A very sad day.

We went home. I don't want to go home. Not yet.

P.S.
Omar finally got a taste of his strawberry shake and chilis from Wendy's. Still, I am sad.

Happy Birthday Usteng!

Usteng is turning 7 on Jan. 2, but since we are flying tomorrow back to Manila, huhuhu, Ate celebrated Usteng's birthday in advance.
We had pancit, KFC chicken, chinese food, and cake!
That's just our family, with Ate Jollie, Kuya Paul and Nico as guests.Omar and I bought gifts for Ate's kids. I bought Jazzy a baby minnie mouse, and the 2 babies with Mickey sword. Amiel loved it to bits! Omar got 5 kisses from Emong just for that!
Happy birthday Usteng!

Day 5: Florida

Last stop was the Epcot Center. It was a choice between the Animal Kingdom and the Epcot Center. I hope we made the right choice. We had fun.
We took the ride from history to future (sorry, can't recall the name of the ride, Pangs help!), mission to mars, and lined up for 2hours to get photos with the characters, and soaring.

We got to try the flavors of Coca-Cola around the globe.
We had lunch at Japan and passed by different countries.

Morocco
Germany
Norway
Mexico
We didn't get the time to stop and try the attractions. I wish there will still be a next time. Halata bang bitin? hehehe

Day 4: Florida

Summer's been dreaming to go back to Disneyland since the day we went home from HongKong last year. So when we were planning to meet Ate's family at New York, I suggested why not Florida since I haven't been there and at the same time make Summer's dream come true. Too much vested interest. And my wish was granted.

First stop was a photo with Pinocchio.We were able to see the singing birds at the tiki tiki room, ride at the pirate of the carribean, haunted mansion and saw some shows. Summer, together with her cousins, had fun watching the parade. We saw the christmas parade at lunch time and the electric parade at night time. It was fun watching the parade, but more fun watching the kids so excited watching the parade.We had our photo with the grand castle, far bigger than HongKong's. Is it bigger than Anaheim's too? Hmmm... got to find out. How? Please... mommy! hehehe
Of course, our visit to Disneyland won't be complete without our frozen bananas. We love it! And we got to try the turkey leg too. So big!
Thanks Mom and Dad! Sa uulitin po!

Day 3: Florida

Family Pictorial

We really planned to have our photo taken in a studio. Every body must be in red.

We heard mass and it was Holy Family Day. The only mass we can hear complete and it was family day.

We had our schedule with JC Penney studio at 11am. I'm having a hard time looking for our photos online, I'll post photos as soon as I find my way around it.

We had lunch at the Orlando Premium Outlet but was not able to shop around for some would like to go home to rest. Kuya, Ate Bing, Omar and I was able to go to Walmart to shop around. I almost bought a Baby Alive for Summer when I saw Leapster 2 and bought the latter instead. Natakot ako baka dagdag alaga sa akin ang Baby Alive at educational pa ang Leapster 2. Feeling ni Summer may gameboy na sya heheehe.

Got to end the day early. We have 2 days at Disney to look forward to.

Day 2: Florida

Universal Studios

First theme park to visit was the Universal Studios.

While waiting for Ate, who was buying our tickets, I formed my nieces and nephews according to age. It should be oldest to youngest, but since taking photo was pretty ugly for it was against the light, I asked them instead to turn around, so the order was made to youngest to oldest. They looked like cheaper by the dozen movie.
Summer jumped out of her stroller as soon as she saw Dora. She was the first who was able to get her photo with Dora. She was wearing a Dora shirt too, I specially scheduled her shirt for the theme park.
The teenagers went on their own way. We walked around and took photos with characters whom we know. We had photo with the Hat in a Cat. We weren't able to take photos of Shrek, Incredible Hulk, and other characters for they have a long line.
I was able to take the log ride with the boys. I took Winter to the Carousel ride.
We watched the Macy's parade though Summer was sleeping during the first half of the parade. She woke up as soon as it was Dora's turn. Barney did not join the parade, too bad.
After the park, we had dinner at Denny's courtesy of the Ombudsman of Toronto through Atty. Jenny.
We had our complete siblings picture taking once again, after 5 years. Ladies' top were gifts from Jenny and we wore it at the same time while at the park.

A day was not enough to visit Universal's 2 parks. We should have visited the Studio first before the Island Adventure. Next time, I wish!

Day 1: Florida

Factory Outlet Shopping

It's boxing day so off we went to the Orlando Prime International Factory outlets to shop. I realized it was pretty hard to shop around with an infant and a toddler in tow. I've mastered the art of breastfeeding in public, I can even do it while walking around - with a nursing bib of course! Sadly, I wasn't able to buy much. Omar, on the other hand, went around on his own and was able to buy a lot. Awayin ko man, di na mababalik ang time so I can buy stuff for myself. After a day of shopping, everybody was hungry. Traffic at the area of the outlet was pretty heavy for it is located by the theme park area too. We were scouting for a good buffet dinner sana but ended at KFC. We do not want to eat Chinese.
We are a family so big already, we almost occupied the whole dining area. That's just us!

Canada-Florida

Merry Christmas!

Today's our last day at Canada and our first at Florida.

We left Canada at around 10am for our flight to Florida via West Jet. We had no sleep last night for we went home late and still had to pack everything. We still have to leave some stuff at home in Canada - mostly thick clothings which we cannot use in Manila.The flight was kid friendly. Flight to Orlando, Florida was full of kids, we were like riding a school bus.

Jazzy and AJ met us at the airport while Ate Joy and the rest of her family waited for us at the van outside the airport. We were so hungry! The kids blew up! They were so big already! Summer finally got to meet her cousins from her Tita Ganda.We then went to our rented villa at Davenport and had our early dinner. Kuya and his family followed soon with a bad news. Kuya, with just one checked-in luggage, lost his luggage. Staff of the airline was even rude during Jenny's inquiry regarding the lost luggage over the phone.

AJ and the kids were so sweet! They prepared a Christmas carol for us - Sa Araw ng Pasko. It was a Tagalog song and the babies sang it when they cannot even speak the language. Kakaiyak! AJ also prepared gifts for everybody. First time ko makatanggap ng gift sa pamangkin, kaka touch at parang ang tanda ko na hehehe.We also had our first complete family picture after 8years!Sarap ng feeling! Ang saya! Thank you Mommy and Daddy!

Day 10: Canada

It's Christmas Eve!

Mommy's been preparing our christmas dinner since morning, after breakfast. Mom prepared kare-kare, bicol express, fried lumpia, vegetable salad, fresh fruit salad, green jelly with palm, while relatives sent and brought dinuguan, roast chicken, roast beef, leche flan, fruits and desserts. Invited guests to celebrate early christmas dinner with us were Nana and her family, Ate Heidi and her family, and Ate Cecille and her family.
Nana distributed her gifts and kids lined up and waited for their names to be called. Santa came to town!
I enjoyed feasting over dinner as I have my hands free for myself as Winter was just sitting on his own at the corner of our sofa.
Just as before leaving for the Church, Omar handed me his gift for me. It was a necklace. We agreed that we won't be giving each other gifts for we already spent for our birthday gifts for each other which was celebrated just a few months' before Christmas. Good thing, I also brought something for him hehe.
We attended Mass at Fr. Lorenzo's parish with Ate Heidi and her group for the choir.

After the mass, we went to the Javiers to celebrate Christmas. Gifts were piled up at the Christmas tree which occupied the whole room. By midnight, Jovette and Benjie started distributing the gifts. Summer was sleeping during meal time but come gift giving, she was up and actively waiting for her name to be called. She was so happy hearing her name to be called a lot of times and would pose to her Ninang Jenny for picture taking for every gift she was receiving.
We just collected our gifts and did not open there, just like the rest. We went home so we could start packing as we are scheduled to fly to Florida tomorrow and will be heading straight to Manila after. This is my last night at Canada =(.

Merry White Christmas!

Vacation mode

Things you can do while on vacation... taking photos on bed without having to go up to go to work or do something.
Love it!

Day 9: Canada

We had lunch with Tita Nil at a Chinese Restaurant!Grabe! It was a feast! Daming food! Dami din tao!

After lunch, Jenny and I went to Markville to do some last minute christmas shopping. Summer's so friendly. She would approach kids her age at shops to play with them. One time when a kid was ignoring her, she would take out her Camp Rock magazine just to have something to talk about. A mom even approached me to tell me that she's so friendly.Sarap! Food and praises for Summer... sarap!

Day 8: Canada

We finally went to Cosco, previous plans to visit was cancelled due to snow storm.

After grocery shopping for stuff to bring home, we had lunch at Cosco. The family loves their poutine (tama ba spelling ko?) - it's french fries topped with gravy and feta cheese. We also had pizza and roast chicken.After lunch, we went to Downtown to see Jenny's office. She works with the Ombudsman of Toronto, galing noh? We met Jill at the Scarborough Town Center then went to down town through subway. We passed by Eaton Center with their christmas tree so sparkling bright yet without christmas lights. It was sparkling because of its christmas decors of swarovski crystals.The kids went ice skating, including Summer. Benjie was so kind enough to skate with Summer. He was so determined to train Summer. I hoped that their language won't be a barrier since Summer knows little english. At the end of the day, turned out my baby can understand more than I expected. She can skate for a minute on her own, according to Benjie, until a cousin passed by and Summer tried to skate faster and almost fell.It was sooooo colldddd!!! We took shelter at the Sheraton Hotel.We had to go back through Go Train since it was faster to get home than using the subway. We had to hurry home since Winter's been crying and won't take his milk.Hehe. Now, I'm not allowed to leave home without Winter.