Hello Chicago

We just got to Chicago 2 weeks ago. Office has been great. People are nice and we can walk to different places conveniently. We're staying at Oakwood right now but we'll eventually move out. But this place right now is just so perfect. Wholefoods is just across the corner. And Wallgreens is just behind our building. We're planning to get a place close to this area as well just because its nice and quiet here compared to downtown.

We had dinner last Friday at Portillos. My officemates said the hotdogs here were really good and we were not disappointed. And yes… that's a car up there.



Anne got a hot pasta dish that was good to feed 2 people!! They serve plenty here.



And I got their famous hotdog… that was really good.



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Davis and Pat



Check out our wedding video... brings back good memories. I love you sweetie!!

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Baby Aiden

This is my godson Aiden. He's so cute!!



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New Year at the Big Apple

Today is one of the most exciting and craziest days of my life. We spent New Year’s Day at Time Square. It was -10 degrees Celsius and we waited for midnight from 10pm. It was so cold that I couldn’t feel my toes. When the countdown finished, I was just so happy to leave the streets and start our train ride home.



You won't believe how crowded it was!



The day started by taking the train to New York. There were 6 of us (Herb, Lee, Bob, Melany, Anne and I). When we got there, our first stop was to eat some frankfurters at Gray’s Papaya. The hotdogs tasted like our good hotdogs back in the Philippines. The papaya drink was really good. It tasted like melon and papaya put together.



We walked around and we were able to see a lot of the known NY landmarks.







We were also able to visit a beautiful church called Cathedral of St. Patrick.



And of course, the famous Trump building.



The New York New Year countdown was something we wanted to do… a once in a lifetime experience I don’t plan to repeat. We were cold but it was worth it. It was all about the experience, the conversations with strangers, and willingness to be part of something you just watch on TV. Just did it!

One funny story about our adventure, while we were lining up, the police told us that you couldn't get in if you had a back pack with you. Herb and Melany each had a backpack and we just couldn’t get through. You won’t believe what my cousins did. They bought a purse from a bag stand at the corner so they can get a plastic bag which they used to put their back packs in. Then, they stuffed the plastic bag behind a trash can. We were really just laughing. It just sounded so funny how desperate we were. But you know what, it worked! That’s the reason we were able to get through security. Hilarious! Below is a picture of everyone before and after the adventure.



The bags were still there after and we were able to get them back. We were just laughing and talking about it while on the train ride going home. Funny stuff!

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Visiting Philadelphia City

We visited the city last Monday. It was very cold but it wasn’t that bad. The history of the United States is very inspiring. We were actually in the middle of the place where the United States was born. We just started to take pictures of these landmarks like crazy.



The city was really busy and there were people walking everywhere.



I took a picture of the Liberty Bell. It has a big crack on the side. It is one of the most prominent symbols of the American Revolutionary War. It used to hang on top of the building (bell tower) but since it became so famous, they moved it to a museum type building and now have it on display.



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Hello Philly

We arrived at Philadelphia last Friday. We got a short tour of the downtown city and ate our first Philly meal. We had a Philly Beef Cheese Steak at Jim’s diner and it was very yummy! We noticed that there are more African Americans here than in L.A. They talk funny and it felt like we were in a movie. That restaurant even has a signature of Kobe saying “I haven’t forgotten about Philly”.

The next day, we made our first stop at Hershey Town, Pennsylvania. It looked like a regular town but it was nice to know it was funded by chocolates. Haha! They even have a school there which gives unfortunate children the opportunity to study. I was really impressed to know about the history of that place.



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Last day at California

During our last day at California, we watched a movie at “The Grove”. Papa Jun and I watched Valkyrie. Kyrst, Kyle and Anne watched Four Christmases. We couldn’t agree on the movie so we just watched what we wanted.



I was actually disappointed with the theatre. They don’t do reservations so we ended up sitting right in front of the screen. They weren’t strict with trash and popcorn was all over the floor. I was actually surprised to know this was supposed to be the newest mall in L.A. where the actors and actresses go. I wasn’t impressed at all. I can easily say that our Greenbelt movie theatres are better than that.

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Viva Las Vegas

Two days ago, we drove all the way to Las Vegas. Tito Romy was nice enough to give us a ride as well as a place to stay there. Tito Romy has a house in Nevada, around 8 miles away from the Las Vegas strip. On the way, we pulled over to get some photos because there was snow. It was my first time to step on snow.



We took our time to play around. We even got to throw some snow balls. It was fun!



On our next stop, we dropped by a Nike outlet store. They had lots of nice Nike shoes. I wanted to get a new pair of Air Jordans but the sizes were too big for me. The smaller ones don’t fit. Tito Romy said that our foot shape is different from theirs. I should have asked for size 12 wide. The stores aside from the Nike outlet were nice as well.



We arrived at Tito Romy’s house around 6 pm already. We prepared T-bone steak and rice for dinner. Yum yum!



Our first stop in the Las Vegas strip was “Encore”. It just opened 24 hours ago so it’s really brand new.



Tito Romy and Papa Jun dropped us off at the Venetian where we started our hotel hopping journey at the Las Vegas strip. The ceiling and Christmas designs were very well done. Check out some photos we took during our walk.











The highlight of the night was the water performance in front of the Belagio. Outstanding water works!



The next day, we had lunch at The Orleans. It was a buffet style lunch and there were lots of food and dessert. My favorite was this soft cream pie… Mmmmm…



Check out who’s performing this Christmas at the Orleans! Guess who?! It’s Imelda Papin!



On our way back to Castaic, we stopped by Tito Romy’s dental clinic. It was a very nice and big clinic. There were multiple dental chairs and they even have an on-shelf dental xray. Talk about cutting edge technology! We fooled around a bit during our visit. We loved his office!







We got back just in time for Christmas eve. Tito Manolo’s family joined us for the occasion.



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