Bonfire at The Wassenaar Beach Resort

We spent a night at The Wassenaar Beach Resort a month ago as a late celebration of Valentine's day. We celebrated it with our son and we had a bonfire. We toasted marshmallows and cooked hotdog and just talked. We slept early though. We woke up and went straight to making sand castles when we woke up. We really had fun, especially Franz, our son.

Now there are some things to remember when having a bonfire. And they are:

1. Make sure that you apply insect repellent to keep mosquitoes away from your skin.
2. Don't put too much gas on the bonfire.
3. Don't toast the marshmallow for too long.
4. If the marshmallow tastes like gas, don't eat it.
5. Bring a guitar or a radio, or play a game to make it more fun.
6. Bring a flashlight.
7. It's nice when you do it once in a while with your family and friends. It's really fun and it doesn't cost too much.

Graduation Day

March 14, 2008. My son graduated from pre-school. He made me really proud not only because he graduated but he also earned two medals: one for getting the Top 7 spot and the second one for getting the Model Student award. He also joined the dance performance to the tune of Rochelle Pangilinan's "Bayle, Bayle". They also sang "Hawak Kamay" by Yeng Constantino as their graduation song.

We were supposed to have a party in their classroom afterwards but two other parents told me that there will be no party because the other parents decided not to cook any food. We we're supposed to bring food and I was in-charge of the fruit salad. After hearing that, we just went straight home after the graduation ceremonies.

The teacher came to our home the next morning saying that there was a party but only four parents attended it. I've heard some rumors that lots of other parents were not satisfied with the top students that were announced.

Now, here are some lessons that I learned from there:

1. Don't forget to bring drinking water, a fan, face towel, and food for your kid when attending graduation ceremonies.

2. Practice with your child for their dance performance if there's any. It will help your child be more confident and it is good exercise too.

3. Do not lose sleep over your child not getting into the top students when it's only in pre-school and no examinations are given and there are no actual bases for choosing who will be there.

4. Do not give wrong information to innocent people just to get even with the culprit.

5. Do not believe in hearsay. If there's something important that you need to know, ask the teacher or the person in-charge.

6. If you're in a province, make sure that you have a gift for your child to be given during the graduation ceremonies. It is a custom that at the end of the ceremonies, graduates are given gifts that they open right away.

7. The togas are returned right after the ceremonies.

8. If you are giving a speech on preschooler's graduation, make it short.

9. Do not wear glittery clothes if the ceremonies are held in the morning or early afternoon. It's distracting and annoying.

10. Do not forget to congratulate your child.

11. If you can, spend the rest of the day with your child. It will be best if the whole family is there, and have a special meal together.

Franz's Fifth Birthday

We celebrated Franz's birthday in his school, the Poblacion Daycare Center. It is more of a school than a daycare actually, unlike what people from other country would imagine when they hear the word "daycare". Classes there starts at 8:00 AM and ends at 10:00 PM. At some point of the school year, the DSWD Officer suggested that classes be made longer, up to 11:00 AM but it was implemented just for a week or so. Parents stay outside the classroom during classes, gossiping and browsing through Avon,Natasha, or Marikina Ex brochures and catalogs. It's funny now to think that the school year is about to end in a couple of weeks.

On Franz's birthday, mama bought a cake for him, we bought chickenjoys from Jollibee and facilitated some games. It was fun. Franz enjoyed the party and judging from the smiles on his classmates' faces, I'm sure that they had fun too.

Now, for the lessons learned in this party:

1. Before you start with the games, make it clear that the parents are NOT allowed to join. Or you might end up having the biggest bullies going against the children and you're lucky enough if the bullies fight among themselves, with the children kept safe. You might want to alert the police and the paramedics if you're hosting a children's party and their parents are going too.

2. If you're expecting thirty guests, make sure that you have food enough for sixty. Expect at least one company for each guest and do not forget about the Filipinos' love for "take home" or "take away".

3. Do not worry about the teachers' restriction about junk food. Every rule is forgotten during a party.

4. Keep an eye on the cake. I'd recommend taking a picture of it if you want to, right after taking the cake out of the box. If possible, assign one person to stand guard. A scary looking one, if there's any available.

5. Fill the cake with those candy flowers on stick, those like hardened icing, or have lots of extras. Or don't put any at all.

6. Lastly, have all the balloons in just one color. Or, you will end up getting frowns and eyerolls from the bratty ones if you gave the pink one to another kid.