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I've recently attended a wedding and the groom's father gave a lovely line for a toast:

"Here's to love and laughter...ever after." Mr. Brunner

I may be a cynic, but I'll toast to that! Cheers!

My cousin Katya in red and white.

Again we are spotted in a pool! I guess we just can't get enough of it. So, "Welcome to El Dorado".

We've been here a couple of times now, though we don't like the waters here but it's the architecture that got the better of us.

And in case you're wondering, no we don't own the place and there were people around, it just seemed like it's all us because we scared them off with a little rawr. Yes, the poses are deadly.

And as a family tradition, the kids do their "air shots" which are cooler than cool.

So 1, 2, 3...JUMP!

It's an all-girl swim day for us. And the water never runs dry with us around.

And one great feature about the place is the slide. The kids love it and we all tried it out -- well, except for my sister. It would have been cool if the water doesn't get caught in my nose as soon as I reach the landing though.

And here's the mushroom shot. Tried to go candid then decided to stick with the usual.

MO2 - El Dorado

Smallville Complex, Iloilo City

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.

While I have "California Girls" playing at the back of my mind. My girls are doing their thing, and they're not from California, but they're wearing PJs! So I'd love to call them "Pajama Girls"!

They were their very own production team! There's the set, the director, camera girl, etc.

CAST:

Cute Girl: Katerina Ysabel Te-Jardiolin

Nerd Girl: Keanna Shatella Te-Jardiolin

Rocker Girl: Kiara Nicole Jardiolin-Lo

And they've achieved that look wearing PJs! Amazing! And here's their best shot by far:

I love you girls! You make my heart fat for being such cuties!

My "Pajama Girls" are undeniable...

Fine: Nerd Girl, Keanna Shatella

Fresh: Cutie Girl, Katerina Ysabel

Fierce: Rocker Girl, Kiara Nicole

...you got it unlocked. West coast represent (are we even in the west coast?), now put your hands up!

P.S. Special thanks to our house-helps for tirelessly cleaning up after the girls. When these three are all grown up, I promise you'll miss the mess!

Leave it to our family to binge-out at any time of the day. We've had our dinner yet we're saving room for Crave's burger. I was with my cousin Katya and she was Glee-king out on me, so i need a food fest to keep her out of the the Glee world. And only food can do that.

I'm not really sure if the pattie was grilled, but I do hope so, too much calories for the night.

This is inevitably the hottest recorded summer in the Philippines -- in my lifetime! I feel like living inside an oven! Not to mention the frequent black out. *argh* I swear I don't mind being exiled to the north pole! But my girls have a realistic solution...dive into a pool!

We really were pleading the big boys to build a pool on our backyard -- a more permanent solution of the extreme Philippine heat during the summer. I'm guessing we'll get their heads up soon. But before that happens, we drove the kids to El Dorado Waterpark in Smallville complex.

Now that the girls have their share of fun, it's time for their tummy to start to have some fun too. And the solution was just a few steps away.

Janiz: Do I hear extra rice? Going once, twice...

(Girls readily raise their hands.)

Janiz: Now what's the plan?

Kiara: It's up to you.

Janiz: Go home?

Kiara: Cool us down with some ice cream please!

Janiz: OK. But finish your food first.

Kiara: No problem with that!

Usually before heading home, I'd ask to pull over and buy some street food. I'm a street food junkie like that. You can call it skewers, barbeque, or in our local term "inasal", this night was all about that. We tried out each one of them! Read: My stomach always has a little space reserved for binge nights like this.

When we got there, there was a short line forming. A little patience won't kill a hunger me.

Janiz: Let's try all of them!

Katya: Are you sure ach?

Janiz: Yeah. These are light food, no worries.

Katya: *shrug*

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.

Once upon a time I put the word "little" before their name. Now they're not qualified in the category anymore. It makes me sad how fast time flies and how they've grown at a blink of an eye.

Here are my girls sporting their Chucks just before movie night. *sigh*

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.