Last December 18, the Claret Child Study Center (where Ben is in nursery), had their Christmas program. His section danced to Winter Wonderland so they were dressed in sweaters and bonnets and gloves. Unfortunately for me, I sat in the wrong section with Ben being positioned on the other side of the stage from where I was sitting, not to mention being positioned in the back row. So the pictures, and the video aren't great. I was only able to take pictures of him after the dance number and not during it, and still they aren't too great. Nonetheless, here are a few shots. The rest can be seen at Ben's Christmas program.
Here too is a video clip I took with my cell phone. It's kind of difficult to spot him, but once in a while, you might get lucky. He's the second boy from the right, wearing red sweatshirt. He's right about behind the second girl from the right wearing red.
Oh well, he had fun anyway, so that was all that matters and it really was fun watching all the kids perform.
Two nights before the program, we ended up at SM's Mall of Asia in Pasay City (quite far from our house). Originally, we were going to take Ben to see the dinosaur exhibit at Baywalk, which is the stretch along Manila Bay from Ermita to Malate. However, Kuya Tony missed the entry to the parking lot and since there was a lot of traffic, we decided to just head on to the mall. It is quite a big mall, which is the largest mall in the Philippines and, according to Wikipedia, is the third largest in the world. Here are a couple of pics from there.
Ben and his Lola Iring with the skating rink in the background
Ben with Tigger :)
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
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
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).
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.
Ben and his Lola Iring with the skating rink in the background
Ben with Tigger :)
