Worth Going Back To

In one of our unplanned road trips, we stumbled upon a park about an hour and a half from where we live. It's a park where a famous river in that specific city is known for is located. Hubby said that he heard good things about the river before so we decided to stop by even if it's afternoon already. The park closes at 4 PM so we only had a couple of hours to explore it. The entrance fee was 2 bucks only and parking is free. It's the middle of winter so most of the plants are either in hibernation or are barely alive. But since we have mild winters here, there are some plants that have flowers in them.

As we were roaming around the park, we came across several man-made waterfalls. They're pretty small waterfalls because the water is just redirected from the river itself but they make pretty sights. I think we posed in front of every single one of them. Here are some pics of 3 of the waterfalls.

 

 

 The park is pretty big. The lawns are big enough to accommodate several people that may want to have picnics or what nots on days like the weekend we were there. But since it's winter and not many people go to parks, we could pretty much have one whole area all by ourselves.

We actually saw someone sleeping on a mat under one of the trees in one of the big lawns. I guess she went to the park to relax...and relaxed she was. LOL...

Besides the falls, the one area that we like a lot is probably the river itself. It's actually one of the first things you see when you enter the park but you have to walk around to get to it. There's a cordoned-off area where park visitors can go swimming. Since it's part of the river, we don't really know how deep it is. One swimmer ~yes, there were people swimming in it at winter time ~ said that it's about 10 feet deep from she's at which is by the river bank. Hubby said he will swim in it next time we visit.

The water is very clear that you can actually see the bottom of the river and the fish swimming in it. On the far right [I think] of this picture is the area where visitors can go canoeing if they wish to. There is a separate fee for canoe rental of course. And yes, we may go canoeing one of these weekends...probably next weekend since it's going to be a nice weather to do such a thing...that is if the weather prediction holds true.

There are several parts of the river that's been cordoned off. It is the park's way of telling the visitors as to how far they can go as far as the river is concerned. There are also some 'warning signs' about alligators being present in the river so people must practice precautionary measures just in case.

One small area that's cordoned-off is a place where visitors can sit to let fish nibble on their feet. Like this one...

 

Yep, very similar to the Fish Spa in the Japan and in some malls in the Philippines...except this is 'almost' free. Hubby said he can sit there for hours just letting those little creatures nibble on his tootsies.

Yep, we're definitely going back to this park very soon. It's a pity that we got there a bit late that day or we could have enjoyed those already. Next time, we'd probably spend the whole day in there. My father and daughter tandem can explore the place while I sleep under the shade of one of the big trees there. Good plan, eh?

Road Trippin'

One of the things that hubby told when we first met was his love for taking a drive. He said he likes just getting behind the wheel then just drive. We did that afew times here and there for the first few years we were married. Then we got busy with the baby, work and some other things. That meant not being able to go as much as we used to and we wanted to. But during the last quarter of last year, we decided to take a long drive to Georgia. We went there mainly to look at the place and some properties. But we also enjoyed the 7+ hour long drive. Just taking in the sights while on our way to our destination. That somehow fueled our appetite for doing that...driving just to sight see. From that time on, we've been driving around a lot during the weekend. It's mostly just around here. We don't have the time to go far because of work so we just stay local...for now.

So where do we go during these 'local road trips'? Nowhere in particular. What we usually do is just go out. If we have some errands to run, then we do those first. As soon as we're done with the errands, hubby will just drive. Most of the time we just stay in the car. A few of the times when we see something worth stopping for, we'd stop to take pictures. We've done that maybe a couple of times only. But not all of our trips are unplanned. We had one a few months ago where we went to this forest trail to look at some underground caves. Most of the caves are very small but there are couple that we were able to get into. The little one had fun exploring the caves. After the cave exploration, we went rough terrain driving also in the same forest. The husband did most of that himself because I wasn't very keen in going through it. I just took some videos of him trying to get over the humps and bumps on the terrain that were made just for that purpose.

Im sure we'll have more road trippin' in the days to come. Hopefully I'll be driving in one of those trips. Maybe....

The Year That Was

Year 2012 may not have been the best year as far as work is concerned but it'll definitely be one of my most memorable years. The reason being I was finally able to go back home to see family after more than 10 years of being away.

Aside from being able to come home for the first time since I left some 12 years ago, it was also the first time my side of the family met our little one. Needless to say, it was a very happy time in our lives. During our 2-week stay, my family was also able to get to know the man I married. They knew him by  name and by talking to him over the phone and met him for a day when he came to pick me up more than 10 years ago but they never really got the chance to 'know' him. This time around, they did. So when it was time for me and my little family to leave again, my siblings told me that now they can breathe a lot easier now knowing that the man I chose to spend the rest of my life with is a good man. I guess me telling them that [over the phone] in the last several years wasn't enough, eh? I guess to see is to believe indeed. Ha!

Beside that memorable family reunion during the first quarter of 2012 and becoming a naturalized citizen, not much good had happened I must say. We're surviving alright but life can definitely  be better. Obviously, the economy has a lot to do with that and by the looks of it, there won't be a lot of [good] changes in the economy this year. For starter, the pay we see on our payroll now is much smaller than last time. Why? More tax deductions. As if the lack of work is not enough, now even the little money we get from whatever work is available has been compromised as well. Not only that. Our mortgage payment has gone up because of the increase in insurance. Why is it that everything is going up but the earnings? There is something wrong in that equation, don't you think? If this continues on, everyone in this country will be broke. Well, let me rewrite that. Everybody in this country will be on welfare. That's what we want, right? Or is it?

From our Home to Yours...

May the TRUE SPIRIT of the season find you and fill your hearts with joy...

Weeks of No Update?

So what else is new, eh? I don't really have much to blog about so I tend to skip updating but since it's been a while, I thought I'd write an update here.

December came rolling in last week. Since it fell on a weekend, I didn't even realize it's December already. I don't normally look at the date on the weekend unless we have an appointment/date for something. Even the little one was a bit surprised when she realized that it's already December. She had to look for her Christmas stocking in her toy box so she could hang it...2 days late as she puts it. Anyway, before we know it, it will be the most awaited day of the year already [to most people I know anyway]...Christmas. We're still in the middle of gathering the stuff in our list. Our tree is still up in the attic. We planned in getting it out of there last weekend but we got busy so that didn't happen. Most probably we'll pull it out of hibernation this coming weekend. The little one is itching to decorate it already. She's been doing that [the decorating] ever since she could...about 4 or 5. We usually do it together but she does most of it now because she's taller than me now. Hopefully we'll have the tree up by next week.

That's basically everything in a nutshell. Nothing exciting. Just the way I like it....haha.

What is Black Friday?

Is it a HOLIDAY?

Those are the 2 questions that my daughter asked me while we were having breakfast. Why? Because all she sees in my emails as well as the on the sites I browse online are all about 'black Friday'. I had to explain to her that it's not considered a holiday although I'm sure some people take the day off to take advantage of the offers in stores.

I've been living in this country for more than 12 years but I've never gone shopping on a Black Friday. I know there are some deep discounts on that day but I'm not willing to wake up at the crack of dawn much less line up in front of stores before midnight to wait for the stores to open at the crack of dawn just to shop. Just reading how crazy people get on this day makes me shiver actually. Stampedes, pushing, shoving just to get in a store is not my cup of tea. Some people probaby get the adrenaline rush doing that but not me. I'm hoping our little one won't do that either because to me, it's hardly worth it.

Since I am blogging about Black Friday, I thought of going the extra yard and check Wikipedia for a little background about this much awaited day. Here's what Wiki says about it...


Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 am, or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many non-retail employers also observe this day as a holiday along with Thanksgiving, giving their employees the day off and increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005,[1] although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate,[2] have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.[3] The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.[4][5] Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black".[4][6] For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 am, but in the late 2000s many had crept to 5:00 or even 4:00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohls, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls[7]) opened at midnight for the first time.[citation needed] In 2012, Walmart led several other retailers in announcing it would open its stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day [8], prompting calls for a walkout among some workers. [9]

Happy Birthday!

To me! Ha!

Actually it was last week. I just can't think of any title so I just greeted myself a happy birthday. Is that even legal? Hahaha...

Yep, I turned another corner. Another year passed...hoping to get to the next one. Isn't that what we all want? To go another year and then some.

My birthday used to be a big deal. That was before I moved... It was a big deal when I was back in the Philippines.  It's a big deal not because it's my birthday though but because it's All Saint's Day there. For those who are not familiar what All Saint's Day is, it is the day when we remember our dearly departed ones. Well, not just remember since we can do that anytime of the year anyway. We can say, it's 'THEIR' day because it's all about them. How? First, their 'tombs are cleaned and relatives and friends drop by their resting place to light a candle and offer a prayer or two as well as some flowers to them. Loved ones stay by 'them' for hours usually catching up and playing games. Some even camp out there and eat there. Yep, it's like a picnic in the cemetery I must say. Our local cemetery back home is usually bursting with people on this day from morning until midnight. That's how big of a deal my birthday...err...All Saint's day is back home. If only for that reason, my birthday back then was always a happy one. I may not know 99.9% of the people in the cemetery but it was fun watching hundreds of people walk past you on your birthday.

Now that I'm 12,000 miles away from all that, my birthday is no longer the same. I don't think it will ever be the same anyway. Does it mean it's not a happy birthday anymore? Not really. It's still a happy birthday for me. I don't celebrate it with as many people anymore but I have the most important people with me. That to me is enough reason to have a very happy birthday.