A glance at my wandering thoughts

Posts from the “Family first!” Category

Finally, a Break from Monotony…Memorial Day holiday

Posted on May 29, 2012
The Lone Cypress Tree High-res version

Holidays make our sanity intact. Legally speaking, this is the time when we get to spend some quality time with the most important people in our life without having to worry about skipping from work. On the other hand, no one can take away that choice anyway, but it’s always nice to have an extra paid time off. In between stress and hustle-bustle of life, we sometimes cannot recognize which one has taken control of ourselves, thank God for holidays and we are able to stop and put on the brakes of this rapid accelerator of life. Whatever it is that drives us nuts, it depends on the kind of world we live in.

Living in the fullness of life is what makes our life worth living. It is not about the hardship; this is what gives us endurance. It is not about poverty; poverty makes us human. It is not all about money; money is just a tool for making things easier. It’s not about just getting rich; nobody cares about those who are in the millionaire’s list. It’s not all about our job titles; our job is to make a difference in the lives of others. These thoughts will occur if we have a time to reflect and contemplate. Turning off the “noise button” of life will help us understand why things are just the way it is. I guess my point is that we allow things to happen because these are part of the elements of life. However, the proverbial saying (which my mom used to tell me) will always echo in our hearts and minds…”Life is what you make it”.

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Let’s begin the tour at the 17-mile drive. First, we paid an entrance fee of about $9.75 (I guess that’s per car). We were not really sure what to expect. So we paid a fee therefore, it gave me a hunch that it is worth driving the area otherwise, why charge? So a welcome sign greeted us at the gate and the friendly staff gave us a brochure/map of the area.

Driving the 17 Mile Drive in California

The brochure tells us that there are 21 scenic views to enjoy. The Huckleberry Hill is one of those. It was colorful and beautiful.

The Huckleberry Hill

Here’s one of the many stops we did, enjoying the color of the sea.

Pebble Beach

My daughter didn’t want to go home. She really appreciate the beauty of nature which she rarely see in her normal routine.

My daughter enjoying the breeze and the little waves brushing off her feet

Sandy Feet

My two Hijas

delightful

This deer runs free, not bothered by the passers-by. Such an amazing thing to see.

A Deer graciously stopped having his fill and posed for a picture.

I think this is one of the most Spectacular views. How grand and regal this lone Cypress Tree is..standing alone with pride.

The Lone Cypress Tree

The colors are so natural, the sound of breeze so peaceful, and the sight is so powerful, enough to calm a troubled soul.

Deep blue sea

Categories: Family first!

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Journey 2

Posted on February 13, 2012

       Last Saturday, we treat the kids for a late night movie theater trip instead of the usual “Redbox”  machine trip when we rent home videos at our local grocery stores. We rarely go see movies. But that night, we just all decided to do something outside from our weekend routine.

       We reached the mall an hour before the movie schedule. The line was not long at the ticket booth at first, but when that guy in the photo showed up, he attracted the crowd. I don’t know how long he stayed up to man the ticket booth but it was fun to see some starwars personalities handling you the movie ticket. My daughter took this photo from an iphone.

       So, we ate at the food court while killing time, talk a while and at the same time enjoying the view of the starwars crew waving and helping at the booth. I thought it was a cool marketing strategy.

Ron Phillips/HONS/Warner Bros. Pictures/AP

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is something every family will enjoy. It’s full of wit and adventure. We watched the 3D version ‘coz that was the only available at the time we were at the theater but I’m glad we did.

My little one keeps attempting to touch the things she sees in her 3D  eye glasses, she really cracked me up!  I think that’s what makes it more fun watching it.  I cannot express how much I embarassed my family everytime I scream and gasp loudly in this suspenseful movie.

Over all, this is worth watching. It was well applauded by the crowd at the end of the movie.

Categories: Family first!

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About birds and the bees

Posted on October 22, 2011

       How many of you will agree that families today rarely get the chance to have what we call ”quality time” together? In my household, one of the most important days in our mundane life is when we gather as a family in our dining table. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of time to do that everyday but that is one of the reasons to look forward to the end of the week!

       I love weekends, it is when my hubby and yours truly begin the morning with our kitchen concert. The sound of pots & pans, the whirring of a grinder for freshly ground coffee, of which my husband has already mastered scientific calculation in brewing it perfectly (according to his liking), of course the “humming” while stirring the scrambled eggs on stove top and finally, the calling of our youngsters who are always late for breakfast on weekends enjoying extra hours of idleness..

       Today is one of those “seize the moment time”. My girls are in their tweens and by that, it means boys will be (if not always) part of peer conversation. I thought it’s time to talk about it in our breakfast table hoping that it would interest my eldest daughter. She actually said “yuck” but not for long, it was just a pretentious gesture. As a mom, I can tell how much vivacity and excitement has filled her eyes. On the other hand, my youngest has the eyes of a critical observer. She always spy and act as the whistle-blower for her sister.

The topic began with just a tease and ended up in a very serious discussion. I said “serious” because their hungry curious mind and my outpouring advice backed by my husband’s support, produced an eternal questioning between parent-child camps. Our discussions touched the awareness of chastity, impure thoughts and the sin of lust. I feel that it’s right to remind them that each of us is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It helped them grasp the idea that committing a sin of lust (through impure thoughts) is not fitting as the dwelling place of good. We taught them how important it is not to fall from peer pressure and media’s manipulation penetrating even the children’s TV programs. Overall, the attention they gave relieved me from being cynical. Afterall, we as parents can only give the best advice. In opportunities like this, talking with our children is the best way to give them something they will remember for the rest of their lives, how do I know that? because those were the same words I heard from our parents when I was growing up, now it is time to pass it down.

Categories: Family first!, Our Rose Buds

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The Help

Posted on August 15, 2011

Last night, my family watched a movie called “The Help”. I really like it, except that my 8-year-old kept asking a lot of questions every time she gets confused on the flow of the movie. My 11-year-old however, captured the gist of the story since she studied a lot of these facts in her 4th & 5th grade’s social & history lessons. She was actually the one who explained it better to her sister.

The girls enjoyed most of the 1960′s setting; of how the women were dolled-up and engaged in a more polite conversation even though the intentions weren’t. They also find it funny how cheap the wages were, as described in the movie such as the $8 per week salary of an aspiring journalist.

You can find mixed reviews from all sides of the viewers. My take is that, it was a good summer movie, although one that is not with an extraordinary story. Indeed, something that was undeniably true; nonetheless it is one of those stories with huge injustice in the early days.

The casts are all talented and wonderful. Emma Stone(Skeeter) fits perfectly as the southernbelle and Viola Davis(Aibeleen) did a great performance (as she always does). There’s a lot of powerful scenes and even brought me to tears a couple of times :)

Categories: Family first!

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Movie week

Posted on July 17, 2011

We have been watching Harry Potter movies since last night at home. Actually, it’s a week-long movie marathon since kids are on summer vacation. This is in order for us to recall events of the earlier chapters of Potter’s movie in preparation for the last HP film. The final chapter was a much-awaited movie for my kids…for some reason; this has been sort of literature series that they follow. Overall, the last chapter was a good movie. My youngest voted this as her favorite, equally with the first film of the eight sequels. We ended our week just like how we wanted it, in an unplanned fashion …Simple pleasures of being together is truly a necessity.

Categories: Family first!

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