Birthday Staycation

This Mama observes that events in life (her life, anyway) tends to happen in clumps of three or more. True enough, right after we went looking for Kecil's birthday gift at the expo in Manila, we had to go back, 2 times, because Daddy had to attend meetings there that would require staying overnight.
Sure, Daddy could have gone alone, but since we could fit (one of) the trips with Kecil's school, why not we all come along and have fun together?
Especially for the second trip, where the office actually provided the accommodation. Wouldn't miss it for the world.
So off we went, braving the chaotic roads, the jams, the bad air, the noise, well... basically all the bad things associated with living in a densely populated metropolis.

We didn't take pics during the first trip since we only stayed one night and we arrived at the hotel pretty late at night, thanks to all the traffic jams.
The second trip, on the other hand, required 2 nights stay in a nice hotel. Does that kind of explain the more picture? I guess so.

So... this time round, we arrived at the hotel sometime in the evening on Sunday (we left the house sometime after lunch), had dinner, rest. The following morning, we had breakfast, Daddy left for the office while Mama and Kecil went off exploring the nearby mall.

The mall is the one we always visited every time we followed Daddy for his meetings. As usual, Kecil was very interested with the ponds in the inner courtyard, where we spent quite a bit of time watching the tortoises as well as the pair of geese who made the ponds their home.

Kecil even managed to sneaked in some buffalo riding! Not quite an improvement as compared to last year's (real) horse riding I suppose. But she's happy, all right.

Strangely enough with this Kiddo, despite enjoying the parks at the mall, Kecil showed pretty strong preference to just stay in the hotel room. So... after a trip to the supermarket for some necessities, we went back to the room to have our lunch.
Yes... she did have some cup noodles, no thanks to the minibar display in the room. Grrrr....
She also got some chocolate, but just not those from the minibar. We bought hers at the supermarket, thank you.

We think Kecil really enjoyed her stay in the hotel. She was very happy to simply stay in the room, rummaging around, playing with all the amenities provided, and of course, taking her own bath in the bathtub. (Mama was summarily dismissed from the bathroom once the water level was deemed sufficient for her bath)
There are a few more pics from the staycation, but perhaps we'll keep that for the next post. Until then!

Birthday Gift

It was quite a couple of days before her birthday when we found out about this Toy Expo going on in Manila. Mama and Daddy thought it would be a good place to find Kecil her birthday present.
So we took a trip to Manila to go present-hunting.
It so happen that the night before the trip, Kecil 'found' her kimono in her cupboard, and so she insisted to wear it for the trip. Oh well, Mama thought, why not?

And that was how we ended up exploring the Toy Expo with a kimono-clad little girl, minus the obi (just because Mama thought it would be a little bit too restrictive).

The Expo itself was quite fun, albeit a little smaller than expected. When we were still living in Singapore, most expos would mean huge crowd, definitely not meant for the faint-hearted, which kind of exclude the occasionally shy little girl. It was quite a relief to find the crowd here being of more manageable size.

Which kind of explain how the Little One managed to get a turn on the remote control car.

 And take picture with quite a few toy figures...

Even managed to give a NERF gun a spin...

And pedaled around in the toy car.

It was a great, fun day for everyone, especially topped up with some rainbow shaved ice.

As for the present... yes, as a matter of fact, we did managed to get Kecil a present from the expo.

Any guesses for the present we got her?

Belated Birthday Wishes

Almost 2 weeks after the fact, here's a belated birthday wish for the Little One
Who has, slowly but surely, grown up, almost outgrowing her title of "Little" soon.
We had a whirlwind of activity right before her birthday, a small birthday celebration in Skool with just her classmates and teachers, after which Mama had somehow managed to contract some nasty stomach bug (which kind of explain some, if not all, the absences here).

But seriously, to my not-so-little Little Girl, a toast for you.
Let it be known always that Mama & Daddy are so proud of you, with all that you have achieved so far
(Even that smart-aleck tendency of yours of answering back.... sigh..... we are still 'wondering' who you got it from hmm.....)
Let it also be known that we are here to help & guide you, in the hope that you'll bloom to your full potential (smart aleck and all)
And lastly, that we LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE you. Muacks!

Happy 4th Birthday, Little Girl!