'Pinas Vacation Day 2 Part 1 aka Family Day-out

*I hope you don't mind if it took me a month and a half to post this ;P*

After a busy day 1, we started the second day of my quick vacation late. Instead of the planned early morning visit to Dad, we got there just an hour short of noon. Seeing his "new place" still makes me shake my head and think, "I'm sorry, Dad, I wasn't able to buy us our dream house yet. You so deserve better than this." Not a good way to start this post, eh? Fine, good vibes na :D

Here's a cute photo of Haley to cheer us up ;-)

I would've visited Dad every weekend if I were staying in the Philippines but I'm not so I made the most out of the hour or so that we were there. I talked to him like he was actually in front of me and I told him just how much I miss having him around. Looking at his picture brings me back to the day it was taken -- the first time I went home for a vacation last March. It's my sister's graduation and it's something that I wouldn't want to miss so I surprised my family by showing up at the exact moment she's delivering her Valedictory Speech. That day we're a complete, happy, proud family and I swear if I could stop time right at that moment, I would do it in a heartbeat. 

We all miss you, Daddy.

After visiting Dad, we all headed to our next stop: Seaside at Macapagal Blvd. I've always wanted to treat my family to a seafood feast so there's no better place than this. We bought the fresh seafood ourselves at the talipapa then had them cooked at Aling Tonya's Seafood Palutuan. I spent only about Php2000 for crabs, prawns, squid and salmon belly. Oh my, I am salivating again as I type! O_o

Butter Garlic Shrimp

Calamari

Halabos na Alimango

Sinigang na Salmon Belly

Tempura

Since we have kids with us, we also ordered Inihaw na Liempo but I didn't have time to take a photo of it  for it was swiped in an instant! Haha! All the dishes we ordered at Aling Tonya's were delectable that even my grandmother who's a picky-eater loved them. It's the tempura that I keep coming back here for but the salmon belly was the crowd favorite.

Here are a few snaps during lunch:

Mi familia.

Mi familia  in action. Haha!

Haley and her huge appetite never fails to amuse me. Yes, she can and she did eat on her own! :D

It is in moments like this that we miss Dad all the more.

One time while on Skype, Haley told me... "Ate nung andito pa si daddy, pumunta kaming MOA eh, nanood kami ng fireworks..." Hearing a little child reminisce of her father like that instantly made my eyes well up and I promised her right there that we'll all go to Mall of Asia when I go home. I'm not one to break promises so you know where we went next ;-)

The globe and the multi-cab shuttle service -- two things that scream MOA to me. LOL!

We only did a little shopping then off we headed home. Both the kids and the young-at-heart were tired but happy nonetheless. For me and Jhay though, there's no room to lounge around because we're running late for the day's last appointment -- Surprise Dinner with the School of Fish! That's up next ^^,

I Just Realized...

Truly, a Dad's love is insurmountable but i'm lucky being with someone
who loves our little girl almost as much.


Happy Sunday, everyone! :)

P.S. That's Dad's motorcycle and I know he's smiling from up there because J's taking good care of it.

P.P.S. Haley doesn't back-ride alone -- Mom's there to hold her. Also, J is a responsible driver and their destination is only less than a kilometer :)

'Pinas Vacation Day 1 aka J's 27th

Two Fridays ago was the 27th birthday of my J and I most definitely wouldn't miss that for the world! I left SG at 2AM of July 27 and made it to PH 4 hours later.

My ticket to 3 days of bliss :-)

I so love coming home. It's a feeling like no other. Finally spending time with the people you love after 2 or 3 months of physical absence -- it's just priceless. I can still remember J's hello kiss that morning! And Haley's welcome embrace! Oh there really is no place like home :-)

I promised her I'd buy her an iPad if she takes home 30 3-stars from school in 30 days. She did it with flying colors! And can you see how happy she was when she got hold of it? It got me thinking she actually fetched the iPad from the airport and not me. Hahaha.

Apart from J and my family, it's Pinoy food that I miss most. The crispylicious goodness of Chickenjoy is something that I really look forward to so we waited no longer and grabbed a bucket for breakfast. Then we headed home to greet the rest of my relatives, distribute the pasalubongs and take a quick rest before we venture into my jampacked vacay Day 1.

 [L] Haley with her all her pasalubong.

[R] Candid shot of the two loves of my life. Looking at them like that warms my heart.

Because I've been missing a lot of our princess' nursery adventures, I made it a point to include bringing her to school in my itinerary.

She really is a big girl now! That's her in school with me and her teachers :-)

Then we went straight to J's Marikina home to deliver the LED TV that he bought here. If you're asking why I was the one who brought it to PH, it's because tourists are charged taxes and levies in Philippine Customs while OFWs (that's me! :P) are entitled to bring in one appliance of every kind provided that it's used. And yes, it's duty-free! How cool is that? ^^,

Happy that it worked despite the buzz that TVs bought outside the country might not be programmed for the TV system in the Philippines. Oh btw, please excuse their old TV rack. Haha! They got rid of that and mounted it on the wall instead ;-)

And finally... the most important part of the day -- Hon's Birthday Celebration! :D

I bought the shirt that he's wearing here a few hours before my flight. Considering that it's a rush purchase, I think I did a pretty good job! Perfect fit! :)

Pinoy food is just love.

The three dishes (excluding the pork barbeque) were his mom's cooking - my favorite being the one in the biggest frame. I don't know what it's called, but it's chicken with hotdog and liver spread and tomato sauce and pickles. Yummy!

We also dropped by Tita Meg's house to say hi and much to my delight, there's  more scrumptious food. And another cake for the birthday boy :-)

Oh Mango Bravo, I miss you already!

In the pursuit of making the most of my day 1, we also got ourselves a foot spa and pedicure because our feet have not been pampered for ages!

[upper left] I bought us a matching watch in Bugis Street -- Singapore's bargain shopping haven. Would you believe a piece only costs 10 SGD (330php)?

[upper right] Picture-picture while our feet are treated with TLC

[lower right] how I love that shade of blue!

[lower left] But I love this man more ♥

We were both tired as hell after all our activities so we capped the day off with a quiet just-the-two-of-us evening. We talked and cuddled and made up for all the lovin' that we missed and really, I wouldn't want to end his birthday any other way.

Subic Trip with J's Family: Ocean Adventure

Note: This is the last (and loooooooooong overdue) installment of my Subic series. I thought I have to get this up before the year ends! Haha!

After recharging over the night and grabbing a quick breakfast, we checked out of the villa as we're all set for our Subic Day 2 destination:

This time, J's driving and that made me kinda lonely at the back seat (you see, I'm used to cuddling with him during long travels). That's his kuya on the passenger seat, guiding the way with his handy-dandy GPS.

But you know what, whenever he checks me out on the rearview mirror, with that look that I know is mine alone... I melt. Cheesy, yeah, but it's true. Hihi.

Anyway... going back to the trip, somewhere along the way to Ocean Adventure, we had to pull over because these monkeys deserve to be photographed! Haha. They're at the road-side, as if waiting for tourists to pet them and feed them and click away. That's exactly what we did :-)

When the bigger monkey came near (he's scary, he looks like he's the superior guy there), we went on our way. At around 10am, we got to Ocean Adventure. Mr. Sun's already up and about but we still stopped by the facade to take pictures.

Unlike Zoobic Safari, we didn't have promo tickets here so we availed of their regular rates:

I'm not sure about their height requirement but sadly, Jhay's nephew who's just about to turn 2 on December is no longer entitled to the free admission :(

Our tickets ^_^

Since it's Halloween, we were greeted by crew members dressed in spooky costumes. J wanted to take a photo with the zombie nurse and patient but since I'm not very fond of creepy stuff, I only let him pose by these 2. Hehe.

I also went inside the souvenir shop but didn't have the time to look around so I just took this shot.

We were given this flyer containing the show schedule. No need to worry if you miss a show because if you look at the image closely, there are re-runs throughout the day :-)

We headed straight to the Seaside Stadium to catch the Adventures of Olongapo Jones. It's more of an environment-centric kiddie show complete with a Kuya Kim-look alike lead character and his mascot friends. Hahaha.

This next act was a hit to young and old. The 2 guys were supposedly the villains in the story (they were the illegal loggers Olongapo Jones and his friends were aiming to catch) but with their trampoline tricks, they were easily the heroes of the show :)

*This is the part where I discovered the photo collage tool of Picasa. I swear I almost cried when it did the trick in a few seconds! Haha*

Of course, the show had a happy ending with O.J. and friends catching the bad guys and the bad guys then promising to work hand-in-hand with the team to save the environment.

After they took their final bow, all roads led to the El Capitan Theater where Dolphin Friends Show will be staged. On the way, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the serene Subic Bay.

As soon as everyone had settled, these adorable sea creatures started to strut their stuff. Really, I was amazed at their talent! These are the moments I wish I had an SLR. The following pictures don't do the show justice but at least you'll have an idea :)

Three dolphins and a baby whale wowed the crowd with their skills.

Oh, credit goes to their trainers, too.

The third show was another display of the brilliance of our marine friends - the Sea Lion Marine Patrol Show. It was pretty entertaining and what made it special was that one of the seals was actually blind but still proved to be as talented as the others.

I particularly loved the stage :-)

Sorry for the poor lighting but you can still see the seals naman, di ba?

Finally, we went to their Eco-Theater for Walk on the Wild Side where a native aeta talked about Jungle Survival 101.

At this point, our stomachs were already growling so we didn't finish the show. We proceeded to Ocean Adventure's cafeteria where Tita Meg and company were already waiting. As expected, the queue was long so it took us another half an hour to have these...

 Sinful Lechon Kawali for me :-)

Salisbury Steak for J

The food is good but the prices are on the steep side. If I remember it right, my plate cost PhP 250 while J's at PhP 190. Without drinks pa yan.

After lunch, we took a quick tour inside their aquariums. I didn't find anything extraordinary inside, just like a much smaller version of the Manila Ocean Park.

Sharon and Gabby daw sila :P

I missed J here. He's already outside getting the car :(

One last group shot.

Overall, I think we got what we paid for at the Ocean Adventure. If you're heading to Subic with your family, don't miss to include to include it in your itinerary. I'm sure the kids and kids-at-heart will enjoy!

And of course, what Subic trip would be complete without a stop-over here? :D

Duty-free shopping at Royal.

By some stroke of bad luck, the window switch of our car malfunctioned. J had to stay in the parking lot so I really didn't enjoy shopping. I only bought a few chocolate bars (which I regret, by the way, coz they're so cheap there!) for pasalubong and then spotted an All Flip Flops outlet at 40% off so I bought us these matching slippers. Nice, no? ^_^

These are only Php 567 a pair. I thought the purple and pink combo is too feminine so I got J the brown one. Ending: He's inggit with mine. Haha.

On the brighter side, not having J beside me that time game me a chance to bond with his mom. We strolled in the supermarket together and she told me a lot about J and their family. Being able to spend time with my MIL2B is truly a rare opportunity and for that alone, I'm very thankful that this Subic trip came to be.

We drove off soon after and reached home in less than 3 hours. Thanks to the Hipolitos and Paulinos for making my Halloween weekend fun and truly memorable :-)