Showing posts with label Fun & Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fun & Games. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

We're going to ToyCon! You can go, too!

This post is brought to you by SMART.

But first, a confession: I had no idea that ToyCon was a big deal in this country. I'm not a toys kinda girl so it just was never in my radar. But my husband is a toys geek and a few weeks ago, he brought it up. ToyCon. He was wondering if he and our sons should check it out. Yes, my sons are toy geeks, too. We discussed it a bit, then I forgot about it because diba nga I'm not really a toy person. But I am a Game of Thrones fan so when Vince said, "Hodor will be at ToyCon!", I was so in!

We're going to ToyCon, people!


Thanks so much to my blog partner, the unrivalled mobile services provider Smart Communications, for sponsoring ToyCon 2016 + Pop Life FanXperience! Smart is inviting its subscribers—like moi!—to the biggest toy convention and pop culture event, with promises of awesome prizes on top of the fun experiences this weekend. 

Yes, it's this weekend na, guys. From June 10-12 at the SMX Convention Center. Mark your calendars! ToyCon 2016 will showcase toys, games, movies, cosplay, anime, and collectibles. There will be a 25-foot Voltes V statue! A Stan Lee Excelsior exhibit! Themed zones from Marvel, DC, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Cartoon Network, Capcom, Namco and DOTA! Etc!!!

Smart isn't just sponsoring the event, it's also making fans have a more fun experience na pang-social media (because ika nga ng mga millennials, if there's no picture, it didn't happen!). Smart created larger-than-life toy boxes of iconic shows like Game of Thrones, Lego, and X-Men! Magpa-picture, i-share, and please use #SmartTOYCON for your Instagram posts.

And here's my favorite part: There will also be celebrities, comic artists, and creative directors from iconic TV show and films. Like Kristian Nairn a.k.a. Hodor from Game of Thrones (I want to hug you for HOlding that DOoR!). And because I watched and loved Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, I'm so looking forward to seeing Dean Cain!!! Other Hollywood stars making an appearance are Daniel Logan from Star Wars, and Bronson Pelletier and Kiowa Gordon from Twilight. Thai heartthrob Maurio Maurer will also be there. R&B artist Frankie J din at marami pang iba! Go na!

We're going to ToyCon, people! And you can, too!

If you're a Smart subscriber like me, you can get a chance to win ToyCon 2016 tickets, too. Just post a photo of you on your social media accounts dressed up as your favorite character. Walang costume? Okay lang! Just share a screenshot or photo of your favorite video game or toy! 

Make sure to use the hashtag #SmartTOYCON! Wag kalimutan yan. Many contests are not won dahil hindi marunong sumunod sa instructions!!!

So do it like this:
Superheroes ready to go to #SmartTOYCON 2016!
But first, pizza. Because even superheroes need super fuel. See you at #SmartTOYCON!

Good luck!!!

Anyway, if you go to ToyCon, do check out the Smart Zone booth, where you get a chance to win exciting prizes such as Smart Bro Pocket WiFis, limited edition jackets, toys, and gaming gears. Bumili lang ng Smart SIM at load or mag-subscribe sa bagong Smart Postpaid Plan and you get a chance to win!

And a word from ToyCon's sponsor: "For the ultimate fan experience at the event, be sure to load up with Smart Big Bytes 50, which now lets you enjoy 2x data with 700MB for your dose of surfing, and access to top apps like Facebook, Instagram, Viber and Twitter, plus additional 600MB for streaming your favorite videos on YouTube and iflix – valid for three days for only P50. Just text BIG 50 to 9999."

We're going to ToyCon! See you! Say hi to me and my SalesVIPs!!! 


For more of Smart promos that let you live out your passions, follow its official accounts on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SmartCommunications), Twitter and Instagram (@SmartLife). 

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Monday, April 04, 2016

Game boys

Let me share with you a few of the thousands of photos we have of my boys. Only a few make it to social media! The rest we pore over obsessively, usually on those nights just before we go to sleep but the kids still aren't sleepy. So I show them their photos, I tell them the stories behind the pictures, and sometimes I make up silly bedtime stories a la comics style using their pictures.

Like this for example. We will call this story...

The Day Piero Became a Gamer

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Piero 
who wondered where his brothers disappeared to. 
He found them in Papa's bedroom where they were battling evil foes.
"Holy macaroni!" Piero said. "Vito and Iñigo are slaying monsters by the hundreds!"
"And they're using these magic black things to be heroes."
"Mama, how do I get to be a hero, too?"
"Vito's going a bathroom break? He just said he needs to wee-wee? And that means..."
"Die! Die! Die!"
Piero: "What happened?!?"
Vito: "Mama, Piero made me lose my game!"
"Give that back."
"No!!!"

Heehee. Our stories are really super simple, nothing that will ever see the light of day (er, except for this silly one!), and the boys usually scroll through my photos and they'll pick a few from when they were babies or from when they were somewhere else, and then they'll beg poor, sleepy, exhausted me to tell them a story. And I do. And they're so easy to please. And they laugh and laugh over my nonsense stories till I finally tell them to stop their delaying tactics and go to sleep.

And they do, happy with new memories to dream about in their sweet sleep.

Aww, those pictures of the boys are nice. Maybe I can share with you more old photos every first Monday of the month? I really do have thousands upon thousands! These are from New Year's Eve. Our kids don't play a lot of video games actually, about twice a month maybe, and only during the day. But it was New Year's Eve and we wanted to keep them awake to greet 2016. But they tired of playing and off to bed they went. Fun photos from a night I had actually forgotten about. Thank goodness for photos!

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Saturday, April 02, 2016

Engineering for Kids makes learning tons of fun!

Oh my goodness, it's summer!

Well, in the Philiipines, it's either summer season or rainy season so it's actually been summer for a while now. But because we just had a graduation, there's suddenly a clear line marking summer break. And there's just a ton of things to see and do for kids! Like trips abroad, holidays by the beach (our beaches are the best in the world!), activity centers, sports clinics, art workshops, and summer classes.

My kids recently got to try Engineering for Kids and LOVED it. They did. Iñigo even had a meltdown when it was time to go home (this came as a shock because Iñigo doesn't have meltdowns anymore!). Even Vito and Piero lingered and dawdled when it was time to go home. They had so much fun!

They made a moon from DIY play dough. This activity taught them about shapes, texture, numbers.
Waiting for snack time!
Enjoying snack time!
They made rockets to blast off to the moon!
Iñigo built Iron Man from giant Legos.

Now let me tell you a bit about Engineering for Kids. Engineering for Kids is an educational program based heavily on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). In a rapidly developing world, engineers and scientists are what's desperately needed but schools don't seem to devote enough time to these subjects, and when they do, maths and sciences are deemed both boring and stressful by students. Engineering for Kids makes STEM fun, challenging and hands-on. Kids learn how important STEM is to understand their world and how it works and to come up with solutions to many problems big and small. Very useful life skills!

If you're near the Katipunan Ave. area in White Plains, do check out Engineering for Kids. It's right by the gate of Blue Ridge, across Pan de Americana, the building with upside down vehicles. Here are their summer offerings:






Enrol in any of the programs and use my discount code: SMILE-0316B. Enjoy!

To learn more about Engineering for Kids and STEM curriculum, click here.


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Monday, January 03, 2011

I didn't get my Alice fix!

I was bidding on this, but quickly withdrew from the heated bidding war because I just didn't have the money for it.
It's a 1900 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. It's quite rare. I really wanted it. A few friends said I should check the authenticity of the books first (ask for a photo of the copyright page). Another one said I'd need a special viewing case and a dehumidifier because in our very humid and tropical climate, such old books will disintegrate.

Well, after all that, I lost the bid. Well, I didn't even try after the bids went way beyond what I was willing to pay for it. I was a tad disappointed because I collect all things Alice. So, to make me feel better, I'm thinking of bidding on these:

This is an exquisite collection of figurines modeled after the illustrations of Sir John Tenniel. It's a limited edition created by Kaiyodo. I love it!

This is whimsical wall clock depicting the mad tea party scene. And look at the time! It's backwards!

They're not cheap either so I'm a bit hesitant to bid. But it would be ever so nice if I added these to my collection. Big sigh!
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

We bought these instead

The home plan this year was to buy a new sofa. The sofa we have is from Vince's days as a bachelor. When we got married, I had it reupholstered and it now looks like this:


Thing is, when Vince bought the sofa from Our Home in 2002, it cost him just P10,000. When I had it reupholstered in 2007, it cost me P12,000. Vince thought that was ridiculous (but, hey, it looks much better!) so he's been bugging me to approve the purchase of a new sofa. The problem with the current situation is my husband's taste has vastly improved--Our Home just doesn't cut it anymore so he's been lusting for the contemporary sofas in BoConcept. Starting price for sofas in Bo's? P120,000! So I've been saying, "No, no, no!"


But the last time we visited Bo's, he fell in love--and I kinda did, too--with the Largo sofa above (the one we saw was a dark gold). It's this plush comfy sink-in-heaven sofa that also came with a price tag that was just unbelievable. Unbelievable! But... we decided to buy it anyway! Then the rising costs of my pregnancy and the realization that the baby will be one expensive critter made us rethink the sofa. So... good-bye perfect sofa!

Feeling very deprived is not a good feeling, however. So we logged onto Amazon and bought these instead:

Olympus PEN EPL-1--the camera Vince has been wanting to buy since we found out about Jelly Bean!

We bought it with the Panasonic LUMIX pancake lens, too.

Then Vince just had to buy this horrible thing: the BioShock 2 Big Daddy plush doll. It really gives me the creeps!

And I just had to buy these fantastic books:



I'm so excited for my books! They're all hardcover editions--and they're huge books! I can't wait! And, yes, they're for me, not for the Jelly Bean. Not to worry, if the Bean is anything like us, it will be devouring the books in the library in no time!

We used Johnny Air to have the stuff shipped here. We bought from Amazon before, you see, and the package of books Vince bought ended up in the post office some 20 weeks later. When we got it, the package had been tampered with and the books had been definitely looked through. So much for security.

But when I used Johnny Air to buy a few pairs of shoes, the shoes were delivered to the New York office in 3 days then to the Megamall office in 12 days, totaling 15 days from purchase to delivery. My package was also untouched. Fast and secure!

I'll give a report as soon as the stuff arrives--I'll tell you guys if the gadgets especially arrived safe and sound. Chuvaness told me that Johnny Air can be trusted absolutely (she buys her cameras from Amazon and uses Johnny Air, too!) so we're really keeping our fingers crossed that things will go well with our delivery. If so, then good-bye shopping malls!

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Finally, the Hong Kong Disneyland post!

I promised I'd blog about it so before 2008 is done and I forget entirely... here it is!


The fabulous hotel
The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is marvelous. Absolutely the best hotel I've stayed in in my entire life (see my TripAdvisor review). My darling husband and his sister, Lizelle, were bemused. Liz said, "Vince, you have to take her to Vegas!" And Vince teased me: "You're so easily impressed." Grrr.
The architecture and decor are Victorian Era-inspired.

The maze behind the hotel features a Hidden Mickey in the very center.

I kinda got lost actually. So pathetic!

Our romantic bedroom with a fabulous view--the hills and the sea!

Strolling around the vast hotel grounds...

... and seeing marvelous topiary like this sea serpent

Admiring the hotel (wearily) from the pier


This made me really happy
My favorite book of all time is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I'm not as fond of the Disney film adaptation but, hey, when I saw Alice and other beloved characters in our quilt, I drifted off quite happily to Wonderland...

The delight is in the details
These crystal chandeliers hide an exquisite secret...

There are glass slippers everywhere!

Even the marble tiles on the floor of the grand staircase did not fail to delight the keen observer.

Then again, some details are scary
I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and as I washed my hands, I can't help but feel a shiver at the mirror-mirror-on-the-wall and its eight faces. I'm not posting all their carved faces here but can you name all Seven Dwarfs?

Meeting the citizens of Disneyland
This will sound silly but when I saw Cinderella (my favorite Disney character when I was a kid), I kinda melted. Vince told me to get a picture but I got shy. Argh.
Cinderella and Princess Aurora sandwich Elizabeth and Zo

Daisy was a doll!

The King of Disneyland graces us with his presence

Family made the fun even better
We totally enjoyed the trip because we were all complete. Actually, we were all kinda dreading the trip. Imagine 6 young and very excited kids, a huge park... But we all had an amazing time! I loved how the kids loved it. Their excitement really rubbed off on me.
Here we all are at the huge HK airport. My husband's so pogi (right)!

Mommy Di and Daddy Mon picked up the tab for this fantastic trip. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
(Doesn't Vince look like his dad?)

Adorable Zo inspected our room as soon as we arrived. He said, "Wow, it looks exactly like ours!"
Zo and Elizabeth check out Anj's slide show for Mom and Dad.

And here's my favorite member of the Sales family!

Find the Hidden Mickey!
There were more than these three, I assure you. I took a lot of photos, squealing each time I found a Hidden Mickey. Finally Vince said, "You have more photos of those than of us!"
The tiles on the hallway

 The hotel park fences

The manhole covers

All aboard!
A lot of people complain that HK Disneyland, being on Lantau Island, is in the middle of nowhere. While it is indeed in the middle of nowhere, it's very easy to get there. A special MTR will get you from the city to la-la land in no time at all.
The charming old-world station

 Another Hidden Mickey! Hold on tight!

These sculptures are all over the train (oh, look, another Hidden Mickey!)

Oh, and before I forget... Hong Kong Disneyland!
Ooops! Funnily enough, I don't have enough pictures of the park itself! I was wondering about that until I remembered I didn't like lugging about a big camera while on the rides so we left it in our room. The ones here are on the last day of our trip.
This cute train goes around and around the park.

On the drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty's castle

Vince wanted a picture in Tomorrowland.

Me behind the wheel at Autopia scared the hell out of Vince! I kid. The car can't even go beyond 20kph, we think.
We got bored within a minute!

Oh, I had so much fun, I still can't believe it. Vince says HK Disneyland is nothing compared to the one in California, for example. I don't care! I'm planning to go back in the summer!

There you have it! Whew, this post tired me out, and I didn't even put up all the pictures! Anyway, this should be enough for you, dear readers, till after the New Year's celebrations! From our home to yours, we wish you a 2009 filled with joy, peace, love, friendship, wisdom, adventure... and magic!

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