Becoming the Biggest Loser

Well, not IN the show, but at least STARTING a workout program. I coerced the kids, including Reese, to join me in the morning. They "reported" for exercise at 830ish am and we set up everything in the den which had the space to accommodate all 5 of us.

And we went right into......


Yup. We actually did it! Hehehehe. Obviously starting with Level 1, we followed Bob's instructions. And paid for it by the end of the day! Man, were my LEGS aching! My goodness! It hurt to walk down the stairs, to get up on the bed, to just move my legs! Sheesh! I guess that's what happens when we rarely use our muscles, LOL! Man!

And the sweat! Was it pouring down our faces and our bodies! Even the kids were sweating up a storm; Rogan stopped after the first few minutes and asked if he could just take off his shirt and exercise topless, hehehehe. Apparently, it worked because he didn't stop for the entire session, including the Biggest Loser Yoga! Whoa!

The only thing about all the sweating ---especially down the face--- is that pimples are most likely going to crop up. And with Raegan and Reese, that'll be another visit to the dermatologist for sure to get some acne treatment. I'm probably going to have to go too, if these pustules start popping all over my face! Blech!

After workout, I had to quickly shower and get to work....but I barely got any office work done because I was concentrating on fixing stuff for Lola's birthday trip to Singapore! Sigh!

Earth Day

Not Earth Day the DAY, but Earth Day, the KIT, by Jacque Larsen. :) Designed at the last minute for Earth Day on April 22nd, Jacque brought out this kit for The Lily Pad's Tadpole Tuesday:


I didn't have the photos we had of the Earth Hour last month on hand, so I thought out of the box and came up with this:


hehehehe. I liked how it turned out, with a touch of whimsy. Sort of. And that quote is just PERFECT, don't you think?

* * *

When I left the office today, the staff were asking me why I wasn't joining them for Office Aerobics anymore. Well, it HAS been quite a busy month, what with the Singapore trip and the upcoming Hong Kong meet to go to! Whew! Definitely a whirlwind few weeks! I *do* miss exercising (gasp, is that me???), especially the aerobics sessions at the office!

I have announced that I was going to be serious on the exercise front starting May. For sure. I've asked the kids to help me out on this and, with a promise from me that Papa wasn't going to be in our exercise sessions, they willing agreed. We've lined up swimming, running and walking so far. It has yet to be scheduled, but hey, planning's a start right? Then there's Office Aerobics every Tuesday and Thursday. I can pencil in yoga at home in the mornings if I don't get to do anything with the kids. I also want to try Kettlebells. Looks interesting AND fun at the same time! Making a note to self to do some more research on these funny looking dumbbells!

So yes, I am SERIOUS about starting to exercise a tad bit more than usual! :)

A Morning Walk and an Afternoon Assessment

The older kids were at swimming training, and Japa soon followed to bike around the village. After scrapping a bit and downloading, I decided to go power-walking in LaVi. Sort of. But when I had made the decision to get up, the rain poured. As in huge raindrops, and pouring in SHEETS! Whoa! It's the summertime, Mother Nature!!!

After an hour or so, the rain finally stopped. Ranger was in his couch potato position, looking like he was going to spend the entire DAY in bed just watching TV. I finally coaxed him to get up and get dressed, purportedly to visit Bric, hehehe.

So off we went to LaVi, and I was able to persuade Bang to come with Bric in tow.

The half hour of walking was pretty good, and I worked up a sweat in no time. I guess those Office Aerobics classes did some good, hehehe. I did miss them the last week when I was sick, that's for sure.

Bang and I kept up a pretty good pace, I thought, although my heart wasn't exacty pounding from the exertion. It was enough pushing the kids in their strollers, especially during the constant upward ramp in the route that Bang had us do. Whew!

And Bric sure entertained us the WHOLE TIME, talking non-stop round trip during the entire half hour. He had a continuous monologue going, lol!


Here's their photo when we got home. I fished out a couple of juice packs from my bag and gave it to them. I asked them if they were tired and they resoundingly said "YES"! Bang and I looked at each other and laughed, THEY were tired?!?! All they did was sit there in their strollers! LOL!

And thirsty---boy, did they chug that juice down like THEY had done all the walking!

In the afternoon, while Japa took the girls to the parlor to have a summer hair cut, I took the boys to have an assessment done for Filipino. Kind of like Kumon, in a way, I guess. Ranger apparently, wasn't all that ready to be enrolled in the program. He was still conversing in English during the entire assessment, hehehehe!

Rogan probably fits perfectly in their target market: older, can read, and refuses to understand Filipino. Truly his father's bane, hehehe. He knew a few basic words, but it was obvious that he needed a lot of work on developing his vocabulary. In Filipino.

I wish I had a ready photo of the girls with their new hairdos. They looked adorable with the shorter hair! Of course, it was all nice and fixed since they came from the parlor. Crossing my fingers that they'd be able to fix their hair like this everyday! Yeah right. Here's hoping that they'd at least ATTEMPT to fix their hair the way it should be fixed! :)

Harder Aerobics

Site duty today :) The day started late, though, since I dyed my hair a deep dark brown. Yup, all by myself; the advantages of having much shorter hair, hehehe. Cheaper, too! I took my time blow drying and straightening it.

Boydee arrived to pick me up and we went to the site together. He attended the funeral mass of Oel's dad while I went straight to work. I would have been much more productive if it weren't for the internet connection going all wonky again. Sigh! Otherwise, it was finalizing monitoring work sheets, calling some clients, coordinating payments.

I didn't have time to even set up my DVD burner to back up files to disc! I was planning to have that running in the background, but there simply was no time to take everything out of the bag and set it up. Oh well. Sometime tonight as I watch TV....or scrap.....maybe.

I did get to Office Aerobics on time, though! And MAN, it was just HARD today!!! I'm not sure if it's because I was tired in general (which I'm sure it wasn't), or our aerobics sessions keep getting harder and harder! I was telling Bang during our burning-butt exercise that Lai might DIE if she waits too long to join us since our workouts seem to be getting more and more difficult to do! Hehehehe.

Can anyone say Jane Fonda workout? Yes, those famed exercise sessions that brought on the aeroics craze. We were doing ab workouts and leg-burning exercises like there was no tomorrow! And holy moly, did I find out the HARD way that I had lower abs!!! Ugh! I'm usually pretty good with ab workouts but I have to admit that my humongo legs were totally weighing me down. LITERALLY!!! Most of us were grunting, huffing and puffing in the latter part of the hour. Yes, I was probably the loudest since most of the staff were probably too shy or too embarrassed to make loud noises :)

This is probably the last thing I'm going to do tonight, I'm that tired. I did try to scrap, but I found myself staring at Photoshop for about a minute without doing anything. That's when I realized I was tired, hahahahaha!

I just want to veg out in front of the tv, pop in a DVD movie or TV series and just RELAX!!! Obviously, some home theatre seating would be waaaaay preferable to this super duper old thing we call a couch which leans against the foot of our bed, but beggars can't be choosers, lol! This old thing probably has at least a couple more years on it, bwahahahaha!

Look at all the endings of my paragraph....they end in laughter. Yes, I'm delirious and tired. Signing off now before I keep laughing myself silly!

Aerobics for the Third Time

Oh yeah, oh yeah! Doing the happy dance here!!! I am on a roll with aerobics, lol! Sounds a bit archaic, I know, so........80s, but one of the Sales Directors here at work suggested having some aerobics sessions. So heck, why not right? It's exercise AND I get to suffer ---er, workout--- with other girls from the office, too!

And today was the third session in a row (started Tuesday last week, every T-TH). I just about died with all the leg workout, but I just sweat up a storm, hahahahaha! As in! Not even 10 minutes I think and I could feel the sweat pouring down my face! Alright! This is a good sign, yes? Sure beats being on treadmills anytime! Usually, I start to sweat only on the 12th to 15th minute whenever I start to exercise, but the aerobics sessions so far have been pretty good for me!

Yes, we've got abdominal workouts as well, so I know this will be good for my back!

A Day at the Hospital

I *was* supposed to go to the Site today, but Mom didn't have anyone with her in the hospital. The second male nurse couldn't quite cut the work required for Dad. Oh well. So I spent another day at the hospital, TRYING to work. The most I could do, really, was write several memos. And that was it. I tried to do numbers stuff, but the hospital environment just wasn't a conducive working environment at all! Sigh!

I did beg Mom that I *had* to leave by 530 at the latest so that I could attend Office Aerobics, hehehehe. I need to keep that going just so I'd get some exercise in! We were smarter today, leaving the AC on a tad so we can get some air. It was better, and I think everyone did pretty well. I worked up a sweat pretty quickly, which was an achievement in itself, LOL!

Here are a couple of pages I got done yesterday:

SNAKE BOY

2ND AQUATHLON

The Aquathlon and The Artiste

{AQUATHLON}

Bright and early and Japa, the girls and I were off to Ateneo for the Aquathlon. Second year in a row and here we are! Yeah! Hehehe. For me, it was just the perfect excuse to get off my arse, hehehe. Call it my annual bout of exercise, bwahahahaha!

My goal wasn't to come in first, obviously, but to beat my time. This year, the organizers borrowed this thing called the RFID. Made the whole event feel so.....professional, hehehe. They gave us this band that we wore on our right ankles. That was on us during the entire 600m swim, and the 5k run. However, it was only activated when we stepped on the starting mat AFTER the swim and AFTER the run. It therefore recorded only the run part; the swimming part was still tallied by the event's organizers.

This year, the damn Lipovitan I took with my medicine overwhelmed me. I don't know who of you take Lipovitan, but for those who do, I'm sure you understand what I mean when I say I felt this rush of blood going through my entire body, making me almost hyperventilate. Which technically, wasn't too great if you were in the water trying to avoid gulping in globs of water as swimmers splashed around you.

After getting over that Lipovitan feeling, I started to feel better and stretched out my strokes. I finished the swim in 18:20. Should've been better if not for that drink, I swear, hehehehe. I think I was a tad bit faster last year.

And let's not even get started on my transition time, LOL! It took me 3:10 from the time I got out of the water to the time I started my run. Don't these people know how HARD it is to put on a b.r.a when you're wet?!?!? As it was, for the second year in a row, I ended up NOT wearing my support BECAUSE I was having such a hard time putting it on! Sheesh!

And then the run. I felt pretty good. Maybe it was the Lipovitan finally kicking in properly? I don't know. But I knew m,y body was fine. And yes, that pain reliever Roby prescribed for me (Arcoxia) was truly heaven-sent! My back was fine, my ankle was fine, my breathing was fine. Cool! I finished the whole thing in one hour and eighteen minutes. One minute more than last year!!! Grrrrr! Must've been my transition time, you think? :)

{THE ARTISTE}

Ah, yes. Our Artiste in the family had a performance today for their final Trumpets play. He had the minor lead for the boys; the whole play centered on the girls, who comprised 98% of the entire cast, lol! Yup, 2 boys, Rogan and Nathan. Rogan had a few solo parts and after a rocky start where he started off higher than his usual voice (hahaaha) he quickly lowered it and everything pretty much went smoothly.

He looked just darling up there on the itty bitty stage. So big, yet so shy. Hehehehe. He did well, although the stage was a bit cramped with all the kids crammed on there, and he was in the back too. Good thing he was pretty big, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten to see him during all the dancing parts.

He was sooo excited to be on that stage. You could see it in his eyes, in his movement. He was a little bit consious in the beginning (who wouldn't?!) but he warmed up pretty quickly towards the middle, even directing the other kids to where they should be standing!

And he's already talking about Trumpets during the summer!

After the play, Rogan and Raine rushed off to attend Kiel's birthday party while the rest of us brought Mommy Nena and Doods home.

What a day!

Heck, what a WEEKEND!!!! :)

***Trying to upload a video of Rogan singing, but it is taking FOREVER! So forget it! :)

Swimming, Camping, Scrapping

Activity-filled day today!

1. Swimming - Since we went to mass yesterday, we planned on going swimming Sunday morning. Not to be dissuaded, I called and texted Rod and Zhar to see if they were still coming along, as planned. Good thing they were up; we had planned to meet at 10 am.

Yes, not a great time to go swimming because of the sun's rays, but the kids had mentioned that the water in the Ayala pool was freezing! We weren't going to take that chance; besides none of us were scared of getting some color in the process.

The kids of course, being the water babies they are, joined us. Japa, Rod and I finished the 24 laps we needed to do for the Ateneo Aquathlon. Zhar did 20 I think. We were the only ones in the pool, so we put the entire area to use: we emulated the aquathlon by swimming in ALL lanes (although the Ayala pool had only 6 lanes as opposed to Ateneo's 8). It made a big difference to me because I didn't need to count at all, hehehe.

At the beginning of the swim, I was cussing myself, thinking that I wouldn't be able to finish the entire thing at all. The water felt so heavy, my ARMS felt heavy! But as I got into the swing of things, it became easier, thank God! Hehehe. Besides, pride was pushing me too, I didn't want to quit in front of the kiddos, you know! I finished 24 laps in 20 minutes. Not bad for doing it for the first time since......last year. Hahahahaha!

The run will be a different story. I know I'm just going to DIE when I do that. I have yet to train for running the 5k! Yuck! Any ideas?

After our laps, the kids pleaded for us to do some relays with them. And we had the bright idea of teaming up the adults (Rod, Zhar and moi) AGAINST the kids (Raegan, Rogan and Raine). NOT that fair of a team-up, I think! Hehehe. But we did give them a run for their money, at least in the freestyle:

The kids had Raegan, Raine then Rogan. For us it was Rod (we wanted to demoralize them early on.....yeah right!), Zhar then me. Rod did beat Raegan, but only by a few meters. Zhar dove into the pool first...a good few lengths ahead of Raine. And then I really looked at her....her arms were sooooo slow, especially when compared to Raine's! Hehehehe, sorry Zhar! As they passed the halfway mark, I was screaming for Zhar to go. Raine was swimming like she had sharks on he tail, she was fast gaining on Zhar! Aaaargh!

I pushed from the wall a tad bit earlier than Rogan.....and must have breathed only TWICE in the whole damn 25 meter length! To top it off, I was ticked off that I saw Rogan LOOK ----LOOK!!!--- at me while he was swimming, to check out where I was in relation to him, the little bugger! Grrrr! Yes, sad to say, he beat me by close to a body length. Hmp! *grumble grumble*

Then the kids had a not-so-bright-idea to mix up the strokes. We were to do butterfly, breast and then free. We should NEVER have agreed to do it! I did fly...against Rogan. And here I was, feeling proud of myself that I was keeping up with Raegan! Hahahahaha! Yes, Mama was dreaming! When I realized it was Rogan who was ahead of me, I started laughing, and got a slight cramp. I stopped with about 5 meters to go, and sputtering, yelled at Zhar to just dive. Hehehehe. Needless to say she never caught up with Raine. And I don't think Rod waited for Zhar to touch the pool before he pushed off, gunning for Raegan. He stopped because he was laughing; apparently, he had tried to reach for Raegan's FOOT to stop her, but he missed.

Bwahahahaha! Yup, the kids are stronger and faster, that's for sure!

2. Camping - It was Father-Child Day at Child's Place, so Ranger, Papa AND Rogan and Raine went to Antipolo. Raegan and I went to the parlor where I got a foot spa and Raegan had a trim (so that she could hot iron her hair everyday if need be).

Anyway, the kids had a blast at Alpadi where they went rappeling, of all things! Even Ranger was a daredevil! That was pretty much all they did in the 2-hour activity. I know, camping for 2 hours. Whatever. But after a few games, Japa prodded the kids to go because he was tired. Hehehe. At least he got some great photos of the kids rappeling down the wall. Sorry, no pics now, they're all in the camera still.

3. Scrapping - Well of course I took advantage of the few hours of peace and quiet to scrap. I finished Ranger's 8th month. Raine's will have to wait, unfortunately, since her pictures haven't been scanned yet. Sigh. Another thing to put on my to do list. So 3 down and 1 more to go, pending the scanning, for The Sisterhood Challenge! Woot!

8th MONTH - RANGER

And how was YOUR day? :)

TGIF!

Well, this week certainly went by fast!

I multi-tasked: I scrapped while watching Monk. Oh, and I exercised today on the elliptical machine! Yay me! :)

Using some CT stuff (of course!). I have a TON of catching up to do!

MY SONSHINE
ROGAN SLEDDING
BRIC IS 2

Not bad, for a night's work! :)

Busy Bees

The kiddos were busy bees today....Saturdays are full days for them, hehehe.

630 am - Swimming training for Raegan, Rogan and Raine. They HAVE to go to swimming since it's only a few weeks away for their first international races. Oh, and they have that AAPS races tomorrow as well.

8 am - They present themselves usually at Ayala, at their grandparents' house. For breakfast. Hehehehe. No wonder our grocery can last up to 6 weeks!

9 am - or thereabouts....they go straight to Kumon for their bi-weekly Math exercises.

1130 am - Raegan was off to a birthday party at Valle Verde Country Club.. Poor dear...swimming in the early morning, taking a shower afterwards, then swimming again. Yes, her hair is definitely paying the price!

1 pm - Rogan was off to Basketball camp with Riley and Rondic. Mom called me to tell me that Dad had no one with him at home, so off I went to pick him up and force him to go to basketball camp to see the boys train. We didn't catch their drills, but we arrived in time to see them play a game with their classmates. Riley was doing pretty well with handling the ball and was clearly enjoying himself:


Rogan was quite an enthusiastic player, going after the ball, with NO thought as to him getting hurt. In a period of maybe 10 minutes, I swear he fell down at least 3 times! hehehe. But he really had SOOO much fun, I'm sure Japa will be happy to hear about it! :)


You think we're done? Not a chance!

3 pm - Raine took off for Tae Kwon Do and was there until 530 pm.

530 pm - We took Raegan and Rogan to mass. Had to be today since we're not sure if we'd have time tomorrow, what with the competition and all.

7 pm - Dinner time. By consensus of sorts ---I guess we were all tired!--- we ordered pizza and stayed home.

Told you we (well, the kids!) were busy bees today!

My ME Time

It's actually all about ME today! No work, no school. It's National Heroes Day today. Randy and Stella took the older kids with them to Lago to go wakeboarding. Stella---don't forget to give me pics, please!!! I need to scrap those :)

Meanwhile, Japa took Raine and Ranger to the Shrine for a photo shoot for the Columbarium. They met Rodney (who would play Ranger's dad) and Boots Anson-Roa (who would play Raine's grandmother), the face of the Columbarium. Japa took lots of pics, but the lighting wasn't all that great because he couldn't use his flash because it would have triggered the slave flash of the professional photographer.

Here are a couple of my faves. Just a couple, since these files are just HUGE!



Boots did say that Raine was a natural. To which, my dear daughter replied, "Yuck! I don't want to be an actress!" Sigh. What to do??? Grrrr! This girl needs some manners, man!

And what did I do with myself all at home? Why, I reveled in my ME time! I alternated between reading and scrapping of course! I enjoyed myself thoroughly and I told myself that once in a while, it *is* good to have some time just by yourself, for yourself. Yes? Yup!

LAUGHING SO HARD
VIRGINIA

Ok. I hear the kids. Time to put away my toys :)

Keeping those Pounds Off!

Yesirree, I am! Whoohooohooo! Yay me! Since 3 months ago when I declared I was sub-200 (hehehe) I've lost another 8 pounds....putting me at an even 190. Still a "shhhhh!" kind of weight, but hey, I can't exactly HIDE that I'm heavy, now can I?!? Of course, no one can probably guess my weight---either they really can't guess it or they're too SCARED to tell me to my face their guess, hahahahahaha!

But I am doing a happy dance here because I *AM* keeping the weight off! Yes, the dancing the past few weeks has definitely helped, but my best friend nowadays has been my diet pills, hehehe. Even before I went back to my doctor a couple weeks back, I had been keeping my weight pretty consistent. She just validated the fact that I've lost an inch here and there and my body has taken on some shape *wink wink!* So yeah, I'm definitely a happy camper!

And with the wedding a mere few weeks away, I'm okay with where I'm at, more or less. Less would be good of course, but I'm not exactly complaining. I get to eat, I get to exercise (by force because all of us *have* to!), and I still get to lose weight AND inches! Can't beat that for sure! Thank goodness my health has been pretty good (knock on wood!!!) and that it allows me to take diet pills (with my doctor's orders of course) safely. But I do need to go get my thyroid hormones checked just to make sure. Writing that down here so I won't forget in all my euphoria about keeping those extra poundage off so far!

Long term goal? About 20-30 more pounds to go. Short term goal, meaning, to the anniversary and up to Rod and Zhar's wedding.....ummm....maybe 10 pounds? Hehehe. Maybe. Five would be good, 10 would be oh-so-sweet!

I guess I should get on the Wii Fit on a more regular basis. I mean, I *did* line up for the dang thing and people all over have been dying to find a Board, and here I am letting my Board waste away. Bad bad bad me! I really should do a better job on that! After all, I *did* get that Wii Fit Board for ME!

Still no scraps today, egad! And I've got a TON of layouts to catch up on, too! Ack!

Philippine Independence Day

Today should have been the REAL holiday. See a couple of posts down why it isn't. Still gets me every time!

Anyway, it was Ranger's FIRST day of school today! He starts in the Junior level and he was pretty excited to go! He had a new bag, and a new container for his rice and baon for recess. He was up bright and early and was talking a mile a minute when he entered the room to greet us good morning.

I sent the camera with Kocet to take pics of him. Call it age, I don't know---maybe my bad back? But I was in no mood to get up so early just to take photos of him at school. :) Hmmmm....laziness? Hehehehe. I figured the yaya can take pics because she knows how to operate the camera anyhow. Both the non-SLR AND the SLR. So major whew (!) moment because there's at least someone else who can take photos of the kids! Sure, they won't always be perfect photos, but hey, that's what Photoshop is there for, right? Hehehe.

Absolutely no time to scrap today, but we did have our very first practice for the Ruby Anniversary celebration! We had a couple of choreographers come to the house...in La Vista. Mom and Dad took Lola to China for her birthday (along with Rod and Zhar), so we had the house all to ourselves!

There was a lot of us, and the BEST part was that we actually FINISHED and nearly perfected (nearly!!!) the Finale for the entire program! Can anyone say "fast learners"???? Not a small feat, considering we had the kids, some office angels and a mix-and-match bunch of other relatives! Hehehehe. But it was fun, and boy, did we work up a sweat as we literally danced the night away....well, all 3 hours of practice time, anyway!

Thank goodness I had a girdle on. Yes, I was plastered with sweat, but it was the ONLY thing that was holding my lower back together all throughout the entire practice!!! When I took it off at home to take a shower, I almost crumpled from the sheer pain of it Ugh!

Anyway, before signing off, I just want to announce to the entire world how much of a NERD I am: (all for a Sweet Rewards Point over at SSD)




TTFN!

Blah Day

Nothing exciting happening today. Just went to work and stayed at my desk for the whole day. Which is a major reason why I think my back has been acting up recently. No, not just some lower back pain...I'm talking about a pinched-nerve kind of pain, even a slipped-disc kind of pain! In other words, not so good news for my back. Grrr!

And I've been doing so well on the Wii Fit Board, too! Hehehehe. However, I think I'm not doing any of the push ups just yet....I tried it and I think it hurt my back even more...Ugh. But the YOGA did wonders for the pain though. Stretching really does help those back muscles, and I think I'm going to keep doing it. I don't have time to go and get some physical therapy so I think this is the next best thing.

I'm still a-scrapping, just in case there won't be so much time to do anything tomorrow for my big boy's birthday! :)

And just a short mention of my dream vacation (for that Sweet Rewards Points that I oh-so-need to get before the month ends):

I want to take the entire family on a Disney cruise! :) Not on a measly 3 or 4 night cruise either! A whole week surrounded by Disney anything sounds like so much fun, and I'm sure the kids would have a blast! Ok fine, *I* would definitely have a blast, hehehehe.

Going on a Disney cruise would match living in Orlando, Florida and getting lifetime passes (ok, annual passes, hehehe) to ALL the Disney theme parks!

Soon, soon. Good thing Disney cruises now leave from California...making it more affordable than having to fly all the way to Orlando just to get on a cruise ship! Hehehehe. Yes, ports of call would be in Mexico rather than the Caribbean, but that's ok. With Disney on board, I don't think I'd be leaving the ship! :)

Marathons...of Sorts

Marathon 1: Pentecost Fun Run

We got up bright and early to do a fun run organized by our parish church. We were outside the church a little bit before 7 am to register for the 3k fun run, get our numbers and stretch. I told the kids that I was NOT going to be walking, so they better not start walking super duper slow either, otherwise I'd lose sight of them.


Japa, we all assumed, would be running out in the front for time. Just because. And he did. The kids and I started out at the back of the pack and pretty much stayed there throughout the run, hehehehe. However, if you know me, you know that I had NO intention of coming in last ever at anything if I can help it. So even though I was pushing Rogan and Raine to run run RUN faster, I was telling myself NOT to stop and walk like they were. I did want to finish the whole thing in less than half an hour!

I did stop and turn back towards where Rogan and Raine were just so I wouldn't lose sight of them once we turned onto a busy street. Raegan passed me, but I had to make sure the other two were nearby before I ran after Raegan to finish the race. I passed Raegan and made a respectable time of 20:21 (I think, if I recall correctly). Raegan came in after 10 seconds or so while Raine and Rogan stumbled across the finish line past the 21 minute mark.

And Japa being Japa, he scolded Rogan and Raine for walking most of the way. Sigh. I still maintain they didn't walk most of the way. Maybe half. Hehehehe. They'll get better I'm sure! And the best part is, I did get some much needed exercise! Sure, it had to take the whole family to ensure that I did my part, but it worked!!! :)

Marathon 2: Scrap, scrap and scrap.

Why? For one reason and one reason alone: it's Mother's Day tomorrow!!! I can't post yet what I did for the moms in the family, because that will spoil the surprise, but it is going to be a great one! In a small way, hehehehe. I'm just glad I kind of coerced Japa into taking the kids to the pediatrician for some vaccine shots and wellness check ups. That would've taken me the whole afternoon, for sure!

As it is, I'm *still* scrapping and printing away here!

After 2 Months....

...we had our board meeting. Hehehe. We try to have it once a month, but with everything happening the past couple of months, we somehow forgot to remind everyone of the schedule! Let's see, we had Valentine's Day, Mom's birthday, Dad being rushed to the ER, Lolo's birthday, Raegan's birthday....and swimming and summer! Oh, there's also office and the company outing and team building! Sheesh!

The meeting went well, though. We even had Randy present his reports via iChat, hehehehe. And I guess he's homesick and wants to hear our voices, huh Ran? *wink* Poor Stella was throwing up after she gave her report; I guess she forgot to take some med that prevents her from throwing up after smelling strong odors. We told Randy to go take a shower, hehehehe.

While at the meeting, I had my external hard drive on and I used Time Machine to back up ALL my laptop files, including system files. As an extra precaution, I also backed up my precious Scrapbooking files :) But of course I couldn't leave them out!!! Hehehe. I was able to finish 8-10 DVDs worth of scrapping files. So yes, it was a productive meeting for me! ;)

Afterwards, we waited for the sun to start setting before I joined Mom, Bang, Boydee and Bric for their almost daily afternoon walks around the village. Dic and Lai followed after a few minutes; they jogged until they caught up to us. Bric and Robyn were in the double stroller and were entertained by my singing of "Mr Sun" hehehehe. The streets were practically empty; the older kids would have loved to join us in their skate shoes, but they were at swimming. Oh well. Maybe next time. We walked for 45 minutes I think. Not gross, running sweat, but I did perspire a little bit from our walk. It was super duper hot outside, despite it being 5 pm!!!

I did get to finish my scrap from yesterday, though!

NO DREAMER TOO SMALL

TTFN!

I Actually Went Out for a RUN!!!

Alright!!!! Yes, I did get up bright and early (not to mention hot hot HOT!) this morning for a run. Ok, a jog. Ok, even slower than a jog, hehehe. NO, not a walk either.

The girls and I trooped to the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center to have our run in the SHADE. I didn't mind shelling out P30 for each of us; just as long as we didn't have to run out in the scorching sun, it was fine. And the best part? We had the indoor 200-meter track all to ourselves! There was some basketball team playing down, but the trace was empty except for the 3 of us.

And all I can say is: Thank goodness for iPods!!! It totally made me forget the time and helped me run faster, depending on what was playing. Good thing Japa had loaded some 80's music for me, so I ran to that. I ended up doing a total of 1.5 miles run and 1.0 mile walk. It took me 45 minutes. Not bad. I'm hoping to do this somewhat regularly just so I can up the mileage a bit.....I just hope my back will hold out though.

But that's a major reason why I prefer running on a track though. I feel safer that my back and knees won't be crushed from my weight because I'm running on a softer, more padded surface on an oval compared to out on the cemented street. And yes, the SHADE is also an all-important factor! Now, next in line is to convince the girls to keep going with me in the morning. I'm sure they'll say yes.....just as long as their Papa doesn't come along to torture them with his sprinting programs! hehehehe.

I had to call La Vista to borrow a car...Japa had gone off early to row and the pick up was being used for marketing. Good thing there was a driver who could bring the car over! After our run, we went straight to La Vista to return the car AND have some breakfast. Boy, did the girls chow on some kielbasa and rice! Whoa! :)

Team Building Day

***Warning: Photo heavy post coming up!***

OMGoodness, what a day!! Every inch of my body hurts!!! Aaargh! Yes, I knew today was going to be physical but holy moly! Team building activities included:

1. team chant - this is the worse and corniest part, hehehe. I maintain that the RED team had a waaaay better chant than the yellow team----even the kids said so! Hmp! Obviously, the point was awarded to the yellow team and I belong to the red team, hehehe.

2. obstacle course #1 - a series of exercises that the team had to go through in order to advance. This set of exercises gave new meaning to the word team:

a. the Tire - everyone had to go through the tire without touching the tire, including the last person. My fave fave FAVE photo of this event? Here ya go....breathe, and then laugh your heart out:


Hahahahaha! Can you ENVISION a scrap page from that?!?!? I surely can!!!

b. the Log - 12 members of the team had to stay on this log that was held by cable at the ends only. The key thing? We had to balance:


If you come across this "game" in the future, just remember that do NOT do it that way in the photo. You're NEVER going to get balanced that way!

c. the Parallel "Bars". This was muuuuch harder than it looked. When I got on the cables, my whole body started shaking no matter who my partner was! It was horrendous! I thought I was never going to make it across!


d. the Tires. This was just horrible. For all my strength (not to mention my weight, hahahaha!) I could NOT get across the swinging tires!!! Aargh! Bang and Lai did it no prob, but I couldn't finish it! I did get through to the second to the last one, but then my body went parallel to the ground and that was it. I couldn't pull myself up anymore, hehehe.

Everything was timed, with the red team going first. By the second exercise, the Log, we knew we had won since the yellow team could NOT balance at all! They used up all their time on the Log, which was too bad really, since they demolished our time on the Tire!

3. obstacle course #2 - This was your typical obstacle course. And it was a riot! Each member ran through 3 pairs of tires, crawled under a net, jumped over several pvc-type hurdles and ran all the way back to pass the baton to the next member. One of my fave pics of this event? Here ya go:

The red team handily won this event. The yellow team still had a person left when we finished.

4. monster ball - This was volleyball with a humongo monstrous ball, hence the name of the game. The yellow team won this one, too, dang it!


5. mud slide - Team members slid down this 50-meter tarp doused with soap and water. At the end of the slide was a big pile of mud. Members held a plastic cup of water in one hand and at the end of the slide, needed to pour the remaining water (if there was any!) into a container to be measured. The team with the higher level of water won.



The yellow team beat us by a millimeter!!! :)

All in all, it was a heck of a FUN day that's for sure!

Everyone had a few hours of free time before dinner. Most of us headed to the pool to cool off!

OMG! Can I *DIE* Now?!?!?!?!

Aquathlon time. A 600-m swim and a 5k run. Of full TORTURE for the body. My body. Ugh! And we did this to be able to be with the kids?!?!?! What a joke! Or a fiasco, for that matter! First of all, the kids went first, for their 400m swim and 2.5k run. And I sooooo wanted to do the exact same thing!!!

But no, we had to wait for our age group to be called. And age group meant Japa and I were in the 30-39 year old category. They grouped us 38-year olds with the 30 year olds?!?!?! What were the organizers thinking!!!!! Hehehehe. Oh the age, I SO felt my age today!!!

Ok, some random facts:

1. I was definitely out of shape. Indubitably, no question.

2. It was pure stupidity on my part to even THINK I was going through with this entire thing.

3. Pride was the ONLY thing that kept me going throughout the damn run

4. Swimming I could take, running was another story

5. I wish I hadn't forgotten my iPod. MP3 players definitely would make running go by faster!

6. The race organizers at the drinking stations were cheering me on, but kept saying "Let's go, po!" "Po"---meaning I was OLD!!! Ugh!

7. I was both walking and jogging during the entire thing.

8. I thought I would DROWN when I launched my body with everyone in my age group into the pool....good God! I thought I would be drinking the entire contents of the pool with the way everyone was splashing about! Sheesh!

9. While on my last couple of lengths of the pool, 2 guys from the next age group were on either side of me....I thought I was done for. I stood up, sputtering, and exclaiming, "damn!". Hehehe.

10. I had gotten out of the pool earlier than Japa, but he just slipped on his shoes and his shirt, kissed my bye and said, "see you at the finish line."

11. I was probably the ONLY person there who wore a b.r.a, hahahaha! I couldn't run withOUT one, you know!
12. We were probably the ONLY ones who participated as a family.

13. The MOST difficult thing was to run right after swimming. I thought I was going to fall flat on my face!

Some noteworthy things that happened during the Aquathlon:

1. Roby won first place in our age group.

2. I won second, seeing that we were only 2 women; the other lady was a swim coach, who had swam competitively before.

3. Raine won a special prize for being the youngest competitor.

4. I finished the swim and the run in one hour and twenty minutes.

Some lessons to be learned:

1. Train for the running part, not the swimming part! Hehehe.

2. Don't let the kids ever ever EVER convince you to join something like this again. EVER.

Ok, I have GOT to rest. TTFN!

Major Carbo Loading

With the aquathlon tomorrow, celebrating Reese's birthday in Apitong tonight was timely. Sure, it was technically a day late for carbo loading, but I used it as an excuse :) I had THREE platefuls of spaghetti vongole, oh so delish made by Elizza! Food was plentiful, and despite the Lenten sacrifice, Dic and Lai made sure most of us had something to eat!

I had the vongole, some yummy garlic/parmesan bread, stuffed crab, prawns thermidore, and some tuna belly. Yum yum YUM! We capped Reese's birthday by singing raucously, which was the norm for our family, hehehe. Children's birthdays are much simpler nowadays, thank goodness, not like the circus-like atmosphere we had a few years ago. Now it's just basically family in attendance, a birthday cake with the requisite candles, the birthday song, and plenty of food. That's a must of course. Text messages are sent for birthday invitations, for the times when the moms (usually) don't have the time to prepare special handmade invitations :)

Of course, we do celebrate the important years like 1 (like the child would EVER remember a celebration this young!!!), 7 and 10. Then there's the all-important debut at 18. But that's a long time for us. In the meantime, we're enjoying the childhood of each of our kids :)

We had to say bye early to everyone, since I wanted to make sure that the kids got enough sleep for tomorrow's event. What am I saying? *I* want to ensure that *I* get enough sleep! Hehehehe!

G'night!