I was supposed to post this as a follow up to this last Tuesday.  Sorry for the delay!  I am posting it now, at almost 1am because in a few hours, our restless feet will be going somewhere blog worthy again (hopefully!).  Come to think of it, I haven’t even gotten around to finishing the entries from our July vacation!  But I will…one way or another. 

oOo

Halloween and the day immediately after were filled with treats.  No tricks whatsoever!

October 31st

We originally planned to go trick or treating at the Outlet Mall, but ended up at another mall closer to where we live.  Our group of 12 (5 adults and 7 kids) were at the mall at exactly 6pm.

It’s funny how Abby just automatically raises one arm, as if to fly, when I take pictures.

Here’s another pic with Abby raising her arm.

See what I mean?  But here’s one of Abby in the trademark hands-on-waist Superman stance.

It took us about an hour and a half to complete our rounds of participating stores at the mall.  The kids enjoyed a few of their treats right away!

From the mall, we went around my friend’s neighborhood.  It was a beautiful night and the weather was perfect!  It was our (Hubby, Abby and me) first time to go house to house and we all had so much fun, specially because we had wonderful company.

We are already looking forward to next year.  In our own neighborhood perhaps?  And I mean where our own house will be?  Come on, think positively with me!

November 1st

The day after halloween, we attended our first halloween/costume party.  It was potluck and with six families in attendance, it was a halloween fiesta!

I was able to convince Hubby to at least wear a cape.  I used the cape I had from last year, while Abby wore her Snow Princess costume, which now fits her perfectly (it was still too long for her last year!).

Photo by one of our paparazzi friends, A.S.

I’m glad Abby agreed to wear this costume.  She initially wanted to wear the pink Barbie gown she wore at the mall exactly a week before the party.

The kids were kept busy with game after game after game plus some crafts.  They all brought home tons of treats.  It felt like Christmas!

Abby being mummified by Nicole

The kids sticking eyes, nose and mouth to each of their pumpkins.

Here’s a short slideshow of pics from the party, all of which were taken by A.S.  I’m still waiting for the pics from the rest of our paparazzi friends.

TGIS!  Thank God, it’s Sabado!  This is the continuation of this entry.

As I was saying, the fun we had on October 18th didn’t end at the pumpkin patch.  Nobody seemed to want to go home yet, after all, the sun was still out!  After spending more than 4 hours at the farm, C and L graciously invited all of us to hang out at their house.  And then it was decided that we will go to Oasis, dubbed the Sunset Capital of Texas to, you must have already guessed, watch and take photos of the sunset!  Reservations were made for 6:45 pm.

In spite of the reservations, we still found ourselves without a table when we got to Oasis.  The place was packed with people!  While waiting for a table, we proceeded to the 2nd floor balcony to enjoy the view of Lake Travis and the sunset.

This was our (Hubby, Abby and me) first real good look at Lake Travis.

Houses on the land surrounding the like must cost a ton of money.  And check out that lone structure towards the upper right hand corner of the photo.

Here’s a closer view!

That’s the house we’re building for our family.  You’re all invited to our house warming.  Yeah, right! Hee hee.  Here’s another palace by the lake…

I was kinda expecting Rapunzel to come out to let her hair down. :D  But there was no sign of her.  Hu hu.  There were a number of speedboats lined up near the shore and there here were jetskiers, too…

Did I manage to take a snapshot of the sunset?  I did but most of them are not worth posting.  I didn’t realize the sun sets so quickly!  The most decent photo I was able to take was this…

See?  I almost missed the sun!  Tsk tsk.  Better luck next time.  I hear the sun will set again anyway. 

The sun has already set and yet, there was still no sign of a table for us.

Abby and Lica waiting for a table

It was decided that it might be better if we just had dinner elsewhere, Denny’s, to be exact, where kids eat free on Saturdays. ;)  When we stepped out of Oasis, our ride was already waiting for us…

Ha ha ha!

At Denny’s we were given a private room.  Naks!

There were five tables in that room, one for each of the family in our group.  Seven of the 9 kids got to enjoy a free meal, the other two are still babies so no restaurant food for them. :D  And guess what, our drinks were on the house, too!  Our server explained that he wasn’t exactly very organized when he took our beverage orders, and since we were paying separate checks, it would be too much of a hassle for him to go to each table all over again to find out who drank what. Poor guy.  I hope the cost of drinks won’t be taken out of his paycheck.

That’s about it for our 12-hour lakwatsa.  We have busy but fun days ahead of us.  We have about 3 parties to attend within days of each other plus trick or treating.  You’ll be hearing all about them soon.

Have a great weekend!

oOo

Oh yeah, I almost forgot!  I have a personal milestone to share with you.  *wink*

Last Wednesday, the 22nd of October, at the ripe old age of 33, I bought food from a McDonald’s drive thru for the very first time ever.  Hahaha!  I don’t know where my drive thru issues are coming from.  Must be fear of dropping the food or payment.  Or maybe, I really just don’t want to talk to a box.  :D  And you know how a lot of drive thrus back home are so narrow that damage to property is almost expected.  Anyway, Hubby wasn’t with Abby and me that time.  Normally, I’ll just park the car and order from the counter.  But it was raining and I just wanted to get home right away.  To cut a long story short, I did it!  Finally.  Another layer of shelteredness, if there’s even such a word, stripped off of me. :D  Woohoo!

Mabuhay, y’all!  How was your weekend?  I hope it was happy and wonderful just like ours.  I’ll go right ahead and tell you all about it. :D  This is a picture heavy entry so I’ll try to talk less. Hee hee.

The highlight of our weekend was our trip to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm, not to pick out our Christmas Tree, but for the Pumpkin Festival.  Last year, we missed going to a pumpkin patch.  We more than made up for that lost opportunity this year.  We had 6-times the fun because we were with 5 other families (plus our family makes 6!).  It was our first outing with our NFFs (new found friends). ;)  All in all, we were 12 adults and 21 kids.  You can say we had a little barrio fiesta going.  Hahaha!

It took a few minutes for Abby to snap out of a sumpong that came out of nowhere.  She is her mother’s daughter.  Ha!

See what I mean?  How could one not smile when mutant pumpkins abound?  Here’s another pic of my unsmiling lovely daughter with me…

Third time’s a charm so here’s a third photo of an unsmiling Abby.  Hmp!  Sayang ang family picture!

Celebrity sighting at Elgin, Texas!  Here’s the paparazzi!  Hee hee!

Our NFFs are photo enthusiasts, just like me!  And they all have dslrs to show for it.  I’m the only one with a full feature p&s (never forget the “full feature” part!).  I’ve done pretty well in keeping my dslr ache at bay.  But it’s going to be harder to ignore if we were to hang out with our paparazzi friends.  Say it with me, I. Dont. Need.  A. DSlr.  Bwahahaha!  Who am I kidding?!  Seriously, I still have to do hundreds of SPs (sponsored posts) in my working blogs before I can afford a camera upgrade.  Send me your positive vibes, please!

Going back to the pumpkin patch, Abby snapped out of her sumpong after I threatened to put her on a bus that’ll take her home she saw the pumpkin painting station.  You can say the price for her smile is $3.  Hee hee.

After she picked out the pumpkin of her choice, she immediately went to work.

From the pumpkin painting station, we headed over to the duck races.

It makes for good arm work-out, I tell you! Hee hee!

I don’t recall the day being windy.  But why is my hair such an awful mess?

After so many rounds of duck racing, Abby and Hubby ran off to the trees.

I’m now seriously considering getting a real tree for Christmas.

Thank God, Abby’s almost her normal camera loving self.

We had lunch afterwards.  Sausage wraps were dirt cheap at $1.50.  And they’re so good, too!  An ear of corn cost $1.50 as well while a cup of lemonade is $.075.  We only spent $8.50 for lunch!  Between you and me, Hubby had 2 sausage wraps!  Hahaha! Our friends Rene and Veron brought some baon of Spam musubi/onigiri (spam and rice wrapped in nori/seaweed) and spaghetti. Yum!

After a filling lunch, the kids went to ride on ponies.  It’s the second week in a row that Abby went pony riding.  That’s another $3 damage to the pocket…Hubby’s pocket. Hahaha!

A trip to the pumpkin patch isn’t complete without a hay ride!

Abby and Lica

Hubby and Jun and some of the other dads reminisced their jeepney riding days with their upong bente singko!

We got down at another area of the farm where there were sand art…

…train rides…

…scarecrows…

…antique tractors…

…a speed boat.

There were picnic tables and a playground, too!

Abby and Hubby played their favorite game where Abby jumps and Hubby catches here.  Abby used a big bundle of hay as her launch pad.

Ang saya-saya ng mag-ama!

And to prove to you that our NFFs are real and not just a figment of my imagination, here’s our group picture.

To take this pic, the paparazzi laid down their cameras (5 in all) on a picnic table and set the self-timer to 10 seconds.  Two people got cut off from my shot.  Sorry Edwin and Rene!  Hee hee.

And here’s a pic of the kiddos!

It’s too bad one family left earlier and didn’t get to join the group pic.

Our day didn’t end here.  This only accounts for 5 hours of the 12-hour fiesta.  To be continued as always.

Have a wonderful week ahead, pumpkins! :D  Cheers!

Sa pagdiriwang ng kaarawan ng mga bata, hindi na bago ang pagkakaroon ng temang “Farm Party”.  Ngunit noong nakaraang Linggo, isang bago (bago para sa aming mag-anak!) Farm Party ang dinaluhan namin dahil unang-una sa lahat, ito’y literal na farm party na ginawa talaga sa farm.

Simple lang ang pagdiriwang ngunit masaya!  Isa sa mga talaga namang bagong palaro ay ang paghahanap ng mga premyo sa ilalim ng mga damo (hay).  Ayaw ni Abby noong una ang lumuhok at maghukay ng premyo sa damuhan.  Hahaha!  Hanggang sa tinulungan namin siya ng kaniyang ama at ipinakita kung ano ang dapat gawin.

Mayroon ding maliit na bouncer kung saan nagtatalon ang mga bata.  At siyempre, hindi kumpleto ang farm kung walang mga manok.  Ika nga ni Abby sa mga manok, “bok bok, bo-bo-bok!”

Mayroon ding stamp at tattoo section…

Opisyal nang tungkulin ng aking asawa ang paglalagay ng tattoo kay Abby.

Nagenjoy din ang mga bata ssa paglalagay ng mga tatak/stamps sa mga blangkong papel.

At ang pinakanagpasaya sa mga bata. ang pony rides!

May tatlong ponies sa farm na siyang salit-salit na sinakyan ng mga bata.

Makatlong ulit yatang sumakay ng pony si Abby.  Una niyang sinakyan ang kulay itim.

Mabuti at may mga nakatatandang humihila sa mga ponies. 

Sumunod namang sinakyan ni Abby ang puting pony.

May kapilyahan ang pony na ito.  At lagi ring gutom!

Ikinatakot ko na baka matapos ang party ay magpabili ng pony ang anak ko!  Hindi bale, maraming “My Little Pony” sa tindahan.

Matapos ang pagsakay-sakay sa kabayo, nauhaw ang alaga ko…hindi na bago ‘yun.  Hahaha!

Mahigit isang taon na kami sa Texas at patuloy pa rin ang pagdating ng mga bago at masasayang karanasan. :)  At natitiyak kong marami pang darating!

Isa pang bago DITO.

Mabuhay!

Where FB stands for Facebook, EB for eye ball and Weebee, well, that needs no explanation. :)  Having said that, let me announce to the whole world that we just found ourselves some new friends *insert “Weebee!” here*  Filipino friends at that!  It all started with a message I left on cousin Millie’s Facebook wall last Thursday:  “

Belated happy birthday to Alyssa! Hugs and kisses from all of us here in Austin! Mmmwah!

A few minutes later, I got a message in my FB inbox from Lori, a friend of wonder twin sisters Millie (wife of Hubby’s first cousin, Monty) and Carrie, who happen to be living in Austin as well.  Lori was just telling me how glad she was that her former classmates Millie and Carrie “know” someone in Austin.  I was surprised, too, to find out that Millie and Carrie know someone other than our family of three here in Austin.  The next day, I sent Lori an email, too, telling her where I am exactly.  And guess what, we live in the same community!  Just a stone’s throw away from each other!  The emails led to live chats and then to an actual phone call, an impromptu invitation to Lica’s (Lori’s daughter) 7th birthday party scheduled the following day, and finally, an eyeball after I picked up Abby from school last Friday.  All these happened in a matter of three hours or so last Friday.  As I told Carrie, ang bilis ng mga pangyayari!  Not that I’m complaining!  Hee hee.  We, of course, accepted the invitation to Lica’s party.

For the first time in the more than one year that we’ve been living in Texas, we attended a kiddie party exactly the way we know kiddie parties to be…fun-filled and food-filled, too (think pancit, dinuguan, fried chicken, at marami pang iba!)  Hee hee.  With Lica’s guests numbering over 70, it was the most number of Filipinos we’ve seen gathered in one place here in the US since we moved here!  If you’ve read the book The Host, I tell you, I felt what Wanderer/Melanie must have felt when she discovered a cave-full of humans!  Hahaha!

The best part is meeting and being welcomed by a warm and friendly bunch of people.  It would have been nice if we had the chance to meet and mingle with everybody but that would be stretching our luck far too much.  Hubby and I met about 4 or 5 other couples who also live in our community.  We didn’t realize there were so many Filipinos practically next door to us.  Gosh, we really don’t get out much…well, we do, but… :D  Abby made some new friends, too, friends whom, hopefully, she will see again and again and again.

Hubby and I went home with silly smiles on her face.  We teased each other about having new friends, “Uuuy, may friends ka na!”.  :P  Hubby may have friends from work but it is I who actually has friends (Bet and Ate Aileen) that we hang out with.  So the joke’s more on Hubby than me!

What a difference several days make!  I’ve made more friends since my last blog entry!  When you’re living thousands of miles away from everything familiar, you just can’t not welcome anything or anyone that brings you a tad closer to home.  Thank you, God, for a most wonderful weekend miracle!

To Lori and Chris, Alet and Edwin, Weng and Andre, Michelle and Andrew and Camille and Art, we say thank you, for a very warm welcome.  It was such great pleasure meeting all of you and we had a truly wonderful time.

Unfortunately, blogging moment as it was, I didn’t get to take pictures.  Just believe when I say that I didn’t make any of these up. *wink*

oOo

Moving on to other things…

To the five people who subscribe to my feeds, you may have noticed that my feeds are now  the full text of my entries, unlike before when you get but a few sentences of a blog entry.  Truth be told, I had self serving motives for having summarized feeds.  I thought a summarized feed will lure subscribers to visit my site, which is tantamount to hits.  Hee hee.  I apologize for that.  I guess I’ve matured after a little over three years of blogging.  I have finally seen the light!

I only realized the beauty of full feeds these past few weeks when I’ve been very busy.  I like being able to read the entries of blogs I subscribe to without having to leave my feed reader (Bloglines).  Between you and me, I have a tendency to skip blogs with summarized feeds and visit them at a later time.  I’m sorry about that, too. :D  It’s the classic case of having so many things to do with so little time.

oOo

I’ve got more stories for you tomorrow.  For now, I wish you all a great new week ahead!  Cheers!