Aly's International Day Project

For this year's International Day, Aly's class was divided into four groups named after Asian countries like Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines!  My big girl was, of course, the group leader.  One of their projects was to make a poster for the country assigned to them.  Aly was thrilled to have our country included in the groups!  So we did our best to come up with a poster that will make our country stand out among the others.

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Pilipinas, represent!

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The topic assigned to Aly was about Philippine culture, so talked about Christmas and fiestas.  Photos of Simbang Gabi, caroling, puto bumbong and lechon were included as well.

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I was in charge of the layout, Aly did the cutting and coloring.  She also typed the report herself!

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Proud to be Filipino!

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There's our poster, proudly displayed in Aly's classroom!

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With Poom.

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With Daniel.

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Aly with her girlfriends Lisa and Minnie.

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2nd grade homeroom all dressed up for International Day!

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With Annie. I love this girl! :)

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With Best.

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With their homeroom teacher, Ms. Stacey.

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The girls.

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And the boys.

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They also had a fashion show in the afternoon.

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Shy Aly?

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International Day was fun!  It was so nice to see all the kids dressed in their national costume.

Post-Anniversary Lunch

With the daughter tucked away in school, Richard and I had one of those rare opportunities to go out on a date -- and run errands as well.  Going on a lunch  date with the hubby, just the two of us: getting excited, dressing up and "wearing something special" as Aly would say...being just husband and wife even for a couple of hours, not as daddy and mommy, and savoring every minute of our time together...it really was something!

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Again, we didn't make any plans; no table reservations whatsoever.  So when we arrived at the restaurant, they were fully booked.  Buy one get one at the buffet kasi, that's why they were full.  Luckily, the restaurant across was also having a promo (half off on their set lunch menu), which wasn't so bad.

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Ready to roll :)  We felt like two teenagers excited to go on a date.  Heehee!

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Ma Maison at Swissotel Nai Lert.

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We had the place all to ourselves -- for the first 15 minutes or so.  So it wasn't too dyahe to take photos.

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I love how they provided stools for bags.

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I loved the focaccia and onion bread.

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First course: grilled octopus and pork belly for R.

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Onion soup for me. 

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The place had a homey vibe.  It felt like you're having lunch at a rich relative's house.  Haha!

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Main course: grilled sirloin -- medium rare.  Raarrr!

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For dessert: I had cinnamon apples with white chocolate mousse.

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Richard had lemon creme brulee with lime sorbet.

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Cheers!

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Thanks for lunch, sweetie :)

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Sneaking a photo at the ladies room.  Heehee!

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I still get kilig everytime I look at the photos.  You see, dates with Richard are very rare.  Since we moved to Bangkok, we've only gone out like two or three times without Aly.  Oh well, that's hands-on parenting.  No regrets, though.  The funny thing is, we kinda missed Aly during lunch.  We were looking forward to picking her up at school.  We had a great time together, but things are not the same without kulit Aly :)

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

On our first wedding anniversary, we went to Chiang Mai and we gave each other his and hers Technomarine watches.  Our 2nd anniversary was in Hua Hin.  For our 3rd wedding anniversary, our plan was to have no plan at all.  No trips, no hotels, no dinner plans whatsoever.  We did make an attempt to look for anniversary gifts, but it became so frustrating in the end (for me at least), that we decided to postpone it.  I didn't want to buy something just for the sake of buying something and end up regretting it in the end.  So I decided to wait because I'm sure something better will come.

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Turns out, it was a good idea not to make any plans because Richard had a very important meeting on our anniversary.  I have to admit, it was a bit of a letdown for me, but that's life!  Surely there will be more of this (i.e important meetings that coincide with equally important occasions in our life) in the years to come and the sooner I learn how to deal with it, the better.  Welcome to the REAL married life, Kris...

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Anyhoo,  the hubby more than made up for it when he came home earlier than usual with this:

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Flowers, a card and Royce Nama Chocolates.  I'm a sucker for all three :)

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Richard also took us out for dinner, but plans to try out the place that was recommended by my Thai friend were foiled due to the sudden downpour.  You know how it is here in Bangkok, the slightest drizzle can bring out the worst in traffic so we decided to just eat at the nearest restaurant.

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We landed at Anna and Charlie's Cafe.  It was the nearest restaurant that we could find but not the fastest to go to.  It took us 30-45 minutes to get there because traffic was really bad!  Though we always pass this place on our way home, we've never tried it until now.  We had high expectations, of course, but with everything else that happened on our anniversary, things did not always go according to our no-plan plan. 

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First off, the place looked so much better from the outside.

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But what the hey, we're all dressed up and ready for a great time together.

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Looks like my princess is ready to wear mommy's accessories.

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My favorite shot :)

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3 years and counting!

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We had overpriced steak.  Chokchai steak is way better than this at half the price!

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For dessert, I chose caramel oreo cake, simply because I was curious about the  caramel and oreo combination.  It as forgettable.

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But even with the bad food and disappointing ambiance, we still had a great time.  We were, after all, celebrating our wedding anniversary.  This place will still be a part of the Valdez family dining adventures, except that we will put it under the "never again" category.  Heehee!

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Aly and I wore similar outfits that night.  She loved the idea.

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Gigil!

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Thanks for dinner, sweetie!  Happy anniversary :)  Aly took this photo by, the way. 

Richard's New Baby

Richard and I are still kilig over this because it's not everyday that you get a watch as a gift.  During our last trip to Manila, my dad gave one of his watches to Richard.

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Vintage Rolex, baby! 

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I have the best parents ever!  Thanks, dad!  We love you! :)