Monitoring Household Expenses

With the upcoming visit to the Philippines, I've been buying a lot of goodies to bring to all my loved ones and close friends. This doesn't happen often so I guess I can go overboard, lol. It's good I have looked into all our utility bills a long time ago and made some changes to pull the expenses down so I'd say I saved quite a few dollars in the process. Variable expenses like gas, water, and electric are the ones I can cut down consumption of, and it really paid off. I was also able to get cheap insurance quote and adjusted our bill favorably. The savings I get from our utility bills I was able to apply to some of this trip's expenses. It pays to closely monitor household bills right?

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A Fun Day in the Beach

On Wednesday we had a glorious day with temperature in the 70's. It was actually the only day in the week that was completely dry. It's been cool and wet almost everyday that it feels like April rather than June. Even on Sunday when summer officially begins, there is still thunderstorm in the forecast.

Anyway, I didn't let Wednesday go by without totally enjoying it. What better way to enjoy it but to go to the beach. Since my little tot loves to play in his sand box, I thought of taking him to the beach to enjoy the sand even more. My girlfriends and I together with our kids went to the beach and enjoyed the lovely weather. Although the sun was out, it was still a bit cool in the coast but tolerable. The kids didn't mind it at all and played in the sand and water for a while.

As I expected people flocked to the beach, everybody must be really tired of the rain too. We brought food and had a picnic as well. Then afterwards we passed by our other girlfriend's house to continue the fun. The kids played in a shallow pool of water in the backyard while the moms chatted the day away.

I'd like to share some photos I took of our first beach escapade for the year.

It was kinda muddy due to low tide, but it didn't prevent
my little tot from playing along the shore.

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Playing in the sand is really his favorite thing to do.
At home he'd still play in his sand box even when it drizzles.

There were quite a lot of people in the beach,
it's good we found a nice spot to hang out.

"Hmmm, I guess it's time to dip in the water."

My little tot and his best friend Kristen.

After the water and sand, its time to chow!

My little tot, enjoying a piece of cookie.

Kicking some ball with Jay.

Plucking the plants out of the ground.
Hey kids leave the plants alone they're not weeds!

After lunch, they head back to the beach to play in the sand some more.

The kids continuing the fun at my gf's backyard.

Here I am having a hard time getting my little tot to come out of the water.

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A Day With Friends and Animals

On Monday, my girlfriends and I took our kids to the park and zoo. It was a great day though it started a little cloudy and a bit cold. The original plan was to pick my gf and her daughter at 9am but I forgot I had to go for a blood test too. I didn't finish until 9:45 so I got to her house around 10am. I brought a bagful of carrots to feed the sheep, goats, donkey, horse, llamas, deer, and potbellied pig. And they have feed dispensers there too where you can get some corn for a quarter. My son was not scared feeding the animals, even letting them lick the corn out of his tiny palm.

My son and I have been to this park and zoo several times before, but each time we visited we only spent time feeding the animals. This time we took the kids to the playground and had a picnic too. My son was the oldest at 3 while his little friends were 18 to 26 months. So you can just imagine how fast he ran away and he was fearless climbing up and sliding down the tallest slide.

I was starving that day, I didn't have anything for breakfast. I had several servings of spaghetti and fresh fruits, I was so bloated afterwards. I haven't been to the gym for the longest time. Hb was very busy in his new job and he also travels now, so I'm stuck with my son all the time. It feels like I must have put on several pounds again. I think I will go the easy route of taking the best diet pills to achieve my ideal weight before I leave for my vacation.

Anyway, here are the pictures I took of our day in the park and zoo.

Feeding the sheep with carrots

....and the goats

.....and the horse

.....and the llama

Good thing there was a piece of carrot left for the potbellied pig.

With Kristen

At the park on a rocking car

With Dhruv


A stiff climb to get to the slide

He's almost there!

And down he goes.

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Some Past Weekend Activities

On Saturday we attended the 3rd birthday party of one of my little tot's buddies Anthony. Since we've stopped attending Gymboree already, we haven't seen his friends and their moms as often as we used to, so we were just excited to attend the party because all his buddies will be there.

The party started at 3pm. My son would have still been napping at that time, so he might get cranky if I had to wake him up. So I decided that he'd just skip the naptime so he will go to bed earlier at night. But the little guy couldn't resist, he dozed off in his carseat. So when we got at the party, it took a while to warm him up for the activities. When he finally warmed up, he just got going and going. It was almost impossible to get him to the car when it was time to go home. Afterwards we went to an outlet mall to get a wedding gift for our neighbor's daughter. He saw coin-operated cars there and he wouldn't walk till he got a ride. Of course his dada gave in.

Here are some of the pictures of our Saturday activities.

Before we left the house he wanted to play in the sand box,
so as soon as he saw this sand pit at the party, nothing else mattered.

He is getting ready to swing the bat for the ball being pitched by his dada.

Anthony got an ATV for his birthday and the boys impatiently waited for their turns.

Finally, little tot got his turn. He was in heaven.

At the little moonwalk, opening the wall for his little friends.

He didn't want to get his face painted so he settled for
a tiny Lightning McQueen car on his arm.

I got my own butterfly paint on my arm too!

At a coin-operated airplane at Wrentham Village

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Kid-Free Times Are Coming

I'm so excited that finally I was able to enroll my little tot in a Summer Camp. He will attend the camp for 3 hours a day; four days a week, for the whole month of July.

This means that I will have more time to myself, yipee! Well not really. In my dreams I will devote this spare time to get more sleep; relax; enjoy the peace and quiet; enjoy a good book while drinking a hot cup of tea or maybe get a massage. But in reality, I'm just glad I can do my chores without any interruption from an inquisitive little fellow.

I am planning to organize real good before we leave for our two-month vacation so hb won't be confused finding stuffs around the house since the lady of the house won't be there to help him, lol. I normally just do spot cleaning except for the kitchen and family room where little tot and I stay most of the time. But this time I can finally give some good scrubing to the glass tile in all the bathrooms which have been begging for my attention in a long time now. The closet for tools and other household appliances and the pantry need organization as well.

Anyway, a three-hour-a-day-kid-free is really a lot, it also means I can go to the gym religiously. One of my fitness goals is to get to my ideal weight of 120 to 125 lbs before my vacation since I am anticipating to gain weight in two months. I miss my mom's cooking so for sure there'll be a lot of pigging out to happen.

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