Miya's Swimming Class - Day 1

We enrolled Miya in swimming classes this summer. I wanted to enroll her in Trumpets Playhouse workshop as well but they can't give me definite date on their culminating activity, which might coincide with our family trip so we won't push for her enrollment there. I want to enroll her in as much activities this summer to take advantage of the time that she wants to do things. Last summer when we asked her what she wanted to do, she said she just wanted to relax hahaha! So that's what she did.

Yesterday was her first day in class. We enrolled her in Aqualogics because I liked the feedback I got from a friend and the teacher:student ratio was 1:4. I wanted to share a few first impressions on the program. First off, there wasn't any orientation when we got there. Someone took the hard copies of the form from me and gave me some things to sign and then that was it. The teachers didn't even double check if the kids that went to the pool are indeed enrolled (because another staff took care of the forms). Maybe they did check but I did not see, we had to ask how we'll know which group to go to. Their head teacher, I think, just told us we can join that group. In Miya's group, they were 3 girls with 2 teachers which was great because she was almost practicing the whole 1 hour they were there. She didn't have too much idle time waiting for her turn. I'm not sure how they assessed Miya's swimming ability but the first thing they did was for her to float on her back, which Miya can already do and the two other girls with her. I don't know how they would have taught the kids if they were in different skill levels. As I've already mentioned the class is for 1 hour, and I'm happy that the lesson was really for an hour. The kids just have enough time to rest in between their turns, there were some "play" time but it didn't feel like they lost time just playing in the water. And then after the class, Miya was able to linger in the other pool and swim on her own. All in all, I'm excited for her to finish her lessons. We plan to extend her lessons if she wants to later on.

Here are some photos and videos from yesterday.

Flyfish Summer Outing 2015

17 - 19 April 2015

I'm so glad we're able to do another summer outing this year with our Flyfish Gang. Last year we all went to Tali. This year, Janice was the once who booked the house also in Nasugbu, Batangas. We stayed at a rental house in Maya-Maya Subdivision and booked via airbnb. Although Janice mentioned that the house has its own website so you better google it as Airbnb charges a booking fee. Anyhoo, this year we booked 2 nights to stay at our rental which I think was a good idea. Since we rarely see each other, it was a very good time for our kids to hang out and bond with each other. And that's exactly what they did over the weekend.

We arrived with Janice and Penny's families as we convoyed via Cavitex. That's a very fast route compared to Tagaytay. We met up at Macapagal Blvd at 10:30am and arrived at the house by 1:30pm. We stopped over Cavite to have lunch at a McDonalds for about an hour.

While the big kids are playing, my little Javi is making pa-cute. 

By the way, this was our first out-of-town trip as a family of four without any help (grandparents or otherwise). And it was a success! Mainly because, Miya really played with the other kids and we didn't have to make her bantay and well, Javi was left at his rocker and the other yayas adored him. They will talk to him and keep him entertained while Mommy and Daddy had other things to do like eat hehe.

After settling down, the kids went ahead and swam at the swimming pool inside the property.

I actually changed Miya into her bathing suit thinking that we'll be going to the beach soon. But while waiting for Weng's family to dress up, I could already hear the screams of my little girl from outside. Ayun nasa pool na pala. Thank you, Ninang Penny for looking after her.

Then it was beach time!

The care taker of the house brought us to a private beach where we only paid for the parking of our vehicles (P50 per car unlimited time). Although the beach sand was not white, it was very fine. Not at all ouchy to kids' feet.

While Ate Miya was swimming, Javi was sleeping hahaha! He fell asleep on the car ride from the house to the beach. To think, the ride was only around 5 minutes. He was so sleepy hahaha. Oh babies!

Since it was already late in the afternoon, we didn't let him dip in the ocean when he finally woke up. Picture picture na lang hehe.

Almost successful group shot

Bye bye beach!

After dinner and putting the kids to sleep, the adults stayed up until midnight to make chika. It's been a long time since we last did that. I surely miss spending time with this bunch.

More pics of our second day after the jump....

Tali, Batangas 2014

24-25 May

I had a very busy summer this year. Aside from Puerto Galera, we also went to Tali, Batangas with our Flyfish friends.

We passed by Tagaytay on the way to Tali and had lunch at Leslie’s.

Then we stopped by the Mahogany Market to buy steak for our dinner later that evening. After that we we’re on our way to Tali. In case you don’t know, Tali is a private subdivision just after Punta Fuego. You need to rent a house inside the subdivision for you to get inside. Most of the houses for rent are posted in the internet. We got ours from sulit. Here’s a link of the house we rented out. Here’s their flicker account for more pics and their bloggeraccount for the rules and guidelines. I’m a bit disappointed with the house because the rooms are not that big and the bath room upstairs is a half-bath (no shower area). But those are definitely not deal breakers. There were 4 rooms, all airconditioned. Even the living room on the second floor is airconditioned. Although it may get too hot in their dining area because they only have a small stand fan there. We preferred to eat outside in the veranda for dinner when we stayed there. By the way, we were 4 families who used the place with one yaya each, so that’s 12 adults with 8 kids all below 5 years old. The yayas slept in the living room, the housekeeper provided us mattresses for the yayas. We paid P17,000 for the whole house so that came down to P4,250 for each family which was more than okay considering the house is beachfront and you can bring your own food and cook your food at the same time. They have a well equipped kitchen.

We and Mands’ family brought inflatable pool for the kids to enjoy since we’ve foreseen it would be too hot to go to the beach when we arrive. The little kids enjoyed the pool.

Then we all went to swim at the beach.

I was 19 weeks and 5 days preggo in this photo

Miya with Ninang Janice

Ang saya-saya namin sa tubig di ba? 

Miya didn't want to walk along the sand and asked her Daddy to carry her

Tatanggi ba naman si Daddy?

When the kids got tired, we all washed up and they whiled away the time drawing. While the daddies cooked the steak over the grill for dinner.

Dinner time! Happy bellies!

The kids were all exhausted that after dinner we all settled down and let the kids sleep. Even the adults slept na rin. The next day after breakfast, we hit the beach again!

Hopefully next summer we can do this again!

Miya's Summer Class

Last summer we enrolled Miya for summer classes in her school. Nothing serious like advance reading or anything. We just want her to have an activity everyday and not become restless at home. For the first part of summer, the class we enrolled her to had cooking, art classes and singing and dancing. For their culminating program, their art projects were displayed for all the parents to see.  

Photos of their cooking class were also displayed. They made pizza, mac 'n cheese among others.

The children also presented some song and dance numbers. Their teacher asked us to dress them up with their best summer dress so I had her wear the dress she wore in Siquijor for her birthday.

With her Teacher Jonah who was very proud of her because she sang and dance throughout the program

Good job, anak!

For the second part of summer, we enrolled her to a pre-beginner’s class hahaha! Really, we just want her to enjoy the summer so instead of enrolling her in the reading program we just went ahead and enrolled her again to this even if she already knows what to do. On their last day, the parents were invited to sit-in during the class to see what the kids were up to. Here are photos of Miya cooking in class. 

Eating time!

Tali Beach

18-19 May 2013

 

Our good friend E was in town for a visit last May. We went to Tali Beach with him. It was actually all planned very near the date we met because we initially planned to meet with all the Migs at our favorite place. Unfortunately, our friends H and P were not available on those dates so we had to find an alternative. Since I only had a week to look for an alternative, all the resorts that I liked were fully booked already. Good thing, I saw an advertisement at our office for this house for rent in Tali Beach.

On that Saturday, we picked up E and his niece and nephews at his condo. Then off we all trooped to Batangas. I think it was already past 6pm when we arrived at the house so we didn’t have time to go to the beach anymore. Fortunately, we were able to catch the sunset. This viewing deck was very near the house we rented, we walked going here.

After that we went back to the house and just hang out. I really love trips like this, nothing to do but hang out hehe. I can't do a full "where to stay" post on the house we rented because it's a private house. But I'm posting some photos of the house.

Love the open space concept - living room, dining room and kitchen in one big open space.

Miya playing with the piano

Dinner is served

We hang out at the veranda just outside the living room.

Miya amused with her Ninong E

I love this photo. Miya looks so kikay. She's wearing a headband with a big ribbon here.

Next day was beach day! Tali beach is not as nice as Boracay’s. And the beach that we went to was small and got pretty crowded. But it will do for a nearby beach (near Manila). Tali is part of Batangas and most people who are able to go there have a house there or was able to rent a house (like us). It’s an exclusive residential village with different beaches. I think we went to the main beach.  Although the beach was near the house, we opted to drive going there because we brought merienda for the kids and we didn't want to carry them going there. I noticed a signboard at the beach, though, that bringing in food and barbecuing is prohibited. Maybe they meant lunch because no one told us off when the kids started eating the sandwiches we brought.

 Photos of the beach after the cut...

Summer Outing in Punta Fuego

As I mentioned here, for our annual summer outing in the office, we went to Punta Fuego. Joema and Miya came along. We left Manila around 9:30 and was at Tagaytay around 11. We did not stop for lunch because Miya fell asleep in the car at that time. We didn’t want to wake her up so we continued with the journey. We arrived in Punta Fuego around 1pm and had lunch before checking in.

Miya playing with my officemate's iTouch

Photo above was taken during lunch time. While waiting for food, Miya and I went to my officemates’ table. Around this time, Joema wasn’t feeling that well already. He actually already took some meds before we left the house but his tooth was already aching again by the time we arrived. He only ate soup for lunch. Poor boy! After lunch, we checked in and we were given a suite instead of the casita only to find out later on that we should have taken a casita because it’s much bigger! Next time, we’ll get the casita! We were first checked into this suite. 

Twin sharing and not king sized bed

Outside the suite above was the infinity pool

But since it’s a twin sharing setup we asked to be moved to a suite with a king sized bed so we transferred to this. 

Queen sized bed. Look at Miya playing with the phone already.

I know it’s not a king sized bed but I don’t want to hassle the people at reception again, so we just settled in. I must say, Punta Fuego’s service is top-notch. They did not refuse my request to be transferred to another suite and just looked for an available suite for us. Unfortunately, it was raining hard at the time we transferred suites and we had to walk through rain to go from one suite to another. Hassle lang but it’s okay. We also asked for some pain reliever for Joema’s toothache and they gave it to us after consulting their in-house nurse.

Si Malakas at si Maganda - proof that Joema was indeed with us hehe

It rained the whole day so we holed up in our suite and even ate dinner there. The whole night Joema was not able to sleep because of his toothache. When I woke up around 4:30am he was banging his head on the bed and couldn’t take the pain anymore. I told him he should have told me and we could have asked the nurse to give us meds again the night before. But anyway, at the ungodly hour I phoned in the reception and again asked for medicines which the nurse personally delivered to us. Service was truly impeccable! Joema was able to sleep after that. So when Miya woke up later in the morning, it was just her and me who ventured out of our suite and headed to breakfast. I knew my officemates will be there and I wanted to find out what their plans were. After eating breakfast, we went back to our suite to check up on Joema if he wanted to eat but he was just getting sleep then so I told him to just sleep and Miya and I will go swimming with my officemates. I didn’t want to bother him anymore because he still has to drive us back home to Manila later that day. This is one of the reasons we need to go back to Punta Fuego – Joema wasn’t able to get out of our suite the whole time we were there!

Anyways, enough stories let me share with you our photos!

Passed by the infinity pool on the way to breakfast

My water baby is ready!

Punta Fuego is amazing! :)

Again, enjoying the pool!

I can't say it enough, Miya LOVES the water!

Weeee!!!

We transferred to the lower beach after the infinity pool

She didn't like the beach at first but after seeing another little kid enjoying and after feeling the waves I think she liked it!

We transferred to the nearby pool almost too soon!

But she enjoyed it there, as well! :)

With Daddy during check-out

Goodbye, Punta Fuego! Till we meet again!

Lunch at Army+Navy, Tagaytay

The loves of my life!