Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! (although it's been five days since...)

I'm now online again, back to blogging and work. Whew, that was a hectic but definitely fun two-week break. My family arrived on the 22nd and went home to Davao just yesterday - they spent Christmas, New Year and of course, Ethan's 1st birthday with us. It's definitely one of the best Christmases for me :)

We spent Christmas Eve at home - opening gifts at midnight and sharing a simple Noche Buena...just spaghetti, pork barbecue, Choco Lava cake from Aggy's, fruit salad (which we only ate days after). We weren't even able to partake of the ham since everyone was quite full and having fun opening gifts. It was really great to see everyone smiling upon receiving the gifts we prepared for them - ang sarap ng pakiramdam na nakapagpapasaya ng tao! I'm glad everyone liked their gift...most especially A who received his coveted Nikon D60 DSLR from Santa *wink!*

Christmas Day, we went to Marikina (just us with my parents, my bros, tita and cousin stayed at home) to be with A's side of the family. After which we went to Sampaloc (A's lolas, titas/titos and cousins) and gave out our gifts. Again, it was nice to see the kids happy upon receiving a gift. Sarap talaga ng feeling! :)

Ethan and A's birthday was on the 29th. We left quite early for Shangrila because A wanted to get a good parking spot. We had lunch then just went around the mall, had pictures taken while waiting for our party to start by 2PM. Many guests were not able to arrive but still, we had fun with those who were able to make it. Adults were also part of the parlor games - tama ung host, Sa Jollibee bumabata kami! I'll make a separate post on their birthday party complete with pictures and comments. Yes, it was quite tiring (in fact, I had a huge headache after the party) but it was great! Everyone had fun, the kids had enough candies, cupcakes, balloons and toys when they went home. Kami naman, nakakatuwang magbukas ng regalo! Hahaha.

New Year's Eve and Day was spent in Marikina (yup, we all trooped there) - my family (especially my bros) were quite excited to see fireworks and hear firecrackers after several years (firecrackers were banned in Davao since year 2000, I think). A bought some firecrackers (see I had to make the font smaller because those were really small - think Sinturon ni Maldito vs. Sinturon ni Hudas hahaha). The little boy woke up for a while, enough to see the fountains lit and hear the kwitis and other firecrackers. He promptly went back to sleep without much persuasion on our part hehe.

On January 2, we went to the Manila Ocean Park (with my family) and marvelled at the fishes and creatures of the ocean. It was amazing seeing giant aruwanas and shark embryos. The whole "tour" lasted for about 2 hours (matagal lang kasi panay ang pagpa-picture). For 400 bucks, it's okay because it was bigger compared to that one in Singapore (although they had larger sharks).

Afterwards, we were planning to go to Star City but when we got there...parking was full and the people...as in Yaiks talaga! Full to the brim and overflowing pa with people, to think we were there around 3PM pa lang! We had to change our plan kasi hindi talaga namin kakayanin ung ganung karaming tao. We were choosing between Tiendesitas (and Ark of Avilon) and Dinos Alive in MOA. My cousin (who's 4 yrs old) really wanted to see Dinos (ung Dino Island actually ang gusto nya sana sa Star City) so we decided to go to MOA. Entrance fee for adults was 400 bucks but we were able to avail of the family pack (P1600/5 adults) + P350 for the child. Ethan was complimentary pa (buti na lang, whew!). Pagpasok namin, aba ung nagpupumilit na gustong makita ang dinosaurs, wala na...ayaw nang magpababa sa nanay nya at iyak nang iyak kasi takot daw sya! Hehehe. Katakut-takot na kantyaw tuloy ang inabot nya from my bros (and A) kasi si Ethan nga daw hindi natakot, sya pa. Hehehe. The dinosaurs were cool to look at, I just wish they were made to move more (hahaha, Jurassic Park ata ang gusto kong puntahan).

I'll make a separate post din for our Manila Ocean Park and Dinos Alive trips.

I had fun talaga this Christmas season :) But now, back to work muna...