learning something new…

I’ve joined a sketchbook challenge with Mr Jim and his online artwork friends. This is how it works. You get your own sketchbook and draw/sketch 7 pages and then you pass it along to the next person on the list. If I’m not mistaken, there are at least 10 people on the list. At first I wasn’t sure about it since I haven’t drawn anything since art class when I was a freshman in high school. But I’m glad that I did coz it’s a lot of fun. I even tried to use watercoloring again, and the last time I did that was probably when I was in 5th grade back in the Philippines. I’ll try to post some of my artworks here… Here are some I did for Ms Dawn’s sketchbook.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here. Been busy lately. A week after Canada, my wife and my in-laws had to go to Texas to visit my wife’s brother. My wife’s staying there right now for 2 1/2 weeks and my in-laws are going to stay there for about a month or so. It’s been tough for me and Popoy to be left behind for almost three weeks, although I didn’t have to worry about cooking because my wife cooked a bunch of flip foods and put them on a freezer. (Isn’t she great!? She thinks about me all the time!)

Anyway, with Popoy having company for two months while me and my wife worked, it’s a big change for him. He is alone most of the time since they left, and I work in the morning and play tennis most afternoons. There is a big yard in the back of the house so whenever I get home, I take him out there so we can play and exercise together.

But now, I’m excited because my wife is coming back in 3 days! We’re pretty much inseparable so the time apart is both killing us. Ok ok, enough with the mushy stuff.. hehe

Here are some of the Canada pics…

Well, coming back from Canada was also as long as getting there. We were supposed to go take a different route, a shorter route, but somehow the gps gave us the same directions going back. Instead of passing the Niagara Falls, we passed Syracuse instead. Anyway, when we got home, my Dad got sick. He got a flu, and his temp was higher than normal. But ever since we got back, seems like he’s ok by morning and by late afternoon, he gets sick. We were going to take him to the ER sunday night but he didn’t want to. His temp did get better later on so we just decided to call the doctor early morning to see what his advise about the situation.

We went to Canada last week and visited some family friends and relatives. Believe me, 13 hours of driving was not fun especially if your passengers in the back are taking their naps. But if I didn’t drive, I’d probably do the same thing. hehe

We stayed one day at Toronto and one day at Hamilton then we stayed four days by Niagara Falls. Niagara was beautiful, and the famous falls was gorgeous. We did a bus tour, all the tourist spots at Niagara but the very best thing about the tour was, the Maid of the Mist. That experience was awesome and made our vacation worth it.

So to the people who are thinking of visiting Niagara Falls, the Canadian side is better and I recommend you all to try and ride the Maid of the Mist. It looked pretty scary but it wasn’t really. It was a fun ride… Satisfaction guaranteed! =)

Popoy turned 4 months five days ago. We took him to the vet and he now have his rabies shot. He is now 33.3 lbs, longer, heavier, and even crazier! hehe

Our baby is now getting older and have been potty-trained for a long while now. Whenever he wants to go pee or poo, he usually barks in front of the back door. We’re so proud!

Oh yeah, the vet told us that he’ll probably going to be 50 lbs next month! And yeah, he’s still a puppy so he snags our shoes once in a while, loves to bite my slippers on our way up to the stairs, loves to bite our hairs, and pretty much just jump on us whenever he wants to. He’s so adorable! Here’s his latest pics…

Last week, we went to Virginia and visited Luray Cavern. Luray Cavern is actually a natural wonder which was discovered hundreds of years ago. It is a large cavern with many formations.
I really don’t want to write the history but if you want to learn more about Luray Cavern, click here. I just want to show you some pics so I can encourage you to visit the cavern. It’s pretty amazing!

I’ve never even heard of St. Michaels until about 2 weeks ago. My wife wanted us to bring her parents to St. Michaels coz she heard that it’s really nice out there. It’s more like Inner Harbor, well, better. We really didn’t have enough time to explore the whole place and besides, we really didn’t even know where to go. But we did go to the Crab and Steak House for lunch. We also brought Popoy with us and it was difficult for he got tired pretty fast because of the hot weather. After lunch, we walked by the port and walked through the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Check out some pics:

Then on our way back to the parking lot, we met Bailey. She’s almost 2 yrs old golden retriever. She is gorgeous with beautiful hairs. She and Popoy played around a lil bit. We just imagined that Popoy is going to be her size in about 2 yrs or so…

After St Michaels, we got stuck in traffic and passed by the Prime outlet. Oh yeah, we had to pass the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and boy it was a bit scary! It was long, and high and did I say long already? he he Anyway, it was a fun day…

My in-laws are here and will stay with us for about a month and a half. They came last Thursday and they are very excited to have seen again their daughter. They haven’t seen each other for 3 years and they’ve missed her so much.

Alou has been very good to them ever since she left the Philippines. She has been giving them boxes of stuff twice a year, and she had helped them greatly building their own house back home. Now that they’re here, Popoy has company whenever me and alou are both working. hehe

We are planning to give them a tour of Bmore and other parts of Maryland, DC and VA. Pictures of our trips will be posted here, so come back soon…

Here’s a pic of them in Grand Buffet right after we picked them up from the airport…

It’s been about 3 wks that Popoy came into our lives. He has shown us that he’s not shy anymore, unfortunately, hehe, but he’s still adorable. He’s still being potty trained and he’s learned some basic tricks already. He knows how to fetch and the words “come here”, “sit”, “lie down”, “give me your hand”, “go get it”, “high five”, and “rollover”. Right now he’s learning “wait” and some other cool stuff. I was surprised when my wife Alou showed me the other night that Popoy can shake his hand specifically. Alou says “right”, and “left” and he shakes his hand accordingly. Pretty impressive! Well actually, I only taught him how to rollover, and I give all the credit to my wife.

These pictures were taken on the first and second week, documenting his first days with us. What a sweet puppy he is!

just playing with some toys

playing with bestfriend Theo boy (cocker spaniel), Avery’s dog

@ Patterson Park

after a looong walk at the park

with Mommy and Daddy

Check back soon for more pics of Popoy… =)

I love playing tennis. I’ve been playing tennis for just about 2 yrs now, on and off. Ate Gigi and Kuya Roger gave me and Alou a set of tennis racquets as Christmas presents back in 2005. We started playing tennis spring of 2006 for fun. Without any formal training, I got pretty good at it. Then I found out that my friend from college, Jeanine, also plays tennis regularly. She introduced me to the tennis leagues and all. Having said that, I’ve started joining leagues in 2007.

The first league I joined in was a USTA league, Men’s 3.0 level. I didn’t really like that one at all since we never practiced so our team practically sucked. We had no chemistry at all. Although me and Mr. Rick did win a match, and it felt great! That was my very first taste of victory of real tennis, and that was my last game of the league. I remember I was battling with cramps that day but we still pulled a W.

The second league I joined in was from work. I participated on a mixed double tournament and we came in third place. That was a lot of fun because I actually got to play against people that are one level above me (league is for 3.0-4.0 level). It was a good experience.

Then the last two tournaments I played in was with Jeanine. She recruited me to play for her team (she’s one of the captains). We came in second overall on the Summer Adult Mixed Double League, losing only 2 matches. Then on the USTA Winter Adult Mixed Double League, our team only lost once and we won the league. We are scheduled to play for the Districts on June, can’t wait! We are competing against the winners of St. Mary County, Howard County and Montgomery County. Wish us luck!

And if you’re wondering who my favorite male tennis player of all time, it would be Pete Sampras. Currently, I really don’t have any favorites. As for the ladies, I used to like Steffi Graf, but now, Maria Sharapova is on the top of my list.

Thanks for reading this boring blog. =)