Dad's First Marathon

Congratulations to our Dad!!!

Last Sunday (November 11), Dad ran his first marathon ever! It was a 10km run in the New Balance Power Race held in Clark. Dad clocked in a decent finish time of about 1:30 (that is Mom's guesstimate).

It was one of Dad's proudest moments-- ours too! Way to go big man!

For official race results, visit http://www.newbalance.com.ph/ten_all.html

Tale of Two Countries

We went to Malaysia and Singapore-- it was a treat from Dad for our birthdays.

Reaching New Heights in Malaysia. We visited the Batu Cave, site to century-old Hindu temples built in a cave on top of a mountain. We climbed steep flight of 300 steps to get to the top- whew! On the way up, an additional sight were the monkeys which were all over- sitting and loitering on the stairs.
It was eerie in the temples in the cave-- yet the silence and the cool breeze provided a perfect resting place especially after that long climb.

It is said that these temples were discovered by K. Thamboosamy an Indian trader in the 1800s. However, they became famous only after it was discovered by the American Naturalist, William Hornaday in 1878.

Next stop was the tallest built building in the world-- the Petronas Tower! Total coolness! Although, we could see the towers' grandeur from Granny's laundry room, it was more magnificent up close! We rode the MRT to get to the city capital Kuala Lumpur where the towers are. We were so excited especially that it was Diego's first time to see and actually be in the towers!

Singapore Galore. Off to the Night Safari ofcourse! It was a great time learning and seeing all sorts of wild cats-- tigers, jaguars, leopards, lions, etc... Diego's favorite animals! We also did a walking tour which brought us to the nocturnal world of bats, owls, tarsiers among others.

When in Singapore, do as the Singaporeans LAH! And so we did-- walked the whole stretch of Orchard Road, enjoyed street food at the Hawker's Market, strolled along Clark Quay, got on cable car to Sentosa (where a visit to the UnderWater World Aquarium is a must!) traveled via the MRT, went to Jurong to enjoy some "snow"--- brrr! Admittedly, this was our most favorite part of the trip! Sliding through the snow and snow fighting!!!

Other highlights of our trip to Sentosa were the 4D pirate movie and log ride, watching the Dolphin Show and a tour of Fort Siloso. We learned that Fort Siloso was Singapore's last frontier in WWII, and its story resembles that of our Corregidor.

We sure had tons of fun! Dad-- thanks for making our 8th and 5th birthdays nothing less than a BLAST!

Futsal Brothers

We have taken on futsal as a new sport. We currently play for our village's team which participates in an inter-barangay league. Go Magallanes team!

Three games so far!.. and slowly we are getting the hang of it. Dad and Mom are starting to love the game too!

What a revelation Diego is!- he loves being the goalkeeper and is pretty good at it. In fact, coach tells Mom "Diego can be a star goalee-- great coordination!"

Futsal is an indoor version of football (soccer). Its name is derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol sala/de salón, which can be translated as 'indoor football'.

"We Are Getting Famous" -Diego

Diego might just be right!

Mom wrote an article about our summer vacation cum virtual history class. The article is currently featured in "www.Lakbay.Net", the Philippines' pioneering travel website. By the way, lakbay in Tagalog literally means travel. Read on www.lakbay.net/traveltales/

Dad, You Are The Best!

Julio Scores Another Win With His Voki

Julio's avatar and short narration about his dream of travelling around the world was featured on www.Voki.com. His work was cited as one of the bests, and voted as "Day's Favorite" on June 1, 2007.

Well done! We are all so proud!

And by the way, that was Diego coughing in the background. Hahaha!

Diego's Voki: What I want to be....

Get a Voki now!

Julio's Voki - I will travel across the world and more!

Get a Voki now!

Mother's Day 2007

Pepe - The Young Jose Rizal

Off to Calamba, Laguna with Nina and Bel. We stand in front of the birthplace of Dr. Jose Rizal. Yes, this was where the Rizal family lived, and where the young "Pepe" spent his growing up years.

He was just like any other kid, just like us. He loved to play especially with his sisters in the "bahay kubo" in the yard. He also loved to do art work- we saw some of his drawings and pottery. And he had a dog too!

This probably ends our Rizalian tour for the summer. It was a great one- we got the chance to get a glimpse of his life from childhood to his martyrdom.

From Bagumbayan to Luneta to Rizal Park

We are in front of the Rizal monument. Beneath this grand marker lies Dr. Jose Rizal's remains. Also, just across it is the actual site of his execution. We found out that his "firing squad" was made up of in fact eight Filipino shooters all were serving under the Spanish army.

So this is Rizal Park-- known as Luneta in the early American occupation time, and was initially known as Bagumbayan (New Town) during the Spanish colonialization era. Anyway you call it, this was where the journey ended for our national hero. But his martyrdom continues to inspire.

Spongebob meets Tintin

I met with Tintin and Mr. Squarepants . Tintin was going to Italy in flight 847 with Spongebob................................."Ahhhhhhhhh" said Tintin"What a nice day!" the flight cost $80.00 it was 12:30 am-9:00am cool huh?...........At 12:09 we stop for 10 mins.

A Historic Weekend

We had a family field trip! Dad and Mom took us to a trip down Philippine history in Intramuros.

First stop was Fort Santiago. We walked the walls of this former fortress and saw the dungeons which before served as cells to political prisoners during the Spanish era, and later to prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation

The highlight of this leg of our trip was our visit to Jose Rizal's Shrine. It was the closest encounter we had with our national hero and Julio's idol. We saw some of Rizal's personal effects such as clothing, pictures, medical instruments, calling cards, etc. Also on display were some pieces of furniture which were used by him and his family in their home in Calamba, Laguna. We got the chance to view some of Rizal's work too -- his writings, sculptures and sketches.


Most exciting was the footsteps on the foreground which enabled us to retrace Jose Rizal's path from his dungeon to his execution place in Bagumbayan (now known as Luneta or Rizal park). Awesome!

Next stop was Casa Manila. It was really like going back in time. The house and the furniture and furnishings in it gave us a sense of how Manilans lived during the Spanish colonial era. We learned of the courtyard, entrasuelo, oratorio, and more.






Then we visited the oldest stone-church in the Philippines-- the San Agustin Church. It has a museum too where religious relics and art works were on display.

Whew! What a day -like we were transported back to the 19th century! Now, that is what we'd call virtual lesson in history.

Bagyo in Baguio

It is summer once again! We went to Baguio for some cool breeze-- ahhh! Our most favorite part of the trip was "target shooting" at Camp John Hay. It was "paint-ball" shooting but we got to fire a real Thompson- COOLNESS!

Also take note of our fatigue pants. Yeah, we were dressed up for the part!

"You should have seen Diego went ballistic- hahaha! I will remember it for always. Ptat-tatatat-tat!"
-Julio

"Kuya Julio had a good target! He laughed so hard when I did machine gun-like shooting! We had so much fun."
-Diego

A New Discovery

Learning and discovering a new plant specie- the "touch-me-not", known in Filipino as "makahiya". Really cool! We wonder how this plant is related to the Venus fly trap?!

Olympians in the Making

What's Gonna Work?! Teamwork!
Who's Gonna Win?! We will!
Hooray for Diego and Julio! Athletes Par Excellence!

KinderCare and EIS held Sports Days last February 3 and 10, respectively. Yes, the boys put their athletic prowesses to test two Saturdays in a row! And delivered! Dad and Mom were there to cheer them on and feed them too - proud parents once again.

We Are Flash and Green Lantern

If we were superheroes, we would be Flash and Green Lantern. This was according to a personality test that we took.

Diego: The Flash
Fast, athletic and flirtatious.



Julio: The Green Lantern
Hot-headed, with strong will power and a good imagination.