Three weeks of chaotic fun

For three short weeks, it was chaos in our family. Fun-filled chaos that is. My brother Irip, my sis-in-law Girlie, and my nephews Pau and Enzo, flew in from the UK to visit after being away for 3-1/2 years (Girlie almost 4-1/2 years). So it shouldn't be difficult to imagine the excitement Ben and I felt while waiting for them, and then when they finally got here.

To be honest, the three weeks was too short. I wish they could've stayed longer, but Irip and Girlie had to get back to work. Still, we'll take what we can get. Ben was particularly happy, as he had playmates with him for three whole weeks (a welcome respite from the usual play alone he has at home). Irip and Girlie look pretty much the same, but the kids have grown quite a bit. When they left, Enzo was just about Ben's age, and now he's 8 (almost 9) years old, and Pau is 11. They've both stretched up quite a bit. And Enzo's English accent was a blast. It was so fun listening to him talk, although I have to admit, there are many times when I couldn't understand him right away so I had to ask him to say again. Not that it mattered much, since I loved listening to him anyway.

They arrived on March 26, after staying a few days in Singapore where they visited with Girlie's brother and his family. The days prior to going home to Baler were spent either in the mall, at the doctor/dentist, and the day the trip to Baler, swimming at 9 Waves. BTW, this post is going to filled with tons of photos.

Our first outing was to the Mall of Asia. Here are some photos:

Enzo trying the mini-carousel at Timezone

Pau revving it up

Enzo aiming for a strike

Ben on a roll

Enzo and Ben at the ferris wheel

By Manila Bay (we missed the sunset)

Father and sons

That's my boy!

Ben and Pau by the fountain

Late merienda (halo halo and ensaymada) at Razon's

The Tan boys (My Boys): Ben, Enzo, Miguel, Pau, Daniel

My Boys 2

Another mall trip was to Trinoma, albeit not as many pictures:

Mom and son (Girlie and Pau)

Pau, Enzo and Ben by one of TriNoMa's fountains

As it was, most of their (at least Irip's and Girlie's) waking hours spent in Manila were either at the doctor, dentist, or hospital, but they did manage to squeeze in some fun time in between.

On April 3, we (Irip, Girlie, Pau & Enzo; Jojo, Daniel & Miguel; Ben and me) headed home to Baler to visit with Papa and Girlie's parents. During the trip home, Ben and Enzo had a talkathon. Neither wanted the other to win, and at one time during the trip, they were having a contest as to who's got a better theory for the dinosaurs' demise. It got very funny, believe me, and then it got just plain annoying, he he he.

As always, the time spent home was much welcome. My poor Papa, so used to just sitting down on his rocking chair and reading...his life was topsy-turvy for the next 10 days, he he he, but he was just as happy to see his grandchildren all together. Irip and family divided their time between the house in Brgy 4 and in Calabuanan. We went swimming a couple of times at Kuya Boy's house, visited Ermita and Pier, and the kids had a short dip in Ben's ever favorite Biklat River.

These batch of photos are from Kuya Boy's pool and yard:

The boys in the pool

Enzo's big dive

Pau enjoying the water

Ben getting ready for a dive

This looks better that it actually was

Daniel, Enzo, Miguel and Ben

Bosing 1 and Bosing 2

The two bosings with Pau...

with Daniel...

...and with Miguel

Oh my!

My Boys, again

While in Baler, Daniel and Miguel took a day to learn how to surf, and then went surfing on their own a couple of times. Here are pictures of them and some other photos from the beach.

Enzo and Daniel with the board

Miguel on the move...

and Daniel too...

...hooray!!!

Daniel nears the end of his run...

...as Miguel rides on

Nice smiles, dudes

Enzo holds on to the board

Irip and Pau

Pau and Ben on the beach

Still afraid of the water ;)

That's my cutie!

Pau and Girlie

Nice bod, Enzo ;)

Enzo feels the water

Fun fun fun

"Should I go in or should I not?"

"My feet, my feet..."

"I'm getting Mama wet"

We also went to visit Ermita and the pier again, among the usual places to visit while in Baler, and here are the photos from there:

A view (albeit very far away) of the pier from the top of the hill (Ermita)

It does look pacific, doesn't it?

Jo with Daniel, Ben, Miguel and Enzo in one of Ermita's view decks

My Boys...

...and again

Love the look, Enzo! :)

Pau and Irip

Getting their feet wet by the pier

Sunset from the pier

Daniel ponders...

as Miguel gets ready to dive in

What's with that look???

Ben with Nanay and Enzo

Enzo fronts the sun...

...as it bids bye bye

We had planned to have a picnic in Biklat River, but decided not to after Enzo had stomach flu. Actually, Irip, Girlie, Pau and Enzo all had a bad bout with their tummy while in Baler. So we spent the last day in Baler at home, and I pestered Papa to make barbecue and grill some piggy meat.

On the third Sunday of their visit, we went to Tagaytay. As much as some people say there's really nothing to see there, I disagree. We went to the People's Park in the Sky, bought the usual stuff at the Good Shepherd Convent, and then drove around to find a place to get a nice view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano. We finally ended up at the horse place near Taal Vista Lodge, where Ben and Enzo took a ride on a horse (with help, of course). Then lunch followed at Dencio's before we started back home. Here are the photos:

Pau and his first love ;), Jollibee

Getting ready to go up the People's Park

Explorer twins

Pau and Girlie at People's Park

Irip, Pau, Auntie Iring, Ben and Enzo

Fronting the piña: Enzo, Ben, Auntie Iring, and Pau

Girlie joins the troop

Ben, Enzo, Pau with their Tito Tony

GROUP HUG!!!

Bosing 1 and Bosing 2, take two

"Your eyes are so small, Kuya Enzo":"Your eyes are so big, Ben"

Enzo and the fruits

With Taal Lake and Taal Volcano in the back

Ben rides...

...as Enzo waits his turn

The volcano on the lake

Lola Iring imbibes the Buko

Girlie and Enzo

Enzo the explorer

Waiting for the pooping boy

Pau and Irip

As it was though, the three weeks seemed to just whiz by and they had to fly back to England. Ben went with us to the airport to see them off, and was sad the whole day. I guess he missed having someone to play with. He kept asking how long it will be before Tito Irip, Auntie Girlie, Kuya Pau and Kuya Enzo will be back again for a visit. Irip had said it would be a minimum of two years, so I told Ben it'll be a little over 700 days, but he kept insisting they'll be back in 180 days.

Two days later, he's settled back to his old routine of playing by himself. Oh well, it's summertime, and he'll be playing outside again, so he'll be meeting and making some new friends from the neighborhood I hope. Until then...and the next batch of photos...Ciao and Enjoy!

Christmas 2007 pictures

Each year, near Christmas time, I have made it a tradition to have pictures of the kids taken. This is really for me, since I like looking over the old pictures and marveling at how much they change over the years. I started having these pictures taken I think when Pau was one year old. So that would've been in 1998. Anyway, Pau and Enzo are now in the UK so I wait for their Papa (Hoy, Irip, ikaw yun, padala mo na yung mga pictures!!!) to send me their pictures. In the last three years (I think), I've asked Irip to put the pictures together for a frame as a Christmas gift for Papa every year. So, this past Christmas, here are the pics of Daniel, Miguel, and Ben (Warning: the studio photoshops the pictures, so they may look a little weird. I'm still looking for a photog who will take good photos...cheap, he he he). Enjoy.

Daniel (hard to believe how much he's changed)

Miguel (hee hee, we have so many comments on this picture)

My Ben (growing up faster than I'd like, sigh. By the way, that shirt he's wearing is Pau's.)

About 3 or 4 years ago, I also started having a picture of Ben and me taken so here's the latest one of us.

As usual, any picture I'm in I tend to ruin

When Irip sends me the picture of Pau and Enzo, I'll post them too (Hoy, Irip, parinig yun sa iyo!).

It's been too long...

No posts since October...so much has happened since. Well, not really, but one important thing that has happened is that we've moved to a new (well, technically not new, since we're the third owners) house. Quite a distance from the old townhouse in Mapagbigay St, but much quieter and definitely roomier. We've been here a little over a month and so far, so good. Of course, getting this house means major belt-tightening for us, but hopefully we'll be alright.

Here's a pic of the front of the house. It's a bungalow, and it looks small from the outside, but it really is quite roomy inside.


I've been looking for a picture of the house where we used to live, but I can't find one right now. Maybe I'll just do a side by side in another post. Anyway, one of the things I really like about this house is that it sits just across a church, which is quite reassuring for me. Also next to church is the subdivision's clubhouse and courts so Ben has a huge place to play around in. So we're pretty much settled. There are still some stuff that needs to get organized and stored, and we still need to get some new furniture but we can wait a bit for those. Hopefully before Irip, Girlie and the kids come to visit this March, we'll be able to have some additional furnishing, he he he.

As for Ben, well, he's growing. The pants of the school uniform I got him back in June is now about over an inch short. And he's a bit meatier than he was before. Officially, he is now 121 cm (almost 4 ft) tall and weighs 27.9 kg (roughtly 60 lbs). What follows are some pictures from October last year.

Here he is with his Lola Iring. This and the next photo were taken just before we went to Church.

This is a picture of him wearing his costume for their presentation during the 40th Foundation Day of Claret School. Unfortunately, it rained so hard that day so the presentation which was supposed to have been held outdoors was moved to the school gym, which couldn't fit in all the parents so it was chaotic. Everyone wanted to get in. We ended up seeing Ben's group perform from far away and with their backs toward us.

The next few pictures are from our annual trip to Baler for the All Saint's/All Soul's Day holiday. Ben is still afraid of the sea, and it was really difficult even getting him to go near the seashore. Actually, it was a riot.

Can you tell from his face that he really didn't want to be there?

With his Lola Iring and Lola Anay

Another day, after much coaxing, we got him to test the waters and when the waves came he cried. The two kids with us are Ruskin and Rey, a couple of his friends in Baler.

That is a forced smile.

That is a genuine smile, and he's holding on to the tricycle driver on our way home from the beach.

With some new playmates

This next batch comes from the annual Claret CSC field trip. The trip visited Avilon Zoo, the Science Centrum, and a peek at the biggest shoes in the world. I'm only posting some of the pictures here.

At Avilon Zoo. It cost me P50 to have his picture taken with that bird. I wanted him to have his picture with a bird of prey, but he didn't want to.

A hyena in the back

Another P50 to sit on and have a picture with a mini horse

Swinging in the Science Centrum

I told him to just have his head out but he wouldn't listen.

His weight in various planets in the solar system.

Playing with the giant abacus

With his classmates JM and Miggy

Joined by Yvonne

Before I post the photos from December, I'm sneaking in Ben's class picture for this school year. It's an even bigger class now as there are 22 or 23 kids of them in their section.

That's him in the second row, 3rd from left.

Ok, on to December, which was a very busy and tiring month for us because that's when we moved to the Jade St. house. The first one was taken outside the Bayantel office in Diliman. He really likes this Santa because it dances. The next ones were taken when Ben's school had their Christmas presentation. They recycled the costumes from the Foundation Day celebration and used them for the show. Ben's class sang a medley of Christmas songs. I would've posted the video but it's not very good since Ben is positioned in the back.

With the dancing Santa

Onstage just before the show began

With Sister Vivian, adminstrator of Claret Child Study Center

With Rafael, a classmate from Senior Nursery that is now in another section

With classmates Mark and Martin

Mark, Ben, Martin and Renz

Receiving his gifts from the 'dark' Santa

With Jon Benedict just before going home

These next ones were taken on Christmas Eve, just before we crossed the street to go to Church (major advantage of having one right across the house).

Me and Ben (with Papa's feet in the back)

With Anilyn, Marjorie, Auntie Iring, and Jackie

Growing and growing...

Last Dec 29th, we attended the 40th wedding annivesary of Tyung Edgar Abesamis (Mama's 1st cousin). The reception was held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel and Ben was really excited because it was the first time to attetnd an event in a five-star hotel. The food was great...but best of all, Ben pretty much behaved that night.

Our trio (I'm getting bigger and bigger every year!!!)

Mother and son

Outside the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel

The next pictures are from New Year's Eve. As usual, we trekked over to Kuya Boy's house by the beach to enjoy Media Noche and fireworks. For some reason, Ben, who was originally gung-ho about fireworks, decided to sit it out when we started lighting them. His excuse was that he didn't like the smell. Still it was fun fun fun...

With his Kuya Daniel and Kuya Miguel (they're growing up so fast!)

Spongebob...Smile!!!

Some of the Tan Ta Ran Tan kids just before the New Year officially started

The revelers...minus our hosts Kuya Boy and Ate Nini, who were both so tired they fell asleep before the clock struck

Here's a couple of fireworks video clips...





That was fun...and now I close this entry with some pictures of Ben taken in the mall ...

At SM Fairview

With Mr Potato Head in front of Toy Kingdom (The Block at SM North EDSA)

With the Monopoly Man

Well, that should make up for a couple of months of silence...enjoy the pics.