January 19 will always be a special day for me, especially since 2005. Since then, life has been a celebration - all about my wife, my kids, the places we go and the stuff we do.
I called her up this morning. When it's your third birthday, it's important to get a call from Daddy.
We had a fairly long conversation too, as discussions with three-year-olds go. She was babbling away and in the back, I could hear Yaya Juvy instructing her, "Thank you, Daddy," "I love you, Daddy," and finally "Bye-bye, Daddy."
All the kids are in Oz with their Prieto grandfolks; T left yesterday for a week of scuba diving in Tubbataha... the house is dark, hot and humid. To keep myself occupied, I played 22 holes of golf and swam a kilometer yesterday and then swam another today.
At home, it's the second round of mechado and binagoongan, but one hardly cares when you get home from the office past ten. And anyway afterwards, there's this blog to keep me occupied!
It was Saturday, January 19, Annika's 10th birthday, and she was working hard on a drawing. She said she had just gotten an idea - that Shakey's pizza parlors should have roofs shaped like giant pizzas.
I said if she wrote a short note to her grandma Marixi, then I would send the note onwards.
I kinda liked the drawing though, so I scanned it first. The details are amazing. There's a parking lot, with just one car slot empty. There's even a drive thru, and the car going through has a doggie in the window.
At the Prieto New Year dinner, conversation turned to the Prieto book that's soon to be released. I was reminded of one of the photos from that book, of some of the Prieto cousins as pre-teens.
It's interesting to spot the changes vs. the picture from New Year's Day 2008, about 35 years difference. There are four people who are in both pictures - Jane, Karla, Nannette and Tessa.
We welcomed 2008 in Boracay. New Year's in Bora is something we've never done before. In April 2007, I was able to book two rooms at newly opened Discovery Shores, thanks to C, the wife of the owner and also an old friend from high school. With that we decided that we would, for the first time in a decade, not spend New Year's Eve in Tagaytay. We flew down a few days after Christmas and were greeted by perfect sunny weather. The sand in Boracay is perfect for sculpting. This little mermaid is something I've been carving from Boracay sands since the early 80's when I first visited the island. Annika was happy to be my little helper. Tyrone's own sand castle had all the anime effects imaginable, as well as some perfectly formed sand cannonballs. All the kids loved the water and even Athena had her first chance to go wading at night. This was also Athena's first trip to Boracay and she really enjoyed just swimming in the beach and in the pool, and also jumping around the resort - this video from when we were waiting for the New Year's Eve fireworks. That was a fantastic sight, as all the resorts along the 7-km. long beach put up their separate displays. The result was a barrage worthy of a war zone.
Among the hordes of people on the island, we somehow managed to meet other Prietos. So a dinner was planned and it turned out that each of the six branches of children of Lolo Bibilo and Lola Chucha Prieto were represented: Bianca and Karla (2nd from R), representing Tita Peachie; Tessa, representing Poplex; Nanette, representing Tita Bettina; Jane, representing Tito Raffy; Anito, representing Tito Mauro; and Martin, representing Tito Jaime.
I called her up this morning. When it's your third birthday, it's important to get a call from Daddy.
