Meeting My Long Lost Cousin

After eight years, I was finally reunited with my cousin in California whom I last saw before my wedding in 2001. He has grown so matured considering I was older than him. But with regards to his personality...he didn't change a bit. Too bad that the reason we met once again was because of our grandmother's passing away. We both loved her so much because we both grew up with her. She was like our mother since our parents lived far away from us during those time. It's been two years since she passed away, but we still feel the pain of losing her. But we have to move on with our lives. Richard is a very successful guy. He works at Bank of America and every once in awhile attend to some conference calls. He does that because he works at home now. What an easy job he has. I wish my husband would work at home, too so we would spend more time together with our son who growing so fast. We both don't want to miss ever important events in his life....and that is the reason why we make quality time with him as much as we can.

Tired and Exhausted

At the beginning of summer, my husband, son and I went to visit my family in the Philippines. It was a two weeks vacation where we enjoyed the company of my parents, siblings and their families. We were all busy going from place to place swimming, sight-seeing , talking and eating our fave foods. Almost everyday, we are all tired and exhausted, but had a blast every time.

This photo of Jacob is a sure proof how tired he was. He didn't even make it to bed. He fell asleep while waiting for me to help him take a shower. So, I took the liberty of taking this shot. Hubby and I was giggling when we saw him laying like this on the edge of the bed,lol :-).

Our Labor Day in Tyler, TX

Yesterday was Labor Day and of course there was no school. A day like this is always spent in our household doing things we all enjoy doing. And so, we went to Tyler, TX which is about an hour and a half drive from our place. First thing we do as soon as we got there was went to the Caldwell Zoo. It was a small but neat zoo; perfect place to walk around, sight see and exercise at the same time, yes we did have so much fun especially when we fed the wild birds :-). Before we know it, it was already lunch time, and so we drove to the closest McDonald and bought ourselves chicken nuggets, burger and drinks. Then, headed to a nearby state park (Tyler National Park where we ate lunch, watched people swam and then afterward rode on a pedal boat. Oh man, it was fun riding that boat. Our boat ride lasted for almost an hour. Ten dollars an hour is not bad for the three of us :-). Anyway, here are some photos we took that day.

Singing Karaoke

When we visited my folks in the Philippines last month we had so much fun! We did a lot of traveling, swimming and visiting historical places in the central part of the P.I. Our first destination was at the Hundred Island in Pangasinan where we rode a boat and toured the 100 islands and then swam afterward. The next day, we went to the province of Aurora where the Pacific ocean is located. Oh man, that was a cool place; once again we swam and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Anyway, the night before hubby's flight back to United States, we spent our time with my family...talking, enjoying yummy foods, visiting friends and sang karaoke. Matt and I loves to sing as you can see in the photos :-). Oh how I miss my family in the Philippines so much!

Our President's Day Picnic at Lake Tawakoni

As a family, we take every opportunity we can get to bond and do something we all enjoy doing and one of the things we love to do is picnicking on the lakes, parks, beaches, mountain and outdoors. Yesterday was a holiday (President's Day); we took advantage of that day since the weather was nice, too. We went to the lake and grilled some meat for our lunch, went for a hike, walk on the lakeside and played on the sand. Here are the photos I took...nice family bonding time, too!

Talking with my son...
Jake and Daddy enjoying the waves...
Grilling chicken wings after hamburger and steak.
They are busy snacking with chips and dips.
Jake, our little happy helper :-).

Family Night at Jake's School

About two months ago, my son's school prepared fun activity for parents and children. The kids didn't know where to go for there were lots of room activities to enjoy. Anyway, we had free dinner, too! A pizza and soda. This is the day where we met the Filipino family who lives in the same neighborhood. Their son is my son's classmate and friend...what a coincidence? We now have a family friend nearby, yay!

He was playing basketball here, unfortunately, the ring was too high for him.
At the computer room playing educational games (PBS Kids).
Making play dough and being messy with friend and classmate, Aaron.

Nature's Walk on Sunday Afternoon

My family and I loves outdoors; we like to go for a hike, bike ride, camp, picnic, swim, nature's walk and going to historical places, museums, zoos, arboretums and more. We always take advantage of the time where we can go together as family to bond and enjoy life. In here we took a walk on a Sunday afternoon at Lake Tawakoni State Park. Though it was windy, we still had fun walking, watching people swim, play ball games, picnicking, and those that are boating.

Here is the beginning of the walk we did last week....
we passed by the trail where people are fishing...
...these two guys regreted of not taking their fishing poles....
oh well, we didn't bring swimsuits either...
so we just walked.... here is a little swamp where they threw sprigs.
More walking....it was a fun and cheap way to relax and enjoy God's creations.
Going back...where we started....
and finally, I get one picture taken by hubby :-)!
Taking some rest after a long walk...
while snacking with cheese crackers, and juice/water. That was a fun walk, indeed!

Sunday at the Park

Today, right after we attended church meeting this morning, we stopped by and had a picnic where we ate fried chicken, with sides of mashed potato and gravy, coleslaw, and red beans and rice; that was a nice lunch though it was a little bit chilly and windy as well. Jacob enjoyed playing in the park with Daddy and Mommy. It was indeed a great bonding moments for us as family. Day like this...priceless!

Sorry folks, I forgot to take pictures of the foods we have eaten for I was really hungry and couldn't wait any longer anymore :-).

A Day at the Zoo!

I can't remember now when was the time we went to the zoo; I think it was in October. Anyway, here are some of the photos taken by your truly :-). We all had fun especially Jake. Seeing those animals i like a treat for him.

I love this one....

as you can see, he wasn't afraid with the alligator...he used to be scared with it though it wasn't real, lol!

Entrance to the Gorilla Conservation.

Behind him was the gorilla who loves little baby. This gorilla couldn't take eyes off the baby girl!

We Had A Blast!

The other day, we decided to go to the mall to do a little bit of shopping for hubby. He needed two pants, two shirt. Since I am done with the shopping myself, I let him shop for his clothes while Jake and I play at the playplace. Two hours later, Matt wasn't done with his shopping, so I decided to have Jake sit on Santa's lap for a picture. Man, just for one sit and picture we paid $20! That is a lot! Oh well, what else can we do? Anyway, that was a once a year thing might as well do it if that would make my son happy! Earlier prior to that, we went to see Christmas Carol movie and oh my, it turned out to be a good one even though it was kind of like animated plus you have to wear this 3D eyeglass. We all enjoyed the movie, shopping and picture with Santa :-)! Jake had a blast!