Christmas biiks!

We spent our second Christmas as a married couple with Vincent's family over at Zambales this year. The provincial life is both a challenge and an adventure to me. Yes, pumping deep well water is a challenge (Vincent would half-kid me whenever I use the T&B. I use up all the water on stock more often than not, but slow on refilling it. Hehehe.), but it is also an adventure at the same time. It is not something I get to do everyday.

And speaking of adventure, I was so amused at the household and farm animals they have over there that time. It seemed that nearly all of them are with babies -- the dog has pups, the cat has her kittens bunched up, Ryan's (my brother-in-law) goat and Papa Joel's cow is due to give birth soon. And on our first night there, the big sow (female pig, I had to do a quick search on that) delivered eleven piglets, and it was my first time to see it happen! Nakakatuwa talaga! One died, though (sad ako...sniffs). Papa and Ryan tried to resuscitate (yes, you read it right -- by blowing air into the piglet's mouth, that is) the poor piggy. But since it was breech at birth, it had no luck, although Ryan didn't give up that easily. He only stopped reviving the poor thing when Vincent started humming Grey's Anatomy's How to Save A Life :D Time of death -- 20:36.

I took several pictures of this wonder, but my husband discouraged me from posting it all up here. Baka wala na raw kumain o mag-alaga ng baboy after seeing the photos ;)

A toast to our first year!

Exactly a week ago (Dec 15th), we celebrated our first wedding anniversary...and it was one for the books. We had a blast!

We've been planning for our anniversary honeymoon since October, and we knew we wanted to get away from everything (and everyone!) and go on a holiday. We first thought of having an advanced celebration in Bangkok during the last week of November, but didn't push through with it (which was a blessing indeed, or else we'd be stranded at Bangkok's airport like the rest). In the end, we decided to see Palawan!

We settled in Puerto Princesa for four days. We had a city map in tow, but just after half a day of studying it out, we figured that we can never get lost there. There are no taxis in the city, but tricycles rule the roads. Nakakatuwa! We're not sure how many tricycle drivers we quizzed by just giving them one-word cues, i.e., "Manong, sa Methodist.", "...kapitolyo.", "...museum.", "...simbahan.", still, they got us right all the time! Hahaha. On one tricycle we hopped on, we told the driver, "Du'n po sa Balinsasaw." He looked up to the sky for a while before he pumped his motor. He did manage to drop us off to the restaurant. When we got there, we laughed and knew why he asked the heavens for guidance. The restaurant is called Balinsasayaw, not Balinsasaw. Hahaha! Bilib kami sa kanya!

During our stay, we explored some of the tourist spots in the province. Highlights were the Crocodile Farm and that awesome, awesome trip to the Underground River! Oh, not to mention the buffet breakfast that got us stuffed for three days, and the night swimming at the hotel that made us go, "This is life, baby!"

Our honeymoon adventure is so full of laughter, until the day of our flight back to Manila. As frequent travelers, we're used to the 2 to 3-hour airport check in rule of thumb. We were anxious to get the front seats with more legroom, so we were already at the airport three hours early.

The bluff of all time: the airport closes for lunch breaks! Tawang tawa kami as this has never happened to us before. Hahaha!

Closed for lunch

At the pre-departure area, while waiting for our plane, which was an hour delayed, by the way

We promised to make this anniversary honeymoon a yearly thing, even when we already have (or have not got) kids, and grow old doing this.

Cheers to our blissful ever, ever after!!!



Check out our photos HERE, HERE and HERE.

Christmas gifts!

We are not big at gift giving -- that's exactly what we have in common, actually. We are lousy gift givers. ALTHOUGH we know exactly what we want to get from Santa. So for Christmas, we agreed that if we were to give each other gifts, it better fall in our wish list in a big, red bow!

Vincent's been singing Zoids Ultrasaurus for the longest time, so that's his Christmas gift. I thought he changed his mind when we were at the toy store yesterday. Nakangiti kasi sya sa mga Gundam ;)

He assembled his robot soon after dinner. Since he sprained his left foot that morning, our bed became his working table. He put all the pieces together for 3 long hours! Inantok at nakatulog na ko kapapanood sa kanya.

He got for me this Indiglo Timex watch for Christmas. I love wristwatches and I haven't got one digital timepiece yet, so this I liked very much!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Palawan Getaway day 3

Day 3 marked our anniversary day! We experienced the wonder of the Sabang subterranean/underground river [Sorry guys, we opted not to post the photos we took inside the cave. But trust us, it is a magnificent sight to see!]. It was awesome!

After the whole day adventure, we had dinner and coffee at the kapitolyo. Happy blissful first anniversary to us!

Palawan Getaway day 2

We went on a half-day tour of the city. Our itinerary included visits to the Crocodile Farm, Butterfly Garden, Iwahig Penal Colony, Rancho de Santa Monica, and Baker's Hill.

Vincent had a blast with the crocs!

Palawan Getaway day 1

We were off to Palawan to celebrate our anniversary weekend. Never felt so relaxed! The moment we stepped out of our apartment, everything in us automatically shut off, as in. From that moment on, it was just us and our anniversary honeymoon ;)

After touching down in Puerto Princesa, we took a cat nap at the hotel and then set off to explore the kapitolyo. There was a food fest that night at the provincial capitol, so dinner was indeed a treat!

Our engagement anniversary!

16 December 2006 -- Laughing off while people watching at the Sunken Garden...in between scoops of yoghurt, he said, "Will you marry me, Christine?". Then she quickly replied without batting an eyelash, "Of course, yes! When? How soon?!" ;-)

His robots

We were off to the mall last Saturday to get some stuffs for our trip this weekend [side note -- We were so proud of ourselves for doing a plastic bag-free shopping!]. But as for Vincent, he got for himself more: Gundam. Hay! Nagulat na lang ako when he made the sharp turn towards the toy section and grabbed two boxes of Gundam robots. I was speechless! My mouth was still gaping open when he said in defense, "Pinag-ipunan 'ko 'to ha (I saved up for these)." Eh 'di fine.

As soon as we got home, he seemed to forget everything else, like...dinner? "Yuhoo! Hellooooo?! 'Di pa tayo kumakain. Gutom na 'ko!"

He just grinned from ear to ear and did this:

I was so downright stunned at how fascinated he was with his toys, I couldn't help but take pictures of him and his "activity". Nakakaaliw syang panoorin. In full concentration ha!

He first had the Gundam unano (as what we call it) months back. That was my personal favorite. Here are his robots:

Frankly, when you're living with someone for almost a year now, his hobbies somehow grow on you...

Palakihan pa kami ng tyan. Hihihi :)

Bebe versions :)

Found these while tidying up some PC clutter. Nakakatuwa!

Bebe Vincent

Bebe Teng