Summer School Adventures





This Friday will be Bea’s last day in summer school. I am glad to share that she is loving school so much! Even though she has to wake up early for her class, (8:30-10:00am) she really looks forward to going to school. She is now so familiar with her routine. Since hubby and I leave early for work, she wakes up early too. Then she goes jogging (yes like lolo, she is a health buff hehehe) then it’s time to join Ninang as she leaves for work. Before, she used to accompany Ninang up to the FX terminal. Now she stops after a few steps from our house, bids Ninang goodbye and says that she has to get ready for school or else she’ll be late. (Dito lang Bea, late na ko school). After forcibly drinking her milk and getting ready for school, Lolo accompanies them to the pedicab terminal. Her yaya accompanies her on the pedicab ride to school and stays with her for the whole 1.5 hours.

So how is she doing in school? Surprisingly good! She is motivated by the promise of stars stamped on her hand. When teacher promises that stars will be given at the end of class if they are good and attentive, Bea will immediately sit down and listen quietly. She has learned to socialize and play with her classmates. She knows them all by name. She learned action songs and now appreciates story telling sessions. As far as coloring pictures go, she has definitely improved. She now colors inside the lines of the picture, whereas before, she colored the back side of the paper, then after a while outside of the picture. =)

She is also learning about shapes. She now knows circle and triangle. Sometimes she calls the triangle actum (lactum) for the sign that carmina and Claudine does over their hearts in the Lactum commercial. She still has a hard time with square and rectangle though. Every weekend, her teachers let them take home a folder bearing their name, where all their seat works in school are compiled for parents to see. Her progress is apparent. =)

Every morning Bea raids Lolo’s store for baon, which she eats at school. This is another progress for her. We told her teachers about her feeding problem, so Teacher Ren lets classmates with good appetites sit beside her during recess time to encourage her to eat her baon. She manages to eat a few pieces of biscuits and downs her juice. Woohoo!

Her teacher praised her and announced that she was VERY GOOD when she performed well in her oral recitation about parts of the body and shapes. This motivated her to go to school even more! This is exactly what I hoped for. For her to have a good first impression of school, so that she will enjoy going to school. Like me. My first teacher is lovingly etched in my memory forever. I loved her so much and I always attributed my being a “good” student to her. I felt that school was a warm, fun and loving environment. It was not to be feared. This experience is what I want for my baby. Sure, in the future she will encounter “terror” teachers, but at least the foundation of love for learning is already there.

By the way, she also stopped wearing diaper to school, and asks her yaya to accompany her to go to the CR (ee-ar). =)

By june we she will be attending Nursery class. We are still torn as to where we will enroll her. Her school now is a bit expensive and a bit far from our house, but she is already comfortable there and she loves her teachers and classmates already. We have another option, which is cheaper but has no aircon and has a different religious inclination (although they said they were non-sectarian). Oh well. We’ll see…

Cooking It Up With Daddy

Sunday is a special day for every family. for us especially since this is the only day we are together, since hubby has work even on a saturday. every sunday, as a treat to us, hubby handles the cooking for lunch. =) last sunday, i requested for chicken sinigang.

Bea is at that stage where she is interested in everything grown ups are doing. she just loves being assigned a task. her fave assignment nowadays is preparing our iced tea. "Pimpla Iced Tea Bea" (Timpla Iced Tea si Bea) she was thrilled when we propped her on a chair and allowed her to "prepare" daddy's ingredients.

Here she is "cooking"...and another one with daddy in the background doing the real cookiAdd Imageng:







By the way, the chicken sinigang turned out really yummy!

Palm Sunday 2009

On Palm Sunday Christians celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as "Passion Sunday," marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.

The Bible reveals that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him with waving palm branches, and by covering his path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the cross.

The biblical account of Palm Sunday can be found in Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; and John 12:12-19.

Last Sunday, we heard mass at the St. Andrew Church in Makati, on our way to the car show in Manila. We told Bea what Palm Sunday was about. She had a grand time shaking the palm leaves. I don't think she understands fully though...



What is your favorite ice cream flavor or ice cream concoction?



Hmmm... What is my fave flavor? basically it's anything with chocolate in it. I am partial to Double Dutch and Rocky Road though, and anything with brownies. Argh! it is so hard to choose when it comes to ice cream!



Recently though i got to try the Tiramisu Magic from the Ice Cream House and it was mighty fine! check out my post about that experience.

Sunset Cove Beach Resort, Morong Bataan

It is summer time! Time to have fun and relax! Since we frequent the South and its hot springs , we decided to give the north a try. We heard a lot of praises for the SCTEX highway or the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, and hubby has been itching to try it out. Although we did try it when we went to Clark, Pampanga for the Hot Air Balloon Festival last February 15, he wanted to try it going to Subic .

We used it to get to Subic , and boy, the travel WAS FAST! From the Mabalacat Exit, we got to Tipo Road in just 30 minutes! Well, that’s hubby’s driving, slowing down within the speed limit only when he sees an expressway patrol…sigh. It was awesome not having to go through the San Fernando exit and navigationg through the Pampanga and Olongapo streets.
We were supposed to go to our company outing in Waterfront Beach Resort, but since we were able to leave the house at around 9am already due to a series of booboos, we decided not to go there anymore since it was too late. (we were supposed to leave at 6am) sigh...
We decided instead to go to Sunset Cove, also in Morong Bataan. This is a resort recommended by my friend, apple. We wanted a beautiful, not-too-crowded beach resort for Bea’s first Beach experience, and we got just that.
When we reached the Tipo Gate, we went straight through Subic , until we reached the Morong Gate. (Take the same route as if you’re going to the JEST camp or Ocean Adventure.) When we reached the Morong Exit, we just followed the signs for Ayala’s Anvaya Cove. The road is narrow and winding, and covered with lush trees. About 500 meters from the Morong Gate, there is a sign for Sunset Cove, turn right. Pass through an even narrower and rocky road until you see a public school, turn right again until you reach the steel gate of the Sunset Cove Beach Resort.

The resort’s owner, Mrs. Cecille Jimenez is very warm and welcoming. She is so hands-on when it come to running the family resort.


She let us stay at the Master’s Bedroom of the 2-Storey Guest House. It is airconditioned, good for 4 people, with its own toilet and bath (with hot and cold shower). The bed is a double deck, with a pull out at the bottom. This room costs P2,500.00, this on top of the P100.00 entrance fee per person.

Guests are also required to pay for the Outdoor Kitchen and Utilities if you intend to cook your own food. This is an additional P500.00, plus you have to get a table or nipa hut near the beach where you can put your things while swimming or eating. We were assigned a nipa hut, good for four persons, costing P750.00.
When we arrived, they had no electricity. we were definitely bummed out. it was lunch time already and it was hot. i was hoping to rest in our airconditioned room. the owners were apologetic, assuring us that this is a rare occassion. they even lent us plastic beach beds and pillows so that we can rest outside, beside our nipa hut. hubby was disappointed, but was soon snoring off to dreamland since the bed was comfy and the ocean breeze was very relaxing. the thick trees also provided cool shade for us weary travelers.



They also had a playground for bored kiddies, and videoke machines for bored adults. Banana boat rides and other fun stuff are also available upon request.
they also had a big bird cage, in the middle of the picnic area, however i couldn't find any birds. i was also amused at their bulkan grille. it was a place where you can grill stuff, shaped like a volcano. it had an exhaust fan on top to direct the smoke out to the volcano's "crater". however when it was our turn to use the grille the exhaust was not working so instead we were engulfed with a cloud of smoke. the sacrifice was worth it though because we had a wonderful dinner that night...thanks to hubby!


anyway here are some more random shots of the resort:








The beach itself was ok. not white sand but it was ok. water was very clear. too bad though that at the time that we were there, there were a lot of jelly fishes. when we got out of the water, we felt itchy all over.

Anyway, all in all, we had a great time. Bea had fun playing on the shore, we even brought home some sand as a keepsake for Bea's first Beach Experience. It was definitely a family bonding time worth remembering!


How to get a Philippine Passport for a Minor

Kudos to the government for making it easier for people to secure a Philippine passport. No need to go through agencies or fixers. We were able to apply for a passport in under 3 hours. And that was for the three of us already.

I was pretty excited to get a passport for my daughter; this will be her first ever valid ID. First things first, I had to prepare the requirements. (I just called the NSO hotline: (( 02) 737-1111)

PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST-TIME APPLICANTS:

  • Personal Appearance is required.
  • Duly accomplished application form.
  • Birth Certificate (BC) in Security Paper (SECPA) issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) or Certified True Copy (CTC) of BC issued by the Local Civil Registrar duly authenticated by NSO.
  • Three (3) colored photos of the applicant taken against a royal blue background. Applicant should be in decent attire with collar. Photo must be of good quality, and must have been taken within the last six (6) months. Photo size: 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm. Facial image size: Not less than 3 cm. DFA has the right to reject photos that do not comply with specifications and international standards. **

    ** My advice, go ahead and invest in a good photo studio. We had our passport pics taken at Great Image. Sure, it is a bit pricey, but very reasonable. They know the DFA’s requirements and they are a stickler for details. Plus they even offered us a guarantee that they will retake our daughter’s picture if it does not pass the DFA’s standards, as long as we return all the prints. I remember a friend’s horror story of having her daughter’s picture taken a number of times because they did not pass the standards. (The background was not blue enough, she had earrings, and her face was too small in the pic.)Imagine the inconvenience caused, and in the end, she wasted a lot more money than she would’ve paid in a reputable photo studio.

Additional Requirements:

For Minors (below 18 years old)

Personal appearance of either parent (if minor is of legitimate status).
Personal appearance of mother (if minor is of illegitimate status)
** There is no need for a personal appearance of the minor

If minor is NOT traveling with either parent:

Original and photocopy of DSWD Clearance
Affidavit of Support and Consent

If both parents are abroad:

Affidavit of support and consent (must be authenticated by the nearest Philippine Embassy or Consulate General if not executed before a Consul).

Special Power of Attorney (must be authenticated by the nearest Philippine Embassy or Consulate General if not executed before a Consul designating the representative by name and authorizing him to apply for a passport on behalf of the minor).

Passport and photocopy of the passport of the traveling companion of the minor.

Identification Card and photocopy thereof of the duly authorized person.

When we had all the requirements, the next step was to go to the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Site to get an appointment (click here to be directed to appointment page). This step is key, believe me! When hubby and I got to the DFA, we were shocked at the mass of people lined up at the basketball court. At first I thought we had to go and line up too, but then we were informed that if you didn’t get an appointment online, you’d HAVE to fall in line FOR AN APPOINTMENT, and then go back the next day to have your application processed. Since we already have an appointment, we skipped that loooong line. (whew!) I scheduled an appointment for the three of us on Saturday afternoon and was scheduled the following Tuesday afternoon. Just remember to print the DFA’s confirmation letter along with the application form (downloadable from their site) that way you’ll save time by accomplishing these forms beforehand.

My daughter being a minor, I had to sign my daughter’s application form on her behalf, I was also the one who placed my thumb marks.

Then we went directly to gate 2. From there we were directed to a room filled with people sitting on long benches. We also fell in line. The wait was not that long, plus we were comfortable since we were sitting down. When it was our turn, the girl behind window # 3 checked our documents and asked me to have my application form photocopied because it a duplicate was attached to Bea’s application.


After this, we were directed to the auditorium where payments are made.

PASSPORT FEES:

Regular Processing
(14 working days)
44-Page = P 500.00

Expedited Processing

(7 working days)
Additional P 250.00

Replacement of Lost valid Passport
44-Page = P 700.00

Then we had to fall in line again for the encoding. Again we were made comfortable because we were provided with seats. The line moved fast since there were more than fifteen encoders arranged in a semi circle in the auditorium.

After this, we headed back to the basketball court where there were companies offering door to door deliveries. If you wanted to save a hundred pesos, you can opt to return to the DFA and claim your passport yourself, or you can choose to avail of their services and have your passport delivered to your door step. You can choose from LBC, 2Go, Air 21 and DHL. We chose 2Go not only because they were a peso cheaper (P99), they also exerted more effort in trying to lure us in. hahaha. I got the feeling of being in the MOA seaside area were guys/girls/gays beckoned at everyone passing by to come and try their food. =)

That was the last step, and then the waiting begins. I’m so excited!

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