Athena's 4th Birthday

Just like that, our little girl is now four years old! For this year, we wanted to make our celebration more simple so we decided to spend the day at home and surprise her with the little things she wanted.

Athena's actual birthday fell on a weekday. Immediately after our shifts, Mic and I went straight to our San Mateo home to greet our sweet little girl on her birthday.
 

Candle blowing- Check!

"wow, a princess story book and play doh!"

 Nanay Bear, Tatay Bear and Baby Bear

Since most of Athena's friends live near my mom's house, we prepared a small "pool" and snack party inside our garage,

some sweet treats, chicken and spaghetti

 summer fun!

Merm and Tinay

Oh what fun it was! 

Dear Lord, 

Thank you for giving us our life's best blessing- that is having our little girl Athena. Please bless her with good health, happiness and all the best things that life could bring. May she grow up to be a kind, loving and good person... and puts God above everything. May she learn a lot from her day to day life, enjoy school and value education. Please keep her away from harm and make her a strong person so that she could face all of life's challenges positively. 

Amen.

Merm's 50th Birthday

I was sorting out some photos when I stumbled upon this album only to realize that I have an unblogged item. Of all the occasions, I overlooked blogging about my mom's 50th birthday!

Well.. better late than never :P

 It was indeed a happy day for our family because we got to celebrate the birthday of our ever loving and caring mother. It was just a simple dinner with a few guests being our family and mom's closest friends.

The Birthday Girl with Her Cake

With Ninang Louie (Mom's Bestfriend)

With Neighbors and Relatives

Candle Blowing

Our Wacky Family

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We almost always want our family events to be simple and personal, thus the DIYs. Merm's favorite color is yellow.. and since it's her 50th birthday, we decided to end up with the yellow, gold and black (for some kick) theme.
 

Merm (my mom) is really a good cook. She personally prepared all the dishes for her special day.

 

 

 

 

I did the backdrop out of metallic paper, cartolina and some gold Magic wires. We just added some gold coins around the ordered cake to adhere to the "gold" theme since it is Merm's 50th

Upcycled centerpiece out of San Mig Light beer bottles, ribbons and magic wires. Notice the candle cup? I just wrapped a purified water cap (the ones in gallons that we get from the water delivery guys) with foil. #kuripotmuch

My sister purchased these balloon from Divisoria. Togeteher with our friends, we built this balloon pillar

Paper Pompoms out of Japanese Paper

Our simple set-up

Thanks for dropping by!

Love,

Tropang Ina

Mic's 28th Minion-Inspired Birthday - House Party X Vikings

Akala mo artista- we celebrated Mic's 28th for 3 days! Haha. Let's do a recap.

July 18 (Thursday)

We both took the day off from work. This is for us to "celebrate" Brad's birthday at the LTO in Robinsons Metro East to have the birthday boy's driver's license renewed. Buti na lang, wala nang drug test so we had some spare change (na pinambili na lang namin ng ingredients for Carbonara and some Gin). 

After completing the renewal process, which took us around an hour and a half, we went home. I cooked some pasta and invited some friends over for a light dinner and some gin-drinking session. :P


July 20 (Saturday)

We invited Mama, Papa and some friends to come over for a small after lunch-til-dinner party. 

The Peraltas

Kare-Kare, Cordon Bleu and Spaghetti

Tinay and Merm

MICnion

ELF!

Chocolate Fountain with Melon, Pineapple, Grapes and Marshmallows for Dipping (na HINDI pinatawad ng ELF.. :P) Thanks Lori for this pic.

 July 21 (Sunday)

Since birthday celebrators eat for FREE at Vikings, we grabbed the chance and off we went to SM Marikina. We did not have our slots reserved so we just walked in, and waited for our waiting list number to be called. It took us around 30 minutes to get in. 

M+N with the complimentary birthday cake that we took home as pasalubong for our daughter

Some Breads

Chinese Cold Cuts

Irresistable Desserts! I Love the Strawberry and Blueberry Panna Cotta

Salad Bar

Sushi! All yummy and fresh

 We really had a blast for those three days!
-
BRADer Bear,

Happy Birthday! 

Sana tumaas pa ang level mo sa Avengers... at mabawasan ang pagka-irate mo while driving. Bawasan din ang pagiging pintasero.. dahil digital ang karma. Bawasan din ang katakawan... baka ma-highblood ka. Hehe.

Thank you for being you and for giving the effort to make us happy. Thank you for being a good and loving father, partner, son, brother and friend to the people around you. May God shower you with blessings and may all of your heart's desire come true.

Love,
Brad

Mic's 28th Minion-Inspired Bday - DIYs

Hi friends!

Mejo katatapos lang ng birthday number 28 ni BRADer bear. Bilang mahilig akong magkupit at magdikit ng mga kung anik-anik, I came up with the following DIY party stuff para medyo makulay ang simple naming kainan sa bahay. Masyado kaming natuwa sa Minion Happy Meal toys na napagtagumpayan naming buuin kaya Minions na din ang naisip naming theme.

Food/Candy Labels- made out of Tinay's old Lego blocks, popsicle sticks and printables grabbed from the net

Banderitas- from old cloth scraps

Lollipop Garden Centerpiece- May nakita akong nakasabit na damu-damuhan sa kusina namin... sayang naman so ginawa ko to along with some popsicle sticks, paper straws and minion prints

Minion- made out of Cartolina, buttons and paper plates

Backdrop- Cartolina folded into circle accordion and Paper Pompoms (out of Japanese Paper)

Spoons, Forks and Napkins with Paper Twine Ribbons

 

"Minionized" cake- Chocolate Dedication Cake from Red Ribbon na nilagyan ng Minion happenings ni Bujoy

So.. ayun. Will post about our little celebration soon :)

ELF Bohol - Cebu Trip : Bohol Countryside Tour

Hello Friends!

I'm just too happy that I had 2 checks off my bucket list - to visit Cebu and Bohol. This trip was even more special because I got to spend 4 lovely days of leisure, food, laughter, beach, rain and sun with ELF and partners.


Let the tour begin!

After the usual "Kitaan sa Junction" ritual, off we went to the Airport!

Checking in, oh yeah!

  

Excited? Oo naman!

After 1 hr and 15 minutes up in the air...

Touchdown, Cebu! (Picture grabbed from Joanne's FB Page)

 

Ocean Jet 88 took us to the Tagbilaran Port in Bohol. Thanks to Lori's bargain hunting skills, we booked the promo back-and-forth ferry fare for P740 only, instead of the P800 one-way fare.

We took the tour package for P2600 per pax which includes the following for our 3-day Bohol escapade (will post our itinerary later).

- Aircon transfer from airport/pier to hotel/resort and vice versa.
- Aircon car/ van for the tour countryside tour & Panglao tour
- Hotel/Resort accommodation 2N/3DAYS without breakfast
- All tour entrance fees
- Buffet lunch at Loboc River Cruise during Bohol Countryside tour 
- Driver and Tour Guide

First Stop: Loboc River Cruise Lunch and Buffet. Boy! This was hell of a fun dining experience. We had an entire hour eating our hearts out, while cruising the Loboc River. We had a singer on board serenading us while we enjoy our lunch.

ELF and Sophie

Nic+Mic: Bears with Happy Tummies

Too bad it was raining when we headed for the famous Chocolate Hills. It was dripping wet, yes... but, who cares? :P

It was still raining when we got to the Tarsier Conservation Area. These Tarsiers are now endangared, and we are really lucky to see them for real. Visitors are not allowed to touch these species known to be the smallest primates, but pictures can be taken- only if the camera flash is turned off.  (Picture courtesy of Joanne)

The man-made forest with the masisipag na ELF magpapicture kahit umuulan. Joanne's photo.

The lazy kids who chose to stay inside the van

Hanging by the Hanging Bridge

Pupal Stage of the Butterflies (at the Butterfly sanctuary)

"Hindi totoong nakakabulag ang pakpak ng paru-paro. Alam nyo kung ano ang nakakabulag? PAG-IBIG" -Richard the Guide

Here's Mic Snake Lovin' - Bohol Python Prony

We ended our countryside tour with a simple dinner at the Chicken Ati-atihan restaurant. After eating, we checked in at the Dumaluan Beach Resort 1.

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Our Day 1 Itinerary

Salamat sa pagdaan! Will tell you about the next days of our Cebu-Bohol Trip soon.

Love,
TROPAng Ina