A visit with Santa

This afternoon, we went to Megamall for a bit of shopping, and guess who Ben ran into? Santa Claus. And here's a picture to show for it. I wonder what he asked for?

Ben with Santa

Christmas photos

It's that time of the year again, and I had pictures of the kids taken. It's really nice to have pictures of the kids taken at around the same time annually. I get to see how much they've changed over the years.

There were several shots taken, but I'm just posting the one each. You can look at the others at Christmas 2006. Anyway, here they are:

Daniel @ 14 years old

Miguel @ 12 years old

Ben @ 4 years old

Me and Ben trying to look cute

A field trip and a birthday

Last November 20, Ben's class went on a field trip (I went along, of course). The day-long outing had us riding round trip on the LRT 2, visiting the PACEM Ecopark in Antipolo City, and gulping some donuts from Gonuts Donuts in Cubao.

Ben was excited about riding the LRT. That was his (and mine as well) first ride on that light rail line. He has taken the MRT (EDSA route) before. He spent most of the time staring out the window. He kept asking me too if the cars were going to fall off the tracks. The roundtrip (Santolan-Recto-Santolan) took a little over an hour. I was sleepy by the time we got back to the bus to travel to the Ecopark, where we had a picnic lunch before going around to see some of the birds and other animals that were kept there. Ben was excited to see them all, especially the birds. He got real close to them. After the Ecopark, we headed on to Gonuts Donuts in Cubao where the kids got to watch how donuts are made. They also got free donuts and juice, but as usual, Ben wasn't really able to eat much.

Here are some photos from the field trip. You can check out the rest at fotopic CSC Field Trip.

In front of one of the LRT trains in the garage

Near the tracks

In the LRT

With his Teacher Coocoo

In front of the Assumption statue at the Ecopark (run by Assumption Sisters)

With his classmate Alyana in the butterfly and insect exhibit

In the shells exhibit

By the cage of the cassowary, the second largest flightless bird in the world (I think), and according the Guinness is the world's most dangerous bird

Close encounter with a bird

Another close encounter with a bird with classmate Matthew

With Matt and Gabriel

With Marcus (former classmate at Fremont too) and Matthew

By the wishing well (hmnn...I wonder what he wished for?)

With Matt in front of the statue of St. Francis of Assisi

He had a lot of fun, but was quite tired by time we got home late in the afternoon.

Two days later, it was Papa's 72nd birthday celebration. We had to have a cake of course, so Ben could help him blow out the candles. Some photos and a video clip follow.

Lolo Emon's birthday cake

Papa and Ben with Kuya Miguel and Kuya Daniel (we miss you Pau and Enzo)

And here's a short clip

An update

Well, I see it's been sometime since I last updated this blog.

Nearly a month has passed, and I've got some new pictures and video clips of Ben to post.

First, here are a couple of video clips of Ben singing songs from his favorite show, Thomas and Friends:





I'm sure you had trouble trying to figure out what he was saying.

Then, on October 21, we attended Claret's Foundation Day celebration which coincided with the United Nation's Day celebration. The CSC (Ben's school) had a presentation and Ben's section did a Chinese dance. Since he is among the biggest in class, he's usually relegated to the back, and that is the case during the presentation. I tried to take photos while he was dancing, but I was too far. Anyway, the photos below are from the presentation.

Doing the Chinese dance. That's Ben in the back near the stairs to the stage

Posing after dancing

With his classmate Mark

Enjoying the confetti

Ben with his Teacher Coocoo

Following the presentation, it was a couple of weeks of school break for Ben. We went home for a week-long stay in Baler on October 28, for the All Saint's Day holiday. Unfortunately for us, a supertyphoon hit the country, specifically northeastern Luzon. Baler was hit as well, and it was several days of brown out after that.

The first picture was taken on our way home. This is in Brgy. Diome in Maria Aurora, Aurora. We stopped to let Ben take a leak. Then he wanted his picture taken, so I did. So here it is:


Later on, when we were in Baler, he decided to take some self-portraits using my cell phone (without my knowledge) so I thought I'd share one (with his complete face on the photo since the rest had only part of his face):


We also visited the beach once. Ben was all excited to go when we were still at the house, but when we got there, he didn't want to go down to the beach anymore. It took me the better of 15-20 minutes to convince him to go down. When he finally did, I managed to get him to wet his feet...and then there was a little bit of an adventure, as the video clips will show. See the pictures first:

Ah, the sun!

Worried about the water

Here's me assuring Ben that the water is nothing to fear.

Yehey, he didn't run away.

And now the video clips:





I'm kind of surprised he didn't ask to leave after his first fall, and neither did he asked to go home after the second fall. Oh well, I thought he would want to visit the beach again before we left for Manila, but he passed. I guess we'll have to wait until we go home for Christmas to get him to go back there.

On the way back to Manila, we had a flat tire in the mountains, very near the place where Doña Aurora Quezon (after whom Aurora was named) was killed. I tried to tell Ben who she was, but he wasn't too interested. Anyway, we got off the car and had a little walk around. As usual, it was photo opportunity for Ben. I just couldn't resist.

the flat tire

in front of the marker for Doña Aurora Quezon

ruined road

no more water

So, can't wait until we go back home again. As they say, there really is no place like home...which in my case is Baler. By the way, it's Mama's birthday today. She would've been 74. It's also Girlie's birthday (Happy birthday, Girlie).

Agrilink a year after

I took Ben to Agrilink again this year. He had a good time with the mascots. He liked the flower exhibit too, I guess because there was a little fountain there. Didn't get to see much of the piggies though. Anyway, here are some of the pics.

fish remains a big favorite

Ben is fond of cornicks

Ben with Hoagy

fish and water...can't take him away from those

I'm sure that's not Tony Tiger, but Ben wanted a picture with him anyway

more water

the flower exhibit

My budding guitarist

Here's a really nice shot of Ben looking like a serious guitarist, well except for the outfit maybe (although, with the way rock guitarists dress now, this might be the future). Hey, maybe someday he will be.

My budding crooner

Just a couple of video clips featuring Ben, the future crooner from Mapagbigay. :-D

A go at Tom Jones' Delilah:



Singing along to Courage the Cowardly Dog:



Sowaddayathink???

Poultry and fish

Ben saw his first live ostrich last Saturday. I took him to the second day of the Poultry Show in Megamall. He saw ostrich eggs too, which amused him because they were so big. Here's a picture of him touching some ostrich eggs in front of the booth where the ostrich (they were young ostrich, about two months old, and a bit difficult to see in the pic) were kept:


He also played some games in the Show, and won a pen and an umbrella. He joined a picture coloring contest, which of course, he didn't win. The clip below show him hard at work on his entry.



He later talked Terrie into getting some rides, and Te obliged.

After Megamall, we went to Makati with Terrie for a real quick meeting with Carrie, and a short shopping spree (okay, it wasn't really a shopping spree since we didn't buy anything!) at Landmark. Before leaving Makati, Ben had to look at the fishponds just behind Glorietta 4 (he remembered from the his last visit to Makati). I took some pictures. A dad/son team gave him some bread to feed the fish, which he enjoyed doing.

"Nanay, o, fish!"
Yup, Ben, that's a tower crane

Then we were on the way home. Since he was hyper throughout the whole afternoon, Ben finally fell asleep in the car halfway the trip home. Good to have a bit of peace and quiet in the car.

Later in the evening, we went to 10 (my Tan grandparents' house) for a short visit with his lolas, and Ben had a pic taken under his popos pictures.

That's Popo Tatay and Popo Nanay
Clowning around in the car
Are you sleepy?

Are you kidding? He took his time falling asleep that night. Good thing there was no school the next day.