Our Last Day In Caloundra

As always, our Little Prince had a grand time playing in the beach! The weather was getting warm as it is the start of Spring now, but the wind was bringing in chilly air. That won't stop Kaiden from enjoying himself! He wants to be in the beach all the time!

We went on a cruise on our last day, just for something to do before we head home.

Some of the waterfront mansions along Pelican Waters . . .

The Husband asked me if I would like to live there. 'NO' is the answer. I have never been a water person. I love being on the beach because it is relaxing, but to actually live near one does not tickle me. B loves the beach that's why our Son is just like him! He had always wanted us to move in a beach area and desires to have a boat and teach Kaiden how to fish. Sadly, my answer is always NO.

On with the cruise . . .

Our Boy loved being on the boat. He said he wants to have one and be like the kids that he saw fishing! Uh-oh!

Caloundra played a big part in my Husband's growing up years because he almost grew up there. His grandparents used to have a beachfront property and they always stay there during the holidays when they were kids. Whenever we go there, he always stops in front of the house and just reminisce his childhood memories. He wanted to buy that same house but it was never 'For Sale'. We don't even know who owns it now.

On our last day, I dropped him and Kaiden in front of his grandparents' house as I parked the car somewhere. B told the Little One all about his childhood. Kaiden's inquisitive mind started as he bombarded his Father with questions. My "mag-ama" looked so cute as they were having their 'Father-and-Son' talk.

I live for moments like that! I love going away and just being together!

Gorgeously . . .

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UP The Movie

This is the last week of the Little One's spring break. I took him out today to watch the movie UP. It was shown here on the day of my birthday and I promised him that we'll go and see it, but we just did not have time.

So Kaiden was very excited when I told him yesterday that we'll watch Up today.

He loved the movie as much as he enjoyed munching popcorn! He was one of the kids who laughed out loud at funny scenes! He could not stop talking about the parts in the movie that he liked, as we drive back home.

I've got 5 more days to keep the Boy entertained till he is back to school!

Gorgeously . . .

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Praying For The Philippines

The recent typhoon "ONDOY" have deluged almost the whole Metro Manila and its nearby provinces. This was said to be the worst so far that Manila had experienced. Almost a month's rain fell in just 6 hours!

We were out the whole day yesterday and wasn't able to get the calls and text messages from my Dad. Just found out all about Manila's flood when we got back last night. I instantly called at home. They were cleaning and sweeping the water out, for the first time. We as a family had never experienced flooding of any sort. That was a first!

When my parents bought the house a year ago, the former owners never mentioned anything about the place getting flooded. I guess partly our fault because we did not survey the place or asked around. Too late now, and surely karma will find its way back to them!

Anyways, I believe that the good Lord looks after my family back in the Philippines all the time. The street always gets inundated even with a few showers, but it never reached our front door. The neighbors were amazed that the house stays dry, unlike when the former owners were still living there. Well, not till yesterday. The water rose up to our family room all the way to the back porch. Dad could not move the cars any higher than where they were.

After everything, I am very thankful that my family are all fine. The flood had receded and they are just cleaning up. They did not lose power nor the water supply. Our relatives were alright as well.

Though I could not help but shed a tear to those who have lost their houses or have their homes get submerged in water, and worst, those who died.

I hope and pray help got to those who are in dire need of rescuing. God bless them!

Gorgeously . . .

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Caloundra

We're back from our beach escapade!

It is the Little One's school holiday for 2 weeks, he'll be back to school on the 5th of next month. And we spent the first few days of it at Caloundra in the Sunshine Coast, still here in Queensland; more than hour away from Brisbane.

We stayed at a beach front hotel called La Promenade


We originally booked a 1 bedroom penthouse suite but they have upgraded us to a 2 bedroom one!

Our own jacuzzi on the rooftop, which we did not get to use.

Some of the yummy food we gobbled up.

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

And this is the view that greets us every morning!

Gorgeously . . .

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On A Beach Mode . . .

We are going away for a few days. Be back soon!

Gorgeously . . .

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Our 2-in-1 Celebration . . . Première Partie

First of all, I want to thank you guys for those lovely birthday messages! I feel special! LOL! Pardon me if I haven't been able to visit any blogs for days now because a lot had been going on. We are always on the go, and out everyday that I hardly had time to have a long sit and be with my laptop. But here I am now!

Anyways, my 'Day' 2 Thursdays ago was nothing special. We just had a simple dinner here at home with some relatives. Our special celebration will be on that weekend.

And since Father's Day here was last, last Sunday, we decided to celebrate my Birthday and Father's Day all together!

Father's Day: Being the good wifey that I am, I treated the Husband with my specialty; a McDonald's drive thru breakfast! I know, my bad! I could never surprise him in the morning because he gets up waaay too early than me, and yes, I am a sleepy head! We had people here early that morning so I thought I'll just treat everybody to a breakfast from Macca.

The Husband, the Son and I left the house around lunch time and drove to the Gold Coast.

We went up to the Q1 Observation Deck at Surfer's Paradise. Q1 is the world's tallest residential tower in the Southern Hemisphere. One can see a stunning 360 degree view of the Gold Coast. Admission Fee for Adult is AU$19.00 and AU$11.00 for Child.

QDeck has one of the World's fastest elevators taking you from the ground to Level 77 in just 43 seconds! The Boy loved it when we were going up fast! That speedy elevator reminded me of the time we did a photo shoot for the Taipei 101's book back in 2004, when the building was still on its finishing stages. Kaiden was only 5 months old. Taipei 101 had the world's fastest elevator then, I guess until now. It was cool how they dim the light to total darkness then a galaxy-like feature shines above that makes you feel like you're in outer space as the elevator shoots you up to level 100! Stop . . . talking about Q1 now!







This is the spectacular view of the Gold Coast that goes on as far as the eyes can see!


This is the QBar . . .


And the food and drinks we had . . .





The Little One loved running around looking at every side. We stayed there for a long time just appreciating the gorgeous view. It was a good afternoon being together as a family, up high as 230 metres above sea level in one of Australia's landmarks!




I will have to end this post here, as it is already quite long. The continuation of our double celebration to follow . . .

Gorgeously . . .

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To Aussie And Kiwi Dads . . .

. . . especially to the great and caring DAD of my Little Prince!

I have mentioned way back that Father's Day here in Australia and in New Zealand is celebrated during this month. We have been observing it every June for years, obviously because I was used to it. But since we are here, we might as well do it the Aussie way! So we are celebrating it today!

I will try to make this extra special for my beloved B. This is his first Father's Day without his Dad. Though it might be hard since Pop's passing will be a month by tomorrow. But I believe the Husband will make this day a happy one for our Little Boy, as we continue to fill his memory bank with lots of joyous family moments!

Gorgeously . . .

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My Special Day!

"We know we're getting old when the only thing we want
for our birthday is not to be reminded of it!"

Gorgeously . . .

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Uz Redzēšanos, Apburošs LATVIJA!!!

Time indeed go by fast these days. I could not believe it had already been one whole year since we left Latvia. Exactly 1 year yesterday. I so miss LATVIA!

We have called this beautiful little country in Eastern Europe as our home for more than a year. I will be honest that I did not like it there when we came to live; simply because I was still nursing a broken heart . . . from my 2 years love affair WITH DUBAI! Albeit I initially liked the place the first time B and I came to check it. I guess I just wasn't ready to leave Dubai yet.

But Latvia slowly found it's way to me somehow. Yes, I never liked it during it's freezing to the bone winter; but I love and will always love it's perfect summer weather! Summer there were the nicest one I ever had!

Latvians are very warm people too. Their very fashionable women were nice to look at; notwithstanding how they dye their hair orange and red, sometimes pink or purple! Yes, even oldish women there are sporting such colored hair. Wandering along the Old Town is like having a front row seat at a fashion event. Latvian women are also into dressing up; and they are very good at it. There's just something about European women that fascinates me! Oh, and I also love how they have perfected the art of walking at cobblestones in really high and thin heels! They walk as if they are stepping on a flat surface. My sister Tyn and I have tried strollling along the Old Town in heels, but we end up supporting each other's balance and our heels always gets stuck in between the cobblestones. It was an amusing experience!

Learning Latvian language is so difficult but I never actually had a hard time communicating because most of them knows how to speak in English. And there's the iconic sign language! How can you go wrong with that?! LOL!

Prices of everything there from food, clothes, shoes, furnitures and appliances can be quite expensive; but we managed to enjoy and indulge ourselves a little.

There are a lot of things I could say about our wonderful stay there; but talking about it at the moment only makes me miss the place that bad!

So for now . . . I sure am still missing you RIGA, LATVIA!

Thank you so much for the memories!

Gorgeously . . .

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