The Hangover

It’s been a week since we got back for vacation. Sashimi was hit hardest with jetlag and hangover. Besides waking up at the wee hours asking for food, he’s been crying every morning when I drop him off at daycare. Today he whined from breakfast at home all the way to his classroom. He was squealing incessantly that I had to pump up the radio volume to the highest decibel I could tolerate. I thought the full blast will shush him, if not, to shut myself from his full blown tantrum. Sanity. It kinda worked actually. The airplane toy that we got him just for this reason went flying inside the car. With his shoes! It’s hard for the softy in me. Especially when you’d hear “I want to ride the jeepney!” in between the squeals. You’d understand how much our vacation meant to him. We were literally wrestling to remove his winter coat, hat & mittens at the daycare. It didn’t help that the teachers would come to me with heartfelt sympathy and say, “oh, you’ve been away too long, he must have enjoyed the time he has had with you.” At that point, tears welled up my own eyes =[

I know… sad.  And it's because of...

His cousins

Cars all he wants

People playing cars with him

Disneyland

Family

Extended family

Birthday

Nice birthday message for Mrs. Hotpot from my SIL

It is by chance that we are in Hong Kong on my birthday. We just booked this side trip to fall right in the middle of the 4 weeks of vacation.

It was raining hard. We just went to the Japanese restaurant right beside our hotel - Jika Udon.

Hub had the Beef Curry noodles which was very tasty.

I love Japanese curry, so I ordered Pork Curry Katsudon

The highlight of my birthday evening was a wedding proposal.

Awww!

Today

Today was our first day back to work and school since our vacation. My alarm was set for 6AM. I tuned in for traffic and weather forecast. Today’s a high of 6°Celcius. I plan the kids’ clothes for school. Coats checked. Gloves checked. Boots checked. Blanket for daycare checked. Indoor shoes checked.

As breakfast was being prepared, so is the bento. I was excited to use some of the bento tools I acquired from Daiso on my recent trip. I’ll blog about it later. This being Sushi’s first day back to school, I didn’t want to overwhelm so I made it simple.

Asparagus, cheese, apples, cheese pocket sandwich, more apples and animal biscuits

I dropped of Sashimi at daycare on the way to work. As expected it wasn’t easy for him. I haven’t heard him cry this loud in a while. I heard him trying to unlock the classroom door as I was walking out. It was heart wrenching.

As I drove by the airport to work, my office being right across it, I can’t help but rewind our trip back to when it started - the taxi ride to the airport. Except for going through the 1400+ emails that filled my inbox while I was away, it was an average day. At 2:30pm no matter how busy, I shut down my computer and leave so I can make it on time to pick up Sushi from school.

I would be in the kitchen clearing the remnants of breakfast and preparing dinner, while Sushi was having his afternoon snack and doing his my homework. Today, it’s Division.

There’s still pending chores from since we came back from the trip. There’s more to do when the rest of the boys are home. It’s a whirl with dinner, baths, until we get ready for bed.

This is my life. It’s demanding, most times exhausting, but it revolves around this small family I call mine. Welcome back home!

Airplane Meals

I love airplane meals. They're not always good, but when you're confined in a compact space for 16 hours or so, you gotta appreciate the little things.  Sushi and Sashimi had the children's meal, which come way ahead of everybody else's meal.  Good for the hungry parents =]. I am insipired by the bento-like presentation and the balanced diet they incorporate in the meal.  Inspiration for my own bento fixing.

Breakfast pancakes

Chicken nuggets and fries

Ham & egg muffin with hashed brown

Chicken patty with mashed potatoes

Omelette rice

Chicken Congee.  Mr. Hotpot is always torn between egg dishes and congee, so we'll pick either and share. Hahaha, what else to share from the very tiny serving?

Taiwan-style Porkchop on rice. This was unexpectedly good.

The kids sleeping pattern during the flight was erratic. Some meals were skipped and often times we were exchanging the cups to what we can finish for them or to leave untouched.

Pampered

I spent a quiet and relaxing 2 hours at my SIL's La Vie Nail Spa
2/F Victoria Towers, # 78 Timog Avenue corner Panay Avenue, QC

Facial care at my other SIL's Skin Anatomy in Greenhills
G/F Metrobank Bldg Ortigas Ave Cor Wilson Street, Greenhills

I had unfinished business with Facial Care Centre (Timog)

I was surprised of the new treatment they call "hair manicure" at Tony & Jackey's Korean salon.

Day SPA grew like weeds in the area, but Holiday SPA in QC is my best for Swedish massage with complimentary services.

Good to have the hub and other family members sitting the kids while I was at it =]

I`m Back

Will tell you about my trip in bits and pieces. Stay tuned.

Hello Kitty Boarding Lounge

5 hours layover at Taoyuan Airport in Taipei, where we spent most of our time in the Hello Kitty Boarding Pass Lounge. Everything is so cute.

Kitty is embroidered on every seat

The boys kept pushing Hello Kitty

Playground

Wall art

Playroom

Nothing. He just wants to pretend to bite the apple.

I called my brother from one of these phone booths.

Of course we have to eat nu ro mien (beef noodle soup) in Taiwan, even during stopovers.

Spicy Coconut Crabs

Mom makes sure this is my first meal when I go home, courtesy of Godging -her cook of 30 years.

And that's not all.

Sinful

Today's lunch - the sinful Chicken Club Burger - grilled chicken breast, bacon, and curly fries.  Photo was taken after I already nibbled through 1/3 of the curly fries as I took my 93 steps of stairs going up.

Please forgive me for I don't fry at home, let alone DEEP fry, and I don't buy pork bacon. My mantra is, if you don't make it at home, you can indulge elsewhere occasionally. And that's fine... right?

The sinful part is, I finished it all. Burp!

Happy Halloween

The ninja costume came in many pieces, including a mouth mask we didn't let him put on. Night before I had to quickly sew the hood and ties in place. Sushi had to wear his costume over his fleece jacket (5°C weather), so he looked like a sumo ninja. I couldn't stop laughing while dressing him.

We did only one block of Trick or Treating. Sashimi was new to this, otherwise we didn't really want that many treats. We didn't open our house to trick-or-treaters this year. Past years I was exhausted from just going up and down the stairs for every doorbell (split level house).

I was moved by this note left with the treats outside one house.

The boys picked one treat to have that evening. Including our Clown. We're bringing the rest of the treats home to share.