recollection of sorts

I know this is long overdue... and please, bear with me if this is some sort of jumping from one topic to another. Another post will be made for our “airline experience”.

Anyway, we had a big storm (as mentioned in an earlier post) the day before our flight. We were so worried that we might have some delays or worst, cancellations. Thank goodness the sun came out! :)

The plane landed around 1020AM and we were cleared at the immigration in just half an hour. It felt good being “home” again. And you can definitely tell as it was very hot that we were sweating like crazy. IFC started sniffing and sneezing (allergic rhinitis which he doesn’t have here) as soon as we got out of the airport. His parents and sister was waving… his mom crying with joy as they approached us. But my family was no where in sight and my brother Adoy wasn’t picking up his phone when I called. I just started feeling annoyed! It wasn’t that long and I saw Papa and Mama walking towards us. I was just happy to see them. We had a quick stop at Duty Free and bought some chocolates, cookies, cigar and liquor.

Lunch was at Seaside, Mall of Asia. What a nice way to start our vacation! Different kinds of grilled seafood in front of us! Oh I missed that tuna belly! It was just full of fun… everyone was all smiles. We were so loud for all you know it! One funny thing was we didn’t have the appetite to eat because of the hot weather! But hey, sweating like a dog is really an effective way to lose weight! I mean we’ve eaten salad for almost 3 months but I don’t remember ever dropping the pounds. So much about that… I’m also glad they liked our “pasalubongs”. And if ever you’re wondering, I didn’t have any jetlag but not with IFC! He was actually asleep during the day and awake at night for the 1st 2 days at least.

IFC and I were mostly at our respective parents’ houses. We separated upon arrival which was earlier agreed on the fact that our vacation was only for 2 weeks.

I had my 1st taste of Jollibee when Daighne and I went to see Tita Aba in Marikina the next day. Hmmm… if only I could eat everything at once! :) I also got a Starbucks 2008 planner without having to complete the stickers required. Thanks to my cousin Gail!

Nanay stayed with me in San Andres till Christmas. IFC even made me feel guilty saying I asked Nanay to stay and yet I’m always out! I think Nanay was ok. I just made sure I was home come night time. Of course I didn’t forget to visit Tatay at the cemetery. IFC and I were off to Laur on 12/21 which happened to be Tatay’s 10th death anniversary. Tito Erik cooked grilled bangus and “tiim” as requested by IFC.

I did see some of IFC’s friends/former officemates from CBC Paranaque. We also visited “Ninong” Anson and “Ninang” Nene at their shop who in turn invited us for dinner that same day at Saisaki Restaurant in Alabang Town Center.

Tita Necie has prepared “merienda” for us (different kinds of “kakanin”! Oh I love that embutido with “pandesal”) when we paid a visit. She also asked Kuya Louie to get us some sweet delicacies.

It was also nice to have spent time with my friends from Castrol.

1st round: Lunch at Max’s on 12/20 with Mars, Ernie, Ruby, Fhatty and Dudes. Vel and Jing later joined us.
2nd round: Lunch at Italianni’s on 12/22. Vel, Joey (thanks for arranging that!), Daisy (with her son Sean), Jing, Noel, and Dudes (with hubby Chris and son Bo) were all there. To Daisy and Dudes… I really enjoyed your kids! They are so cute!
3rd round: Lunch at BP office on 12/27. Thanks guys for the promo items…Ruby for the planner, Fhat for the vintage shirts and Badoodles for the mugs. Yey! :)

We also had a fun day at EK! It was a perfect time of bonding with our siblings. I may have not enjoyed the rides (since I can’t anyway) but I had fun taking pictures.

Ate Irmee even suggested that we go to Sonya’s Garden but believe it or not, it rained during midday… the exact time that we originally planned on going. We had lunch at Barrio Fiesta instead.

Christmas celebration was great too! I was at Pilar for lunch. Mommy’s barbeque is really the best! IFC was counting how many sticks I had. Dinner was at San Andres. It was some sort of Christmas cum Reunion celebration. Many relatives came but it could have been better if everyone made it.

There were actually so many things that we wanted to do or could have done if not only for that short time that we had. It was literally like meeting different groups of people almost everyday. The kids… Miggy, Daighne, Kyle and my cousins were just all fun to be with! I exceedingly enjoyed the company of our family… which also left me thinking why we haven’t done these things before! Anyhow, we still tried our best and made the most of our trip. I guess it’s going to be another 2 years (minimum) for us to go back there…