I'm Definitely Vacationing in the Philippines!

I wrote a while back that our plans of visiting the Philippines are somewhat looking great. I didn't want to jinx it confirming anything until some family situations are ironed out. Well now, I'm happy and confident to say, that I can go ahead and book our flights already, yipee! This is really exciting. There's no doubt that my shutter will be working double time since we will stay there for two months!

Imagine with some short out-of-town weekend get-aways alone, I'm already having a problem downloading the photos in my computer, how much more for two months? I really need to upgrade the system memory of my computer to improve its speed and performance. I've been thinking of doing this for the longest time, I guess with this trip it will finally happen.

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Weekend Getaway in Maine

This past weekend we drove to Bar Harbor in Maine. We anticipated busy roads since it was a long Memorial Day weekend. But surprisingly the traffic was not bad at all so we just took it easy.

As soon as we arrived in the city and settled in our hotel, we immediately checked out the place. I just loved the panoramic views of the harbor, very calming and breathtaking. The nice weather made the scene even more perfect. The place was full of tourists so it was hard to get a parking slot close to the marina.

We drove by ourselves to Acadia National Park but did not cover the whole area as hb was not comfortable walking with aching left foot. So we decided to still join a paid tour the following day. We stopped at different levels of Cadillac Mountain and took pictures. We sat on big boulders as we looked at the amazing view of the harbor with cool breeze touching our faces, it was just wonderful. It made me just want to hang out there the whole day, it was awesome. We also hanged out for a little bit at Sand Beach; Thunder Hole; and Wild Garden. I missed the pop-overs and tea at the Jordan Pond, but I'm sure we will come back there again hopefully in the near future.

Here are some photos I took of our Maine get-away.

On our way to Maine, halfway through we stopped by
a rest area to relax and have a snack.

First stop in Acadia National Park is the top of Cadillac Mountain

Hanging out in Sand Beach

At Thunder Hole, you can hear the roaring sound of water
splashing against the rocks

At the Wild Gardens of Acadia

As if we haven't had enough lobsters in all the restos we've dined at already,
we still stopped by the popular Lobster Pound to buy more live lobsters.

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Capture Precious Memories

My little tot is the most photographed person in our household. I love taking his pictures and I download tons of them every single day. When we go out of town on holidays or take vacations overseas, I always run out of space in my memory card. It is because I don't only take pictures but I take videos as well. Videos can take a lot of space in the memory card, so it is best to download them right away. But at most times, it is not permissible to do it especially when we're outdoors, so it is best to have an extra compact flash memory on hand.

Since summer is just around the corner, this means there will be a lot of upcoming outdoor family activities again. I don't want to miss out on capturing precious memories with my little tot. I need to have the most memory of compact flash card that I can get and its good to know that I could get 16GB Extreme III compact flash card and more at MemorySuppliers.com

This is one of the silly pictures I captured of my little tot.
Another precious moment to smile about when he's older.

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It's Looking Great

I wish our plans to visit the Philippines in August will really push through. I've been dying to see my parents and the rest of my family. The plan to visit was temporarily sidetracked due to some changes in our family situations which I don't want to elaborate on anymore. But the chances are looking great, so I started to search for cheap flights online and to shop for goodies that I am sending through shipping boxes. That way my luggages will only contain our clothes and personal effects. I will be flying with my little tot ahead of hb so I want the flight to be as convenient as possible. Then hb will follow to stay for only a week or two and we will all fly back to US together. Shipping boxes ahead of the trip is the most practical and convenient way of sending goodies. I need to calculate the best time to send them though to make sure they will arrive ahead of me or while I'm still there.

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Happy Birthday to My Little Tot

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY MY SON!

Time flies so fast is all I can say. My little tot is getting to be a big boy now. He is three years old today. Happy birthday son, we are so blessed to have you in our lives. May God bless you and keep you in His care always.

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Like a Party Pooper

The weather has been very weird the past days. The temperature is see-sawing from very warm to wet and chilly. And believe it or not, two days ago we even had frost. Yes frost in spring! It's good that I haven't planted anything in my outdoor pots yet, otherwise I may have to carry them to the house to protect them from frost.

When the temperature became really warm, my little tot played in his sandbox on the deck for a long time while hb watched him as he worked in his laptop. I set up the patio furniture and we had lunch on the deck. And then it became windy and chilly so we had to pack up to come back in the house. The weather was really a party pooper.

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Weekend in NH

My little tot's 3rd birthday will be tomorrow. Unlike last year when we had a really big party for him complete with moonwalk and lots of invited friends, this year we decided to celebrate it quietly. We've had few relatives on both sides of our family who visited in the last two months, so we thought that it would be nice to spend this month with just the three of us.

We decided to get-away to NH and ME to bond and celebrate our little tot's birthday. Over the weekend we drove to Storyland in NH. The weather was really nice and not much traffic on the road considering. We didn't even bother to check if the venue was already open, it turned out it will start operation next weekend yet. But the trip didn't go to waste since we've got several plans to do while up there.

We took the Cog Railway ride up to Mt. Washington. It was a great experience riding in a steam engine, my little tot had a great kick out of it. It was a 3 hour ride two-way, and the steam engine stopped every 20 minutes to fill up water and coals. At one point we were at 4600 ft. elevation and our ears have started popping. There were several spots in the mountain still covered with snow. We also saw several hikers braving the temperature and wind.

When we got to the top we were allowed to go out to take a break. It was tough getting off and on the train, the wind was probably over 50 miles an hour and if I was not carrying my little tot, I could have been blown away easily. It was really hard to maintain a balance. But despite the strong wind, hb has still managed to walk to the observatory deck at the summit but couldn't see anything because of dense fog. We were ready to stick around and stay for the night if ever it got too late to drive home. It was still bright after the ride so we decided to just drive home. Then it started to rain.

Hb was craving for seafood and so was I. We searched in the GPS if we could pass any resto along the way but didn't see any. Then finally before 9pm we found a perfect place to dine at Peabody, MA called Seawitch. We had sumptuous oysters, calamari, grilled scallops, salad and baked potato. It was a place worth going back to if only it's close to home. Little tot didn't eat anything but just played peek-a-boo with a customer in the next table.

We came home exhausted but very happy. Next weekend we're going to Bar Harbor in ME, so watch out for the pictures.

Here are some of the pics I took of our NH stroll.

Little tot was like in a trance while watching Disney movie Cars on our way to NH.

We stopped by Conway hoping to take the train ride
but decided to take the Cog Railway instead

At Ben & Jerry's having Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia ice cream, yum!

At the Cog Railway station waiting to board.

Little tot was excited he wanted to cut in the line so dada pulled him back to the line.

"What's taking them so long mom?"

How can the train fit this much people?

We were really cramped inside, but it was still a fun adventure.
Little tot slept for an hour, so I was so sore when we got off.

After the ride we had some photo ops by several steam engines which little tot said were 'broken'

This one looks ancient isn't it?

At the museum of steam engines

Creating some souvenir coins with steam engine emboss.

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How We Celebrated Mother's Day

It was funny that whenever I asked my little tot what he got for mommy on Mother's Day, he'd always say with a wide smile, "I buy gif fo mommy." The night before he was out with dada to the store to buy food. When they came back I was kinda looking for a hint if they got me anything, but didn't see anything suspicious. Actually, I was kinda worried that hb looked like he doesn't have a clue that it's gonna be Mother's Day the following day or so I thought.

But when I woke up in the morning and went down to make breakfast, there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card on the table, I was thrilled. My little tot was right afterall, there was a 'gift' for mommy! I immediately went upstairs and kissed hb thank you. Little tot was more excited to see the flowers he kept smelling them.


We went to church at noon. My little tot was 'unusually' behaved at church, I was so proud. That was enough gift for mommy I guess, lol. Usually when he sees other kids in the family room of the church where we always stay, he gets excited and wants to play with them.My son is actually excitable and he can't just play without screaming and laughing loud, so that to me is not a good behavior even if we're in the family room where kids can get away with it. Anyway, he asked for his gold fish snack; sat in a separate pew and just ate quietly. Even when there were three other kids who arrived later, he just stayed where he was. I guess my little tot is getting more manageable now (knock on wood!). Afterall he's turning three next week!

At mid-afternoon we attended the 2nd birthday celebration of our dear Indian friend's son. It was a small group, very intimate. We had of course sumptuous Indian dishes, mostly spicy that my hb really likes. Little tot didn't particularly like to eat. He'd rather play with other kids.


How about you, did you do anything special on Mother's Day?

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He Loves to Push Buttons

My son is very self-sufficient when it comes to changing dvd's in the player. He even wipes the dvd's using the end of his shirt before putting them in the player. He has this small dvd case with all his favorite educational shows. He semi-graduated from his usual shows like Baby Einstein, Caillou, Curious George, Barney and Tigger and Pooh. I'd say 'semi' because when he feels like it, he still wants to watch them from time to time.

His latest fascination now is the Disney movie Cars. Oh I'm not sure how many times he's watched that already and when he watches he is really loud. He reacts to every scene and he knows what's going on in the story. I'm always there to tell him what's going on giving emphasis to the moral of the story.

We used to have one of those enclosed tv stands that keeps electronics out of sight. But since getting a new HDTV the stand is pretty much an invitation for trouble especially to a very curious tot. But in fairness, it taught him some self control, he seldom touches anything. But of course there are times when he just couldn't help himself and wants to push buttons. Well that's what toddlers are made of right?

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Technorati Authority

For what it's worth, can someone please tell me why this blog's Technorati Authority still displays 44 when it should already be 70? Well it's been maybe a year already that it got stuck on 44. I have installed and re-installed the code several times already to no avail. Anyway, it's not that I am really concerned about my blog's statistics, in fact the only statistics I'm concerned about is PR, who doesn't? LOL. But just so my blog displays the correct stat, I would like to know how I can correct that. I actually reported this to Technorati support but nobody seems to care. So should I even care? LOL. Anyway, I'd appreciate your help and your thoughts on this, thanks.

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Pain on My Left Leg

On Saturday night I felt pain on my left knee. It hurts every time I climb up and down the stairs. I thought it probably hurts because when I work in my computer I usually sit with my left leg tucked under my bottom while my right leg is folded up against my chest. Can you picture it?, lol. Anyway, I'm more comfortable and my brain works well too in that position. But after some time my back and legs get strained and that will be my cue to get up; pace back and forth; and stretch to release the tension.

On Sunday morning, I decided to tend to my indoor plants after a long time of ignoring them. I was so engrossed I didn't realize I was standing for over an hour already wearing my snicker clogs. I wondered why my clogs were getting tighter, when I checked my left ankle was already reddish and swollen. But that didn't stop me from working, I just kicked off my clogs and continued working barefooted on area rugs, shifting my legs alternately. Afterwards I rested and elevated my legs on my bouncy ball and that felt really good.

In the afternoon when we attended the birthday party of our friend's son, I was really in pain. It was very uncomfortable sitting in the car. I would rather stand up and walk or sit down with my legs up. I refrain to sit down or stand up on prolonged period of time because it aggravates my condition. For the past nights I have been going to bed earlier instead of working online until very late. I still have some pain but very manageable.

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Prayer of a Mother and a Wife

My cousin-in-law gave me this tiny book of prayer that I pray daily. I want to share this prayer with my warm wishes to all the mothers in the world. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

A Prayer of a Mother and a Wife

Compassionate and loving God,
thank you for giving me the opportunity
and the challenge of being a mother.
I know that this is not an easy task -
--to rear children and build a home.

Please help me when life seems too difficult,
when I lose my patience, understanding and generosity
toward my husband and my children.

Grant me the spirit of love, peace and joy
so that when I'm doing my daily routine, though heavy they may be,
these virtues may give me the strength to lighten my day.

Help me to be always cheerful and serene
so that my children and husband may look forward
to coming home again after school and after the day's work.

Dear God, my constant prayer is my concern for my children,
that they may become successful in life,
able to serve their conutrymen and women,
but more importantly that they may grow up to be
Your faithful children. Amen

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My Not So Fruitful Week

As my son was nursing a fever without energy and appetite, I was also not eating properly, which I should have been. That's always been my problem (if you call it a problem). When I'm tired and hungry, I would always get some sleep than satisfy my hunger. Since I lost some sleep tending to my sick little tot, every chance I get to grab a few winks I would do it.

I didn't accomplish anything last week in my to-do-list. Even my plan of working in the yard didn't happen. I was also supposed to go to a gym with my gf on Friday but just canceled out. Though I feel somewhat lighter than before as if I was on weight loss pills, I really need to go to a gym mainly to get more stamina and energy. The gym offers a one day free pass to try their program out before enrollment. Since little tot was under the weather for most days of the week, we just stayed home so he'll get better.

Yesterday, he woke up recharged, without a fever and a lot of energy. He immediately asked for egg and toasts for breakfast. I was very happy that he finished one egg, maybe half of a wheat toast and a few sips of orange juice. And most of all I was glad that he willingly took his cough medicine. My little tot is finally back to normal! When his dada went to the store, he wanted to come. Even if I was hesitant to let him out yet, I gave in anyway. It was just a short trip anyway.

Hopefully this week will be fruitful and I can stick to my to-do-list. I also need to plan a birthday party for little tot, his birthday is coming up soon.

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EC Top Dropper Day - April

Thank you again to my consistent droppers who made it to the top list for last month. Your links will be featured for the whole month of May in my sidebar as a token of my great appreciation. Special mention to my dearest blogger buddy Liza whose 6 blogs have consistently made it to the top list here. Thank you all so much!

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