SM- Cagayan de Oro (CDO) launched their 3D cinema with Avatar.  Thankfully we’ve never tried to see it as I was thought this movie was highly over-rated.  We went to the mall with the intention to watch The Megamind.  When I saw the 3D announcement, my kids and I decided to watch Avatar instead.  At the cost of P250 for the ticket, each moviegoer gets to enjoy Avatar 3D.

SM-CDO provided us with those 3D glasses as well as free pop-corn.  Since it was their opening day, the ticketing booth was slow and disorganized.  Seating arrangements have to be finalized since not all the seats have the vibrating features.  Given that we were a group of 5, an usher escorted us to our chairs and given VIP treatment…  lol  To the amusement of my children, they even helped them with their 3D glasses.  Pop-corn came 10-15 minutes after the movie started.

Needless to say, the movie which lasted for 2 hours was glorious.  I noted the similarities of Neytiri to Pocahontas.  At any rate, the movie Avatar showcased superb animation work.  It was truly an eye opener for me, watching as the whole movie unfold on 3D.  So, was the P250 worth it?  Certainly!  As most James Cameron directed movie, this movie did not skimp on animation costs as each finely crafted scene did not miss any single detail.

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My children love Nutella so much they can polish 1 huge loaf bread in one sitting.  I try to referee and place myself in between the Nutella and their eager hands, all excited to dip and slap that all chocolate goo.  I try to put Nutella sparingly, partly because of its bad rap on calories but also because Nutella is a tad expensive here compared to local bread spreads.

So I bought a huge jar of Nutella from Robinson’s Supermarket and was shocked to learn from my eldest daughter that we had ran out of spread.  I looked and found the jar empty– yes empty.  In 3 days?  Something fishy is going on… So came another weekend– grocery day is now Sunday, and my children begged for Nutella again.  So I grabbed second jar for the month…  and after a few days, I found my Nutella culprit.

One early morning,  I was busy working and I heard someone getting a spoon in the kitchen– then silence.  I gazed suspiciously towards the kitchen and there was no sign of activity.  Hmmm. I walked towards the kitchen and found my youngest daughter, holding an opened jar of Nutella and eating the spread! OMG!  Anyway, I snapped a picture on her and got this.  lol

This brought me back memories, when my sister and I would sneak into the kitchen with a spoon to eat peanut butter.  I did not have the heart to get mad at her.  I just hunched over and dipped her spoon again and I took the jar from her and return it on the cupboard.

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My love for reading began at an early age.  It started when I found an entire shelf of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys hardbound books at the school library.  No one seemed to bother borrowing them, and although I cannot remember exactly my first Nancy Drew book, I remembered borrowing all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books in our library.  From then on, I would pester my mom and my brother Joemen to get me books every month from the local bookstore.

My brother encourage my love for reading.  Although my parents did not understand it before, and thought of buying “pocketbooks” a total waste of money, my brother– also a book worm explained the passion and the advantages of reading.  He mentioned something about widening my vocabulary and strengthening my grammar and english skills, reading truly has helped me through school.

Reading think chapters from text books and learning the art of speed reading, this has helped me through high school and college, no doubt about that.  Writing essays and book reports was easy for me and has earned me some recognition in school.  I also became good in spelling and along with the passion of working on crossword puzzles, I have learned to be quick on synonyms of words and learned how to quickly answer crossword puzzles from easy to advance level on one sitting.  There was a time that I was so into it that I even have my own crossword puzzle book in the bathroom.  lol  Some keep magazines or newspapers near their crapper, me, I have my Sudoku and my Dell Crossword Puzzles.

My favorite books range from legal and psychological thrillers.  Kellermen, King, Grisham, Scottoline, Crichton are some of my favorite authors.  I continue to horde books here.  But it has expanded to personal finance, web design and some self help books which I have used with my counselor years ago.

I wanted my love for books to pass onto my children.  At early age, my children are rewarded for good behavior with books.  We have a selection of Dr. Seuss and Nancy Drew Books.  My daughters love books and like me, they are drawn to National Bookstore and BookSale.  I have learned to allocate at least P1,000 for books each month.  Books when taken care of last for several years and can be passed on to others.

Here are some of the benefits of reading:

• Reading helps children become smarter.
• Reading encourages your children to have longer attention span.
• It helps teach your child about relationships, situations, personalities, and what is good and what is bad in the world he lives in. Fantasy books provide material for his imagination and free play. Fairy tales fascinate your kid, and help him distinguish between what is real and what is not.
• Reading helps you prepare your children allay your child’s fears or prepare him for changes in his life. For example, you can choose books about using the potty, going to school, or moving to a new house when he is about to have these new experiences.

The best way to teach children to love reading is to be an example.  Let your children see you reading.  Read stories aloud to your children and let them choose the books they wanted to read.  As soon as you show this love and dedication to learning by reading, your children will love books and learn to take care and handle them with care.

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Coke, coke, we want coke!  With ice to the brim!

The school year is over and the children are all around the house and I wonder how I can get to finish all my work this time around.  So here are some of the things that I need to do before the week ends:

1- Plan and create activities for the children everyday.

2- Look for paid activities during the summer break.

3- Plan for Pascalis’ 9th birthday.

4- Plan for a short break probably to Cebu, Boracay, Davao or Bohol.

5- Check the video store and buy tons of videos for the children to watch during the break.

So what’s on your calendar for the summer?

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We had our all time favorite Hawaiian Pizza, Hot Wings and my favorite mouthwatering, Twice Baked Potato Halves.  For dessert, the kids had 1/2 pint of vanilla icecream each!  It was a well spent lunch, what else could I ask more, the kids as always loved it.

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Anyway, my sister, along with her husband and family decided to come to Boracay for a week.  Since I could not afford to shell out thousands for the airfare and accommodation, she offered to pay our way.  So, who cares about the crowd?  Its a free trip and I have not seen my sister for over 2  years, what the heck…

Sunny Boracay

So, my sister booked us at the Residencia Boracay, a small hotel near my sister’s posh, Fridays Boracay.  Since I could not take a long week off and the children have school, we decided to stay 4 days in Boracay.  And did I regret it?  Course not… Boracay is a beautiful island.  The sand is powdery white.  The beach is calm and flat, and very safe for children to swim and wade.  Not only that, we went there when it was off season. It was not crowded at all.  So different from the usual Boracay videos that I found on Youtube.

My children– the water babies… love Boracay.  They stayed in the water from 6am til 6pm.  The beach did not have big swells and the children were pretty happy wading in and out with their cousins.

The Residencia Boracay was ok.  Our room was clean, and the sheets were good.  The only problem was to the dismay of my sister who paid for the rooms was that the photos from the site did not match the units.  ROFL.. what the??

Anyway, since we were there already and she had paid for the reservation fee, I told her the hotel will have to do.  It was not very roomy, but who wants to stay in the hotel when the beach is so wonderful???

Once I arrived, I checked out the internet connectivity of the hotel and touched base with my clients.  What was not so good was the wifi strength on the beachfront waned and the connection was intermittent.  Blast…  I was not too happy about that.  I tried to work as quickly as I can in order to catch up with the kids who were all busy wading.  The little one, Sophie was busy digging the white sand with Tyrell.

My sister hardly changed at all.  Except for a few finelines, and smaller waist line, she was a sight for sore eyes…  Two piece swimsuit… My golly… She was lean and tan.  Hayyy…  I was so happy to see her.  We were hugging and giggling like 2 school girls.  Our children were all getting to know each other once again and it was a blast.

So, what is so freaking great about Boracay?

1- its the beach.

2- if you hate the crowd, stay off Boracay during peak season.  Or if you like to party, but wanted some peace and privacy during the night, opt to stay in a hotel in Station 3.

3- anybody can afford to go to Boracay.  There are so  many hotels, hostels, resorts with promo packages.    If you cannot afford to take the plane— if Cebu Pacific’s fare is still high for you, take the ship.  I heard Aboitiz have a regular route to Caticlan.

4- if you are traveling with children, take alot of food, water and swimwear.  They will be out the whole day.  Heck, I spent the whole  day outside under the coconut tree watching over them.

5- don’t bother carrying too much cash.  There are absolutely lots of places to eat in Boracay.  From the high dollar rate restaurant to 65 pesos meal.  And besides D’Mall have more than 5 ATM machines so banking is not going to be an issue.

What are you waiting for?  Get off your ass and plan your next vacation and hit Boracay before Boracay deteriorates.

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Anyway, since my lovely and generous sister paid for our lodging and airfare, I really have nothing much to complain about– so I decided to brave the crowd.

As expected, the plane ride from CDO to Cebu went without a hitch.  The kids love the short plane ride.  We got to Mactan International Airport around 8:00am and since we did not have any breakfast, we went over to the Waterfront Hotel and Casino, which was only a stone throw away from the Arrival Area.  But as soon as we stepped out, it started to drizzle.  So I scurry back inside and walked to the Waterfront Hotel Desk and told the concierge that I want to have breakfast at their hotel and if its possible for him to arrange for a hotel car to pick us up since it was raining.  No questions asked, he quickly did a headcount and mumbled on his radio and told us to follow him.

With the kids galloping all over the place, we went out and waited until a huge white van came and we went in.  The ride to the hotel was swift but the kids were all bouncing up and down the chair and chatting endlessly.

Waterfront Hotel

We went inside the grand hotel lobby and I walked into the restaurant on the side where Chinese, Continental, Filipino and Japanese food were lavishly displayed.  I asked for a table and a high chair and I instructed Alis and Freida to hit the buffet tables.  My father whispered to me and asked, how much is the food?  I told him to shut up and eat as much as he can… lol

I started my breakfast with a little fried rice, and hainanese chicken.  The girls started with pancakes, bacon and siopao.  Tyrell had rice and bacon.  Sophie had chicken.  And that was first round.

Second round, the girls had cereals and milk.  I made some congee and coffee.  My father did a huge carbo load and platter of fruits.  We hanged around until it was an hour to our flight to Kalibo.  The damage?  USD 85.

The trip to Kalibo was even shorter than the other flight.  The children behaved well.  Each one have their own chair.  The girls were chatting while Ty and his Lolo were busy reading a comic book.

The only problem was the travel time from Kalibo to Caticlan was 2 hours.

Me

Daughter brooding over the window

Plakda.

A van from the hotel picked us up and we were comfortably seated and the drive although panoramic and not at all bumpy.  So after 2 plane rides and a huge breakfast, everybody except me dozed off.

The drive to Caticlan was quiet and scenic indeed.  When we finally got to the port of Caticlan, the kids were recharged and excited.  I had to counter several, “Are we there yets,” and “Is this Boracay?  Where’s the beach?” Kids…

Anyway, we had to wait for 5 minutes when we were told that the boat has arrived.  We hoped into a boat and off we went to sunny Boracay.

First glimpse of Boracay

The ride took less than 15 minutes and honestly when I saw those stupid billboards, I was disappointed… “so this is Boracay?”

We hopped out and a driver approached us and told us to ride a smallish jeep.  We piled in and was told the ride will take less than 30 minutes.  The drive was short.  The roads in the town of Boracay was narrow.  I was surprised to see how crowded the main town was.  So many small stores and foreign pedestrians.

The jeep stopped at a wooden gate and we were told we were in the hotel already.

It was funny we were dropped at the back of the hotel, I thought and when we were on the way to the reception area, I saw the clear blue sea of Boracay.  Wow.

So we have reached our destination.

Boracay exceeded my expectations.

So, is it possible to travel to Boracay with small children?

Yes.

So, how did I manage?

1- luggage.  Instead of carrying one huge luggage, I allowed the  children to pack their own backpacks and they were responsible for their own bags.

2- clothes.  Never bring too much clothes in Boracay.  For my kids, my sister has advised us to bring swimwears and nylon shorts.  Never bring shoes in Boracay.  The sand is so fine and powdery it does not hurt to walk along the shoreline. Being slippers or flipflops instead.

3- preparation.  Weeks before we traveled, I prepared my children about the flight and the ride.  It pays to prepare the children mentally.  It would not hurt as well if they are full while traveling.

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I found Starbucks accidentally in Boracay.  My children and I were having lunch at the Yellow Cab and waiting for my sister and her family to pick us up for island hopping when this young man approached the security guard of the place for something.

The security guard obviously had a hard time understanding the guy so he beckoned to me, and the young handsome fella approached me and asked, “Do you know where Starbucks is?”  To which I responded, “I have no idea, we just got here… you sure there’s a Starbucks here?” “Yea, saw a girl drinking her coffee earlier…”  So anyway to make it short, I asked the security guard and the security guard pointed to the left and the guy and I looked and found the oh so familiar green logo further down the street.

Aha, so there is a Starbucks in Boracay… much to the excitement of my children.  The girls made me promise to take them over to Starbucks after dinner…

So right after our dinner buffet at the Talipapa, we strolled and window shopped.

Its amazing how much people and tourists are really out there during dinner time.  The place was buzzing with activities, and peddlers calling us to look at their wares.

So while walking we passed by Starbucks and my daughters begged me to for an ensaymada…  Who can resist that?

We went inside, ordered, one huge cafe mocha for me, and 5 orders of vanilla frappucino, a slice of cheesecake, 4 ensaymada and a slice of banana loaf bread.  Ahhhh… Starbucks Coffee taste so good…

We ate under those Starbucks umbrellas and the kids ate their desserts while the adults talk and share bites of those wonderful ensaymada.  Damage?  P1,200.  Was it worth it?  Definitely… 

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My requirements for a good place to hang are:

1.  Has internet connection (wifi or cable)

2. Has a Swimming Pool

3. Good and affordable food

We found them all at Cha-Li Beach Resort.

The last time I was at Cha-Li was almost 20 years ago.  Then, it was just a small place with thatch huts for day time swimmers.  They did not have a pool yet.  Once I have checked the amenities of Cha-Li using my mobile connected through GPRS, I called them to ask about the internet connection and their rates.

Ivy, the amiable receptionist confirmed that their internet is up and running at that their service provider is PLDT, I booked and we packed and left for the city.  When I got to the resort, Ivy took me around while we find the cabana with the strongest wifi connection.

We settled in at Cabana Naranja.  The cabin has 2 queen sized bed, full tub and bath, plush pillows, aircondition, cable television, and yes, my very important wifi connection at the veranda.

The children loved Cha-Li.  It has a good pool, although I would have preferred a kiddie pool, but since they only have one adult pool, the kids have to make do and wade on the shallow end.  While they are in the pool, I am at their restaurant which is close to the pool and has yes, my wifi connection!

Although I had to shell out almost $150 for the weekend, it was no biggie since I managed to stay in contact with my work and my kids had a break from the usual house related activities and they all spent their time on the pool and the beach!  A win-win situation!

To book and for more info:

Cha-Li Beach Resort and Conference Center
Zone 3, Cugman, Cagayan de Oro City
Philippines, 9000
Phones: (+63) 88-855-5941
info@chalibeach.com

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Anyway, so far alot of things has happened recently.  We have moved homes and I am happy that after a quick house move, the kids had adjusted so quickly again.  This house is much closer to the school, and bigger in terms of space.  One of the nicest things about this house is the fact that it has high ceilings.  It also has several doors.  2 on the side and one on the front.  I found out that when 2 doors are opened, the house felt cozier and breezier.  One of the pluses is its location– a corner lot and even inside the house, I can feel the sea breeze coming in.

View from my work table...

Ventilation is great as well and I am looking forward to lesser electricity bill as we won’t have to use the electric fans 24/7 now.  I have also created my own work corner.  The location is good as well.  From my desk, I can see the people going inside the house and the gates.  I can also see the plants outside which is refreshing.

Thanks to the mahogany trees planted opposite the house, it has given the street including my porch a relaxing shade.  Hayy, this location is so conducive to sleeping and relaxation.  (:yawn: )

Alot of people are scared of change.  Since I have decided to move on with my life, I have adhered to the fact that the only thing that is scary about change is the fact that it is CHANGE.

It is hard to make a decision to change.  Ofcourse it is easy to utter the words, “I have change,” but come on be frank and upfront.  Change is hard and it is scary most specially to the process of change itself.  Change is good because this means another for starting over– let’s say “tabularasa.”

Change has given me back my freedom.  Change has given me peace of mind.

What about you?  How badly do you need change in your life?

Babies hanging on the doorway... how cute!

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