Ethan wants to get out of his umbroller.
The
INSTRUCTION:
1. Posts 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given below.
2. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.
3. Don’t forget to read the archived post and leave comments.
Link 1 must be about FAMILY : A Thanksgiving Entry
Link 2 must be about FRIEND : Mia's Christmas Card Surprise!
Link 3 must be about YOURSELF : My Moolah Generating Sources
Link 4 must be about YOUR LOVE : Hubby's Black Friday Loot for Me
Link 5 can be ANYTHING YOU LIKE : All of my California-Vegas Stories
After the downtown SFO tour, we spent the night at my friend's, Mickee very very GORGEOUS home! It was in the American Canyon, a few minutes drive from the Pinoy Community of Vallejo and 'THE' Napa Valley.
Welcome to Napa Valley with Ditse
Since this would be Ethan's 1st halloween in the US, she advised us to bring him to Larry's Produce, a nearby pumpkin patch before we head for some wine tasting in Napa Valley. Ethan had fun posing in the pumpkin patches.
We passed by Vallejo community and stopped at the famous Seafood Market for some grocery (since we were enticed to buy some longaniza after tasting them at Mickee's breakfast handa), para lang kaming namimili sa Alabang's makati supermarket haha! Everything was there even the mena, chingchunsu stuff, etc...LOL! kaaliw! Everyone said their HELLOs and HIs to each other, I chatted with a few pinoy elderly also.(machika talaga ako kasi =P))
We were all excited to taste the famous wines of Napa so our grocery stop was cut-short. After more than a dozen of wines tasted at V. Sattui Winery (the most famous winery in Napa), my brother was convinced to purchase a couple of bottles of wines then we head off home.
St. Helena Winery
V. Sattui Wine Tasting
What's nice about SFO is the weather is better than LA and nature is just around the corner, just drive about 15-20 minutes and you're off to some sightseeing in Napa Valley and the American Canyon. Plus it's like the little New York of the west coast, you can see that it really is a fashion and technology hub when you stroll in the downtown, people are well-dressed. Ang laki ng Sephora! They don't have the busy subways of NY but they do have the fun rides of Cable cars.
Thanks to Mickee for letting us stay in your home and I will surely miss you girl. And to my brother for letting me see the other side of California. Again, more photos over HERE!
Mickee, Reg, Khail, Ethan, Me and Ditse
Baby Khail and Kuya Ethan
- chants:LAST entry for cali-vegas vacay: VEGAS!!!
It's true what they say when you set foot in the big SFO! You'll leave your heart there, I experienced it and it was hard for me leaving the city even if I was there only for 2 days.
If there's one city that I would like to relocate in Cali, it would be this city or the American Canyon or better yet if we can afford, Napa Valley, why not? =P. Though, it's a different story now that I'm loving Virginia lol.
I wanted to visit a dear friend, Mickee who lives in the American Canyon that's why I bugged my brother to bring me there and besides I might as well maximize my time in the West Coast. To my delight, my kuya obliged willingly even if it was a gruelling 5-6 hours drive from Bakersfield for him.
We left the house early with a fully-packed itinerary as we were already advised by Mickee how to maximize our time. As soon as we reached the Bay bridge, I know I'm gonna like this city even if I saw the 1st homeless American there!
Golden Gate Bridge, 4th Mason
Enjoying the Sun!
Palace of Fine Arts
Alcatraz at the Back
Spectacular Scenery
Lombard's Crooked Street
I've noticed that from among the places I've visited, I have the most number of photos in SFO and Napa Valley eventhough we were only here for 2 days. Hmmm, seems like I not only enjoyed this mini vacation but also enjoyed taking photos.
Feeling Anne Hathaway sa Princess diaries LOL!
SFO's Cable Car
More photos HERE!
Our flight to Norfalk was okay, except for the shuttle bus that Ethan and I had to squirmed in Philadelphia's connecting flight. US airways flight attendants are the most accommodating and we arrived earlier than scheduled, would you believe that? Considering that it was a Saturday trip, the plane was not full. On both flights (LA-Philadelphia and Philadelphia-Norfalk), we had the whole row for ourselves, no seatmates! And leg rest was really spacious. Ethan cried when we were about to take off as he was looking for his II jing (my sis-in-law) and to stop him, I had to convince him that she is joining us later in the plane LOL! We had a good 3 hours of sleep in the 1st flight. But by the time we get to the Philly airport, he was cranky and started finding his way out of the umbroller!
I was sooo excited when we bounded our last flight with less than an hour of travel! Despite no sleep and a growling stomach, I couldn't explain how happy I am to see Titan after 9 long months! Ethan on the other hand was blabbing these words "baba, ethan play baba, baba buy bike for ethan, baba baseball, baba bowling etc..."
this is what kept him busy, stickers. he even't posted some in the plane windows which i forgot to remove lol!
As soon as we get off the plane, I sent an SMS to titan, which apparently, he did not receive. The airbus was defective so we had to use the stairs, it was soooo cold!!! I can't describe how cold it was, really. We were waiting for Ethan's umbroller for about 5 minutes and as soon as we get in of the airport, we both have colds and our hands were cold as ice! Ethan and I were rushing to see his baba and Ethan was the 1st one to see him, he was loudly calling him "Baba, mommy baba doon"! I don't have a perfect vision so I have to go near the man that my son was calling baba, and Gosh he was right, that was his baba! As soon as Titan recognized us, he came rushing to us and get Ethan out of the Umbroller and gave me a peck on the forehead and a big hug to Ethan. They were both hugging each other sooo tight and then galloping and then running and hugging each other again. Titan came with his aunt, uncle and a couple of cousins. I couldn't be happier. After a long chitchat, I was surprised to see that Titan and Ethan already got our 4 big luggages, apparently, Ethan was the one who pointed out to his baba which luggages in the carousel were ours. He was right! He got them all right LOL! Then we had a buffet dinner at a chinese resto nearby.
As we were driving Norfalk to Newport News, I can see the big difference of the west and east coasts. I can see the colors of fall here but not in LA. I think I would love it here, not so urban and not so suburb. (I have yet to find Sephora here, though *crossfingers!)
home sweet virginia
When we reached home, Ethan's room was packed with toys mostly cars! Wala na nakalimot na siya sa life niya sa pinas! (He would always tell me of things and people he remembered back home but so far, wala na siyang maalala sa sobrang libang sa paglalaro!)
my champ and his coach
ethan with kuya silver among his hundreds of hot wheels hahah!
it's freezing here in the east!
view from my window, this lake will turn into ice they say
with tito victor(the guest), uncles jr and michael(titan's cuzins)
a gift from titan's boss, grabe! they're the sweetest!
Our 1st night together was almost sleepless coz Ethan and Titan were playing nonstop! Ethan so far is being spoiled by his Grandpas and Grandmas here not to mention his young uncles too. In the morning, I wouldn't want to get out of my bed because of the cold weather (minsan 30's pa nga! this is in fahrenheit of course.) Autumn palang ito!
Come to think of it, I still don't a decent picture with my hubby heheh.
This will be our very 1st white christmas together and will be the most memorable one too. Who says long-distance relationships dont work, we conquered it again for the nth time!
Pray for our 7 hours trip with 1-hour stop over at Philly =P
ciao.toodles.xoxo
- vista:
ambivalent
Tita Ninang Yvette treated us to a Universal Studio trip on a Monday, so there were no lines and not much of tourists. We left Sta. Clarita at 11am and came back at 5pm, mission accomplished!
Surprisingly, Ethan enjoyed Universal Studios more THAN Disneyland Resort. Medyo weird talaga and anak ko LOL, at a young age, he loves to watch Ripley's believe it or not and extreme sports. He had a BIG grin when he saw live fire, flood and dancing and crashing cars and planes! We both had blast in the tram! Amazing ang mga studios, I especially love the Desperate Housewives sitcom set/homes.
And am I really that pinay looking? Dracula recognized me and said in tagalog: "hmmm sarap sipsipin ng dugong pinay!" how gross can that be!
Ethan also enjoyed watching the Animal Actors(trained animals included in Evans Almighty film are sooo good!) and Waterworld were we got really wet, we had a jacket but we were all protecting tita ninang's newly bought LV bag hahaha so yun ang may jacket not us!
In the middle of the visit, someone called me and I don't want to turn my back coz it might be a different emillie but guess what? It was my highschool friend whom I haven't seen nor kept in touch for 12 years. How small the world really is.
This trip's unforgettable, I lurve Universal Studios! I'm definitely coming back! MORE PHOTOS HERE!
all wet after watching Waterworld (ang gagwapo ng casts i swear!)
simpsons and us, shrek the pogi and complete casting
the facade, not the real thing =)
who would have thought i'll bumped into CJ here? thanks to Universal Studios!
enjoying the Tram and the 'fake' flood
- chants:next entries: SFO, Napa Valley and Las Vegas
(October 21)
I spent a day with my bestfriend since pre-school days, Joanne. I only see her whenever she visits pinas and we both missed attending each other's wedding days. So you can imagine, how much catching up we have to do. She brought Ethan and me to Pretty Woman's famous spots, Rodeo Drive and Regent Beverly Willshire Hotel, and the famous Hollywood mountain and lake, Beverly Hills and West LA, NBA's Staples Center and of course who would miss Santa Monica Beach.
After a day filled with photo ops, we went to her newly owned house, it was chic! And watched her wedding video while Ethan of course is doing his usual terrible 2's menaces! =P
Then suddenly all this noise coming from fire trucks brought us out of the house, we saw a huge fire and drove around! It was the California Forest Wild Fire. I brought a camera and Gilbert (joanne's hubby) took some shots, grabe it was really huge! Joanne and her other sibling, Ryan were asked to evacuate their homes since it's very near the mountain. So we all spent another night at Tita Ninang Yvette's house. I was sooo tired and had no energy to make chit-chat. I even forgot to give them a mini-make-up session. But all is good, the fire was contained after a few days, nothing happened to their houses. I had a fun day and I will miss this girl again went I head to the East. You know the drill, rest of the photos HERE!
infront of Pretty Woman's Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel
along Rodeo Drive and Beverly
Santa Monica Beach and Bubba Gump Santa Monica
NBA's Staple Center
Hollywood, the real thing =P
Joanne's Crib
The Wild Forest Fire
After a good day at the Disneyland Resort, off we went to LA. My 1st outlet to visit was CITADEL, I was a good girl here and left the place with no shopping bag as in nada! Then we went to the busy tourist spot, THE Hollywood blvd. Ang dumi pala dun LOL! and I can't imagine how they would turn the Kodak Theater into some red-carpet worthy of paparazzi! Ang mga mascot, naku hindi wholesome, they were speaking bad slang words! Good thing though, we bumped into Barney, Elmo, Tiger, Spongebob and a sneaky Superman, kahit payatot, madudumi and kelangan magbigay ng 1 dollar para magpapicture, happy na rin si Ethan.
I spent a couple of nights with my tita ninang Yvette in Santa Clarita, our family friend and my bestfriend's mom. The whole family were there and prepared a dinner for us. Ethan was happy to see other kids but oh boy when he did start the wrestling and roll over game! Naku riot talaga! In the end, Nate and Ethan were arguing that both of them actually won. Hahha boys talaga!
A little later my kuya and ditse leni left and I continued chatting with my titas including tita judith who spent the night there too just so we could make chit-chat aaawww! She has to leave the next day as early as 5am for work in downtown LA. I had a good sleep after, not mentioning that I cried after Ethan's disastrous tantrums. Getting used to this yaya-less set-up.
Oh and by the way, feeling ko nasa pinas ako, the Narvaez Clan are TFC addicts LOL and all their in-laws and soon-to-be-in-laws are Filipinos. Ang saya! Again, more photos HERE!
CITADEL OUTLET
ang medyo hindi wholesome na pirata!
we bumped into Barney and is that Superman? along Hollywood Blvd.
Tita Yvette's house in Sta. Clarita with Joanne, Tita Yvette, Tito Peping and Tita Judith
We had a blast watching these boys roll over!
This will be the 1st of my many backtracking entries =P.
Let me begin with our Disney trip. We arrived wednesday night(oct.17) and had a whole day of rest on thursday. The next day, friday(oct.19), I woke up early to prepare our stuff for our disneyland trip. Since Anaheim is about 2 hours drive from Bakersfield, we absolutely had to spend a night there. We arrived Disneyland Resort a little after 3pm (oh yes that late!) and checked-in at Days Hotel. I was all wide-eyed as soon as I saw the 'Welcome to Disneyland' banner. I can't believe I was more excited than Ethan. We left the resort really late, though there were not much of lines in the rides entrances, we missed taking pictures with some of the disney characters. We were supposed to go back with my bestfriend, Joanne last monday, due to conflict with my Vegas trip, we had to cancel it. But we're definitely going back there sometime and we made a promise to Ethan that we will try our best to bring him to all disney places in the whole world (cross fingers!).
I was watching the TV last week and saw an ad about Disney World in Orlando, my golly gosh! I just can't wait to be there! That would be a must for Ethan's 3rd bday! I think he'll enjoy disney more at that age and that would be a week-long celebration! =P. And hopefully by that time, his dad would not be working and joining us.
At the end of the day, sneaking in the front lines to watch the parade, we were really really tired but very happy. Ethan kept saying, mickey and pumpkins mumu the whole time. He was adorable the entire time.
Let the photos tell you the rest of our disney story... The rest of the photos here.
can't wait to be there
we're here!
his favorite ride, buzzlightyear attack
patiently waiting in line
with ditse leni, she's the sweetest!
all tired but happy! pack-up na!
sorry had to pass by my new beauty hub before we go! =P
Thanks for all your prayers, we've arrived our destination safe and sound. Eventhough the trip via PAL was not so much a breeze because 80% of the flight was hot, but other than that, it was all good. Special thanks to my friend and Ethan's godmother, Mia, she was such a big help, I can't imagine the 13-hours flight without her. Ethan did not get cranky the entire flight and the immigration querry was no sweat. He only got cranky and restless during the landing. Tears were falling from his tired eyes, he was practically crying with no sound and he begun looking for his daddy yo(lolo), mamy tata(lola), kel non(uncle/my bro), yayay, daeryl, jamook and sidam (our pets) and his bed! You can just imagine how much I wanted to cry with him. But as soon as we got out of the plane, he was recharged and back to his jolly mood!
We've been here for 20 days to be exact and we've been to so many places already. We're loving every bit of this country. So far, I'm not missing the convenience of having a yaya in pinas since Ethan is cooperative except when I go shopping in outlets, which is understandable. He has become matured at once. Although during our first night, I was hit with the emotion of being homesick and thought that this country was overrated hahahaha! I cried myself to sleep, really.
Actually, I was never out of the online loop, in fact if you're my friend in friendster you could see that I have been loading photos of places my son and I visited since day 1 of our arrival. I was just too busy to blog and it was easier to post pics and put captions rather than to write about it.
This week will be my last week in the west coast before heading off to Titan. Last weekend, we spent time with my Aunt in Summerlin, Las Vegas and had a great time in the Strip. That would be my last leg of series of trips/vacays in the west coast. I know I have a lot of catching up to do and will try to backtrack entries before I officially set foot to my wifely and motherly duties fulltime. For now, let me share with you photos from our 1st morning here. And once again I would like to ask for your prayers as Ethan and I head off to the east coast to meet his dad, it would be a long 6 hour trip with one-hour stop over in Philadelphia. I really hope and pray that everything will go smooth. Walain pa naman ako hay! You'll see me bloghopping again! Miss you all.
good morning america! walang pang hilamos iyan!
still unaware of where he was, jet lagged!
- environs:bakersfield, CA
- vista:100% adjusted
- chants:Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
Till the next chapter of my life, ciao for now. Babooshki mga amigas!
Souhaitez-nous la chance! Voyez-vous tout plus tard. Wish us luck! See you all later!
Real Girl Lyrics
by: Mutya Buena
If I had one chance to, in my life again,
I wouldn’t make no changes, now or way back when (yeah)
and if everything turns out, the way i hope it goes,
But I cant wait to find out, what it is that God knows.
But I don’t wanna think about whats gonna come around for me,
I’ll just take it day by day, cuz it’s the only way,
to be the best that I can be
I never pretend to be something I’m not,
You get what you see, when you see what I’ve got,
We live in the real world, I’m just a real girl,
I know exactly where I stand,
and all I can do is be true to myself,
I don’t need permission from nobody else,
Cuz this is the real world, I’m not a little girl,
I know exactly who I am
And nothing’s ever perfect, there’s no guarantee,
And if I knew the answers it would put my mind at ease (no)
So I’ll just keep on going the way I’ve gone so far,
And maybe I’ll end up tryin to catch a fallin star (yeah)
But I don’t wanna think about whats gonna come around for me,
I’ll just take it day by day, cuz it’s the only way,
to be the best that I can be
I never pretend to be something I’m not,
You get what you see, when you see what I’ve got,
We live in the real world, I’m just a real girl,
I know exactly where I stand,
and all I can do is be true to myself,
I don’t need permission from nobody else,
Cuz this is the real world, I’m not a little girl,
I know exactly who I am
Baby this is who I am,
Don’t need you to understand,
Cuz everything is right where it should be,
it wont be long til you know about me,
Cuz I don’t give a-a
Even when I’m out of love
Cuz everythings just how it should be,
And it wont be long til you know about me,
I never pretend to be something I’m not,
You get what you see, when you see what I’ve got,
We live in the real world, I’m just a real girl,
I know exactly where I stand,
and all I can do is be true to myself,
I don’t need permission from nobody else,
Cuz this is the real world, I’m not a little girl,
I know exactly who I am
I never pretend to be something I’m not,
You get what you see, when you see what I’ve got,
We live in the real world, I’m just a real girl,
I know exactly where I stand,
and all I can do is be true to myself,
I don’t need permission from nobody else,
Cuz this is the real world, I’m not a little girl,
I know exactly who I am
- vista:
nostalgic
Profile
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
purpleism- Something Purple
- http://em.wifespeaks.com
Syndicate
