Talk to da hand

Kieran's first snub. That's what you get for trying to impress an older woman.

Jimmy and Maria's daughter, Marissa. She's two weeks older than Kieran.
Jimmy's already taught her not to fall for just a nice smile.
She wants the complete package - money and power have to come with it too.




So the kiddies ran around, bumping their heads on the church sign. Checking out the local vegetation. Good thing the grounds weren't wet.




We were at Marlo and Wing's Judgement Day. The rains held off, at least until the ceremony was over and people left the church parking lot. Must have been a sign from above.

I don't think Keon was feeling the love in this Kodak moment. They might have to photoshop him out.





This wedding was a long time coming. But it finally happened.
It was lots of planning, crafting and stress.
In the end, it was really about the shoes.
Woo hoo!


Hello Fotos

Haircut 1

It was time Kieran got his first haircut. It's almost as long as Marianne's. This lady BTW has been handling my mortgage for the past 7 years and this is the first time I've ever met her. I've never come into the branch to sign anything. I've done all correspondence via email, fax or inter-office mail. I was all prepared for being home assigned for work and setting up a home office. It was in my blood.

So I made an appointment so she could finally see Kieran in real life.

So we've finally took Kieran to get some hair chopped off. I had called ahead to find out if Fabian (over near Dundas and Bloor) was busy or not. I gave him a day heads up just in case. So luckily for us we hit a lull in his busy schedule and timed it just RIGHT.








We even got VIP parking out front. I think that was just in case Kieran moved around too much and accidentally got more than just hair cut. But he was amazingly good. Just watch the video. For the Filipinos...Bid-ee-oh.



So I got my haircut first just so Kieran could get used to the surroundings and get used to Fabian. After I was done, it was Kieran's turn.

In the end he cleaned up Kieran's hair really nice. He made so if he falls down, his hair doesn't go into his eyes. And more importantly he still looks like a baby.

Hello Fotos...

Get the jiggy wid it

It's funny how a beat makes your muscles do involuntary things.
It's either that or there's something in the water in Robbinsville.

We were Faked out

We were at the Organic Market in High Park on Saturday.

There's 3 containers of organic raspberries there on the counter, but one of them is empty.
The little guy hanging on to mama's shorts emptied it into his mouth and down into his belly.

Tresa's actually looking for 10 dollars in pennies and nickels to pay for the stuff, because we had tried to pay for it with a counterfiet 10 spot.

WE didn't know. But I wished I'd taken a photo of it so everyone can see the difference. It's actually quite obvious.

The guy in the middle lined a real one and the fake one up.
The fake didn't have the silvery strip on the one side and the paper was very worn and not the same feel.

So I did the only thing that any one who would have been in my position would have done. I took it back to the place where I got the $10.00 bill and exchanged it for a real one.

So check the money you get back.

This is why I prefer debit or credit cards. Although there's other problems with that. Like identity theft.

No More just saying 'no'

Since taking the Wee-Hands signing course with Kieran he's learned to communicate with us using sign language.

All of the signs he knows are food related.
The instructor said to me if I wanted him to learn, that I'd need to find something that interests him. Hmmm....let me think.
That was easy. It was food.

Here he's actually completing the sign for please. I'm trying to get him to say please, but the signing is quicker for him to get more food.


He does the sign for more (actually he does the sign for hurt) but the two are similar. But we know what he means. If he's pointing at food. He doesn't mean "hurt food". We know he means "more food!"

And he says the word 'more' now. It sounds like 'mo' though. And so I think the signing has helped him to start using words. He started saying words other than 'no' about a month ago. He was tentative at first but once he got what he wanted he says them more confidently now.

He says 'ball', he also knows balloon, but it comes out 'badoom'.
If you ask him to get his shoes and socks, he'll get them.

So his communication skills are coming along.
He also says 'mama'.
Sometimes he calls Papa, 'mama'. No big deal it doesn't matter to me.

The only thing Tresa is concerned about is losing the curls in his hair. Which is why his hair is so long. We might get it trimmed, just so he can see. But we may leave his hair long, like a mullet. Then cut it and donate it to Michael Bolton.



And here we're just clapping because we are almost ready to go to daycare.
Of course when we leave daycare, he will say 'bye-bye'.

And he also knows the sign for cheese as well.
I asked him to say 'cheese' for the photo, but he says 'chis'. Actually most filipinos say it like that too.
Just ask Tita Puri to say "I'd like 1 sheet of paper", and listen carefully.








HELLO Fotos

2006 Terry Fox Run

It was that time of year again.

The High Park location was almost cancelled this year, and they were looking for volunteers to carry on the organizing of the event.

Well lucky for us it still went on.



I didn't create a team this year that people could contribute to, but we still did it for Trish's Team anyways when we registered.

It's turned to be a really nice day, but having not run very much this year. I'm pooped after doing the run. Must be getting old. Or I'm just really out of shape.

I think it's a bit of both.





And after the run we headed to the food station and did our best Dave Lee imitation and loaded the jogger up with food freebies.

I hope that everyone remembered to do the Terry Fox run this year.


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Public Housing

Hey the builder said it was ready to move in?
What da eck?
That's just foundation.

Ninie's gonna freak!




Naw just kidding here's Ninie, Ray, Ryan and Jade's new pad. Ray even splurged the extra bucks to add in the option for a new addition to the house. That's that big structure in the front.

Guess what it is?



It's Ryan's Room! STAY OUT JADE!
BC = Cool Boys only.
Look how happy he is.
Ray even added two portholes for light, so he wouldn't have to waste electricity.

Wait until winter time comes and it's 40 below outside. I don't think Ray paid the extra dinero for insulating Ryan's room.

He'll be huddled in that back corner conserving heat.



It don't matter cuz Ryan don't know.

See he's shouting

"Who's got the best room in the house?
RYAN! Dat's ME!"


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Digging for gold

We were searching for some green gold. Not the nuggets that Kieran's digging for. But some cold hard cash!

We'd never been to Atlantic City and it was less than an hour and a half away.


I wouldn't call myself a gambling man. I've only ever played roulette, and those were 1 or 2 dollar chips. I've been too intimidated by the black jack tables and pissing off the other players.



So we went to Trump's home. And hoping that some of his dollars would end up in my pocket.

We checked out the boardwalk. And all the psychic readers and 24 hr gyro places that also sold funnel cakes and pretzels.

After dinner Chris and I headed upstairs to the Casino to play roulette.

I'd given myself basically 60 USD to lose. But the tables were all 15.00 minimum bets, there was one 10.00 table but it was packed.

So we found a roulette table with two seats and cashed in for chips.

I passed on the first spin. Not really sure why, but I think it was because I wasn't in a rush to lose my money.
So on the next spin I put four 5.00 chips down on the table and one of them was on RED 35. I kind of just followed the guy in between myself and Chris.

The next thing I knew, the dealer put the plastic marker on my chip!
36-1 for my 5.00 bet.
I was kinda dumbfounded, and in utter disbelief. I looked at Chris and he said "Let's get out of here!"
If I'd played any more, I'd be just giving the casino some of it's money back.

I think I know why this happened? It was karma.
Papa was broke from mama's shopping.

So then we cashed out and bought some chocolate fudge and ice cream! WOO HOO!

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NJ roadtrip

It was time again for our annual journey to our cousins' place in the Garden State, visiting outlets along the way looking for hidden treasures.

But before we headed out, we started the day with some breakfast over at dedek and baka's house. Most of it made it's way into our stomachs.

It was a wet day for a road trip, but it was better than staying inside and watching the paint dry.

I know Tresa was happy to get out of the house, since it's her vacation.




Believe it or not, this is how the concept of stackable townhomes came about.









It was a tiring journey though. Looking for deals and markdowns isn't easy you know. Plus, nine hours sitting in the back seat listening to a bus singing "Wheels of the bus go round and round" can really get to you, mentally and physically.
It looked like Kieran got run over by the wheels of the bus going round and round.




When we woke up we found ourselves by the Atlantic ocean beside million dollar homes building sand castles. Because sand was all we could afford.


The salt water was cool and amazing for Kieran's skin. A big excited smile was on his face as he felt the tide coming in and out around him. Or was that me?
The undertow was subtle. Before you knew it was pulling you farther out into the ocean. I tried to do an easy frontcrawl back to shore, but I was going nowhere. I realized that I had better get back to the safety of the beach, so I tried going on my back and kicking but that didn't seem to work too well either. I turned over and tried with way more effort to frontcrawl my way back to shore.
It was a little bit of a scare, but Chris and I managed to get back to shore without having to yell for a lifeguard.

This wasn't Baywatch you know.

After the beach we crashed an Indo-American something going on in Mercer park.
Chris stood out like a blob of white-out on a big brown sheet of cardboard.

We thought we were getting a great deal on Indian buffet for 5 bucks, but it was limited to certain dishes. What a scam. Of course they don't tell you that until you fork over the 5 bucks for a piece of styrofoam to plate your food.

It was analagous to a taxi driver taking you on a longer route to your destination. You know, the "short cut", through heavy traffic, while he's singing "watch the meter going round and round".


Then it was time for bed.
The timestamp on this photo is 9:13pm.

And look who's still up.



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SodaPop Centric!

Sarsi is the national soda pop of the Philippines. Made with runoff water from the rice terraces. This soda pop drink is made with unfiltered carbonated and untreated water, 70% stainless steel containers and 30% PVC and 100% sugar.

TASTING NOTES:

Huge root beer aromas fill the glass followed by a dark licorice flavour. Smooth and juicy with a bubbly finish.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

53 PTS
All the classic Root Beer flavours I adore. Not as intense as A&W, but still a very good soft drink. The bottle was only 240 ml, much smaller than comparable soft drinks. Retails for around $1.