Tatay and Nanay and my family (me, Ed and Justin) decided to spend the night at my sister Meann’s house on December 25 to give all of us the much-needed rest before going home.

Except for Nanay and Tatay who are early-risers, we all woke up late. We still enjoyed our Christmas left-overs.

First, we had to drop off Nanay and Tatay at their house in Dasmarinas, Cavite. Hubby offered to treat all of us to lunch at Max’s Restaurant. We ordered family fried chicken (whole), beef kare-kare, fish fillet in black beans (I’m not too sure I remember this right), and chopsuey. Boy, did we enjoy that meal!


At Max's Restaurant while waiting for our orders

Next, we’re headed for our place in Ortigas, but we had another stop-over at Festival Supermall. Our little boy badly needed a train ride, so hubby, me and Justin rode the Junction Express. Tito Orlan and Justin then had a grand time maneuvering the “big cow” while mom and dad took a restroom break.


At the entrance of Junction Express


Waiting for our turn to board the train


Mommy, Justin and Daddy enjoying our train ride


Oops! Where is Daddy?


Justin with Tito Orlan riding the walking "big cow"

Yesterday was a fun, fun day!

Nope, I haven’t been to Singapore yet, but three of my family members have already set foot on the Lion City.

My sister Meann went to Singapore with his husband May of last year for both business and pleasure.


Meann and Orlan at the Dolphin Lagoon

Tin-tin, my niece, left for Singapore last April for a 6-month sponsored on-the-job-training at Shangri-la Hotel. Her practicum ends this October, and she might go back, God willing, for a possible employment this time.


Tin-Tin beside the Chocolate Fountain inside Shangri-la Hotel

Ed, my husband, went there summer of this year courtesy of his company for a disaster recovery testing of their offshore site. He wanted me to go with him, but I couldn't last a day without my son, so I decided to stay.


Ed at Sentosa Underwater World

A few days from now, it’s my youngest brother’s (Dennis) turn to try his luck in Singapore. I hope everything goes well with him. Good luck, bro! My prayers and good wishes are with you.

Justin showing his moves

Our favorite family hangout as of the moment is Tom’s World at Robinsons Galleria. Ed and I make it a point to bring Justin there at least twice a month. Our son enjoys playing basketball, although he rarely makes a shot, bowling, dancing, riding the big moving animals, and getting on the bus. He has yet to ride the carousel, though. He enjoys inserting tokens before he starts each game/ride.

Not to be outdone are Justin’s parents who take turns taking care of Justin when he plays and engaging in this one-peso game for lack of a better term. It’s that game where, instead of tokens, you used one-peso coins that drop on a platform, make their way through the throngs of other one-peso coins, and hopefully nudge a few coins along the way that eventually drop into the machine’s coin reservoir. You earn a lot of tickets in this game. In fact, we already had our accumulated points exchanged for some cool stuff: Nemo, Simba, and Dora stuffed toys and a kiddie bowling set for Justin.

We’re so looking forward to our scheduled trips to Tom’s World. It’s our bonding time together as a family. And it’s heartwarming to see my son enjoying his play time here and socializing with other kids.

Last April 26-27, 2008, Justin finally had his first dip in the swimming pool. It was Ed’s annual summer outing at ADB, and this time, it was at the Club Balai Isabel Resort at Talisay, Batangas. There were six of us who went: Ed and I, Justin, Manang, my sister Meann, and her husband Orlan. We encouraged them (Meann & Orlan) to go with us because they have a car, which made it easier for Justin to travel all the way from their house at Laguna Bel-Air to the resort.

We were billeted in two rooms, with two beds apiece and each furnished with an aircon, a refrigerator, a kettle, glasses and plates, towels, and soaps and shampoos. We actually had the best place, I think, since the rooms we got were actually located in the villa where the owner of the resort actually resides, and that villa had its own swimming pool to boot aside from the resort’s main pool. So we had the swimming pool all to ourselves as if we were just having our own family outing. The place was also equipped with a barbecue area, and there were fruit-bearing trees everywhere: avocado, chico, Indian mango, kamias. We expected it to be a fun and memorable experience, especially for our youngling, but it turned out to be the complete opposite.

First, Justin was afraid to get in the pool. He had every reason to be because the kiddie pool beside the adult pool in the villa was actually filled with at least three feet of water. So he could not really stand in the pool with his head untouched by the water. He cried every time his dad attempted to carry him to the water. He ended up just wading his feet and sometimes lying on the excess water that flowed out from the two adjoining pools.

Second, the bathrooms only had a shower. Though we had a shower at home, I do not use that on Justin whenever I give him a bath. So the idea of a shower is actually alien to him. He actually went on a crying fit and bumped his head on the bathroom wall from trying to evade the water getting out of the shower. For a few days after the outing, Justin had been afraid to take a bath at home.

Finally, nearly a week after the outing, Justin contracted a fever. He was diagnosed to have throat and ear infections. The ear infections, according to his pediatrician, could have been caused by the “dirty water” from the pool that got into both his ears. He was given antibiotics and ear drops for that, but he ended up having loose bowel movements for one week as a side effect of his antibiotics.

Poor Justin! All we wanted was for him to have fun, but his first swimming experience turned out traumatic. It was memorable all right, but for all the wrong reasons. I could only hope for a better swimming treat for him next year.