Weekend in San Antonio

We just arrived home from a long and tiring drive from San Antonio. I am so sleepy and hungry, I don't know what to do first... I don't understand what I feel, I so wanted to go sleep but how can I if I'm too hungry?

Might as well finish uploading photos from our visit to San Antonio yesterday with all the beautiful pictures in Botanical Garden with Jean. We visited her before I could pop this baby out. We took her to the garden and I can tell she had fun. She even said it was the best day after two years. That means she hasn't gone out for 2 years? If I were her, I would be crazy by then not being able to see places in 2 years. More photos from the trip will be posted in all my blogs so watch for it guys!

....... above photo is of Jadyn, myself and Jean resting for a while before going to the rose garden

......... entrance of the exhibit room

.... beautiful flowers in such a beautiful day with beautiful family...

Three Beautiful Cakes

Three beautiful cakes during Jadyn's third birthday in the Philippines. I didn't expect this at all. I bought one from Goldilocks and my Auntie bought her one too the one which is pink in color and her NInang Cindy got her another one a day after her birthday so it totalled to 3 all in all. Well, you might think these are too much but hey nothing is too much in the Philippines. There are just too many mouths there ready to eat it all anytime. I would be so worried if we got all three in the USA and it will only me and my baby are going to eat all of it.

......... first cake from Goldilocks courtesy by mommy and daddy...

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...... second is from her Auntie Maria who works in Julie's..

...and third one from Goldilocks also given to her by Ninang Cindy...

Simple Life

Photos below are captured during our visit to my grandma's place in Barili last weekend. These are of my mother, cousin Itis and her son doing the pounding/grinding of banana to make "saging linusak", don't know the word in English. All I know is that the finish product will be a mixed of banana, young coconut flesh and brown sugar that makes it a delectable afternoon snack. Photos 1,2 and 3 show the processes of how we do it. First off, we boil the raw banana, peel off the skin when it's cooked, place in mortar and pestle-a huge one then slowly mix the ingredients together as you continue on pounding.

Doing this again after a couple of years I haven't visited my grandmother's place brings back old childhood memories. We used to do this a lot when I was seven years old. Rice or grits was a scarcity when I lived with my grandparents so we do the banana in replacement of rice just so we can fill our hungry stomach.

4 Generations

Before I flew to the Philippines from Texas I planned of taking a picture or two of the hands of my family that shows 4 generations in total which came in to reality when we went to Davao. These pictures show the hand of four people each from the oldest to the youngest generation. These are of my grandmother Adi's hand who is 84 years old now, my father's 52 years old, my little sister, 10 years old and lastly Jadyn's (my grandmother's great grandkid) hand who is turning 3.

 I can compare them to a tree that is almost a hundred years old. My grandmother is like their root, father as the trunk, Alexia the little sister to be the fruit and Jadyn is the bud or the flower. Cool, isn't it? How many of you guys have the chance to take a picture of your family before they were gone in this world? I guess this only happens rarely so I took advantage of the great opportunity while grandmother is still with us.

Kawasan Falls Adventure

My strong feet already took me to Kawasan Falls, a three-hour bus ride away from the city located in the outskirts of Badian. I have lived all my life in Cebu but I have never been there until last Thursday, December 2,2010. Yes, the falls is indeed very beautiful, very refreshing and most of all relaxing. The long trip made us all exhausted but it was all worth the trip.

To get to the falls you have to ride a bus that takes you to the South and then when you are at the destination you will have to walk a few meters farther to get to it. I would never forget my Kawasan adventure, it was so great going there with friends whom you are comfortable to be with....

......photo above is of myself by the Ceres bus lines that we rode taking us to Badian...

........ the narrow trail leading to the falls with a great river view and a cliff on the otherside...

........ with baby girl, Sarah and Jacky by the sign

....... and the fun began at this place.... I had a very good back massage from the nature. I laid flat on the rift and let the falling water do its job on my back...

Fun At The Beach

One of the many things I missed about the Philippines is the beach and  the fresh seafoods. Finally, Jadyn and I had our first swimming at the beach yesterday. Mike invited us to go with him and so we did. I brought my little siblings with me as well as the older one, Anderson. The salty warm water of the ocean is so relaxing for my tired body. W were all exhausted when we went back to the house kay daghan kiat. Here's just three samples of the fun we had yesterday.

.......... can you tell I loved being in the water playing with the kiddos...above photo is of my baby girl, little brother and little sister...

.......... second photo is when we were about to leave Blue reef..picture taking with Mike, Jacky, Adong and my little Princess...

...........and here's the usual food when at the beach, grilled milk fish, grilled pork and kinilaw bulinaw with matching guso!

Fresh Seafoods

I took my family out for dinner the next day I arrived home. I want them to celebrate our safe arrival with me by treating them out. This happens only once in a blue moon and I am glad I did. In our meal, I ordered one kilo each of these foods shown below. We had lapu-lapu fish soup, squid adobo and grilled danguet. It was yummy and what made the dinner so special is that my whole family was with me except my brother Wing2x who is not in the country and my other younger brother Anderson for he had a class at that time.

These are the types of foods I so long to eat. This is something I cannot get from the Asian Market in Texas. Thank God I was able to satisfy some of my cravings. I better be prepared for I got plenty of time to stay here and pig out.

Nature Fresh

This entry is the continuation of the previous personal post Grandma's House where I used to stay. She is so close to the river and the falls that we enjoyed so much during my early days.

The river is so inviting, you can tell by looking at the picture at how green it is. The second picture is the Mantayupan Falls which now they developed to attract local tourists and people from other places in Cebu. I am glad to know they now have a restaurant and a place to stay in there for people who can't make it home in one day. 

The third photos is of the well that serves their source of drinking water of the residents of Gunting. It is a nature's wonder of producing pure, clean and fresh water to drink. I so missed this place. This is where I spent good days with my playmates...I am so anxious visiting back the place that made a great memory of my childhood.

Very Brown

This is my baby girl in the picture here. As you can see she's got brown hair now which I like so much. I got very dark hair and my baby has a brown hair for a change and for sure I am gonna love it more and more. I don't wanna cut it so it won't get dark. Her brown hair will make her standout among the rest of the kids in the Philippines.

Happy and Sad Faces

It is interesting how our little girl can change her facial expressions from extreme emotions to a super jolly and happy one. I took these photos of her in two different situations. The first one below is of her sulking in the closet when I stopped her from eating too much shrimp paste. The second one is of her showing her happy face with her new clown doll given to her by Jean.

These photos are just few of my favorites because there is so much to tell in these shots here. They are so cute, do you agree?

Dark And Smooth

I received a nice compliment from Jean when we visited her last Friday. She was saying I have dark and smooth skin. Well, as for my darkness, it is my natural skin color and I get even more darker during Summer. I use Victoria's Secret Amber Romance lotion for my skin after shower that probably helps it to become smoother than ever before.

I don't normally have smooth skin. In fact, I got old scars all over my body that I got when I was a kid. Now they seem to vanish or maybe less visible because of my new environment plus the beauty product I am using, the lotion that is.

Banana Dog

I saw this cool piece of art when we had a walk at downtown Benicia last Sunday. This was displayed outside the Arts Center in one of the buildings in that place. It caught me and Jadyn's eyes that we even stopped for couple of minutes just to make a thorough look at this work of art. Whoever made this did an excellent job. Beautiful banana dog, isn't it?

Pigtails

I am glad baby girl loves the pigtail style for her hair. It's annoying to see her hair falls down to her eyes and mouth when I'm feeding her. The little girl doesn't seem bothered with her hair but I am. It was Marcella who started doing pigtails to her and that's what I do now to keep Jadyn's hair from eyesight.

I like it that way for it looks neat and comfortable.

Fireworks Display

These are some photos I captured during the fireworks display in down Fort Worth in celebration of 4th of July last night. It would have been nicer if I had a superb camera to use in capturing those beautiful and colorful fireworks in the sky. It was my first experience watching closer to the fireworks display of my four years here in the states because my husband usually work during those past holidays.

I am glad we went there because the baby was able to see how amazing that was. I also have a video footage of it, I may have share it here later but first I need to upload it on youtube.

Oasis Of The Seas Chef

It's been five months since my brother(next to me) found his way to work in Oasis Of The Seas Caribbean Cruise ship and so far so good. He had done such a tremendous progress as to making his future a brighter one. He paid his debt to us, he sent enough amount of money for our family- kids' tuition fees that is- in the Philippines that makes him "a man" haha. A kid who does his responsibilities is man enough at least for me.

Furthermore, while he is there working as a chef, I am here looking at his pictures makes me wanna get jealous. But oh boy, I shouldn't for I am not a jealous type of person. The fact that he is seeing different amazing places like the Bahamas, Cozumel, Mexico, St. Thomas etc. makes me sulk while I am here staring at the corner of the house all day long. He is my own brother and all I can hope for him is to be successful and continue to seek his fortune somewhere, outside the Philippines.

.... pa cute at work and below are two gigantic ships that bring tourists to a paradise...

Feeding The Birds

Pictures below are of my baby girl feeding the birds. It was her first experience to really get close to the birds and feed them. I was happy and excited seeing Jadyn having so much fun doing what she did. It was quite an experience for her, I bet. Several times before she would try to catch or touch a bird in our backyard but never successfully did that. Birds are too fast and fly away from her.

Spring Blooms

This is what I love Spring, aside from very nice weather I can also get to see various colors of plants and trees. Seeing different colors of trees and flower blooms is refreshing. Everything seems so colorful around this time of the year and that alone makes me wanna live here forever. Proof are the photos I took yesterday of my tulips in our front porch and the big purple tree at the neighbor's backyard.

These purple trees are all over Texas. I don't remember seeing them last year, all I know is that they look amazing and pretty. Do you agree?

...... my hardwork of planting these tulips is paid off, now they are giving beautiful blooms
... purple tree that is so beautiful...

Let's Have Some Anchovy and Stew

...above photo is my inun-unan bulinaw with matching utan bisaya below! If you are a filipino, you sure drool over this!

These are my dinner for tonight. I am very full right now, just had my dinner in our back porch with my baby. I love cooking my favorite filipino foods. This is one way of pleasing myself since I am far from my filipino family. Cooking foods like these ease my boredom.