2011: Press Start

Here's to starting over.

Here's to making things better.

Say hello to the Rabbit.

Happy New Year everyone! :D

Davao Soars

The day before my uncle's family went back to Cagayan de Oro, we went swimming at Gap Farming Resort. And yes, swimming plus the sun equals me being toasted, literally. I'm darker than my usual color now. Haha Oh well, whitening regimen again when I go back to Manila. :P There were a lot of fun memories on that day, the pool shot, where we fell on the pool one by one. The numerous cannon balls I did. :) The "back stroke" of my mom which, according to my uncle, looked like a reverse butterfly. LOL The swimming race. The failed "find the bottle in the pool," failed because my mom prepared a clear bottle filled with water. It did sink yes, but it just sank and was never found since it camouflaged with the pool floor. Haha

Carabao and the Magsasaka

us in the pool

After GAP, we went to the mall, my cousins and my brother were supposed to play DOTA but unfortunately there is no internet cafe in it. Instead, we went to World of Fun, played different games and went on a bump car ride. :)

bump car at World of Fun

That was the last day with my uncle, aunt, and cousins. The next morning they traveled already to CdO. It was unusually quiet in the apartment when they left. No more super Xbox marathon at tito's  LCD TV. The pink room where they were staying is empty and quiet. The only noise that could be heard is the TV plus the chattering, bantering and quarreling voices of me and my siblings plus mom. Humph. I wish this to be repeated, they live in Cagayan de Oro and we live in Cavite. They rarely fly to Manila either us to CdO. The last time I saw them was well, a few months back but before that it was more or less 10 years ago. So, yeah... I want a repeat. Hehe :P :D

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Yesterday, we went to Butterfly House and Crocodile Park of Davao. There were lots of pretty butterflies in it unfortunately we didn't have a nice camera to take photos with. But my mom did her best to capture the photos of some butterflies we saw in the farm. The extraordinary ones are hard to find plus they can't be reached by the "zoom" of our camera phone.

Davao Butterfly House

newly hatched butterfly. :)

Pupae Shelf

the female will lay eggs in a few days ;)

Some of the butterflies we saw...

The Crocodile Park was also fun, besides the crocodiles, it features some birds and other zoo animals too.

We also visited the Tribu K Cultural Village. Not much photos were taken as it was almost dark when we got there.

Uyaanan - a traditional house of the tribe

So much for now. Next post will be about more of our trips here in Davao.

xoxo

Davao Xcelerates ;P

Yesterday, we passed by Ateneo de Davao University and ADD HS & GS campuses. It's just fun to see Ateneo de Davao 'coz i just usually see Ateneo de Manila University campus. ADDU isn't as big as ADMU and their HS & GS divisions are separate from their College division. I know I'm Lasallian but there are no La Salle Schools here in Davao so yeah. Haha

the name beside the gate

I think this is their main building. It has the popular insignia on it. In ADMU their line is Lux In Domino, at ADDU their line is Fortes in Fide.

ADDU with the popular insignia

at the gate

Their HS & GS campus sign. I was inside the car while taking that photo. So sorry for the speeding look.

ADDU GS & HS

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Before going to the ADDU campuses, my uncle said that we'd be passing by the mansions of the Ampatuans. God, their mansions are really mansions. If you think that houses at Ayala Alabang are big, well, the Ampatuans really defined the word mansion. They have two houses erm, mansions, in Davao. One that we think they live at, but not now, and the other which is kind of almost done. It covers a whole block and it's not just the lot that's big, the house itself is really big. If the lot covers the whole block, maybe the garden would only be 1/8 of it and the rest is already the house. Of course, we weren't able to go inside but seeing the facade, whoa... huge.

This is the first house we passed by. This is the one that we think that they lived in before. It doesn't look deserted but I doubt that there are real Ampatuans in it.

This is the bigger one, it covers the whole block, the walls and the gates are high. Unfortunately, this mansion looks deserted. Not to mention the paints of the walls are not done.

Just to picture how high the walls and the gates are.

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Just earlier, we went on a picnic at Outland Extreme. The fun was set off after eating lunch, my cousins, sis and I were playing with the raft at the man-made lagoon. You have to pull on a rope to be able to cross to the other side of the bank. My cousins were the one pulling, my cousin Niko, I think, went out of balance and tried to hold on to the rope for support, instead of giving support the rope just went toward him and he fell in the water. My cousin Kyle, being on the same side with Niko also fell. At first, me and my sister were shocked then we all laughed. Because of laughing hard, my sister wasn't able to take a photo of Niko and Kyle while in the water. (evil laugh hahaha) The sad thing is, Kyle's phone dove along him. :(

Cousins, Sis and I on the raft

Outland Extreme has zip line. We tried it and whoa, it's real fun! :D

We tried it twice, the first try was the usual position which is the Superman position. The second try is the inverted sitting position or the upside down position. Haha Double fun! At first, the second position was scary coz everything was passing me fast in a topsy turvy way but when I was half way, it was fun already. Haha

me being geared up

Take off! Zoom!

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Oh before I forget, we go to a nearby parish to hear masses. I've been to "high-end churches" but this one is something. On the outside, it doesn't look like it's "high end" it's not even air-conditioned. What caught my eye is the large crystal chandelier in it. It has four black wrought iron chandeliers then on the middle of those is a huge chandelier. It's similar to the chandelier at the Opera House in the movie Phantom of the Opera. It's not impossible for the parish to have that since the village where it is situated is somehow for the rich of Davao. It's my first time to see a chandelier that huge in a church, in a cultural center or an opera house, more possible but a church. Nope.

And that sums up two of my Davao days. Hehe just two days but full of fun! :D :P

xoxo

Merry Christmas!!!

Joyeux Noel!

Feliz Navidad!

Already had our Noche Buena, now waiting for the clock to strike midnight for the gift giving and officially say "Merry Christmas!". Hehe :D

hmmm...what could be my gifts? Surprises... Haha ;)

xoxo