Under the Jackfruit tree ...

Given the break in the clouds over during the weekend, we also used the chance to get the car washed and cleaned. Mama took Kecil along, just so she can watch the car being washed.

Look at how sunny it was that day! Good thing there were some seats under the jackfruit trees around the workshop. So we sat down and watched and enjoyed the breeze. It's too bad that we had already had our breakfast at home, otherwise, having some breakfast under those trees would be very much like a picnic, no?

It was not that we were totally without refreshment, though. Deep down in Mama's Doraemon bag, there is usually a bottle of water. Always handy in hot weather.

'Picnicking at the carwash' might not be a conventional way to spend the weekend, but we enjoyed it nevertheless. Not to mention that we got a bright, shiny, clean car to drive in for the weekend.

Until the next rain!

Sunny break

Amidst all the rain and storm, we actually got a break in the clouds last week, a chance that we immediately jumped on. To swim!

This Mama was quite worried that after so long away from the pool, Kecil might forget all her swimming lessons. The fear, thankfully, was unfounded. Kecil took to water like just any duckling does: as if she swims everyday.

If anyone is out of practice, it would seem that Mama is the one. She couldn't seem to catch Kecil in action anymore (jumping). Ha! More water photography practice is needed, it would seem.

Well, the weather forecast does not indicate any storms coming anytime soon, so perhaps we'll get more chance swimming in the next couple of days. We'll keep you posted. This Mama is crossing fingers for getting Kecil really properly swim at the end of the year or so, at least. You know, with the proper hand and feet movement and breaking the surface for breath? Wish us luck!

Not just the smiley stories ...

A blog, even one with so many photograph such as this one (so many it takes forever to load!), offers barely a glimpse into one's life. Barely a scratch, I tell you.
Even a direct visit, a few hours, even a few days spent with someone, barely scratch the surface of who that someone really is.

It is tempting to think, or perhaps some of us have even fallen into the trap of thinking, that it's all smiles and beautiful pictures and wonderful stuff going on.
But really, that's not quite true.
It's just that, most of the time, when the less than happy stuff are happening, perhaps we are also not so free to take pictures and blog about it.

Except on some rare occasion.

I think it was during life lesson #57: If you want something, go get it yourself.

Obviously, she does not quite like the idea of that. Or she disagreed. Or something.
In any case, it was a situation which aggrieved the Little One very much, but not Mama. So Mama actually managed to grab the camera and started clicking.

To a predictable reaction.

Whoops.

Strangely enough, this is the exact same dress with the one she wore in the last memorable crying photo. Perhaps I should stop getting her into that dress.

What do you think?

Weekend Birthday Swim

It might be raining, cloudy and generally gloomy down here, but nothing was stopping Kecil when a birthday invitation arrived on Friday to celebrate one of her best friends in Skool. Especially when the celebration involved some swimming!

And so through the rain, the long-and-windy road, and the crowded traffic this Mama drove to the venue, just to get Kecil to the birthday party.
It was a lovely party, with plenty of food, some games, and even balloons! But there was never any doubt about the highlight of yesterday from Kecil's point of view. The swimming!
(Anyway, the pictures from the party did not turn out very well, so.... no pics, sorry)

The pool was quite shallow, and equipped with a pair of small slides, which definitely became a point of attraction. Kecil spent some a bit of time getting used to it, but she soon got the hang of it. Especially when everybody else seemed to have so much fun at the slide.

And of course, some sliding was done together as well! How much more fun can you get when you do it with your friends, right?

It was a definitely fun weekend we had (despite the never-ending rain! It's more like all day long rain with intermittent breaks over here). Looking forward to another (rainy, ahem) good week ahead. Cheers!

And not forgetting, Happy Birthday, Curtis!

Back to Skool

With the storms (and typhoons) forming across the Pacific (only to pour buckets of rain here in the islands), I guess our hot, beautiful summer is indeed over.
And along with the end of summer, also the end of summer holidays .... wooohooo!!! It's back to Skool time for Kecil!

Now a nursery student, Kecil is still wearing the same uniform (Mama bought the set that was too big). There are some new stuff, such as a new, earlier schedule (yikes!), new classmates, school books and even perhaps, homework later on, but so far, Kecil is adjusting well to Skool life.
Small wonder, actually, considering how much she enjoys Skool in general.

Daddy tries his best to send us to Skool every morning, however, sometimes his schedule does not allow him to do so. Which leaves us with the public transport.
And the chance to do some light acrobatic exercises for Kecil as we made our way to the nearest bus stop.
Well... as they say, healthy body, healthy mind, no?

Since Skool started on Wednesday, Kecil had been full of stories of Skool: who was not there, who cried, what they did in Skool, etc.
That day, she even came home bedecked in her craft of the day, a very normal thing around here, especially when crowns are made.

Oh, and don't forget the 'going-home-acrobatic' across the barrier!

We (Mama, Daddy and Kecil) are all very excited with the new term in Skool. Am pretty sure it's going to be great.

Other things in Manila

Although spending the day at the park is definitely a good thing to do (it's cheap, for one), we did not quite spend the whole day there. This Mama still wanted to do some window shopping, despite the itinerant risk. So we did.
Went window shopping, that is.
And sure enough, we got sucked into spending lots of dough.
Like when Kecil decided that she simply had to try this game:

(Confession: well... OK, so this Mama also wanted to play that thing. So....)


Then there is also this police car:

Ough, she couldn't get enough of the police car and kept asking for more and more and more. But she so obviously had so much fun with it that I did not quite have the heart to keep saying no.

Thankfully, the mall still have some free entertainment in the form of water fountain. You might remember this water fountain from our previous trips to this very mall. (Yes, this Mama LOVE this mall A LOT! It also happened to be the nearest, nice one near Daddy's office, so....)

Kecil did manage to get Mama to buy her something for her at the mall:

Small thrill after a whole day outside and away from home.

Well... at the end of the day, this Mama was beat and she made good use of the seats scattered through the mall:

Two days in Manila... wuih... I think we've had enough for the time being, perhaps even for the next month or so. Still... who knows, we might just be back again before we know it.
Until then!

Makati Parks ...

As mentioned before, Mama played driver for Daddy last week for his meetings in Manila. We got on rented car, and drove drove drove to get Daddy to his meetings, after which we roamed around the city while waiting for Daddy's meetings to be over and drove back home.

Well... In case you are wondering what we did while waiting for Daddy (apart from eating donuts, that is):

Well... basically we went to a lot of parks.
This Mama enjoys going to the mall, but the Little One can only last so long before she starts pointing at things that she wants (and throw tantrums when her Mama refused to buy her the said item).
Luckily, there were quite a few parks near Daddy's office, two of which actually boasted fish ponds, something that apparently children finds endlessly fascinating.

We even found a herd of buffalo statues at one corner of the park. Uh, once she was certain that none of the buffalos were going to move, she lost no time in climbing on one.

Yet at another park, we found a small playground facilities. Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time over there.

Spending a couple of hours outdoor in a park was a pleasant surprise from our trip to Manila, but it was fun. Perhaps next time we can find even more interesting corners of the city.

How about you? Found any interesting nooks and crannies in your town lately?

Donuts with Mama

On three out of the five working days of last week, Daddy actually had to attend meetings in his head office in Manila.
And for two out of the three trips, Mama and Kecil tagged along, Mama playing the driver.
It was quite a fun trip, despite the jams and crazy drivers/pedestrians/jeepneys and what nots.
All the more so given the amenities offered by the capital of the country.
Such as a certain good donut. Yum.

Indeed, on the second trip, we managed to miss the breakfast stop on the expressway (Mama's bad!), and then we hit traffic on the main road, and all hell break loose on the back seat, as Kecil spotted a 'Donut place' and was disappointed when we did not stop to buy her donuts.
It took us a good half hour to finally reach our destination from the first tantrum. Fiuh! But we did get there eventually, in time for Daddy's meeting and Kecil's donut.

The outlet not stocking a pink donut, Kecil settled for chocolate donut with sprinkles on top, while Mama chose a plain honey-glazed and a cheese 'baked creation'. As it turned out, Kecil preferred the taste of Mama's choice rather than her own. She barely finished half her own donut before devouring Mama's two items!
Not only that, she even asked for a second helping of that cheezy bread!
I guess she was really hungry.

Here's Mama looking somewhat bemused while the Kiddo ate her donuts. Hmm.....

Still, we had a good time at the donut place, and we still had the whole day to go around town while waiting for Daddy! That's a story for another day.
Here's hoping that your week went well too! Cheers!