Oct. 17 - Manicure, shopping, Japanese food

Another perfect day. In the morning a lady came to my Auntie Angie's house and gave me a manicure. Then we packed up and planned to spend 2 nights with my cousin Raymond, his wife Issa and their son Church. Then 2 days of other adventures.

Dad went off to visit school friends so Raymond asked what I wanted to do. Of course, I said shopping and Japanese food for dinner. No problem! Uncle Jun, Auntie Marina, Uncle Danny, Auntie Patsy, Raymond, Issa, Church and his friend all came along to keep me company. I'm so SPOILED here!

I found a wonderful store here called MANGO. I bought a bunch of things from there and as we were leaving I said "Mango, how filipino!" Raymond told me it is actually a famous brand from Spain. Oh well, doesn't matter - I'm going to tell everyone it's filipino. ;)

Then a yummy Japanese dinner with so many unusual kind of rolls.

Manicure, shopping, Japanese food. Does life get any better?

Day at the Spa - Oct. 16

Today I got to experience both sides of living in the Philippines.

First I got to experience the pampered life. My Dad and Uncle Jun took me to a spa in Alabang Town Centre. I've been to spas before, but have never signed up for massages. At this spa I signed up for 3 types of massages. Sorry people, no pictures: first of all they don't allow cameras in the spa, and secondly I was in my birthday suit for most of the time.

First I got a Swedish massage which is this relaxing massage from head to toe. The lady told me the same thing that my Chinese herbal "doctor" guy tells me, and what my endocrinologist (hormone) doctor tells me. I have a lot of stress. What do I have to be stressed out about? I think my problem is I always sweat the small stuff. Oh well, I guess that means I should go to the spa more often!!! After the massage I was so relaxed, I felt like a blob of jello.

Next I got to soak my calves and feet in hot water and got a nice foot and calf massage. She used different lotions etc while massaging me. I'd like to tell you more, but by that time I was so relaxed I was practically asleep!

While the one lady was still working on my feet, another lady began to give me the most relaxing scalp massage. She even massaged my face with lotion while a warm steam was sprayed over my entire head. She tried to remove my blackheads, but after a few minutes of it I told her to just skip that step......I was there to relax!

By the time I had finished showering and fixed up I had been in the spa for almost 4 hours! Crazy!!! When I stepped out of the spa, I was surprised to find out that a bunch of my relatives that I haven't seen in many years had come to meet up with us! In the picture that's my dad, my cousin Cecil, my cousin Raymond, me, Auntie Patsy, Auntie Tess, Uncle Danny, Thellie and Auntie Necy. We went to Starbucks to have a snack and catch up. I kept confusing uncles and cousins , but I think I got most of the names right. It was quite an exercise for my brain that had been in sleep mode while I was having my massages!


Anyways after that we decided to go to San Pedro, Laguna, the town where my mom and dad grew up in. This is where I got to experience the other side of life in the Philippines. This is the place that was just hit by the floods a couple of weeks ago.

We went to the block where both my mom and dad grew up on. Whenever they tell stories about where they grew up, they describe a sleepy little town where there were no stores and everybody knew everybody else in the neighbourhood. It looks nothing like that now! It looks more like the Las Vegas strip with neon signs everywhere. There are a million stores and a million people hanging around. The building that used to be my dad's house has now been converted to a whole block of stores with people living on the second floor. My mom's house was around the corner - we tried knocking on the door there (her aunt lives there now), but noone was home.

Across the street is another bunch of stores. However, on top of the stores is a building space that is now housing about 200 people who lost their homes in the flood just 2 weeks ago. You'd think everyone here would be depressed and walking around dreading the future. Total opposite of that! I'm so proud to be filipino! These people living in such bad conditions still have so much joy in them. It was Friday night and everyone was out on the streets having fun. You would have no idea that these people had just gone through such an ordeal.

Well, I'm exhausted and my bed looks really comfortable. So good night everybody!

Philippines - October 15 - my first day

My dad told me the flight to Philippines would be about 10 hours. Try 13 hours! I don't think I've ever been on a plane that long! But we made it! I haven't been here in over 16 years and last time we had a stop over in Japan, so the flight wasn't as long.

We're staying at my Auntie Angie's place in Quezon City. I was worried that there would be no computer for me to use on this vacation. No worries there - there are 3 in our room!

Today my Uncle Chito and his son Scott took us to a huge mall to do some shopping. I'd just like to say a quick thank you to God for getting us there and back safely with no accidents: Driving is crazy here! Cars are driving as if there are no lane divisions, pedestrians are crossing streets wherever they want, peddlers are selling peanuts in between the lanes and my seat belt didn't work properly.

It's so busy here. We left in the late morning and returned in the late afternoon. During both drives the roads were crowded! I guess there's never a lull in the traffic. There are people everywhere - and it's so weird - did you know that everyone here is filipino! ;) In Canada you get a nice multicultural feel and usually hear Mandarin being spoken. Here it's tagalog! And the store clerks all assume I understand what they're saying. Then I have to give them a sheepish look and tell them I'm from Canada and don't understand tagalog. They give me a pathetic look, and say it in English. How embarassing! What kind of filipino am I?

And there are billboards everywhere. It's like I'm at Time Square in New York again. (Except all the models in the ads are filipino.) The shopping malls here are enormous! Thank goodness there is no bargaining at the malls - that's too much pressure. I ended up buying a nice pair of black pants and 3 exercise pants. The best thing is that I don't have to get any of them hemmed! I love Philippines with their nice short people!

I haven't mentioned the weather yet. I'm lucky that I was just in Cancun and Cayman. The weather is about the same, if not cooler. Probably less than 30 Celcius. Plus it's rainy season, so it's been raining off and on all day. Plus there's strong air conditioning everywhere. I brought a few pair of pants and lots of shorts. I think I'll only be wearing the pants while I'm here. That's why I bought more pants today. I thought I would be a weak Canadian who can't take the heat, but I'm more like a tough Caymanian who enjoys the heat now!.....if only I could get dad to stop turning the AC on so high!

New York and Seattle

I'm finally back home in Vancouver. After Cayman, me, Monette and 6 month old baby Coco went to New York City. Monette had business meetings and it was my job to babysit Coco.

We stayed at the fancy Waldorf Astoria. This is the historic hotel that royalty, presidents and famous movie stars have stayed in. It's always featured in movies and tv shows. My suggestion is if you are going to splurge and stay at a fancy hotel, you should go to the Waldorf and take lots of pictures. Then jump in a cab and stay at the Four Seasons. While it is very beautiful, the building is very old. When people are walking in the hall by your room, you can hear their conversations!

While we were there, Monette did have some free time, so we did the tourist thing and walked around Time Square and did some shopping around town. When Monette had to work, she was nice enough to get Coco a babysitter for part of the time, so I could take my nap and walk around 5th avenue (shopping capital of New York City).

I know I've gushed about Coco a lot in this blog, but I just can't help it. She is the cutest baby ever! It's was so hard to go shopping with her, because everyone wants to stop you and ask you questions about her. Usually with other babies people just walk by and say "Cute baby!" But with Coco, they want to know everything about her. It's because she loves to stare at people with her huge eyes and gives them a smile. What a flirt!

New York City was great, but it was time for our next adventure: A 7 HOURS FLIGHT WITH A 6 MONTH OLD BABY! It was from NYC to Seattle. It took that long because at JFK all the planes have to line up for about an hour waiting to take off.

We got to the airport over 2 hours in advance, checked in, went thru security and found a "quiet" corner facing the planes landing. Monette bought a blanket and we all sprawled out, letting Coco roll around and spend lots of energy.

The flight itself went off without a hitch. Coco didn't cry once during the flight! She didn't sleep that much either. However, she did "talk" a lot! I think she knew she had a captive audience! She smiled and laughed whenever someone looked at her. I can't say it often enough - she is such a flirt!

When the plane landed everyone that went by had to comment about how good and how cute Coco was. But the compliments didn't end there. We all had to take that indoor subway system to get to our baggage. Monette walked with Coco and her co-workers. I was slightly behind them with all Coco's adoring fans asking me questions about Coco. I told a bunch of cute things that Coco does and her fans were elated. Yup, I definitely love being in Coco's "entourage".

On the way to the hotel me and Monette talked about how Grandma Venus and Auntie Marites were going to be so excited to see Coco. We talked about how they would totally ignore us when we got there and focus all their attention on Coco. Never mind ignoring us - Mom literally shoved me out of the way to get to her grandbaby Coco! Not that I blame them too much - Coco was smiling and squealing with delight when she saw them. Too cute!

The next day Monette worked while we mostly stayed in the hotel and played with Coco. Then early this morning Monette and Coco left. Me, Mom and Marites drove home to Richmond (with a short stop at the Tulalip Factory Outlet for some quick shopping).

What an adventure this trip has been: Mexico, Grand Cayman, New York, and Seattle. I'm so glad to be home. I have just enough time to do my laundry before I leave for Philippines with my Dad in a few days. Oh, it's hard being a spoiled brat!

Margaritaville - Shaking what the good lord gave me!

Today me and Jing went to Margaritaville for lunch. That place is so fun! It was jam packed full of people from the cruise ships. We watched as people volunteered to go on the centre stage and do crazy things for t-shirts and shots of tequila. There was one game where couples had to pop balloons using their bodies in certain sexual positions. The funniest couple were two grey haired ladies that pretended to be a "couple"!

When they asked for a bunch of ladies to come up and dance, I was the first one on the stage! I have never volunteered to do anything at that restaurant before, but it was Jing's first time there, so I had to keep her entertained. There was about 10 of us on stage. Each of us had to go to the front of the stage one at a time. Then the DJ would play "I like big butts and I cannot lie!" Then we would have to dance for about 30 seconds. So when my turn came up, I shook what the good Lord gave me (which isn't all that much). The other contestants were pretty funny too - especially the older lady who danced with one finger waving in the air. But then came a last minute entry. This big black lady jumped on stage and boy did she have a whole lot of junk in her trunk. She was amazing! Her bootie moved as if independent from the rest of her body! Everyone was very impressed!

Anyways, that night Jason, Monette, and the girls came home. The girls ran in and gave me great big hugs! I heard all about their amazing trip to DisneyWorld and played with them til way past our bedtimes. It's good to have them home.

Sept.30 Wed

I know I haven't written in a while. Since the family went to DisneyWorld, I haven't really done much. Everyday, Nanny Jing has had to "babysit" me. We go out for lunch and then do a little shopping. It's been really hard on her. ;)

Today was kinda weird. You know how bad things happen in 3? When she picked me up we saw a dead chicken right by our front door. In all my trips to the Cayman Islands, I have never seen a dead chicken before......only wrapped up in the supermarket. I waited far away while Jing used 2 sticks to carry this smelly bird covered in magets far from the house. Then as we were driving there was another dead chicken on the road. That's bad thing #2. I was waiting for a third dead chicken, when our car came to a sudden stop. I don't know what happened but we were stuck in the sweltering heat on the side of the road. One bit of good luck was that we were only a couple blocks from their car repair shop. After several minutes of trying, the engine started to run again and we slowly made it to the repair shop. We got a ride home to the other car, and that was the end of our bad luck for the day.

We went to a small place for lunch. Jing is a little kookie and ordered a chicken salad - she didn't get enough dead chickens for one day? Then we made our way downtown to do a little shopping. She bought herself a Mac lipstick, then forced me to buy the same one too (Monette, I didn't want to spend your money, but Jing was very bossy!) Then we continued to look at the tshirts in the other gift shops. They were all about $15 to $20 each. Jing used to be roommates with a guy who works at the store that provides the gift shops with their products, so she took me there so we could buy stuff wholesale. Usually, if you buy wholesale you have to buy large quantities, but since Jing knew the guy, he let us just buy whatever amount we wanted. I bought a shirt that said "Got Rum?" just like the "Got Milk?" slogan and another shirt that says "Cayman Island Beach Bum". I paid less than half price for each shirt! I love a good deal!

After a nice long nap, Monette's coworker and friend Jennifer picked me up to watch a movie at 9:30. That's pretty late for this early riser, but what can I say? I'm a total party animal. We stopped for a frappucino - I needed the caffeine to keep me awake for the movie. We talked a lot about how bossy Monette is. Heehee! I'm only writing that because I know Monette is in DisneyWorld and has no way of checking this blog! Hopefully she won't check it when she gets home. Anyways, we watched "Fame". I know it doesn't come out until Friday in North American, but for some reason it's already playing here in Cayman. It was so good! But with all the young actors, it kinda made me feel old.

It's now past midnight and I'm still wide awake. Don't know if it's because of the frappe or because I loved the movie so much, or maybe it's because I'm scared I'm going to have nightmares about dead chickens!

I went to get ready for bed and was singing songs from the movie Fame. Since I'm home alone and surrounded by forests on all sides I figured I could sing loudly. I thought I sounded great..........that is, until I heard a rooster cockadoodle back! I think he thought I was a hen in heat or something! Maybe I'm not as good a singer as I thought?!

I'll try to go to bed now, but I kinda wish my mommy was here to scare away the boogie man....I mean the boogie chicken! Good night!

Sept. 27 Cayman

These are pictures of the Coco's first taste of solid food. She loved it. She's definitely part filipino - she loves her rice cereal! I'm not sure if this was the actual day she tried the rice for the first time, but close enough. Notice how messy her face is when I fed her? I do have a depth perception problem and didn't have the perfect aim into the mouth! Oh well!

Yesterday I tried to spend as much time as I could with my nieces. They all left early this morning for a 5 day trip to Disneyworld. In the late morning me, Monette, Rio and Coco went to watch Shay during the last half hour of her soccer class taught by Jason. During the first 10 minutes I met a lot of the other parents. I bragged to everyone about how this Canadian girl had totally gotten used to the hot temperatures and actually liked the heat. But by the end of the half hour, I was practically crying for some air conditioning. Guess this Canadian isn't as tough as she thought! By the way, I heard about the heat wave back in BC - it's the same temperature here as it is there! Krazy!


I have no idea what to do with myself. Does anyone have any suggestions? I already finished cleaning up the main part of the house and already washed all my handwashable clothes. I finished everything before 9am. Now what do I do? Luckily their nanny Jing will be able to drive me around to places whenever I want. But I have a feeling I'm going to mostly sleep for the next few days. After all the excitement of Cancun and playing with my nieces here, I am pretty tired. Plus I need to rest up for all my future travels. Or I could scratch that whole relaxing idea and find some cute scuba divers to play with!......Nah, I'll just stay home and watch Dancing with the Stars. I'm such an old lady!

ps -I just want everyone to say a quick prayer for all my family and friends in the Philippines who are dealing with the floods. God bless, Lana

Cayman - Sept.24

What a good day. Monette and Jason left for work. Shay went to school. Nanny Jing took Rio and Coco to gymnastics and to Monette's work for lunch. I had the entire house to myself. I got to watch some tv during the day, which is a rare occurence. If the kids see me out of my room, that's the signal that I'm done resting and ready to play.

By the time the kids got home, I was well rested and ready to be a good auntie. While Rio napped, me and Shay got to spend some quality one on one time together. 2 hours of talking and giggling quietly together.

At night we did another treasure hunt. Among other little knick knacks I included a "magic" fairy face towel from the Disney store for each of them. They are about 2 inches square, but once you soak them in water they turn into a regular sized face towel with pictures of fairies.

After playing with their other new treasures they went to take a bath with their magic towels. They were in the bathtub for way over an hour - maybe even 2 hours! I sat watching them for the last little bit. Rio would soak the towel, and then squeeze the water into cups. Shay scrubbed the whole bath tub clean (I don't know how sanitary that is). They both wore the towels on their heads like hats. What they spent a lot of time doing was making me close my eyes while they wrapped their bath toys in the towels and made me guess what the gift was. I'd always guess wrong, which they loved.

Aah, another lovely day!

Sept.22 Tuesday

Today there was a torrential downpour. But it didn't keep us trapped home all day!

Me and their nanny Jing took Rio & Coco to the gymastics place that they open to toddlers twice a week. Boy, did I get a workout - I chased around after Rio while Jing took care of Coco. We bounced, rolled and sprinted for a full hour. Thank goodness Rio tired out after only an hour (she is just getting over being sick), or else we would have had to stay longer. Rio said she wanted pizza from Subway, so away we went. In the 10 seconds it took us to walk to the car we got totally drenched! I swear I saw Noah's ark float by!

After Subway we stopped off at Monette's work so Coco could have her lunch.
While I was sitting by myself one of Monette's co-workers came by and said "Oh, you're Monette's sister."
I politely said "Yes, have we met?"
He said "Only about 10 times! I see you whenever you come to town."
So I gave the answer I always give when I get in this situation: "Oh yes. Now I remember you! You're that really good looking guy!"
And he gave the answer I always get back: "Yes, that's me!"

Tonight was fun. Dancing with the Stars was on again. The girls danced along for the first hour. When they were getting bored, my wonderful brother-in-law Jason took them to the garage to play a monster game so me and Monette could watch the rest of the show.

Then I told the Rio and Shay their bedtime stories. Shay requested one of the same stories that I had told the night before. The stories are supposed to put them to sleep, but they end up giggling and jumping up and down! I said good night to them and sent them off to their parents.

Aaaahhhhh! Life is pretty much perfect here.

By the way, I think I figured out how to let people post comments (even if they're not a member). Give it a try, and we'll see if it works. Thanks, Lana

Monday, Sept.21 in Cayman

Monette, Jason and Shay were away at work and school today, so spent most of my time with Rio. She loves doing puzzles, because when she's done I always comment on how smart she is and she loves the praise.

When Shay came home I told them stories about when me and Monette were young and living in Sewell Inlet. Their favourite story was the one where Papa Tony took us out to climb a waterfall, and Monette split open her knee. I assured them that their mom was fine, but for that whole summer she walked slowly with a limp. As she walked slowly we would all sing slowly "Ba dum, bu dum. Ba dum, bu dum." This would drive Monette crazy!
So later that night they sang that tune to Monette to drive her crazy. Monette pretended to be really embarrassed, which thrilled the girls to no end. Monette, in turn, told an embarassing story about me to the girls, but since this is my blog, I don't have to repeat it! Heehee!

1st full day in Cayman

Since it was Sunday and raining outside, we spent the entire day at home.

Jason said he likes having me there because that meant there were 3 adults for 3 children. They weren't outnumbered anymore. Then how come I spent a lot of time in the computer/play room holding Coco, helping Rio roll out play-do and wtching Shay play a new computer game? Because it was Football Sunday, Sunday, Sunday and their parents were glued to the tv. I was, truthfully, in heaven. It's nice to be with kids who want to spend time with you. Who knows how long it will be before they are too cool to spend time with their Auntie Lana?!

We did a treasure hunt in the afternoon. They're so adorable as they walk hand in hand from one clue site to the next. When they find the clue Shay will read it out loud and then give it to Rio to hold. So cute! Their treasure this time contained yellow pom poms, 3 purpe balloons, and a purple fan (from Stacey's wedding).

Me and Monette went for an evening walk when there was a break in the rain. We were home by 7pm and Shay was already sleeping! I guess too much excitement that day. Happy Days!

To Cayman

Here's my first few days in Cayman visiting my sister Monette, her husband Jason and her three kids Shay (5), Rio (2) and Coco (6months).

I spent Sept.19 traveling from Cancun to Cayman via Miami. Something was wrong with the plane for my connecting flight and I ended up having a 2 hour delay at the airport. When I finally got to Cayman, Jason was waiting for me.

I assumed the kids would be sleeping when I got there, but I was greeted at by both Shay and Rio. They practically tackled me to the ground with hugs and kisses! I loved it! Even Coco stayed up passed her bedtime to welcome me home!

The kids wanted to keep playing, but seeing as I had traveled all day, I pretty much went to bed right away.