Angel’s 2nd birthday

Our little daughter, Angel, celebrated her 2nd birthday weekend in many ways. Whatever the way, form or manner of our daughter’s birthday, what counts the most is the family being together on this weekend. We opted to spend a whole morning at Active Fun Bldg at Bonifacio Global City (BGC). Cecile has been very proud of this building as this is where the new McCann WorldGroup offices can be found and directly below their offices is a new playground, Active Fun. The moment Rafa and Angel saw the play area, they were pulling us to get inside the place. But there was a line of kids with their parents who were all eager to enter. The Toys R Us store directly besides Active Fun would provide temporary relief but still Rafa would run around the place.

We joined our kids for an hour inside the playground. Rafa and I took a few turns going down the slide, which was relatively high, but very safe. Rafa would attempt to climb up the slides. But he would slide back. Angel was too small to slide down and could only watch her brother. Initially, she was afraid of the pool of plastic balls but after a few minutes, she would swim through through thousands of plastic balls. Dad got drowned here too. Often, we can’t imagine where Rafa and Angel would get all their energy and stamina. Where? But I guess, they, too, want to spend as much time with their parents as we would like to spend as much time with our kids. And on Angel’s 2nd birthday, time was the best gift we could give our daughter! Happy birthday Angel. We love you!

Pictorial at Kraft Philippines

I know that back in the late 80s, Kraft was one of the clients of Cecile when my wife used to work at J Walter Thompson. I remember, during those days, I would call, 574681 and Zeny Toledo would answer. Zeny was Cecile’s secretary back in JWT. She is still with JWT and my wife is now with MWG. But this blog isn’t about advertising agencies but about the pictorial of our kids, Rafa and Angel, for a feature article at “Working Mom” Magazine for their June 2012 “Father’s Day” issue. Yes, father are being featured next month in a mom-centric magazine. Am earlier pictorial was scheduled at the grounds of Mirriam College, but agency work tied me down. Yup, sorry, this isn’t about agency work. It’s about a pictorial on the week of Angel’s 2nd birthday.

Lola Meya joined us for this pictorial, together with Yaya Salome. Like my kids, it was my first time inside the Kraft Philippines compound. And my mom had some good memories of Kraft too, back when she was working for the Manila Chapter of the Phil. National Red Cross. But really, it was time spent with our kids that made this day another milestone on this birthday month of Angel. I really wasn’t prepared for this pictorial, even, my experience. Luckily, I brought an extra white colored shirt. Cecile prepared two sets of clothes for our kids. Unfortunately, work tied down Cecile at MWG. Chester, the photographer, was good with our kids. Using the leaves that Rafa would play with as a toy to get the kids to smile! Good tactic! Thanks Chester! I only wish that my wife, Cecile and mom could have been part of the pictorial. She would say, “Matagal pa ang paghintay natin kaysa sa actual na pictorial.” She was right. We arrived on time, around 4:00pm and got the lights and camera running around 5:00pm. But I was used to these delays. Nothing new for me. And the kids were having fun too!

Our playpen

We have a little playpen in our Greenhome in Legaspi Village and for the past few months. This playpen has become their little kingdom and it is from here, where they would watch "Toy Story."

According to Wikipedia, the earliest use of the word "playpen" was from the Oxford English Dictionary back in 1902.

Our playpen is square-shaped and has vertical bars, which so far has withstood the pressure of our kids. Often, Rafa would be climbing in and out of this playpen. Soon, Angel would have her way in and out too of this playpen. We have not attached anything that moves or lights on this playpen! It has no side pockets.

It should have less obstacles as possible. And best not to have too much pillows or kumot inside the playpen. Chief's keeps this stuff to a minimum as our kids could get entangled with the kumot or sleep with the pillows over their own faces.


Once, I slowly got into this playpen as Angel was watching tv. But I remained at the center. Chief was a little worried that it couldn't support my weight. And once Rafa saw me inside the playpen, he quickly jumped over and joined Angel and me.

Now, I had to get out. Sometimes, I wish, I could with our kids inside this playpen.

Extremely Close, Incredibly Loud

Last Friday, Chief and I caught the movie, “Extremely Close, Incredibly Loud” at Greenbelt Cinema. Yes, it was Chief’s birthday and we both blocked off work schedules to spend the day together.

It started with our gift for Chief. A Nestle Dolce Gusto Coffee-maker that Chief had always wanted. I got that gift from SM Makati. Just buying that gift can be a whole blog as the promo merchandiser from SM Supermarket and SM Appliance Center had different “pitches” for the same product.

Then, we had lunch at Italiannis Greenbelt. We have been here a few times and I have always enjoyed the unlimited bread, which often gets me “full” even before getting the main course.

Chief wanted to watch “The Vow” but Tom Hanks pulled us to watch “Extremely Close, Incredibly Loud.” The first scenes alone gave us some jitters. Thomas Schell, played by Tom Hanks was being buried. He died during the attacks at 9/11.

A series of flashbacks establish a scavenger hunt between father and son (played by Thomas Horn), who should have been nominated for a Best Actor Award in the recent Academy Awards. Thomas says, "if things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding." Oskar explores his father's closet, breaks a vase and finds a key in an envelope that is labeled with the word "Black". The scavenger hunt for “Black” will take him three years, but I wouldn’t reveal how the hunt ended in this blog.


It released a few tears for Chief and I after the movie, which we will probably watch when Rafael is old enough to understand the words "if things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding."

Learning from The Descendants

Last Saturday afternoon, Chief and I, together with my mom watched “The Descendants.” And we all liked the movie. Nothing fantastic in terms of cinematography, but the storyline would touch anyone’s heart. And the Hawiian music which featured artists like Gabby Pahinui, Ray Kane and Keola Beamer playing slack key guitar. Wikipedia defines slack-key guitar is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii. The style originated from the Mexican cowboys.

George Clooney has clearly transcended himself from being the young doctor in ER and even once, putting on the cape as Batman.

Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, the story revolves around the challenges of Matt King, played by George Clooney. He has to take care of his two daughters, Scottie and Alex and the family estate which has been passed on to him by his descendants. His wife, Elizabeth, suffers an accident and won’t recover from a coma. Matt is sole trustee of the estate includes 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kaua'i. Reminds me of our own property in Catandunganon, Camarines Norte.

The story gets complicated as one of the buyers is connected to Brian Speer (played by Matthew Lillard). Matt learns from Alex that his wife and Brian had a relationship.

Won’t reveal the ending as Matt and his daughters tracked down Speer through island of Kaua'i.

The movie serves to remind us on the challenges of parenthood. How we should balance work and parenting responsibilities. How we should spend more time playing and talking to our kids who are growing up fast and right before our eyes. Matt called himself as a “back-up parent” which we hope we won’t call ourselves in the future.

The night after the lights

Every year, our friends get together to share the Christmas spirit among ourselves. As couples, Cesar and Marivic, Bob and Monch have been our friends for more than 25 years. Yes, our friendship goes back more than two decades.

The Parejas and Novales have their kids already. Actually, no more kids. Young adults. Cesar and Marivic have Miguel and Ia. Miguel now works for a listed company at PSE while Ia will soon finish college and maybe, study abroad. Bob and Monch have both Rad and Trey studying at Ateneo. Photo shows the young Novales boys (Trey and Rad) and Ia Pareja (right).

Us, we are young parents, raising Rafa and Angel within the confines of our greenhome in Legaspi Village and around Makati. Have not yet gone together as family to as far as Tagaytay. Or maybe, the Big Apple some day soon.

This photo shows all of us parents enjoying coffee at Coffee Blendz after watching the light show at Ayala Triangle and enjoying dinner at CBD Restaurant. We had walked all the way from CBD Restaurant to Solaris Bldg along dela Rosa Street, in Legaspi Village to find a coffee shop as most coffee shops were closed by that time... 11pm.

By that time, the siblings were already asking their parents, "What time are we going home?"

Happy new year to all the parents in blogosphere!

Burgers and Gifts @ CBD

It is all our first time together to eat at CBD Restaurant which is owned by the Meat Plus Group. It's Shake and Bake is one of my favorite drinks, but it has too much calories. The place was full on the last night of the Christmas Lights Show at Ayala Triangle.

There was a long line facing the cashier. But surely, all the other places around Ayala Triangle would have SRO crowd during these past few days and most specially, on the last night of the Christmas Lights Show. Young and old folks alike, from all walks of life, have come to Ayala Triangle to enjoy the 20 minute lights and music show.


Photo shows Angel opening her gift from Monch.


Photo shows Rafa opening his gift from Marivic.

Maybe, next Christmas, the park authorities can make the show interactive? Have live music? Light, jazz music. Or even a caroling festival among local choirs? A giant Christmas tree at the middle of the park? Free goodies for kids? Or even Santa?

Walking around Burgos Circle

A few hours ago, we met up with a good friend Rene Bernal at Burgos Circle. This place is one of our favorite places around BGC. It is a few minutes drive out of Legaspi Village, passing through McKinley Road in Forbes. There are some pretty good restaurants in the place and for the second time, we are eating at Johnny Rocket. Guess, it is the singing and dancing crew that we find interesting. But sometimes, all the partying affects service. What we like most is the bottomless fries!

Photo shows Chief, with Ninong Rene holding on to Rafael!

And around Burgos Circle, we appreciate the wide open space where kids can freely run around, stretch their muscles and use up their excess energy, specially, for Rafa and Angel. This afternoon, there was a lot of space and there were no kids around.

Both seem to have so much energy and even more love for each other as they hold hands while walking around the grass area.

Cecile and I would need to get back to the threadmills at Fitness First to keep in shape.

Yes, parents like us have to be in tip-top shape!

Dinner with Pantaleons

Among the many friends we met while Chief and I were based in Saigon, Mila and Bingo Pantaleon are our BFF. Yes, Bingo started out as a client of Chief while she was Managing Director of McCann Vietnam and Bingo was Marketing Director of United Pharma Vietnam. Locally, they are United Laboratories.

Through our tour of duty, we often went out as couples, having lunch at Al Fresco along Dong Du Street or after office coffee at the lobby of Sheraton Hotel. Or red wine, if Philip Tiongson was feeling harassed.

Mila and Chief shared the passion for shopping. I remember as our tour of duty was winding down and my cousin, Patrick Velez, was staying with us, we all made an out of town trip to a ceramics factory. Panic buying.

These days, Bingo and Mila are based in Burma. And every Christmas, it is a must for us to get together .

This Christmas, the Pantaleons proudly showed off their new place near EDSA Shangrila Mall. And it a beautiful place with a great view of the city, whether the CBD side or Greenhills side. Their corner condo unit faces EDSA and Ortigas.


Here is a photo of the food, all from Conti’s!

Am sure Chief would like to have a well-designed and arranged home like this one. With less the clutter and kalat all over our current Greenhome. But we can’t really avoid kalat. We have Rafa and Angel to keep us busy! And that is what kids are for, right?