The lesson I learned from Grandpa George

Posted by Jay on July 25, 2010 2 comments

(this is a repost from my Y360 blog which is now gone)…

Granpa George said:
“There’s plenty of money out there
They print more everyday
But this ticket…
… there’s only five of them
In the whole wide world…
…and that’s all there’s going to be.
Only a dummy would give this up
For something as common as money.
Are you a dummy?”

Grandpa George is one of the characters from the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and he was telling his grandchild Charlie about not giving up the ticket for the money even though the whole family needed it.

As I was watching the movie and it came to this part, I was thinking that the “ticket” can also represent many things in our lives, it could be our principle, faith, hope, family (husband, wife, children, parents, sisters, brothers), our happiness, health.

Yes we need the money and who doesn’t, we need it to have food to eat, send kids to school, pay our bills, etc. But there are a lot of “other” things in our lives which are more important to us than money.

Have we considered giving ourselves more time to rest and relax?

Have we considered giving more time to our children to really see what they want and need right now?

How about our husband or wife, have we considered giving them more of our time to show them we love them and appreciate what they are doing to the family?

How about our parents and sisters and brothers, have we given them the time they need so that we can listen to them?

There are a lot of other things… have we compromised our faith?

Everytime we give more time to work for the money, one of these things that  are important to us suffers.
Money can never make us or the people around us really really happy .

Money can never fulfill all of our needs.

Money can never satisfy all of our desires.

It is better to be thankful that we have what we got today for it is God’s blessing to us. It is not wrong to want better things, to work hard so that we can give ourselves and our loved ones what they need and want, but let us not forget also that sometimes when working “too hard” for the “money”, when wanting too much of it will make us losers.

Just because you can have everything that this world can offer, doesn’t make you a better person. Material possessions is not the measurement of one’s character.

Just because you have plenty of money, doesn’t make you a better person, it is not the measurement of one’s character.

How would we want people to remember us when we’re gone? How would we want our children to remember us as a parent? How would we want our husband/wife to remember us as their partner? How would we want God to see us as a person? There are  so many hows?… and only we can answer them, it’s not yet too late, as long as we are living we can always change for the better.

As grandpa George said: “Only a dummy would give this up, for something as common as money.”

Yes money is common, and just like Charlie’s reply to him, when he was asked if he was a dummy… “no sir!”….

that is my reply too, definitely NO SIR!

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. ~ Ecclesiastes 5:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. ~ 1 Timothy 6:10

MOA at the bay

Posted by Jay on June 29, 2010 No comment

Finally, an update…

MOA stands for Mall of Asia by SM, the biggest mall here in my country (Philippines) and a must see too if you happen to visit the the country.  About 2 hours drive away from my place. Located in Pasay.  A huge shopping area, lots of restaurants, kiddie playplaces, skating rink, etc.

There is also IMAX (SM Cinema).. short intro… The IMAX experience captivates you in crystal clear sights and sounds. It’s so intense that it makes you feel like you’re part of the movie!

But it’s not what I’m gonna share here… lol.. what I want to show you is the one near the bay, playgrounds, more restos, bars, rides for kids and adults.. and the view — BEACH!  The place is open in the evenings till early mornings.

I love the setting, the fountain too, and I wanted to try this ball thingy here, except that I’m too old for it, I’d probably look stupid in it… lol.  Anyways, my 2nd child did and he looked like he had so fun in it. Fee 100.00 pesos

the waterball

There was this bungee kind too, which I did not try again (sort of shy…:P) my 8 year old boy did, and boy was I envious, lousy me that night :( .  Fee 175.00 pesos.

bungee

I will come back here for sure next time, with some friends, and I’d try that hanging in the air kinda like bungee thing, my heart is leaping already just thinking about it. :D .

One of my favorite things to look at are fountains…

the fountain and me

The reason some kids go bald

Posted by Jay on February 26, 2010 5 comments

Is because of bubblegum… lol… Yep, bubblegum getting stuck to their hair.

Kichiro's new look

That’s one sad little boy above…

I went out to buy groceries, and when I came back, I saw bubblegum stuck on Kichiro’s head. I left kichiro with his big bro and big sis, they were proabably eating bubblegum and the two did not noticed what Kro did to his gum.  I was disappointed with my eldest because of what happened, but the damaged is already done, so getting mad at her wont do anything good.

I tried taking it off, but failed… I cut his hair little by little, those that have bubblegum only, but it looked ugly. So off we went to the barbershop the next day, and I had his head shaved.  When we came home, his big bro  and big sis had laughed at his new look.  He wasn’t happy about that.

The week before he got bald…   from this…

… to this.  He seems to be embarrassed with his new look.

The two most important…

Posted by Jay on February 22, 2010 No comment

…men in my life.

ZDi n Kro

well, they may still be boys now but they will be men later on, and they will be as important to me then as they are  to me now.

ZDi – 8 years old and Kichiro – 2 years old.  They look alike, if it weren’t for the big age gap they could be mistaken as twins :) .

ZDi is Zechariah Daniel, his name came from the Bible… there is a reason why he was named that.  He is in his 3rd grade now, he is the most active among my 3 kids, others thinks he has ADHD, but I dont (when I was a child I was as super active as him, that’s why I dont consider him as one), if one looks closer into him and understand his heart, they will realize he is very different from what they see from the outside.  I consider him as the gentlest among the three.

Kro is Kevin Kichiro, he is my last and and his name means gentle lucky child.  He is indeed a lucky child, I twice brought him to a Christmas party and I came home with so many gifts I won from the raffles :D .  An active 2 year old, and the most loving of the three.  As of now he talks like an anime (japanese cartoons… lol).  He understands I am hearing impaired and knows how to communicate with me… I can lip read him, and he can sign a little, point to things or will drag me when  he cannot say or sign what he wants.

Like all other moms out there, I am hoping that when they grow up, they will be a better person, God fearing and kindhearted, and that I can say to myself, I have done the right thing in how I brought them up.

An Oceanarium Treat

Posted by Jay on February 11, 2010 No comment

Manila Ocean park – Oceanarium.  Located at the back of Rizal Park, in Luneta Manila.

Entrance
adult – 400.00 pesos
kids – 350.00 pesos

I’ve been wanting to visit this place for a looong time, this is far from where we live.  And aside from the distance, the fee is a bit high for me, so I’m not able to bring my kids here to take a look.  I have expected too much, but sad to say, I did not enjoyed that much.

Sure there were lots of water species to look at, but really… it fell down beyond my expectations.  But… there is one thing that I really liked there, I was very impressed with the way they presented the jelly fishes… It looks sooo cool.

They have the jellies in big glass containers in a separate dimly lit room, then I dont know where the lights are coming from but those glass containers changes

lighted jellies

Hah! I saw nemo there too :D , and he got brothers and sisters now…  I was actually looking for him there.

nemo and family

I saw a fish with eyelashes :D … heeeeh this is  my first time to see a fish with eyelashes, I thought they are only in cartoons, but here she is in fishy flesh and blood… wonder if she uses a mascara…  was trying my best to get a good shot here, but she’s always moving, I was gonna take a close-up shot of her eyes.

This is the part where I was excited, but since there were too many people at the time we went there, it was jampacked with people, so hot inside, again not impressed with what I saw.  People looked like sardines in a can… never enjoyed this one here.

the

ang kalaliman - the deep

There were sharks too, and rays, and huge starfishes, and crocodile (not impressed on how they presented the crocs here).   Corals, stone fish, a biiiig lobster, and of course lots of fishes… lol

pating = shark

You can have a fish spa here for an extra cost… sit on a pool like thingy with small fishes in them, put your bare feet and wahlah… have the services of those little fishes cleaning your feet and toes… biting, nipping whatever it is there’s to nip at your feet, which sounds like kinda gross to me thinking of fishes eating germs and bacteria on your feet.  What if the other person beside you has a smelling foot? or a foot skin diseases? eewww…. :P .  But if there were very few people having the fish spa treatment, I think its good to try this one.

NOT my foot

The place looks good, but… between the zoo and here, I will always choose the zoo, its cheaper and its more fun there… with a high entrance fee and the feeling that what spent is not worth it, this site seeing of course will be the last place to visit in my list.  I understand that business aspect of it, they have spent a whole lot just to make this place look good, but those of us in the lower class can not afford the fee, its not that easy to get money these days, and I’d consider this a luxury.  They can try lowering the entrance fee so more people will visit the place.

Here we are, some of the family members… the others are looking all over the place.

the end

A year older at Volets

Posted by Jay on December 7, 2009 No comment

Volets Resort, Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Soooo… I got a year older, is this something to be happy about? or something to be sad? I’m getting closer to that “life begins at 40″ phrase… lol. My age is past the calendar so dont ask, as I’m not gonna say it here.. :P .

Entrance:
adults – P 180.00 / kids – P 120.00

Tables/Cottages:
P 300.00 – 2,500.00

Parking – P 20.00

For the celebration, we held it at Volets Resort in Dasmariñas, Cavite. It was planned 2 weeks before the day. My kids had been wanting to go swimming for a long time, but since we were on a tight budget, I had held it off till there is something to celebrate.

The wave pool

So to Volets we went, we chose the place because there they have many pools, and giant slides, kiddie slides and a lot more, plus the pool with waves. That was what the kids wanted the most, the wave pool. Unfortunately when we arrived there there was a notice at the payment section that the wave pool is shut off, and will be open on summer =(.

The 2 adult pools, with 2 giant slides

Anyway, even without the wave thingy, knowing my kids who loves swimming (sometimes I think were born part fishes.. :P ), I know they will be having fun and they did. My youngest kichiro, enjoyed it the most.

My little Kro

There were two adult pools and 4 pools for kids, plus anopther pool with a gate, I think its for private function for those that want to rent if and use it for themselves only.

This one here on the left is a kiddie pool with a bucket fountain.

The boys enjoyed this pool.. and me too, but the water is cold here compard to the other pools on the other side. we would stay under that bucket and wait for it to get full, then the wate comes splashing down on us, zdi was yelling all the time.

This pool has slides, a swing and a seesaw, cool huh?

I would’ve enjoyed staying here, but the water is too cold for me, that bucket fountain was good.

 

The kiddie pools, the one inside the slide is zdi, and the pic above him is chachaw, thialyn at the shower

Two nieces came along with us, and the only visitor and well wisher I had was an online friend… lol… together with her son.

my daughter YLA and her 2 cousins Kina and Thialyn, my online buss. partner, my son kichiro
Posing time and monkeying around…

If you are planning to visit this place, it is very easy to find, along Aguinaldo highway, just in front of Waltermart Dasma. You dont even need to bring foods, as there is a grocery in front of it – Waltermart, lots of fastfoods too (Chowking, Pizzahut, Jollibee, Greenwhich, Red Ribbon, Dunkin Donuts, McDo, and carinderias).

I love fountains that’s why they are featured here also :P

I took a lot of pictures of the place, and some random shots. Many shots are not included here, if I did this post would become so long.

I hope you enjoyed them as I enjoyed taking them all. Till next time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! =)

*j – december 7, 2009

Bugs’ Life

Posted by Jay on November 26, 2009 No comment

Last Monday, November 23, I was able to go somewhere else far from my house. We went to Kayquit, Indang, Cavite, attended a birthday celebration there.

I took some pics, it has been a long time since I added new post here. So I decided to take pics of anything that caught my eyes.

I went looking all over the place to find a good subject to take pics on, then decided to look for some ants, and make them my subject. Did not saw anything unusual with them that day, they just went about with their regular going ons, that was what I figured. Had shots of them ants in 3 different places.

For this pic, I actually did not know there were ants here, I was concentrating on the flower, taking pics of it. The flowers looked so lovely so I took some shots of it, then I noticed there were many ants gathering, probably someone yelled “hey everyone picture taking, say cheese”… lol =P.

This is probably a sweet flower as many ants were gathered at the center, maybe collecting the nectar, in preparation of the Christmas holidays(?)… could be they are going to make some goodies with it, candies or other sweets(?).

There were other flowers too that caught my attention. And I specifically love this color orange one. Wish I have something like this at home.


Had some random shots taken. A big leaf of “gabi’, the root of which is used as food.

I saw a “saba” also, a variety of banana that can be eaten raw when ripe or cooked in many ways, boiled, fried with brown sugar (a favorite called banana-q), or with added batter and then fried called “maruya”, or wrapped in springroll wrapper (or crepe) and fried called “turon”. And a whole lot more ways to cook it. And many papaya trees, growing almost everywhere.

As I went along, saw more ants.. and took more pics of them, one from the suha tree, and the other from the kalamansi (Philippine lemon) small tree.

These leaves have lots of weblike thing under it, and plenty of ants too. This could be their hideout. I saw two of these hideouts in different branches. The ants were red and big ones, good thing I did not touched any or they would’ve bitten me, I know it would hurt bad, we call those big red ants here “antik” (or in other places “Hantik). I took a leaf of that tree to add to my collection of dried leaves. They look like double leaf joined together at top or bottom, The big leaf part is at the top and the small leaf at the bottom.

The leaf for my collection

This one below is the ants in the other tree, the Philippine lemon tree. They were black ants and big ones too, they dont have their hideout like the red ants though.


That was it, my little adventure at Indang, and with the ants there… Hope you enjoyed the pics as I enjoyed taking them all. Till next time.


*j – november 26, 2009

Summer Fun at Balite Falls, Amadeo

Posted by Jay on November 22, 2009 8 comments


It’s the start of summer here! And when it’s summer, swimming is the next best thing to do. The kids we’re all begging me since last week to go swimming. Here’s this new place that I’ve been hearing for a while, Balite falls at Amadeo Cavite.

Entrance – P75.00
Cottage – P350.00 – 750.00
Parking – P30.00

Since we have only heard of it this month, we went there to look and see what the buzz is all about. The place looks good. But the falls I am expecting was not that high, there was a falls alright, but not that kind that I would go gaga over. Anyway, the owner of the land had really made the place look really attractive, kind of eye catching, it’s all about nature here, and they had sort of “magnified” nature, landscaping here and there. Cool water, yep really cool, good for that oh so hot weather.

They have a hall for those special occasions, where you can rent the place for P5,000.00/day. They have catering too, but you can bring your own foods if you like.

Entrance, parking and the hall

The have made the place beautiful, more like a forest resort. Landscaping are all over the place. It was said that the mayor of the town had spent for the beautification of the place, and he did it right.

There were two small pools (or ponds?) there, rent the cottage near it for750, and you can have that small pool for yourself, more like private pool for the kids.

The cottages and the two manmade small pools

The shower is not manmade, the water coming from it comes from the mountain, like spring water shower(?) hehehe.

The shower

Aside from the cottages, there were swings, basket swing shaped like an egg, there were also wooden bench swings. The place looks so relaxing, felt like I’m one with nature.



I’ve taken so many shots, my favorites were the wooden benches and the water from the rock shots. It was raining when we went there and the wooden benches were all wet, and there was one there that had filled with water. I saw a leaf full of ants that was floating on the water and took a shot of it thinking, uh uh you’re all in trouble. There was also a something there that looked like a small cave, didn’t went there as it was above and I’m not up to climbing, I have a one year old child with me.

The place is highly recommended if you are looking for nature kind of outing. Although the water is not that clear, as this is spring/river water compared to swimming pools treated with chlorine. The water here is really cool.


==============================
Free Cell Phones

*j- arpil 2,2009

the little red monster…

Posted by Jay on August 18, 2009 2 comments


While I was doing household chores, my two year old son kichiro was there at the living room watching tv and playing, or so i thought. Never did it occur to me that he was playing with my things.

I dont know how he did it, but he was able to have a hold of my make up, as I was busy doing something, he was also busy doing another thing, he was at the living room and I thought he was watching TV… he came to me after a while and this is what I found… to my shock…

the painter? or red monster?


A red monster… he painted himself all red, using my make-up, and he also painted the walls, the large mirror we have at the living room, the door too. The make-up was all over the place.

maybe he was trying to say here – um… sorry mommy…

 

I was not able to resist taking pictures of kichiro… even though I was really mad… lol. It took me sometime before I was able to get rid of all the coloring on his body. I gave him a bath, right after taking pictures… ;) , and scrubbed him all over. It was not fun cleaning him, but he was smiling all the time.

you wouldn’t be able to get mad at this smile, would you?

I’m keeping these pics as evidence when he becomes a grown man… Now I don’t have a make-up anymore =(, time for me to buy a new one.

~

Sumo – my dog

Posted by Jay on July 30, 2009 No comment

at this moment the dog i have now and he is a labrador retriever. I named him sumo, when he was still a puppy, he drinks milk and ate a lot all the time, and after all that drinking and eating his tummy would get so big, like that of a sumo wrestler, hence the name. the first pic is of sumo when i had him, he was four months old then.

sumo was given to us by a friend who sells dogs, i just got lucky that i had him for free since breeds like him cost a lot here, german shepherds costs a whole lot more. sumo’s mom had given birth to ten puppies, and at that time, when the owner was not able to sell all of them and she was having a problem of taking care for more dogs, she got already 6 dogs of her own.

he likes getting wet, when he was still a puppy i had put this basin beside him filled it with water and he just went in there, and played.


i never thought that he would grow so very big, i think sumo’s size is xxl, and he could be as heavy as me. sumo is two years old now, as old as my little boy, and my son sometimes would ride his back, and sumo is gentle when it comes to him, he would not to stand up right away and walk.


he is on leash most of the time as our neighbors mostly kids are afraid of him because of his size. and also i find it not safe if he is on leash, as he may come across a little child while running around and knock him or her down and get injured.

i once tried giving him a walk, but he got excited and run and he dragged me into the street, well not that long but it was embarrassing as there were some people outside that saw it, and i think i looked stupid and funny at the same time because i was down sideways while being dragged by my dog. was able to stand up and pulled him.

no one can get near our gate because of him, he would bark at the site of stranger standing close to our place. and because of his size people will not come near our house.

now i am going to have him trained, as i want him not to be leashed all the time. there are times he gets so aggressive. i wanted to make a cart for him too, that he can pull, so my 2 year old son can ride in it like a carriage =D. so far those are still plans, as i dont have the money for the trainer and the materials for the cart right now. but once i do, ill post it here too.

~