Corn Muffin

· 1 cup whole kernel corn
· 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
· 1/3 cup white sugar
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1 egg, beaten
· 1/4 cup butter, melted
· 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add egg, butter and milk; stir gently to combine. Add corn and mix. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Chicken Curry(Filipino Style)

My husband was born in Leyte and many of his favourite dishes are mostly with coconut milk. (This is probably because there are lots of coconuts in their place.) Chicken curry (Filipino style) is one of them.

· 3 tbsp. oil
· 2 potatoes, peeled, quartered and fried
· 1 carrots , peeled and cut
· ½ kg. chicken, cut into serving pieces
· 5 cloves garlic, minced
· 1 large onion, minced
· ½ cup ginger, peeled, julienne
· 1 tbsp. patis (fish sauce)
· 2 tbsp. curry powder
· 2 cup water
· 1 green bell pepper, cut into big squares
· 1 cup coconut milk
· salt and pepper to taste

Pan fry potatoes. Set aside. Boil chicken in a pot add salt, pepper and ginger for 10mins. Set aside

In the same pan, sauté garlic until light brown then add onion .Sauté for a few minutes. Add chicken and stir for few minutes. Put the broth, curry powder and carrots. Lower the heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add coconut milk, bell peppers and fried potatoes and stir occasionally. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Serve hot.

Mechado

I invited a friend to join me today to learn basic food cooking. We cooked mechado for our 1st class. Mechado is a Spanish dish. I used pork and chicken instead of beef.

· 3 tbsp olive oil
· 4 cloves of garlic, crushed & chopped
· 3 tbsp black soy sauce
· 2 laurel leaves
· 1 onion, chopped
· 1 ½ cup tomato sauce
· 2 potatoes, sliced
· 1 carrots, sliced
· ½ cup green peas bean
· 1 cup garbanzo
· 1 green bell peppers, sliced
· 3 cup of water
· ½ kg pork
· ½ kg chicken


Boil pork for 15mins with salt, pepper, laurel leaves and black sauce.

Heat the non-sticky pan in medium setting. When the pan has already been heated, put the olive oil and wait another couple of minutes. Fry the potatoes until golden brown.

After you have done that, add in the crushed garlic. Sauté the garlic and you will know it is finished when it turns a light golden brown color. Add in the sliced onions and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add chicken. Mix and cook for 5mins. Add the boiled pork and broth. Mix, add the tomato sauce and carrots and boil for 15mins.

When the pork has been sautéed, put sliced potatoes. Now let everything simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add green bell peppers , garbanzos and green peas then mix. Add pepper and salt to taste.

Leave it until all the ingredients have fully cooked.

Taco salad on Roti Prata

• 250g ground beef
• 2tsp burrito powder (Oldelpaso)
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 1 medium head lettuce, shredded, about 4 cups
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 2 Jalapeno peppers; chopped
• 9 plain roti prata(tacos/chips)
• salsa sauce

Brown beef in a non-sticky pan; drain off excess fat. Sprinkle burrito powder and stir in water. Simmer, uncovered, until liquid cooks away, about 8 to 12 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, tomato, avocado and jalapeno; toss. Spread salsa sauce on roti prata and put the taco salad then roll.

Ready to eat.

Sinigang

Sinigang is a Filipinos favorite soup. It is similar to Vietnamese canh chua, Indonesian sayur asam, and Thailand's tom yam, its characteristic flavor comes from tamarind which gives it a sour taste and overwhelms the taste of its meat.

· 2 onion, sliced
· 3 medium-sized tomatoes, cut into 6
· ½ kg pork ribs, cut in serving pieces
· 1 bunch kang kong leaves
· 6 lady finger, sliced into 3
· 10 long beans, cut in 3inches length
· 4 yam or gabi, peeled and cut in serving pieces
· 2 pieces long green sili or chilli
· 2 tamarind broth cube
· 6 cups water
· Salt and pepper to taste
The pork ingredient can be replace: fish (bangus), shrimp, or beef.

Boil pork ribs in water & salt. Add half of the onions and tamarind broth cube. Boil for 10-15mins. Add yam. After 5mins, add long beans, sili and lady finger. Toss in the tomatoes and half of the onions. Simmer until the meat is tender then season with salt and pepper. Put in the kang kong.
Serve with rice.

French Toast

our Saturday morning breakfast...
A fast and easy preparation



· 8 slices of bread
· 2 eggs
· 1 cup milk
· 3 tablespoon condense milk
· Pinch of salt
· butter


Beat the eggs lightly with a fork. Stir in sugar, salt, and milk. Dip slices of bread into the mixture and fry in butter, turning once, until lightly browned on both sides.

You can serve with crispy bacon and hot chocolate or coffee.

Seafood Pasta

250g pasta
1/8cup butter
3spoon olive oil
200g shrimp, peeled and deveined
500g mussels, removed from shells
5 mushrooms, sliced
5 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, minced
2 spoon all-purpose flour
2 cups evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup dried chilli

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 4 minutes or until al dente; drain.

Melt butter in a non-sticky pan over medium heat. Add olive oil. Saute shrimp for 1 minute on each side. Stir in garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon; set aside. Add mushrooms and gradually whisk in milk, then cook until thickened. Stir in flour. Cook, stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper. Return shrimp to sauce, and spoon over cooked pasta.

Mongo Guisado (Stewed Mung Beans)

Mongo Guisado


All time favourite Filipino. This dish is given a make-over with a lot of nutritious spinach or malungay leaves. It’s very simple to prepare. A plus point for me, that my son loves it.

· 4 cups of water
· 1 ¼ cups green mongo (mung) beans
· 2 tbsp canola oil
· 1/2 onion, chopped
· 4 cloves garlic, chopped
· ½ cup diced pork
· 1 cup small prawns - peeled, heads discarded
· 20 stalks of spinach
· 2 tbsp patis (fish sauce)
· Salt and pepper to taste

Soak the (mongo/green) mung beans in about 2 cups water for 4 hours. Bring the same water to the boil and simmer beans until tender and most of the water has been absorbed, about 20 to 30 mins. Set aside. Heat casserole in medium heat then add oil. Sauté onion and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add diced pork and sauté until brown and crispy. Stir in mung beans and 2 cups fresh water. Bring to boil and simmer over medium heat until pork is fully cooked (add more water if necessary). Add the spinach leaves or malungay and prawns. Cook until the prawns turn orange in color, about 1 to 2 mins. Seasons with salt and pepper. Best to serve with fried fish and Calamansi with fish sauce or toyo.

Nutella

Nutella is Alvin and Albert's favorite spread now! Albert loves it for his afternoon snacks and Alvin for dessert(spread or fruit dip) after dinner.

Info:
Nutella is the third most popular Facebook page on the planet. It's the brand name of a hazelnut-based sweet spread registered by the Italian company Ferrero at the end of 1963. The recipe was developed from an earlier Ferrero's spread released in 1949. And now marketed in across the globe.

Nutrition Facts:
Nutella is a delicious hazelnut spread that contains quality ingredients such as skim milk and a hint of cocoa. Nutella® spread on whole wheat bread, or any multigrain product, with orange juice or skim milk is a good combination for a balanced breakfast that the entire family will enjoy. Nutella contains no artificial colors or preservatives.

Allergy Fact:
Nutella is generally not recommended for people with an allergy to nuts.
Nutella is also not recommended for people with milk allergy or lactose intolerance because of its skimmed milk and whey content.

Paella

Paella is synonymous with Spanish cuisine. It is an internationally known Spanish rice dish. We Filipinos have created many version paella. Here's my own version of PAELLA.

· ½ pint of olive oil
· 2 cups of rice & 1 cup glutinous - cooked w/ lemon grass
· ½ kg of shrimps - peeled and preserved the tails
· 1 crab – sliced into 4
· 1kg of mussels or clams
· ¼ kg chicken
· ¼ kg pork belly
· 1 green pepper –cut to ribbons
· 1 red pepper –cut to ribbons
· 2 cup tomato sauce
· 10 string beans
· 10 snow peas
· 1 small onion
· 2 tomatoes – diced, removed seeds and peeled
· 1 clove of garlic
· 1 hard boil egg – sliced for decoration
· Salt & pepper to taste

Begin to cook in water & pitch of salt the crab & mussels or clams (make sure you clean the mussel with water and salt). Start to heat non-sticky pan and put oil then toss the garlic until light brown then add the onion. After a minute, add diced tomatoes. Add the pork belly and chicken. Stir for 5minutes and add the tomato sauce. Let it braise about 10-15 minutes more.. Add the shrimps and rice and stir well. Make sure you removed the lemon grass. Simmer for 10mins in very low heat. Add and mix well the mussels, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, sweet peas, and string beans. Cover the pan for 5-10 minutes until slightly dry.

Transfer in a large porcelain pan and bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.
Decorate with hard-boiled eggs, red and bell pepper peas just before serving (after baking it)

Chicken Arroz Caldo

Arroz is rice; caldo means hot. Despite its Spanish name, this dish is the Filipino version of the Chinese porridge.

· 1/2kg Chicken, cut into serving
· 2 Tb canola oil
· 6 garlic cloves -- minced
· 1 whole onion -- finely sliced
· 1/4 cup ginnger -- finely sliced
· 1c Rice grains
· 1c glutenous rice - soaked overnight
· 7 cups water
· 2 Tb fish sauce (patis)
· 1 chicken stock cube
· 2 stalks lemon grass - pound
· 5 Stalks green onion -- finely sliced for garnish
· 1 Calamansi - sliced into two
· Salt and pepper to taste

In a large non-stick soup pot over medium heat, saute
garlic, ginger and onion in oil. Add lemon grass, chicken pieces and fish
saue and cook for another 3 minutes. Add rice, water
and a little salt and pepper. Cover and simmer in
medium low heat for about 30-40 minutes or until the
consistency of a light ceamed soup has been reached.
Stir occasionally while cooking. Correct seasonings
to taste. If rice soup becomes too thick, add a little
water to thin it a bit. Garnish individual bowl
servings with sliced green onions & a slice of calamansi just before
servings.

Potato and spinach soup

Potato and spinach soup

This soup is a good way to use old potatoes that are already softening in storage. As for the greens, I used spinach. You can also use other greens such as lettuce leaves, parsley, cilantro, or green onion tops - this is a good clean out the fridge soup.

1 diced onion
3 old potato and diced
10 stalk of spinach (just the upper part with leaves)
1 chicken stock cube
2 cup water
1 cup full cream milk

Sauté onion with salt until it softens. Add water and chicken stock cube. When boiling, add the potato until cooked. Just after turning off the heat, add the spinach and cover for 10 mins. Blend the potato with the soup until it becomes puree; don’t over blend. Blend the spinach & milk together with the blended potato.

Serve with Tender pork chop and stirred veggies

Tender Pork Chop & Stirred veggies

Tender Pork Chop
The Pork chops require overnight brining. Brine the chops up to two days beforehand. Just remove from brine after an overnight soak, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Ingredients
· 4 Pork chops
· 1 cups full cream milk
· 1 tablespoons salt
· 1 tablespoons sugar
· 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
· 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
· 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
· ½ cup oyster sauce

Combine milk, salt, sugar, grated lemon and pepper in a zip-top plastic bag; shake well to dissolve salt and sugar. Add pork; seal and refrigerate overnight. Remove pork from bag; discard brine. Pat pork dry with a paper towel. Brush the pork with oyster sauce and sprinkle pork with pepper and salt.
Heat a large non-stick grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with cooking oil. Add pork; cook 3 1/2 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Stirred veggies
Ingredients
· 1 sliced eggplant
· 1 sliced carrot
· Cut Stalks of spinach
· 1 slice of butter
· Pinch of salt

Heat a non-sticky pan on very low heat. Add carrot and stir for 3 mins. Add eggplant and spinach. Stir and cook for 5 mins.

Serve with Potato and Spinach Soup

Paris, France

Paris was the last leg of our Europe trip. We took a high-speed train (which was TGV) from Gare de Cornavin in Geneva to Gare de Lyon in Paris, France. We reached Paris at around noontime. Because we pre-ordered our Paris Visit Pass from the Internet, Alvin had to collect it from the store outlet which was located near the Louvre while Albert and I stayed in the train station.

We decided to take taxi from the train station to the hotel because we had big luggage. The taxi driver took as for a ride! Instead of taking a more direct route, he went around Paris and we had to pay 35 euros!


After a short rest at the hotel, we went to our first item in the itinerary, the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower. I must say that Paris really has a lot of cultural heritage! All the buildings, structures and statues are picture worthy. We were awed by the sight. Anyway, we walked from the Trocadero to the tower and decided to go up to the top. There were so many tourists so queuing for the ticket already took as 45 minutes. The elevator took us midway of the tower. The view was already spectacular. We could see most of Paris and its entire grandeur. We decided to go to the top. The queue to the elevator was darn long! It took us around one hour to get to the lift. The view at the top was also good.


The second day (21st May) was Albert’s day. We took Albert to Euro Disneyland for the whole day. I bet he enjoyed everything that he saw and did there. He particularly was very happy riding the cars and trains.


Our third day (22nd May) was hectic. In the morning, we went to see Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame. These were really beautiful buildings. I wondered how they could build such intricate and ornate structures. Even the surrounding buildings were also pretty. Everything there was artistic! In the afternoon, Alvin and Albert went back to the hotel to rest while I went around shopping! I went to the popular Paris department stores of Boulevard Haussman, the Printemp and Galleries Lafayette. I saw for myself how Asians were REALLY crazy about Louis Vuitton bags. Everyone was buying more than one bag! Then I also went for a glimpse of another shopping district, the Avenue Montaigne and Avenue des Champ- Elysee where the legendary designers like Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton and some trendy shops like Zara and others are located. After the shopping and window shopping, I went to Arc de Triomphe to meet Alvin and Albert. Again, another majestic monument. After climbing the arc, we were very tired. But as the sun was still up (the sun sets at 9:30 pm when we were there which was spring and I think it’s the best time Europe because day-time is longer), we took a bus to visit Louvre. Majestic!





On the fourth day (23rd day), we went back to the Louvre Museum. We first had our lunch in the Jardin de Tuiliries which was just in from of the museum. Then we went to the museum. It has three major wings. We decided just to visit one of the wings were Mona Lisa was exhibited. I must say that there lots of exhibits from various artists in Europe and different times. It was just overwhelming to absorb everything. The most famous of the exhibits were of course the Mona Lisa. Everybody was scrambling to get a picture of the piece! We had to really squeeze in to get a good view (and picture) of her famous smile. And that was it. After that, we strolled on the streets of Paris, the ones along the Seine River going towards the Conciergerie. I also bought some souvenirs from the street vendors. Another tiring day was over.


On the fifth and final day in Paris, we went to Versailles. We visited the palace which was again, very gorgeous. As our train was very early in the following day, we went back to the hotel early to pack up and get some sleep. The last five days in Paris were really tiring but amazing for us.

More Photos

Hair Cut

Albert will go back to school after almost 2 months of vacation including our Euro trip. So yesterday I sent Alvin and Albert for a hair cut. This was the only 2nd time Albert went to a barber shop. I usually cut his hair but I thought I couldn’t cut because his hair is so thick. I was really hoping that he won’t cry as he’s not used of other people cutting his hair. I’m glad he didn’t. I was surprised that he behaved above my expectations.

After their hair cut we went to the playground and let him play for a while. But it was cloudy so we decided to rush and go back home. But we got caught by the rain so we had to wait at the food court until the rain stopped. At the food court, I met and chatted with a mom and son whom I thought was the same age as Albert. During our chit chat we both discovered that our sons have the same birthday and same year.

The rain stopped after almost 30 minutes. Before we went home, I asked Alvin to buy 4D (a lottery) using Albert’s birthday combination. I checked if we strike but unfortunately, we didn’t. Hahaha!

Junk food weekend

For the first time in our lives (or maybe Albert’s) we ate so much junk food. We ate Doritos, Pringles, cheese balls and cheese rings while watching movies. This was the first time we treated ourselves with so much junk food. Although we don’t eat a lot of junk food, we’re still overweight and not that healthy.

We don’t eat junk often but does it sometimes because it’s yummy and fun!

Father’s day

We celebrated Father’s Day by having a fun bowling. Bowling is Alvin’s favorite sport. He’s been an active member of FBCS (Filipino Bowlers Club of Singapore) from 2004 to 2005 but since we moved to Sengkang, he didn’t find time to play again.

We had lunch at Kenny Rogers at Suntec Mall. After our lunch we went to Toy’s R Us to claim my voucher and used it to buy Hot Wheels cars for Albert’s. We then went to Marina Square to play bowling. Alvin and I played 2 sets while and Albert and Juvy only played one set. It was a fun day. Maybe we’ll play again next month.

Smalish Citizen

Last year, I have been bringing Albert to Ikea-Smaland for at least twice a month during my off. I was waiting for Albert to turn 4 so he could be a “citizen of Smaland”. With that, he can participate in indoor and outdoor fun activities of Smaland. Last week, we visited Ikea but I forgot to bring his birth certificate. Today, we went there again and I managed to apply a “Smaland passport” for him.

Here are some of the rights of Smaland Citizen:

· Every visit, can scan at the smales shroom (coupon machine), and receive a sticker for passport (maximum one per day). By scanning the passport, a visit will be registered and he will receive S$0.50 Smalish sants.
· The smalish dollar and sants can be withdrawn and printed from the smales shroom.
· By scanning the passport, a Smalish can also receive a coupon for one discounted kid’s meal and one free drinks at the Ikea Restaurant from a price S$2.90 to S$1.50.
· A chance to participate in special activities and events of Smaland

Funny little fish(reading at 4yrs Old)

Two weeks ago I ordered a book series from Colliman.com, the distributor of Paul and Mary.

We’ve been reading at least once a day with Albert for almost two weeks. It takes Albert a longer time to recognize all the words in the story which has longer sentences and more new words.

click here video

I miss

I miss colleagues at RSH(Gina, Joy, Mylene, Mina and Rose)

I miss my housemates(Anita,Mars and my crying partner Ems)

I miss my college friends(Leizel, Marshia, Hermie, Winnie and my Betchay)

I miss my high school friends( Angela, Sheila, Catherine and partner Claudette)

I miss holy week

I miss Christmas

I miss Glorietta, Landmark and Greenbelt

I miss SALE in Megamall

I miss Rocks, sbarro and jolibee

I miss LFS(last full show)

I miss Halo-halo, Bibingka and palabok

I miss ube-cake and ube ice cream

I miss my Mom’s cooking and never ending reminders

I miss my Tatang’s face when he’s mad

I miss my ugly sisters who are now very pretty and smart

I miss Victory liner (Makati-Guagua)

I miss jeepney ride

I miss Ate Rose our landlord telling me “sana next time no more telebabad”

I miss kids at Tuloy-Don Bosco

I miss my YMC-Makati Aikido group

I miss Don Bosco Church

I miss Greenbelt Chapel

I miss rushing for work and cursing the traffic

I miss jeepney’s horn & noise pollution

I miss PICC jog during weekends

I miss family and relatives who always says that I’m pretty (feeling)

…I miss the smile of fellow Filipino people.

Day-out

It’s school holidays here in Singapore now and I managed to invite my friend Karen for a play-date with our kids and the two of us had some chikka moments.

We went to Ikea and left our kids in Smaland to play for an hour. Meanwhile, Karen and I walked around and talked about many things under the sun. After an hour, we went back to Smaland to fetch our kids and went for lunch at Ikea Restaurant.

Karen has been my chat mate for almost 3 years already and we talked online almost everyday. But even though we chat a lot, we seldom go out because of our busy schedule with our small business and own families. I realized that it’s really hard to find real friends and I’m certainly glad to know I have them around like Karen.

"our" room

It’s been a while since we had a guest in our home so we decided to make one or our rooms useful. This weekend, we emptied one of our rooms and made it as our activity room. A library for all or us, a play area for Albert, a room space for our Tomy(our hamster) and a work place for me and Alvin.

We bought some furniture from Ikea to make the room more organised and neater. It was a fun weekend activity for us building the furniture like Lego puzzles. Alvin was so exhausted after all the carrying and assembling, especially the book case which took us more than an hour to complete. After everything was done, Albert became very enthusiastic playing even with his older toys in the room.

Sixty piece-puzzle

Just a while a go Albert completed his Thomas and Friends 60 piece puzzle. Albert had been trying to complete it since Sunday. Finally he made it!

Hamster

The night before Albert’s birthday, I showed him our plan to visit Escape Theme Park at Down Town East. I showed him the rides we planned to take.

The next day, on his birthday, just after he woke up, he told us that he didn’t want to visit Escape. Here was our conversation:

Mommy & Daddy: Happy birthday Albert!
Albert: I don’t want to go to Escape. I don’t want to ride car rides.
Daddy: Then what do you want?
Albert: I want a pet.
Mommy: What pet do you want?
Albert: I want to have a horse.
Mommy and Daddy: A HORSE?!
Albert: Yes a horse
Daddy: How about smaller one like a hamster?
Albert: Hamster is ok.

After having a birthday lunch at Swensen’s, we had a colouring activity at Kiddy Arts Paradise. Albert specifically chose a car to colour. Then, he went for a merry-go-round and rode a choo-choo train.

We went to Serangoon North Pet Center to fulfil our promise to Albert. We let Albert choose the hamster. After looking at different hamsters, he settled for a gray-coloured one.

click here photos

In Lucerne, Switzerland

May 15th was our last day in Bremen. As our train would depart early at 7:15 in the morning, we woke up as early as 5 in the morning. After the early breakfast, we rushed to the train station and got to the right platform just in time. We traveled from Bremen to Kassel then transferred to another train from Kassel to Frankfurt.

After having lunch at Frankfurt, we headed to Zurich. We were supposed to alight at Basel to wait for our train to Luzern but along the way we decided to drop by Zurich instead since the train was going there. The train reached Zurich at around 3 in the afternoon. The weather was not very good at Zurich but at least it wasn’t raining.

We left our luggage at the storage lockers which cost us 18 Swiss francs (8 for the locker and 10 for the store-a-bag counter). For toilet use, one needs to pay 2 Swiss francs. After walking around the area, we had our snacks at Burger King. We had to pay 29 Swiss francs, really expensive for 2 burger meals! We took the 8 p.m. train and reached Luzern an hour later. We arrived at Hotel Seeburg past nine and we all quickly dozed off.

The hotel served good breakfast, a mix of different types of breads, cereals and cold cuts. I made sandwiches for our lunch J so we could save some money. We went to town and followed the walking tour suggested by the tourism office map. In the market place, I found a very nice leather bag but didn’t buy it.

The following day, we went to “The Swiss Transportation Museum” which was just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Of course, Albert enjoyed this day seeing all kinds of transportation. He especially enjoyed the train exhibit as he really likes trains!

Before heading for Geneva the following day, we took a day trip to Engelberg and Mount Titlis. The trip to Engelberg itself was quite fascinating. The train had to ascend a mountain slope. Albert enjoyed the journey especially every time the train sounded its whistle. It sounded like Thomas, his favourite tank engine. Engelberg was quite foggy when we reached there. It was very cold; the temperature was probably less than 10 degrees C. The cable car to Mount Titlis was 10 minutes away (by walking) from the train station.

The ride to the top of Mount Titlis was divided into three segments. On the first segment, we took a cable car that could fit six persons, similar to the ones in Sentosa. On the second segment, we took a big cable car that could fit more than 30 persons. On the last segment, we took a rotating cable car which could also fit more than 30 persons. When we reached the summit, it was darn cold. It was snowing and windy. Despite that, Albert enjoyed playing with the snow while Alvin and I were shivering. After a while, we managed to adjust to the weather and threw snow at each other. It was cloudy so we couldn’t see anything far. But it was good to touch and play with real snow.

We went back to Luzern to collect our luggage at the hotel. Alvin went alone to the hotel and we waited for him at the train station. While we are in the train station I bought food for our trip. We managed to catch the 5 p.m. train to Geneva.

click here pictures

Paul and Mary(reading 4years Old)

Yesterday was the last day of Albert’s first school term and his teacher’s assessments were good. He also got a book from the school.

After reading with him for 3-4 times yesterday, this morning(his birthday) he tried to read by himself.

click here video

In Bremen, Germany

Our SQ flight left Singapore at 11:50 p.m. and arrived at Frankfurt at 6:30 a.m. the following day, Sunday. The total travel time was around 12 hours and 40 minutes. On board the flight, they served us three meals. Since we couldn’t finish all the stuff in the meals, especially Albert’s, I packed some of those that we could still eat (we still had to take a five-hour train to Bremen) so my bag became really bloated and heavier.

During the flight, Albert was behaved quite well which was really good since we didn’t want to disturb the other passengers. He watched two movies, his favorite “Thomas and Friends” and “Bolt”. He also was kept busy by some computer games. When he got tired, he managed to sleep for three hours. He woke up two hours before we landed in Frankfurt and saw the pretty sunrise from above the clouds. My two boys greeted me Happy Mother’s Day!

I was not really impressed with the Frankfurt airport terminal (the airport seemed comparable with NAIA terminal 1). There were only four immigration officers on duty at that time (two of which were handling for European passports) so there was a long queue for non-European travellers.

We had a sort of difficult time looking for our connecting train. Luckily, we arrived there three hours before the train departure so we had enough time to look for the train. We followed the signs (saying “long distance trains”) but were led to the wrong train terminal. The German train system is quite complex and they have a lot of train types (city trains, regional trains, long distance trains, express trains, etc.) The express train that we were taking was in another terminal, but also in the airport. Luckily.

Anyways, Alvin had to have our rail passes validated first before we could board the train (or else we might pay a fine). It took him around 30 minutes to do this because the queue was super long! For our food, I bought two cheese buns (costing 0.90 each), a chicken sandwich for 4.50 euros, and 1 L Evian bottled water for 1.90 euros (bottled water is expensive in Europe and I only saw three brands: Evian, Volvic and Vittel).

We went to the designated train platform 20 minutes before the train arrived. It was really cold! The temperature was probably 10 - 13 C. The trains were very punctual and departed on time. A practical advice: it’s good to arrive several minutes before the train departure to know the exact location of your train coach as the trains can really be very long! It’s also advisable (always is) to travel light as the train floors are not levelled with the platform. You have to lift you luggage by yourself and do it very quickly.

The train (ICE, or inter-city express) departed Frankfurt at 9:57 a.m. and we had to travel for another five hours to reach Bremen, Germany. The train could go super-fast, up to 300 kph, but amazingly there was not much vibration that you could feel inside the coaches! The travel was much smoother than the MRT in Singapore even when the trains were running at blistering speed!

I feel that travelling through the train was really more enjoyable than if we travelled by plane to Bremen. We had a good view of Germany’s beautiful countryside landscape, old castles on hilltops, villages and towns. The train passed and stopped at the following cities: Mainz, Koblenz, Bonn, Koln (Cologne), Wuppertal, Hagen, Dortmund, Munster, Munster (Westf), Osnabruck and lastly Bremen.

When we arrived at Bremen, there was a football riot. Police were all over the place and the rioters were shouting and marching through the train station. Not really scared, just shocked with the very loud noise. We took a cab from the train station to the Hotel Bremer Haus. The hotel was actually near from the train station but we were very tired so we just decided to take cab.

We reached the hotel around 4 p.m. After eating the cakes that I packed from Singapore Airlines and the Rollo(cost 4.20 euros) I bought from the train station, we all went to bed.

click here pictures

The Journey (Euro Trip)

Our SQ flight left Singapore at 11:50 p.m. and arrived at Frankfurt at 6:30 a.m. the following day, Sunday. The total travel time was around 12 hours and 40 minutes. On board the flight, they served us three meals. Since we couldn’t finish all the stuff in the meals, especially Albert’s, I packed some of those that we could still eat (we still had to take a five-hour train to Bremen) so my bag became really bloated and heavier.

During the flight, Albert was behaved quite well which was really good since we didn’t want to disturb the other passengers. He watched two movies, his favourite “Thomas and Friends” and “Bolt”. He also was kept busy by some computer games. When he got tired, he managed to sleep for three hours. He woke up two hours before we landed in Frankfurt and saw the pretty sunrise from above the clouds. My two boys greeted me Happy Mother’s Day!

I was not really impressed with the Frankfurt airport terminal (the airport seemed comparable with NAIA terminal 1). There were only four immigration officers on duty at that time (two of which were handling for European passports) so there was a long queue for non-European travellers.

We had a sort of difficult time looking for our connecting train. Luckily, we arrived there three hours before the train departure so we had enough time to look for the train. We followed the signs (saying “long distance trains”) but were led to the wrong train terminal. The German train system is quite complex and they have a lot of train types (city trains, regional trains, long distance trains, express trains, etc.) The express train that we were taking was in another terminal, but also in the airport. Luckily.

Anyways, Alvin had to have our rail passes validated first before we could board the train (or else we might pay a fine). It took him around 30 minutes to do this because the queue was super long! For our food, I bought two cheese buns (costing 0.90 each), a chicken sandwich for 4.50 euros, and 1 L Evian bottled water for 1.90 euros (bottled water is expensive in Europe and I only saw three brands: Evian, Volvic and Vittel).

We went to the designated train platform 20 minutes before the train arrived. It was really cold! The temperature was probably 10 - 13 C. The trains were very punctual and departed on time. A practical advice: it’s good to arrive several minutes before the train departure to know the exact location of your train coach as the trains can really be very long! It’s also advisable (always is) to travel light as the train floors are not levelled with the platform. You have to lift you luggage by yourself and do it very quickly.

The train (ICE, or inter-city express) departed Frankfurt at 9:57 a.m. and we had to travel for another five hours to reach Bremen, Germany. The train could go super-fast, up to 300 kph, but amazingly there was not much vibration that you could feel inside the coaches! The travel was much smoother than the MRT in Singapore even when the trains were running at blistering speed!

I feel that travelling through the train was really more enjoyable than if we travelled by plane to Bremen. We had a good view of Germany’s beautiful countryside landscape, old castles on hilltops, villages and towns. The train passed and stopped at the following cities: Mainz, Koblenz, Bonn, Koln (Cologne), Wuppertal, Hagen, Dortmund, Munster, Munster (Westf), Osnabruck and lastly Bremen.

When we arrived at Bremen, there was a football riot. Police were all over the place and the rioters were shouting and marching through the train station. Not really scared, just shocked with the very loud noise. We took a cab from the train station to the Hotel Bremer Haus. The hotel was actually near from the train station but we were very tired so we just decided to take cab.

We reached the hotel around 4 p.m. After eating the cakes that I packed from Singapore Airlines and the Rollo(cost 4.20 euros) I bought from the train station, we all went to bed.

Trip prepations

I was quietly stressed and filled with fears and so many what ifs about the swine flu pandemic news. But still, I set aside my feelings because I didn’t want this to ruin my planning.

I even home quarantined Albert from school. I didn’t send him to school since Monday for fear that he might catch some virus from school and get sick. Kiasu Karen J

With some hesitations, I still continued thinking and buying stuff for our trip. I even documented the packing of our luggage which I did last Tuesday.

Today’s news made me happy and less worried because the Ministry of Health – Singapore raised down the alert flag from orange to yellow.

click here photos

Our Luggage(Europe 2009)

Finally, we’ll be flying in several hours time. I planned to sleep longer than usual but still woke up at my normal waking time. I was probably just excited (and anxious) for the trip.

We’ll be traveling for 18 days (including air travel times) and will be visiting places where the temperature ranges form 8-18 degrees Celsius. Winter Time and Cold Wear’s list suggests that we need 3 layers of clothing. I spent a lot time just planning what to include in our luggage…I didn’t want to spend extra money to buy necessary things in Europe (because I heard that its expensive to buy stuff there). After listing down everything that we would need for 18 days, I discovered that we needed to pack at lot for the three of us. Instead, I decided just to pack for 7-9 days and we will just find a laundry shop around our hotel.

Our packing list
Alvin’s Conference
4 Long sleeves
2 Pants
1 Coat
2 neck tie
4 handkerchiefs
1 belt


Tops
Inner (long john, intimate wear, shirts)
6 Dad
6 Mom
8 Albert
Mid Layering (sweater/cardigan)
2 Dad
4 Mom
4 Albert
Mid Layering (long sleeves)
3 Dad
3 Mom
3 Albert
Outer wear(jacket/coat/windbreaker)
1 Dad
1 Mom
2 Albert
Sleepwear (tops and bottoms)
4 Dad
4 Mom
6 Albert

Bottoms (corduroy/jeans)
2 Dad
4 Mom
3 Albert
Underwear
8 Dad
15 Mom
8 Albert


Accessories

Cotton socks
6 Dad
6 Mom
6 Albert

Belts
1 Dad
1 Mom
1 Albert

1 Backpack
1 umbrella
1 water bottle
Sunglasses
Albert’s milk powder

Toiletries
Lip balm
face moisturizer
body moisturizer
tooth brush & tooth paste
comb
nail cutter
shaver
shaving cream

Medications
Pei Pa
Cold & flu remedy
Fever & pain
White flower
Plasters
Bengay ointment

Extra for suppers
3in1 wheat sachets
Biscuits

I managed to pack all of the above in 1 large and 1 medium luggage bag. I also packed 1 empty sports bag as spare.

Planning our trip was really fun indeed.

Europe Trip 2009 (Planning Stage)

In March, Alvin’s research paper was accepted in a conference to be held in Germany. I actually didn’t have a plan to go to Europe but after seeing the different sights, I decided to “tag along” with Alvin and visit other places in Europe.

I actually started looking out for popular tourist destinations in Europe using Google Earth since late last year (even though we had no immediate plan at that time). We “officially” started planning after Alvin’s paper was accepted. We first applied for an entry visa. The processing took 10 working days.

Just want to share what I learned during the planning:

A) Visa Processing Requirements:
1) Airline itinerary: can get from travel agencies for free
2) Hotel bookings: Can get bookings online
3) Child does not need to pay visa fees
4) Insurance: NTUC is cheaper than AIG and more comprehensive

B) Airfare Comparison (SG to Frankfurt):
1) Etihad Airways (has stop-overs) was the cheapest but they don’t fly daily
2) Qatar Airways (has stop-overs) was also cheaper than SQ but they have a stop-over of more than 15hrs in Qatar.
3) Qantas Airways flies direct and cheaper than SQ by a few hundred dollars
4) Singapore Airlines flies direct but more expensive than Ethihad, Qatar and Qantas. But if you get the odd flight times, it will be cheaper than Qantas and Qatar Airways.

C) Euro Rail
1) Can by online thru www.eurail.com.sg (Dynasty Travel)
2) Point to point 2nd class seat is much more expensive than Global Pass (if you are going to visit several countries).
3) Global pass are 1st class seats and Flexible for 15, 30, 60 days.


D) Hotels
I compared the prices of several websites such as bookings.com; hotels.com; and Octopus.com. We used our Marriott points for our accommodation in Paris.

E) Clothing – For a budget-type like me…
1) Cold Wear – I got some cheap on sale clothes from here
2) Winter Time – They have more variety than Cold Wear
3) John Little – Cheaper than 1&2 but lesser options
4) Song Song – Cheaper than the rest J bought some cotton turtle neck shirts.

F) Museums Pass
Paris Museums pass: www.Paris.concierge.com
Metro Pass: www.parismetro.com
Disneyland Paris: www.365tickets.com
Switzerland Tours: www.viator.com

G) Reference books for our itinerary
1) Europe Eyewitness
2) Lonely Western Europe
3) Frommer’s Europe
4) Budget Europe
5) Lonely Planet Switzerland
6) Switzerland Brochures: you can request online and switzerland will send you by parcel

G) Itinerary
At first, my itinerary was for 21days and was very ambitious. I had to revise it 14 times to get a more realistic one. Some of the revisions I made:

1st version: Germany (Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Belgium (Brussels), France (Lille, Paris, Versailles), Switzeland (Geneva), Italy (Milan, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Assisi, Venice)
2nd version: Germany (Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Belgium (Brussels), France (Lille, Paris, Versailles), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid)
3rd version: Germany (Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Switzerland(Geneva), Belgium (Brussels), France (Lille, Paris, Versailles), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid)
.
.
.
In the end, we had to cut down a lot of countries (as the cost was too much!) and going thru many countries was not practical and realistic for a very short time. We settled down to three countries, namely, Germany (Bremen, where Alvin’s conference will be held, 5Nights), Switzerland (Lucerne 3Nights and Geneva 2Nights) and lastly France (Paris 5Nights and Versailles)

Hotels:

Bremer Haus Hotel(BREMEN, GERMANY)
The hotel is in the city’s historical core, just out of reach of all the hustle and bustle of the city on a peaceful sidestreet; the perfect Bremen getaway. Start your day with the hotel’s hearty breakfast buffet, then head out and discover all the city’s hidden treasures. For business travelers, the hotel is close to the exhibition grounds, and for those who want to extend their sightseeing to the outlying area and nearby towns, the railway station is also nearby.

Address: Loningstrasse 16 - 20, 28195 Bremen, Germany
Rate: SGD212/night winclusive of breakfast


Seeburg Hotel, Luzern (LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND)
Situated in lush green surroundings in Seeburg, 3 km from the centre of Lucerne and right on the banks of Lake Lucerne, Hotel Seeburg offers stunning architecture and great views.

Spend peaceful nights in tastefully furnished rooms and enjoy the wonderful views towards the lake, the mountains and the forest.

Choose between the elegant Alexander restaurant serving gourmet cuisine and selected wines, and the stylish Seerestaurant with its great views on Lake Lucerne, Mount Pilatus and romantic sunsets.

Enjoy inspiring conversations in the Sunset City Beach Light bar, where all Lucerne meets in summer under the open sky.

A wide range of stylish and fully equipped seminar and banquet rooms are at your disposal as well in the Seeburg hotel.

Hotel Rooms: 57

Addres: Seeburgstrasse 61
6006 Luzern, Switzerland
Tel: 041 375 55 55
Rate: SGD242/night inclusive of breakfast


Renaissance Paris Hotel La Defense(PARIS, FRANCE)
The Renaissance Paris Hotel La Defense is in the heart of La Defense district of Paris, France. Just next to the Grande Arche de La Defense this Paris hotel is just a few minutes from the capital's famous attractions: only 6 metro stops from the Champs-Elysees. Guests can walk from the Renaissance Paris Hotel La Defense to the large shopping center "les 4 Temps" as well as to the CNIT conference center. Whether you come by train, metro or taxi from Paris airports, access to the hotel is easy and for those coming by car there is a private and supervised hotel car park. This upscale hotel provides spacious hotel rooms with Marriott bedding, air conditioning, Internet access, premium TV channels, and in-room safe. For successful conferences and events there are 13 meeting rooms with natural daylight and broadband internet. Hotel guests have free access to the fitness gym with sauna and steam room. Guests can enjoy traditional French cuisine in the hotel restaurant and a relaxing atmosphere at the Colonial bar.

60 Jardin de Valmy, Boulevard Circulaire, Sortie 7
Paris La Defense Cedex, 92918 France
Phone: 33 1 41975050
Rate: SGD321/night inclusive of breakfast

Making Faces(Reading@47months)

For the past few days, Alvin took over the night reading sessions with Albert while I was busy preparing for our trip. Alvin taught him how to read the short story entitled “Making Faces”. It took Albert two days to read the story on his own.

Click here video

My Mommy (Reading@47months)

Teaching a child to read is very challenging and needs PATIENCE but the result is very rewarding for me as a mom.

Click here video

47months "One Little Rabbit"

I’ve been busy planning our trip and forgotten to take videos of Albert’s reading lessons for sometime. Here’s a video of his latest reading lesson.

click here video

Up in the sky

Last week, we went to Kinokoniya Ngee Ann City to find maps for our trip and to buy a book for Albert. But we never found a book that is suitable for our reading lessons (that is, with large fonts and minimal pictures.) So I decided to make a book for him myself. I searched for simple stories from the web and printed it out using big fonts.

On that same day, we let Albert read through the book and today, just 3 days after, he almost can read the whole story with minimal assistance.

Click here video

Here are some of the tips that I got from the book (How to Teach your Baby to Read by Glenn Doman ) which I think are quite effective based on my experience:

1) Show your child the words in lower case letters except first letter of a proper name and in large font.
2) 5-minute sessions several times a day in order not to tire out your child (Vocabulary of the family environment; Vocabulary to build sentence’s structure; Phrases)
3) Follow text with your finger as you read
4) Teach according to your child’s mood. Do not force!
5) Build up the confidence of your child, appreciate his accomplishments
6) Don’t start a session when one of you is tired, hungry or bored.
7) Have fun together; take this as your bonding time with your child.

Albert’s development

Albert’s progress for the past months:
1) Drinks formula milk only before sleeping
2) He hasn’t been wearing diaper for the past 3months
3) He talks a lot
4) He uses Google to search for games or Thomas J
5) He eats the same as our meals
6) He can play a memory matching game of 3x6 in 2mins
7) In the process of constructing asking questions
8) He can color nicely if he in a good mood or not rushing to do other things
9) Less “NO”
10) Less tantrums

Recap

Kinareer naming lately dito sa bahay ang mag-reading sessions with Albert.

We have been very enthusiastic with the progress of our reading lessons. Even Albert himself looked very interested also. When he wakes up in the morning, he always wants to read his flash cards and he says “put in youtube ok” hahaha. Really encouraging even his playgroup teacher made a comment on my facebook and encouraged me more to continue with the reading lessons faithfully.

Today I tried to recap our one week of reading lessons. We had a total of 110 flashcards containing 171 words. I shuffled the flash cards and the result; Albert managed to read 90% of the flashcards.

click here video

"Sponge" Albert

After our two-worded reading sessions, i was becoming really amazed and filled with excitement with the progress of our reading lessons. So last night before i went to sleep i made new flashcards for Albert and this time containing phrases.

In the evening, after our 2 session(morning and afternoon) i tried to have 1 round with him before our friends arrived for dinner and the results were very amazing.

I realized that a child's brain at this stage is really like a sponge. It can absorb many things. Even though i have just shown the flash cards twice before this video was taken, he able to remember and read the words correctly.

click here video

Visita Iglesia 2009

Good Friday is holiday here in Singapore and for the first time we thought to visit 7 churches in Singapore. We went with our friends who were on vacation in Singapore and met some old and new friends during the visiting.

We started our first leg at 9am to St Anne Church which is just a walking distance from home. Then we took a bus to the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary followed by Immaculate Heart of Virgin Mary and managed to catch a mass. Then we headed to City via MRT. We alighted at Little India station and took another bus to Our Lady of Lourdes. Then we walked thru Queen street to St. Joseph followed by Sts Peter and Paul and lastly to the Cathedral of Good Shepherd. We finished our Visita Iglesia before 3pm.

We reached back home at 5pm. I thought we’re all very tired and I think also because the weather was very hot. All slept and woke-up before dinner.



"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."
~ C.T. Studd

First 2 worded Session

After finishing almost 200 words, we tried to test if we could go to next level using two-worded flash cards. Im proud to say that Albert memorized the words within two days.

Click here video

47.3 months old

Albert memorized all the words in one day only. We just did the morning, afternoon and evening session.

click here video

47.2 months old- reading

Teaching your child with fun and love is more fruitful.

Program: 3days X 2-3/session

click here video

Albert can read

When Albert was two years old, we tried to teach him to read. We created flash cards containing familiar words and flashed them to him as suggested by a book. Unfortunately, it didn’t really work out because he couldn’t speak that much yet that time.

Several days ago, we tried it again. Surprise! In less than two weeks, he could read more than 70 words. For the next two weeks, we will start showing him adjectives and articles. Then after that, we will try out with couplets and phrase.

click here video

2009Jan - New Word "Sand dune"

Last night before we went to sleep, we talked about what we could see in the countryside. Albert made several suggestions. Here was our conversation:

Mommy: What are the things you see in the countryside?
Albert: Lake
Mommy: Lake. Good, what else?
Albert: River
Mommy: Yes river. Anymore?
Albert: Pond
Daddy: Very good, what else?
Albert: Fish in the pond
Daddy: Wow fishes in the pond...
Albert: Ah, mountains...
Mommy: Yes, mountains.
Albert: Trees.
Mommy: Good..trees
Albert: Sand dune
Mommy: Ano daw, daddy?
Daddy: Sand dune.
Mommy: Ano yun?
Daddy: Parang field sa desert...
Mommy: Next, what else? (I learned new word from albert, hihihi)
.
.
car
road
bus
train
.
.
.
zzzzzZZZZ

2008 Oct - Days 2-3: Family Retreat at Punta de Uian, Zambales, Philippines

I planned this vacation while still in Singapore. While browsing through possible vacation places, I was impressed with Punta de Uian and decided to have our family retreat there. At 10 in the morning, we were all set to go to Zambales. We rented a 10-seater van so we could all fit together in one vehicle and enjoy the journey.

Alvin and I were impressed with the new expressway from Clark to Subic. The toll was a bit expensive but it was worth it since we saved a lot of time. Our driver was a bit careful as he drove a little bit slow. Slowly but surely, we reached Punta de Uian at around one in the afternoon.

When Albert saw the pool, he became excited and wanted to have a swim right away. The rest of us were thinking about lunch as the long trip made us starving. Our packed lunch was really yummy. My mom packed dinuguan, shrimp, friend chicken, chicken rolls and kilawin (writing this part of the blog makes me hungry again!)

Punta de Uian is a secluded beach resort and is really on the remote part of Zambales. However, its seclusion is really one of the things that attracted me to it the most. It’s really quiet and it seemed like we owned the place when we were there (we were the only guests at that time.) From the beach, we could see two beautiful islands. Those looking for private and silent moments should visit this resort!

Click this to view more pictures

On day 2 of our retreat, we went for a 30 minute boat ride to Anawangin. The land around the beach is teeming with young pine trees. Anawangin is like a cove surrounded by mountains. It seems that there is no way to get here through land (unless you don’t mind to climb the mountains around it.) Anawangin’s beach has fine sand and is very fantastic.

After our Anawangin side trip, we had to pack up and go back to Pampanga as my sister Joy had a duty at 2 pm. It was a short but fun beach vacation.

Click this to view more pictures

Later at dinner, Tatang (my father) suggested that we go to Jerry’s Grill where he ordered his favorites: cristy pata, specialty rice, sisig and some veggies.

2008 October :Family Retreat at Punta de Uian, Zambales, Philippines

I planned this vacation while still in Singapore. While browsing through possible vacation places, I was impressed with Punta de Uian and decided to have our family retreat there. At 10 in the morning, we were all set to go to Zambales. We rented a 10-seater van so we could all fit together in one vehicle and enjoy the journey.

Alvin and I were impressed with the new expressway from Clark to Subic. The toll was a bit expensive but it was worth it since we saved a lot of time. Our driver was a bit careful as he drove a little bit slow. Slowly but surely, we reached Punta de Uian at around one in the afternoon.

When Albert saw the pool, he became excited and wanted to have a swim right away. The rest of us were thinking about lunch as the long trip made us starving. Our packed lunch was really yummy. My mom packed dinuguan, shrimp, friend chicken, chicken rolls and kilawin (writing this part of the blog makes me hungry again!)

Punta de Uian is a secluded beach resort and is really on the remote part of Zambales. However, its seclusion is really one of the things that attracted me to it the most. It’s really quiet and it seemed like we owned the place when we were there (we were the only guests at that time.) From the beach, we could see two beautiful islands. Those looking for private and silent moments should visit this resort!

Click this to view more pictures

On day 2 of our retreat, we went for a 30 minute boat ride to Anawangin. The land around the beach is teeming with young pine trees. Anawangin is like a cove surrounded by mountains. It seems that there is no way to get here through land (unless you don’t mind to climb the mountains around it.) Anawangin’s beach has fine sand and is very fantastic.

After our Anawangin side trip, we had to pack up and go back to Pampanga as my sister Joy had a duty at 2 pm. It was a short but fun beach vacation.

Click this to view more pictures

Later at dinner, Tatang (my father) suggested that we go to Jerry’s Grill where he ordered his favorites: cristy pata, specialty rice, sisig and some veggies.

2008 October - First day of our trip in Philippines

It had been two long years since we last went back to Pinas for a vacation. We really miss our family, friends, food, culture and the more laid back pace of life there. We’ve been planning to have a vacation earlier but couldn’t due to our hectic schedule here in Singapore. We were like “forced” to have this short vacation because Alvin needed to attend his close friend’s wedding.

So on October 11, we packed our bags and flew via Tiger Airways. Fortunately, Albert didn’t throw tantrums while we were on board. But he was a bit agitated when we were about to land. Tiger didn’t provide the immigration forms on board so we had to fill up in the terminal. This was very inconvenient and Alvin had a hard time chasing Albert in the terminal.

After getting out of the airport, we headed straight to Jun-jun’s Friendship for our yummy lunch. One surprising thing that I noticed was that almost the entire street (where Jun-jun’s was located) was swamped with Korean billboards. Probably a sign of a different kind of “Korean invasion” in Pinas.

After our scrumptious lunch, we went to the Mount Carmel Monastery in Angeles City to thank the Almighty for the safe trip that we had and to bless our one-week stay in Pinas.

We then headed to my mom’s place in Floridablanca and took all the food for Albert’s celebration at the DSWD Orphanage in Lubao, Pampanga. It was already dusk when we reached DSWD. We handed our donations (Nespray milk 1&2, diapers, Milo, sugar and clothes), and started to prepare for the celebration. Then orphanage has quite a number of children, toddlers and infants. We believe that our donations were not really that much but at it really felt good to give to those who need it most. It was truly heartwarming to see the kids enjoying the food and the toys that we brought!

Click this link to view our pictures of the first day or our trip.

http://karensumang.multiply.com/photos/album/97/2008-_Alberts_3rd_Birthday_Celebration_DSWD_centre_in_Lubao_Pampanga

So that was it for our first day in Pinas. I’ll be posting our escapades for the following days shortly!

Phuket, Thailand Trip 2008

On the 20^th of August this year (2008), Alvin and I had a short escapade in Phuket, Thailand. Our Tiger Airways flight left Singapore Budget Terminal on time at around 8:15 in the morning. We reached Phuket at 9:00 in the morning (local time).

A Marriott vacation club offered us a free taxi (and massage) from the airport to Marriott resort and spa. In exchange, we had to attend a 90-minute sales pitch. We took the offer and soon arrived at the hotel after around 30 minutes of travel. The hotel is located on the northeast side of the island near a park/reserve. We had a “VIP” welcome as a hotel staff adorned us with orchid garlands. As we arrived too early, the room was not yet ready so we decided to visit Phuket town.

The taxi (which was actually a private pick-up), cost THB1400 (back and forth). The town is actually quite far from the hotel, around 1 hour of travel time. We reached town by lunch time and by then, we we’re craving for some authentic Thai food. After some discussion and tip from the taxi driver, we decided to have seafood. The driver took us to a seafood restaurant by the bay. One thing we really liked was the tomyam soup. It was really good! We ordered a lot we had to pack the left over so we could have something for dinner at the hotel. After the heavy lunch, we headed to Central Festival and Big C to buy some delicacies to bring back to Singapore. We didn’t find anything fancy to shop.

http://karensumang.multiply.com/photos/album/91/2008-08_Phuket

We went back to Marriott hotel at around 4pm and walked around the beach. A red flag (warning) meant we couldn’t go swimming in the beach. So we just took some pictures and walked around the resort and had a swim at the pool. At dinner, we ate what we packed from the seafood restaurant.

On our 2^nd day, we went to Phi Phi islands. We left our hotel at 9 in the morning and reached Phuket Marina around 9:30. After 30 minutes of waiting, we finally went aboard a speed boat together with some 20 other tourists. Our first stop was at Ao Ling (Monkey Bay) on Koh Phi Phi Don. After that, our boat took us to Hin Klang where we snorkeled for half an hour. We relaxed at Koh Mai Pai (Bamboo Island) before arriving at Koh Phi Phi Don for a buffet lunch. We spent the rest of day at Phi Phi Leh, visiting Maya Bay – where the “The Beach” was filmed. The tour cost us THB3200 per pax, quite expensive but a “must go” experience. Fruits and drinks after stops were provided. On our way back, we had a very bumpy ride and we’re all wet.

http://karensumang.multiply.com/photos/album/93/2008-08_Phi_Phi_Islands

Our 3rd day wasn’t so great as it rained heavily the whole day. We didn’t manage to swim in the resort’s beach. So our appointment for Marriott sales presentation was just nice because of the very bad weather. The presentation was quite enlightening for us. We were toured around their Vacation Club which was just next to JW Marriott. The sales pitch was 3 hours instead of the supposed 90 minutes. We didn’t rush as we couldn’t do anything anyway because of the heavy rain. After the long presentation, we decided to sign up for their basic Time Share at Marriot Vacation Club Mai Kao Beach. I will write a separate blog about the Time Share business of Marriott. After we signed, Mark the sales person gave us a lot of freebies. Free massage, THB2000 which we spent for our dinner, polo shirts and free 3-nights accommodation at Ritz Carlton Bali. After the talk we went for our scheduled massage.

http://karensumang.multiply.com/photos/album/92/2008-08_Marriott_vacation_Club

Our Last day….we are very excited to go home coz we missed Albert so much. Our flight was at 9.15 am so we took our breakfast quite early at the hotel. Tiger Airways was once again on time as we touched down at around 15 minutes past noon in Singapore.

Previous Blogs

Visit my past blogs at http://karenvalera.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/

Terrible two

This stage of Albert is really driving me crazy. He is now on his 30^th month and going thru what seems to be known (and rightly so) as the "terrible two" stage. From what I've read, kids at this stage are trying their skills at making their own decisions and forcing the parent to agree with them. My Albert is no different. When he wants something, he makes sure that I give it or not stop him from doing it. If I disagree with him, he will scream and hit my face. Anyway, here's my top 5 list of his terrible two antics:

1) Scream & cry when he does not get to do what he wants to do.

2) Do the opposite of what he's been told to do.

3) Spank my face when when I disagree or stop him from doing things. He can somewhat sense my objection even when he's not looking at me.

4) Throw tantrums anytime, anywhere.

5) Uncontrollable anytime, anywhere.

I didn't really expect how difficult this stage would be. It was really a heartache when he started to show these kind of behavior. I tried talking, scolding and even smacking him when he was on his worst, bu it didn't seem work. I even cried because I even can't do anything. There were times when I really felt helpless because I couldn't control him.

Well, one consolation is that this stage is not forever. I just hope that Albert's terrible two stage would end as soon as possible