Sunday Balloons

It was still cold and dark on an early Sunday morning when Mama and Daddy took Kecil from her comfortable, warm bed to travel the hour's drive required to get to the next civilization center. But as you can see from Kecil's expression, she did not seem to mind, despite her preference for waking up somewhat later in the day. Wonder what was going on?

Well... actually last weekend was the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival here in the Philippines. The venue was in the city of Clark, and having heard some good things about it, we decided to go and see what the hullaballoo was all about.
Obviously, there were plenty of hot air balloons involved,

And hand-gliders

And fires on top of gondolas!

Even cute feet on dried grass!

But basically it was all about hot air balloons (birthday cake shaped! Can you see the birthday cake one?)

And more balloons (ice cream shaped!)

And even more balloons 

Due to the long queues, we actually did not go into the carnival grounds itself.

Which is why most of the photos feature the wire fence, haha....

Many people are pretty much settled for the day watching all the flying stuff, bringing their tents, food and all kinds of stuff,

Too bad we were not so prepared,

But still we managed to take some good pics..

Ahem, correction, of course. KECIL did managed to take quite a few good pics.

Here she was, patiently waiting for the perfect moment for the shot...

Shouting encouragements in the hope that the balloons would finally take their position for THE shot...

Even giggled beatifically when she finally got THE shot.

Oh, she's going to be a good photographer all right.

We really have to thank the ever-so-patient Daddy who had carried the not-so-light-anymore would be photographer.

On a more adult's perspective, the whole thing was pretty close to a fiasco. Just for starter, we ended up spending 2 hours (!) lining up for toilet at the nearby petrol station. And to think that we only spent about an hour looking at the balloons!

Not to mention the fact that we did not even get into the grounds due to the long lines.

Am still not sure if we are coming back again next year, but after looking through the photos....

Yes... I guess we did have a good time. Especially Kecil.

So here's hoping that you had a similarly fun weekend last Sunday....

And wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day as well!

As usual, this ended up being the only photo with Mama's face. Will check the other camera later and see if there is more of Mama's face there. Until then!

Sunny Sunday

Do you notice that there are so many sunny Sundays here down in the Kecil's universe? 

Strange, isn't it? Still, all is well, since sunny means a chance to bring out the flip flops, the flowery sundress, the hat, and the pinky shades, and go out to enjoy the sun!

This Mama thinks that this Little One has all the makings of a super model, all right. I'd say she even 'purposely' forgot her green float at home, just so the float does not mess up her photoshoot with Mama.

See... all this 'summery ensemble' is for a short trip and swim at the nearby swimming pool!

Well, at least she still did her own walking to the pool instead of insisting to be carried.

And even let the photographer have her one frame of fame. I'd say!

Well, soon enough we were at the pool, with Daddy along as well.

And here's the thing. Some of you might remember Mama's new red camera? Well... OK. OUR relatively new camera. Among its many cool points, the camera is supposed to be water resistant as well. Which is why, on this beautiful sunny Sunday, we can get pictures such as these:

Cool close-ups that I wouldn't have dared taking using the big camera, for fear of dropping the camera into water. Fuh... what a nightmare.

Still, we haven't tried underwater photography yet, perhaps we'll wait for another sunny Sunday (on a fully charged battery next time, ha!).

In the meantime, here's hoping that you had a great weekend as well. As you can see from the pics, Kecil had an awesome one.

Sunday Hunting

Last Sunday, we went a-hunting.
Somehow, with all our loot from the holidays (and some that Mama and Daddy bought out of sheer necessity), Mama & Daddy's bedroom had become a dangerous place full of tangly mess of cables of various gadgets charging.
It was decided, then, that we should have a charging station to prevent any accident.
But of course, such a hunt cannot proceed on empty stomach, so... for our first stop that day... McDonald's!

Well, OK, so there was no pic of food except for Kecil's ice cream, but as usual, when food is on the table, Mama is usually too .. ahem... busy to be bothered with pics. Let's just say it was a good breakfast, yes? And as the first furniture shop did not yield anything interesting, we thought why not take a break by visiting the park full of airplanes, first?
And so we did.

The city of Clark, Pampanga, used to be a US Air Force base, back in the days before the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Nowadays, it hosts the Clark International Airport, which is the base airport for many flights around the region including Singapore, Hongkong, Cebu, as well as Incheon (South Korea). There are still many signs of the Air Force presence there, including this park with many airplanes-turned-memorials.

There was even a helicopter there! But the biggest hit with Kecil was this airplane on the short stand that made it look as it it were flying. As you can see, Kecil soon pretended that she was flying as well!

And everybody else, including Mama and Daddy....

We also hit some of the playground facilities located around the park before we moved on with our search for the perfect charging station.
The search went on for the rest of the day and brought us to further places including San Fernando. But we did manage to find the perfect table/station that actually double up as a hidden laundry hamper.

And hence our laundry hamper cum charging station cum printer desk now proudly stands at one corner of Mama and Daddy's room.
T'was a good, productive, fun Sunday.

We do hope you had a good weekend too!

Weekend morning

These are how some of our weekend mornings look like:

With an extra pair of legs (and no body!) poking out of the wiggly blanket

A sleepy face under the mess of cute, curly hair

Two (!) wiggly extra occupant on Mama & Daddy's bed with their relentless effort to get Mama & Daddy OUT of the bed. Hmmppphh!

With a Kid and a fluffy Dog in tow, I guess Mama's day of lazing on the bed the whole day during weekends are kind of over. Sigh.

But oh well, at least they are the parents' guarantee that the weekend will not pass by unnoticed around here.

How was your weekend?

Sunday ...

is for parading at the backyard

in the heart-patterned new pink boots, which had arrived a little too late for the typhoons and rains

 is for playing 'hide and seek'

and laze around in the sun

 is for jumping around in joy

with careless abandon and a healthy good cheer

 and to try to fly, in the hope that we'll someday grow our own wings

is to pose for Mama, as we went on to utilize the beautiful light

a walkie and a photo op.

We love our Sundays around here.

How about you?

Sunday ...

... was a day for posing again, under the sun, at a new location, in a favorite dress

... was a day to follow Daddy to try a new eatery in town

... and close down the said establishment should the verdict came out bad.

(Ahem.. just kidding, of course. We actually had a good time there. Eating. 

And taking pictures, obviously!)

Sunday ... was also a day to perfect things being done during the weekdays.

In our case, it was posing with the peace sign.

She got the direction wrong. I guess we are still working on it. Hmm...

Sunday ... was also a day to admire the blue sky and enjoy some sun ... 

on Daddy's shoulder, under Mama's pink, wide brimmed hat.

T'was a good Sunday.

We hope you had a good weekend too!