact that my little Poj is now 3 years old last May 31.

We started the day with surprising him in bed with his birthday cake whilst we sing Happy Birthday to him. We could tell that he was surprised with all the candles and the singing until he remembered that it was his birthday.

Ayan, nakita nyo na si Poj ng bagong gising, lol! Request nya ang chocolate cake na ito & he was really happy to see that I made it for him. And even when we gave him his gifts he asked if he could start eating it, haha!

Syempre we told him to open his pressies first. We bought him some learning books to encourage him to improve his literacy and numeracy skills.  We also got him more paints, pots and paint brushes.

He is also into pretend play so we got him a play cash register too. He is with us whenever we buy our grocery and he is always intrigued with all the zapping of the bar codes and with the till opening. Kaya ganun na lang ang galak nya when his toy register scans the grocery items that were included in the box, may play paper money and coins din as well as a debit card & card reader. The calculator on the til actually works as well as the mic. He loves to shout " I need help with the packing please!" lol

When we asked him what he wanted to do, he told us that he wanted to go swimming. We were initially planning to go away but because of work commitments we decided to just go to a small resort locally.

We went to Romsey rapids in the morning. It's a shame that the flume is closed in the morning on weekdays coz he loves that. But he still had lots of fun swimming. We are so proud of him coz he is so confident in the water. He is happy to swim by himself (still wearing arm bands of course). He even sets a goal for himself and tries to swim farther each time. 

Sorry, no photography allowed in the resort. 

Romsey rapids photos are from Google search iPhone app.

We also went to the park where Poj enjoyed the afternoon playing football and playing in the playground.

And since we didn't throw a birthday party for him, we decided to bring a cake to nursery instead. They had the cake after their afternoon meal where everyone sang a loud happy birthday to Poj. 

We also knew that we're not allowed to take any photos at nursery, kaya we made sure we took photos before leaving.  

Graduate na ata ang Poj ko kay Thomas, he picked this Disney Cars cake himself =)

We are noticing a lot of changes with Poj. He is becoming more independent each day and is becoming such a sweet and polite boy. He thank us for his birthday and said that he was happy, this actually made my eyes water and when I gave him a tight cuddle he said he loves me. 

It's his birthday pero feeling ko kami ni Papa E ang binigyan ni God ng gift....

Happy 3rd Birthday Jace Ethan! We love you ♡♡♡ 

My Birthday, A Very Late Post

This post is mega late, ayoko na nga sanang ipost but I really wanted to thank my friends and writing a blog post is the best way I know how...


Ang isa pa atang hindi mapipigilan ay ang pagtanda! Yours truly celebrated her birthday with friends a few weeks ago.  We went to Gunwharf Quays to check out the bargains and had lunch at Water Margin, a Chinese buffet restaurant. 

Here we are at the restaurant lobby while we wait for the rest of the gang to arrive. 

I just love the smiles of the 3 chikitings =)

Buying everyone lunch is definitely less hectic than cooking everything at home =) 

And here's Tita Celine na late nang dumating for lunch, busy sa shopping? =)

And since may dala kaming toy cars for the boys, they were quite happy to just play together after they have finished and left the adults to carry on with our lunch and kwentuhan, good boys =)

Thanks to everyone for the greetings, so blog, twitter, text, email, cards and for the gifts. It's lovely to be remembered on my special day =)

These are so sweet. My friends must know that I love flowers! The top one was from my best friend from the Philippines. The box of flowers arrived as a surprise. I remember reading the enclosed card and smelling the freesias and felt special =) Thanks bff Oliver for the gorgeous flowers.

The other bouquet was from my partner at work. She is the sweetest! I was about to go home when she stopped me and handed these to me. She has put them in a pot of water at work and I didn't even notice it, duh! Sign of getting old? Thanks Danielle.

The house was filled by these gorgeous flowers for weeks, I loved it! 

I also love the Carbtree hand lotion collection, I love all things Crabtree, Thanks El & Merc! 

And the Coach wristlet is beautiful, Che & Tantan. I am looking forward to using it =) I was unable to take a photo of the handwash/lotion set you gave me Celine, ginamit ko na kasi, hehe =)

Papa E & Poj gave me a new pair of sunglasses after I lost my old one. Thank you so much =)










And in case anyone's wondering where I am, I'm either too busy taking photos or too busy eating my Chinese, lol =)

Brighton

I'm sorry if I've not been able to visit your blogs or post an update here for a while. Inatake ng katam ang lola (katamaran) and I can't seem to shake it off. But I did manage push myself to post this & I promise I'll be stalking your blogs soon =)

We went to Brighton a few weeks ago. It was only a day trip with the intention of visiting a very popular cake shop. We didn't do any research on what to see so we realised that we missed a lot of touristy places on this visit. But hey ho, we still had a fab time and made us excited to plan another trip, when the weather is warmer.

Poj was impressed with these musicians playing modern music that made him dance in the street. He stayed there for a while and was chuffed when I asked him to put money on the hat =)

These are just photos that I took when we were walking towards the beach. I love the quirky features and amazing architecture.

And Brighton is also buzzing with all things art. Here you can see the busy beachfront where small businesses thrive. Artists sell their paintings, there are also handmade jewelries and crafty stuff. I know this sis Mayen of Clicks and Cuts would definitely enjoy a visit to this place =)

The water was calm but very cold when we went. There were still quite a few people enjoying the afternoon with hot chocolates to keep them warm. Little Poj didn't seem to mind the temperature, he was too busy having fun. 

de4

Brighton is on the south coast of Great Britain and is 62 miles away from us or 1 hr and 30 minutes drive =)

St Pancras International, London

As with all holidays, it all comes to its end. In the morning of our trip back to the UK, Poj made sure he went to his favourite rides at the hotel lobby. We also went back to the Disney Village for Papa E's birthday lunch and for a little Disney shopping. It is a good thing that the hotel allows their guests to leave their luggage in a secure room even after checkout and that allowed us to enjoy our last morning in Paris. 

Here is Poj at the hotel lobby while we wait for the shuttle bus back to the train station. He's excited to go home at this point and to play with his own toys =) But it was already late when our train arrived in London. We decided to stay in a budget hotel a few yards from St Pancras Station for the night. I took a photo in the morning and thought that it was an interesting building.

  

Here are photos of the St Pancras International Station. 

The St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel

And next to the St Pancras International is the Kings Cross Station made popular for being the station where the Harry Potter series, Hogwarts students depart from.

This station was newly renovated. It looked really beautiful inside. I specially love the details on the ceiling. The whole place looks modern and spacious. 

And soon it was time to catch our train back to Southampton. Here are my boys tired after all that travelling. And sweet little Poj still wanted to sit on Papa E's lap even when there were a lot of empty seats on the train =)

Thanks Paris for another lovely short holiday...