Living my Dream

Looks like Howell has to bring out his guitar so he and Bela can have their jamming session at home. It is because Bela has been attending drum lessons at Academy of Rock for 2 sessions now and she is really enjoying it and is so into it that I think, she will continue with the class even after the school opens.

If she finishes her 4 sessions and we find that this is really something that she will spend time with, we may have to save to upgrade her drum set to the complete one as what she has right now is just the basic.

Playing drums is one of my frustrations growing up. So at least I am having my wish come true, through my daughter.

Ocean Adventure for Mother's Day

On Howell’s last weekend here in Manila before he leaves for his temporary duty to Majuro, we were able to go to Ocean Adventure for more bonding moments with the kids. It was actually a last minute decision and we left the house around 11 AM already and we reached Subic by 2 AM just in time for their first afternoon show. In a way, it is also our Mother's Day celebration.

This is our 2nd or 3rd time here but it is the first for Cobi. We watched all the shows: Walk on the Wild Side Show, Amazing African Acrobats, Dolphin Show and the Sea Lion Show.

We enjoyed all of the shows but the highlight of our day was our close encounter with Tonka, Ocean Adventure’s false killer whale. We know much Bela would love this experience and so even if we are not prepared and we did not bring any swimwear, we still signed up for the Beach encounter with Tonka. Just look at how cool it is:

Of course Bela won’t stop thanking us and she said that it is one of her best day ever.

Enrolled: Drum Lessons at Academy of Rock

Bela has been attending the Beginning Filipino Workshop being offered by the Learning Library at Gymboree Serendra. She actually finished 8 sessions already and I enrolled her for another 8 sessions. Aside from this, she also has Kumon classes in Reading and Math every Tuesday and Thursday.

But these are all academic classes and so I wanted to enroll her to another extra-curricular activity and her choices is either swimming or drum lessons. I inquired with Bert Lozada at Ace Water Spa but their schedule is every day for summer and this won’t fit in Bela’s busy schedule. So I was able to convince her to take drum lessons instead and she will just go back to swimming come June.

So last week, we were able to drop by Academy of Rock in Rockwell and she had a trial class. She enjoyed it and she said she wanted to try out the class so I enrolled her for 4 sessions.

I totally forgot that Howell will be away until June and since I don’t drive, I have to ask my dad to drive us every Saturday while Howell is away. LOL. That is why I have been checking out Famous Smoke shop to check out for my dad’s favorite cigar as our bribe to him. He can even try out cigar affiliate program of Famous Smoke so he can earn on the side too.

I am excited for the activities lined up for Bela. I am sure, she will enjoy all of these.

Tagalog Class for Bela @ The Learning Library

I have been looking for a good school for Bela where she can attend Filipino class and I was lucky that I was able to save the metal business cards that I got from Gymboree last time Cobi attended class there as they are partners with Learning Library.

Learning Library is a school which offers Language and Reading classes for kids as young as 3 years old I think. They have a “Wika’y Galing” program where they teach Filipino for non-Tagalog speakers in a fun way through arts and crafts, story reading, interaction and more where they integrate Filipino language in all the activities.

I heard a lot of good reviews about the program and hopefully it will really help Bela as I really want her to learn how to speak Tagalog. 

Here is the artwork and activity that they did on their first day.

Bela is on her 4th session already and so far, she is really having fun with the program.

Easter 2013

Bela has been asking us where will we celebrate Easter and I can’t give her an answer because I know that Sweet Royals has an event that day. So I searched online and luckily, I was able to find an Easter event that is just across the venue for Sweet Royals event,

So after setting up the candy buffet for Lucas’ first birthday, hubby and I left my brother-in-law and my yaya at the party venue and we went to Eastwood to join the event.

There was an entrance of P550per kid and I was hesitant at first but after the event, I can say that it was really worth it. There are different stations that you can try like the bouncing castle, Garden of Sweets, Hundred Acre Wood, Dino Island, Art Attack and more plus there were also different shows in the Courtyard like the Mad Science show that we were able to catch.

Cobi and Bela had so much fun that we plan to do it again next year.