Family Bonding at Paradise Island Beach Resort - November 4, 2007

Oh well.. I forgot to blog about this one.. never mind if the dates are not in proper order. The posts have been delayed anyway.. I decided to treat my family to a beach outing since I gave a promise to my nephew way back May of this year that I would bring him to the beach when he finishes answering the books which his new school gave him to be filled up so his lessons can more or less be synchronized with theirs coz he is a transferee. FYI I was his tutor for the summer before i got employed as a content writer and started living as a vampire(asleep during the day and awake at night). It took several months before I was able to fulfill my promise but it was good enough that I was able to fulfill it.. better late than never.

We arrived at Paradise Island Beach Resort at around 6 in the morning. We always prefer to go there early since the sun is still not that damaging to the skin and of course we would not want to miss the high tide. This is the usual problem when you go to paradise island beach... at around 9am the sea water would slowly drift away because at this time the tide becomes low. There are only few times in a year when it would be high tide the whole morning.

Anyways, the fare for the pump boat ride is now at P12/head for both adult and kids.. and i was shocked to find out the day tour entrance was already pegged at P90/head while the overnight stay is at P200/head... whoaaa!!! I could still remember when I spent the night with some friends there and the price was still P100/head. Good thing my father has a senior citizen card. It is indeed a big help to get discounts. Plus we sneaked in a 1.5L bottle of coke.. shhhhh... we hid it in a towel! hahahaha! I was carrying a coleman cooler and the guard asked me to open it up but it was only filled with ice.. ice for the coke of course! hahahaha! =p If we poured the coke inside the cooler, they would have made us pay for a corkage fee. That's how strict they are.

We decided to take a dip at the water first then ate our breakfast at around 7:30 in the morning. Then of course went back to the water again. My brother and I saw some teenagers catching some fishes. There were fishes everywhere and we know how much my nephew loves fishes. We attempted to catch our own fish too but it was harder than we thought. I even begged the lifeguard to lend us the net they use to get some dirt off the sea but he told me it was prohibited. We forgot the sun was already scorching hot since we were concentrated at catching a fish.. just a single fish! After several minutes of trying and failing, the lifeguard called me and handed me a fish. Gosh! finally his conscience got him.. hahaha! He told me.. "Sensya na mam.. simpleng isda lang yan.. di masyado gumagalaw".. i told him it was OK.. and really thanked him.. i gave the fish to my nephew who was so excited and even bragged about his fish to some relatives who also went on a family outing and arrived at the place just before lunch time.

My nephew had lots of fun playing at the sand.. not minding the heat of the sun.. we were even shocked when he ran back to our table and grabbed a plastic cup then came back with the cup containing what you would call an "omang or umang". It looks like a very tiny crab that is inside a small shell.. it was surprising coz that thing runs fast and hides beneath the soil fast. He made it his pet for several days but it died a week after.

After eating lunch we decided to call it a day and head home since the tide was already very low and the heat of the sun was scorching hot.. but look at my back.. i am now a member of the X-Men.. hahaha! sunburned again.. the culprit? that fish that died immediately that night.

But it's ok.. what's important was I made my nephew happy.. it's very evident on this pict with his papa.

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Dumoy Beach Garden Outing - November 24, 2007

What better way to celebrate after 6 weeks of SEO training but to hang out with your officemates and have fun! The night shift agents decided to party at Dumoy Beach Garden. Our SEO training graduation ended at past 12 noon but I still had to drop by at SM to buy my nephew a birthday gift, so I was able to come home at past 2pm already. I Slept for 3 hours and woke up to meet up with Karlo and Mylene somewhere in Matina since the other agents have already gone ahead of us. I still had to buy some food at a convenience store. I was just shocked that Wilmer came inside the convenience store ahead of Mylene.. I even commented "Ngano naa ka diri? kusuga pa sa imong pang amoy?".. Little did I know.. he was already texting with Mylene that is why he was aware that we would be meeting up there.. hmmm.. i smell something fishy.. hehehe..

When we arrived, Raquel, Lyra, and Melissa were already singing their hearts out in front of a videoke machine. Since some of the food was still being grilled by Erwin and Dennis, we decided to join them. Soon... food was served and we also played a card game called "123 pass".. Mam Claire also joined us in the game .. unfortunately the looser will have to drink a glass of beer.. and sad to say I lost several times... the problem is I am allergic to alcohol... i think i only drank twice but the rest I had to pass on to Karlo and Odrale who gamely drank the beer on my behalf (thanks talaga dahil kung di nila sinalo malamang nag palpitations ako buong mag damag at di ako mag eenjoy) .

After finishing 3 big bottles of beer, we decided to go back to the videoke machine and spent the 100 pesos which Karlo gave us. After singing several heartbreaking love songs, I suggested that we sang upbeat songs to liven up our spirits. We were dancing while singing some upbeat songs.





When we ran out of coins, Melissa and I decided to stay by the beach and watched some students who were undergoing what we suspected as a fraternity initiation at the beach just beside Dumoy Garden. Melissa was even able to get some nice shots of the sunrise.



Yes we stayed there till morning... just proves we are really vampires and we can withstand staying awake throughout the night.....




And to really certify how bonded we are.. we even ate breakfast at MC Donalds Bajada. After our breakfast, some headed home while others went straight to Redemptorist Church to attend mass. I preferred to go home since I was not dressed properly to go inside the Church.

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