Wednesday, August 08, 2007
You're Always Agreeable To Things You Enjoy...
Isa loves the water! She's always enjoyed taking baths which prompted me to buy her a new baby pool to cool off to during the summer. Well that one was slightly defective so I returned it to get her another one. Does she like it? You be the judge. Apparently she's very agreeable to it...
Monday, August 06, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
July 28 2007 - Isa's Big Baptismal Weekend
This weekend I decided to go to Charleston for four days (Thursday to Sunday). Mostly cos it was Isa's baptismal, but also I dread the long drive and having to come right back to Orlando soon after. The last two trips there had been plagued with a lot of traffic, construction and rain making our 5 1/2 hour drive to sometimes 8. And to boot we have to stop more often to let the little girl stretch out, change her diaper and eat.
I was looking forward to a long stay to see friends and family, but of course, the trip was still too short for us. I hate doing it, but to be fair to everyone and ourselves we had to allot and schedule time for each family and our friends. Thursday we arrived late and had dinner with El's mother and sister, Emily. We decided to stay the weekend with her mom since it seems Isa is still afraid of her (everyone really, but she seems to take it especially hard). The girls hung out and played all night while I took the moment to hit the bed early for an early morning wake up.
I was looking forward to a long stay to see friends and family, but of course, the trip was still too short for us. I hate doing it, but to be fair to everyone and ourselves we had to allot and schedule time for each family and our friends. Thursday we arrived late and had dinner with El's mother and sister, Emily. We decided to stay the weekend with her mom since it seems Isa is still afraid of her (everyone really, but she seems to take it especially hard). The girls hung out and played all night while I took the moment to hit the bed early for an early morning wake up.
To cap off the afternoon we decided a quick jaunt to the beach was in order. Emily suggested a little known spot away from the riff raff at Sullivan's Island. Although the sun was going down and cloud cover was getting thick it was perfect weather. The water was still warm with little waves lapping on the beach. Isa screamed in delight whenever the water rushed around her ankles. She tried squating to get wet, but we had to restrain her so she wouldn't get soaked - we still had to go to dinner at my parent's house. We had to limit our stay to 1 hour, but we plan on going again.
Once at my parent's place we enjoyed a nice dinner of Seafood Newburg, Rebosado (battered and fried shrimp), Ukoy (Pan fried shrimp cakes), pancit (stir fried noodles) and Beef Steak amongst other tasty filipino dishes. Isa in particular enjoyed the pork meatball soup meant for my older brother. My dad seemed to take immense pleasure watching her slurp up 3 servings of it. After dinner we spent the night playing with Isa and then made our way home where again the girls played until the wee hours. Me? I was dead tired and went to bed.
The next morning we had to arrive an hour earlier for Isa's baptismal at Immaculate Conception. It had been moved the night before from 11am to 10am. I was little pissed that the church had decided to commit to a funeral knowing a month in advance we had ours setup already, but whatever. It turned out great. Steve and Jen did great as her ninong and ninang. Steve has been a good friend of mine for years whom I met through his cousin, Florante. And Jen had always been El's closest friends since they were little.
After the baptismal we had lunch at a small local southern joint called Gullah Cuisine. I decided to go with Steve's suggestion after reading great review with the place. It helped that the price was good, too. We were able to secure a private room for our party of 20+ and a bunch of kids. The place itself reminded me of Paula Deen's Lady and Sons back in the day when we had just opened on the Congress Street address. Wood floors and simple tables serving traditional southern cuisine. Who doesn't like Fried Chicken (which was exceptional by the way), mac and cheese, collard greens, banana pudding and such? I think everyone enjoyed the food overall.
Sunday I decided to spend the morning take Isa to her first mass as a newly accepted Catholic. Afterwards I treated everyone to lunch and then a brief stroll at the mall before we rolled out to get back to Orlando. Thanks to everyone again. It was great to see you all and sorry to those who couldn't make it.
Oh adn El couldn't stop talking about how good the fried chicken was at Gullah Cuisine so we had to pit stop at Dodge's Chicken to ease her craving. it's just a hole-in-the-wall gas station place before you leave Charleston we always passed on our way home. I must admit - they're doing something right cos everyone was in there to get some.
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