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One innate thing about our family is that, would love a good excuse to swim. So when someone blurts out the words: "Would you guys want to swim today?" Everybody would be cram-mering to work their schedule and clear it out. I guess it's not only food that brings our family together.

We love the water, we could probably be the lost sons and daughters of Poseidon. And as proof that we could also breathe in the water, we took the liberty to capture our underwater life.

My brother gave us water creature names. I thought he'd give me those cute names, but instead he made mine as a piranha -- don't ask why, or you'll drop dead before the last syllable comes out of your mouth.

And then the water battle begins! I'm not sure how my daughter ever managed to win when she's not all that tough, but what I know about her is, loosing would never be an option to her.

Here's a family of swimmers.

Started with my dad, who at his age could beat me in an endurance swim. All my siblings are swimmers as well, they definitely love the sport but don't want to play the game. And I'm a self-proclaimed retired professional swimmer with the hopes that my daughter would make a good following.

Initially I just wanted to hear mass this day but dad insisted on dining out . I looked haggard to the last strand of my hair that day, I thought everyone would be nice enough not to mind but Jason did.

Eating out on my date of birth is a living proof that I've probably been binging out pretty bad in the past decade? I wish to just cut off a little bit of the fat I've stored for the past years, even just for this day, but dad wouldn't want me to. Ha! Lame excuse! Oh well, I had flowers! *grin* I have the sweetest brothers anyone could ever have. Dad of course, he's the sweet genes that got into my brothers DNA. And my daughter is and forever will be my muse.

We had fun stuffing in most of what was on the buffet table. And of course, no family gathering would be complete without the messing around and the photo op. Munching breaks were filled with laughs and playing around so when we've had enough of that, we're ready to raid back to the tables for more food.

Then Kiara and my brother finished off the night with a glass of halo-halo and a hug. *sigh*

Best days are filled with these.

Family nights are made of these:

1. Binging/Eating

2. Singing/Grooving

3. Posing/Modeling

These are just some that make up what we call family nights.

Let me just heat up this blog. I haven't touched it during the summer. I think it's starting to grow some rust.

Happiness is not achieved externally; it is a state of being. You can be happy anywhere, anytime if you only choose to be.

--Kim Hutchinson

As an evidence on how my family loves the water, we went on an hour drive out of town in mid-December. We took advantage that the sun is not as hot as it is during summer.

We love that the place is still unknown to most, it makes us feel like it's our own private island.

This was really the perfect place for some R&R.

And apparently for some photo op too.

We were all in a survivor-mode, we cooked our own food and we took turns because everyone was really having fun cooking survivor-mode style.

My dad was the top chef for the day, while the little ones were taking on his orders.

This is a perfect pig-out scene, after the heavy meal, everyone tried to find their places to doze off.

After a short nap, everyone got up to hit the beach.

The kids were having fun with the underwater camera, they don't mind looking funny.

The highlight that day was when Kiara transformed into a "Sand Spa" owner.

Kiara: Welcome everyone to our Sand Spa. It's renowned around the world for it's great exfoliating wonders.

Daddy: Wow! Let me try your wonder Spa.

Kiara: Sure sir!

We were all laughing all so hard, Kiara was something else that day. Here's when my brother tried mocking my jolly daughter.

Jerard: World renowned?

Kiara: Yes sir, even Vicky Belo recommended it to her celebrity clients.

Jerard: Funny, I've never heard of your spa services before.

Kiara: We only cater to rich clients sir. So would you want to avail of our sand spa services sir?

Jerard: Do you have free trial?

Kiara: For you sir it's just free.

I swear I regret that I wasn't able to record the whole thing on video. It would have been something I would treasure, seeing my daughter's marketing skills at work.

My water baby. It must be the water that transformed her into something other than her usual self.

She got my genes for sure! Blood and water run through our veins.

It's a great family bonding time.

Everyone had a blast. We'll definitely be back.

I can't believe it's almost been 2 months! I feel life it's just been a couple of weeks.

If not for family, I'm not sure if I'll find myself home at any time. Every little moment spent with family is always an endearing memory.

It has been 9 years since mom left, but every holidays it always seems like she was just in a tour somewhere and that she'll be back soon. I give my dad credit for doing his best to raise our family. Thank you dad for giving us all the love that you can, eventhough sometimes there's nothing more to give.

The best thing about having kids around is their love for crazy ideas. I would like to think that the kids got the better of us. They made us jump around with these things, just for them to beat us in their own game.

Love, love, love from my family to yours.

While my dad was here, we'd often go around the city and eat. Yeah, that's something that we as a family love to do -- eat. We were at Bonifacio High Street and we decided to have dinner at Itallanni's.

When Kiara has a book in hand, she becomes useless. She's zombiefied, she doesn't know what's going on in the real world. She's in a different world, the world in the covers; in this case, the world of Artemis Fowl.

The story's great, no wonder teens are engrossed with the book. It's actually a series of fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer, starring the teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl.

"Artemis, (the main character) is a ruthless and extremely intelligent young criminal whose main goal is the acquisition of money through a variety of often illegal schemes."

When my brother read about the summary at the back of the book, a discussion immediately came in the middle of a supposed quiet dinner.

Jerard: So this Artemis is a bad bad guy, why still read it?

Kiara: No he's not. He's just a kid who's really really intelligent.

Jerard: Yeah, intelligent enough to become a criminal mastermind!

Kiara: You can say that, but he's really a good guy who's just a little mischievous.

Jerard: I didn't see mischievous in the back cover, it clearly said -- CRIMINAL. That alone makes him a bad guy and should be thrown in jail.

Kiara: Well, it's just a summary, it doesn't say everything there. It's just supposed to make you want to read the book.

(I was smiling while Kiara makes a scapegoat and dad was extremely curious about the little discussion.)

Dad: What book is that?

Kiara: Artemis Fowl. It's a new fantasy series that everyone's been reading.

Dad: So he's a criminal mastermind huh?

Kiara: *smiles* Yeah. He kidnaps a fairy and makes a lot of money.

Dad: Haha, I like the part when he's young and making a lot of money.

Kiara: *laughing* Yeah, I like that too.

We were so full. I instantly felt sleepy while dad was refusing to eat more -- something you'd rarely hear coming from dad. But then my brother called my attention.

Jerard: This author, Eoin Colfer is another genius author. I mean, there's young wizards and vampires, now a young criminal mastermind?? Who would have thought?!

Janiz: It pays to really have a good imagination and come up with another world where possibilities are endless. Everyone loves that.

Jerard: Yeah, but I'm guessing that in the end, this Artemis Fowl will encounter something and make him change.

Janiz: Brilliant! Good guess. He will, toward the 5th book, his values will change.

Jerard: See! By the looks of it, I can see how the story goes.

Janiz: Convinced that the book is not all that bad after all?

Jerard: I know it's not bad, I was just teasing Kiara and see how she gets her way out of the conversation.

Janiz: Hahaha *burp!* Oops, sorry.

Itallanni's

Bonifacio High Street, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig

It sometimes happens, when I'd get all too busy with something, I'd end up forgetting to eat lunch, until my stomach would complain come dinner time. I was with my dad, Kiara, Jason and Jerard that day. We went to Shangri-La to check on the stall. I was actually dizzy already, I can sense my temper meter rising.

So now, where to eat? Dad offered Tokyo Tokyo since they have unlimited rice. But much to our demise, the unlimited rice they've offered all these years has been discontinued. I was protesting inside but we were all too hungry to transfer to another restaurant.

We're actually a family that throws a temper whenever we're hungry. Which explains the silence, or else we'll all explode like a time bomb. So when the food was served, we helped ourselves, and barely even spoke a word. The next thing I heard was, "Please pass the dessert". When you hear the burp and the utensils placed down, that's when the talking begins.

From a distance I'd stare at my brother and I'd tell myself. "My brother's really good looking!" But I wouldn't dare tell him, or else I'd see the last of his charms wither in the midst of conceit and self love.

While my other brother Jason's charm sort of grows on you eventually. What with the looks he managed to get from our dad.

You know they say, "stop and smell the roses"? I'm doing just that, I stopped and look around to appreciate everything around me. I guess that's what happens when you have too much to eat.

I've been trying so hard to update my blogs despite the hectic schedule. See, my dad's here for more than a week; and just after just a few hours in Manila, we brought dad to Kaya for dinner.

It was a school night so Kiara brought her school work! Didn't I tell you she's a nerd? haha Also, she uses both her hands when eating in a Chinese or Korean restaurant like this setting. On the right is a fork and on the left are chopsticks! haha She's left-handed but when that happened, I was kind of hoping she'll turn out to be an ambidextrous, so this will be a little closer to what I hoped for.

We had a lot of catching up to do, but not with an empty stomach.

Damn, I don't have the right to complain about my weight because with dinners like this, I dutifully took the role of a sweeper, and ended up finishing three (3) cups of rice!

Burp!

My father taught me about life,

not with words, but how he lived his.

The hardest part about writing about my dad is that I don’t know what great things to start with. There's so much to talk about and so may great memories yet so little time for me to write all of it. I would like to start by saying, “I love you.” Thank you for always being there, and for trying to be the best that you can for us.

Happy Father's Day!

To all the fathers in the world.