Z’s Toy Boat

While vacationing at Bohol, we visited a nearby mall called The Island City Mall of Tagbilaran. While replenishing our supplies, we looked at the toy section and bought Z a simple and cheap toy boat. This decision was one of the best purchases we’ve done at Bohol because Z really loved it. It made his swimming experience a lot better and enjoyable. He played with it a lot while swimming at Panglao Nature Island Resort. Too bad that we could not find the required screw driver to install its battery which was a duracell procell aaa, thankfully the boat still floated on its own and moved which kept Z’s enjoyment at maximum.

Z’s Red Cap

Before we went to Bohol, we knew that the weather will be a bit hot so we decided to buy Z a nice cap. Z was looking for the best hat, he looked at baseball caps, hard hats, fedoras and even Cowboy Hats. Until finally he picked a nice looking red cap, which is quite big for his head. Since it is adjustable, we bought it for him and that red cap shielded Z from the fierce sun during our beach stays at Bohol Beach Club and Panglao Island Nature Resort. He also used it during our Bohol country side tour and removed it on his head when the wind was too much while viewing the famous Chocolate hills of Bohol. Looks like the purchase was well worth it.

Online Books

Ever since we had our iPad, my entire family loved reading electronic books. We get children’s books, Bible related books and other story telling books. Now if you ask me – what is the best ereader? My answer would be the iPad, but its just because its the only tablet that I have tried. I feel sorry for traditional books – electronic books are years ahead specially with its multimedia capabilities, having the capability to have interactive games, music, videos and anything else you could think of.

Cool Weather in a Tropical Country

Living in a tropical country, we certainly get tired of the heat. Our normal temperature is at 30 degrees Celcius which means we have to keep our fans turned on 24/7. Sometimes when it gets too hot to bear, we rely on our air conditioner to tide us over the hot weather.

That’s why we look forward to December when the temperature goes down a bit. Temperatures can hit as low as below 20 degrees celcius in the morning. During times like this we reach for our blankets in the wee hours of the morning. The temperature is not low enough for us to invest on heated mattress pads but who knows, maybe in the future it will be. In the meantime, we take advantage of this cool weather by giving our air conditioning units a break. It also lowers down our electricity bills. How I wish our weather is like this for the whole year but I’m glad that at least for a few months we experience some coolness in our tropical country.

Christmas Celebration 2011

Christmas has come and gone. Time really flies fast!

We were fortunate to have some quality bonding time for Christmas. For the first time, I was not on a shifting schedule unlike the past Christmases when I was still working in a call center. Back then, I had to choose between Christmas and New Year when to take my holiday. Since my birthday falls on January 1, I always choose to work during Christmas. This year, I can choose not to work for the whole week after Christmas. Although I still worked by choice after Christmas, I feel fortunate to be able to rest for three days straight.

We had enough time to shop for gifts for my wife and my children. We opened our gifts on the night before Christmas. I got an extra fully pillow from my wife. My wife got a set of earrings from me. My eldest got himself another toy. I know in a few years he won’t be asking for toys anymore and would prefer clothes and jansport bags so I’m spoiling him while he’s little. After opening our presents, we proceeded to my mother’s house for the Noche Buena. The next day, we went to Church to say our prayers and to greet Jesus a Happy birthday.

And that’s how we celebrated our Christmas for 2011. How about you? How was your Christmas?

Insurance

My wife and I finally decided on a good life insurance policy for me. Its called I-insure 65. It’s cheap and at the same time provides enough coverage as advised by most finance books.

We have also been regularly doing mutual funds investments instead of wasting our extra money. It’s too bad that we are only able to do these things now, but I believe that God’s timing is always perfect, so we should do the best that we can do with what we currently know. We are looking for other methods of better managing our finances and hopefully make our extra money work for us better.