Hard Rock Hotel Cancun aka Cancun Palace

Such a long Time has passed and here we are!  With all the hustle and bustle of the daily life, let me just take you for a breath of fresh air...right to the gorgeous Cancun. This was our second time staying at Cancun Palace, which is now re-flagged as the new Hard Rock Hotel. So, aside from us arriving in the midst of the resort's transitional period, all I'd say is I hope they'll do better in the coming years. We loved our first time there last year that's why we came back so I hope the experience we had was only temporarily. Let me quickly say...what I'm referring to here is the lousy computer system that made us wait for almost 3 hours for check-in and get settled in a room. This didn't happen last year - which was when we arrived way early, before check-in time, and they almost instantaneously had a room available for us. Nonetheless, we didn't let a few bad things here and there ruin our time. There was plenty of family bonding time and this year was even better, we had 3 families that joined us, with a total of 4 rooms and 6 kids. Without a bit of exaggeration, the kids had the time of their lives, the excitement was surreal and we would do it all over again! One already is asking when are we coming back?? I'll be sharing photos in phases...after all, 7 days were the longest we've ever stayed in the Caribbean. Here is one couple that we took with us. The photos were taken at various points during our stay and since this was Long & Kelly's first time in Cancun, I hope the photos bring back wonderful memories! An incredibly breathtaking view from the 3rd floor terrace overlooking the pool and the Caribbean
Isla Mujeres Ferry Boat Believe it, there are a lot more to come. Stay tuned...
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Punta Cana, Dominican Republic - sneak preview

I almost forgot how to log into this blog. That's how long it's been. Just a quick note that yes, we're still around. I just have been taking some downtime with kiddies. Before I run off to a wedding this evening, here's what I've been wanting to share from our recent trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic where we stayed at the Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe. Might I say, I never have good luck with vacation. But rare moments with family are still cherish-able moments. If you want to hear the story about this resort, stay tuned. Until then, here are some sneak preview:



I bet you can't tell from these rare happy moments that these two were constantly in a quarrel almost the whole time together:






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A mini vacation

Where have we been? VA Beach! Yes, we came back from a mini vacation last week and I am still on vacation mode. I'm trying to get myself back to reality here and it's taking a longer time than expected :) Yeah, go ahead and pinch me !

Unbelievably, I can't remember the last time I've sandstepped on VABeach. It must have been at least more than 10 years! And same as TT. The only memory I had of VAB from the first experience was the warm water and the longer drive (in comparison to Ocean City which my family try to go every year). TT has a friend down there so this year we decided to go VABeach. We had reserved an oceanfront suite but TT's friend has an empty house at the time so she kindly offered us the space thus we canceled the suites. And if you don't know by now, TT and I have the best luck with the beach weather. The sunday drive there- it was raining cats&dogs! TT and I just looked at each other and laugh. Urgh! When we arrived there, we called it a day and our friends took us to a local buffet. The house where we stayed was a 9 mile drive to the beach but an advantage was knowing the good local seafood restaurants which saved from spending like a tourist ;)

Did I mention that it was a family-oriented vacation? Imagine 3 families - 14 people. We went with TT's sister and her family, TT's brother, and Daniel and his family. And the house was perfect, had 3 separate rooms and their own 3 bathrooms. We arrived first under the rain and our other family/friend arrived on the following day. I think TT and I had some luck of the others that's why the sun decided to slowly shine on the day that they arrived! Thanks to them, we at least had 2 good days on the beach out of our 4-day mini vacation ! Which was another reason why we didn't want to go by ourselves ;) !!!

Altogether, it was very relaxing, pleasant and most importantly we had a great time!

Here are a few snapshots from my G10. Some were processed, some were almost SOOC:

We took a stroll the second night, it was cloudy and we didn't swim that day. This was very cute and made a scene- bboy was mimicking his cousin. We told him it was ok, that the water won't wet his shorts, but he insisted to follow his natural instinct- an instinct we hold to adulthood:



The fathers capturing kiddies' moments and yeah I'm all in their way :)



Bbgirl brought her tea set and had a tea party:


Bboy didn't like the wave much, but bgirl totally had a blast. She told daddy to stay out there with her in the wave until there's no more wave!


Headed to the amusement park nightlife. The kids loved the rides and almost all of the rides the parents are allowed to tag along. They kept on wanting to go again and again. But I tried to stay away from anything that spins round and round. Those things make me dizzy. I liked the slider and hated the ferris wheel. The ferris wheel made me feel uncomfortable at the top, especially when the kids couldn't sit still and it made it shake. OMG! I could see their fair skin started to tan up:


Skycraper- Daniel took it for a spin! holy cow, his wife had the camcorder to record but as soon as it started to spin, she was in disbelief and freaking out and didn't even record Daniel until I noticed and started screaming. She immediately handed it over to us to take over and she continued to shiver all over.


I'll leave this last photo for you, the moon was so close yet so far away. This is the feeling I often have in life:



Ref: our blog for more photos

Postage Stamps Increase Effective May 11, 2009

For those of you who are not yet aware, postage stamps will be increased on May 11, 2009 from 42¢ to 44¢.

So why does this interest you? Because, if you're planning to send out your wedding invitations, this is the time for you to run out there and purchase those "Forever Stamps" which can be used for your wedding RSVP cards. So even after the price change, you can still use these Forever Stamps to mail 1-ounce letters, without the need for additional postage!

What can you do now?
First, weigh your invitation. If it's 1-ounce or less, purchase the Forever Stamps now.
Second, if your invitation is more than 1-ounce, well then use those Forever Stamps for your RSVP cards instead :)

So take advantage !

Visit the USPS site for more details

Bridal Shower for Jin

Just a note: the photos from this set are straight out of the camera (SOOC) from my new G10.
Chef Jane did it once again. I arrived later so I didn't get to taste her food. But I did get a big bite at the yummylicious cupcake. I also hauled a couple home for my kiddos.
Here are the games that the girls played at the bridal shower:
1) How well does the bride know the groom? There were some tough questions!
2) Who makes the best wedding dress with toilet paper? Jackie won
3) Who melts the ice cube with the ring inside the fastest? not sure who won since we started to cheat (:
Oh, and I lost a sticker to my old pal Sammie the very second Jin gave me the description of one of the other game. Oh so disappointed @ myself. It was nice, I saw a couple of familiar faces and realized it had been some ancient time.

A sneak peak at the Bridal Party:

The winner of the dress contest:

Check out the rest of the photos here and we can't wait for your wedding day J&J !

Jin's Bridal Shower

Ref: Our Blog for more photos

Will You Fly With Me?

I never want to miss a special moment that happens in my daily life. In trying to keep those memories, I always have a camera with me (the only time I would forget is because I had uploaded the photos the night before). But since I always have it, each time I took it out to use, I felt so glad to have had it 24/7! I have been very disappointed with my Sony Cybershot. It has a nice look and feel, easy to carry around (that was the reason I got it), but it definitely didn't do a nice job for indoors shooting. Recently someone had asked for it, and we've decided to give it away. In replacement, TT ordered me another point-and-shoot - the Canon G10. I can shoot manual with it and it's soooo powerful!! Just the fact that it can shoot in RAW format, is an awesome feature, but I haven't tried that yet. So my new awesomeness arrived just in time for the first day of Spring. We both welcomed Spring with the following, hope you enjoy for now:


Can you see what is in the skies? How COOL is that?





Does Trident "splash" need a junior model?


Ref: Our Blog for more photos

Trick or Treat at Villages of Urbana 2008

Two years in a row, the weather was FABULOUS for trick or treating, thus seemed like out came even more spirits and devils than the year before.
My barbie had been waiting for the day to go trick or treat and she enjoyed herself with her bucket of pumpkin. Even more so, she was enjoying after the fact with all the goodies. Her first dentist appointment is in two weeks, we'll see how she does!
Last year, we set up our cameras and took photos of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. This year we weren't planning on doing so because we both came down with a cold. But after opening our door for a few times to pass out the candies, we were surprised to find this group of trick or treater that remembered us from last year and asked us if we were taking pictures this year! We said we weren't planning on doing so, but since they had asked, lifted our sickness, and TT told them alrity, hang on, he certainly can do that again! They waited and had their pictures taken! If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have captured the spirits of the night. And we glad we did!

So our Barbie and penguin were hanging out with their baby cousins and when they came back, Barbie didn't look happy b/c I ended up not going with her, I stayed back to pass out the candies while TT took photos. Barbie even asked how come I didn't go with her. I know!

Here she is, disguised in her rarely seen 'unhappy' Barbie costume: And my penguin, who doesn't care for anything except for the yummy goodies:Neighbor and friends, your kids' photos can be found here: Click here for Villages of Urbana 2008 Halloween photos

For those that might wonder why we do this, because as parents ourselves, we try to capture everything that our kids do. We thought we would be able to do this for our neighbors so everyone can enjoy saving the memories! It was nice to see everyone, and with your support, we'll try to continue providing this fun service! Please spread the words to your neighbors so we can see more faces next year!

If you're interested in a printable version of the photos, please email us embrace@embracephoto.net

Click here for 2007's Halloween Night for Villages of Urbana

Ref: our blog

Kings Dominion welcomes Booz | Allen | Hamilton

Finally, Booz Allen Hamilton held its annual theme park family day at Paramount's Kings Dominion this year. Previous years, it had been at Six Flags America, click here for the post from last year. I don't think I can forget this day, it was ONE HOT AND HUMID day to spend outdoors! It was 92 degrees with a record high for the area of 93 degrees. So you can imagine how crazy it was. There was even a heat advisory announcement. Well it was too late, we were already there with 4 kids. The park opened at 10am, we got there at 10:30am and stayed until 5pm. Oh boy, it was one killer experience. And looking back, our family seem to be loving killer experience!
We let the kiddos tried the kiddie rides, only to have the lady stop after a minute the ride started to take out bboy!! They were fine and loving it when we sat them down, but bboy started crying when he found we weren't riding with him. So we had to apologize and asked the lady to stop the ride and we took him out. Bbgirl stuck through that ride but she was frowning the whole time and didn't even look at me when I waved at her! She was mad. Poor thing. I did give them another chance at the another ride, but no luck there either. So we gave up trying to convince them.

By 11:30, we were starving, and headed to the area where lunch was being served by BAH. After that we hit the Water Works area and totally stayed there until we left. We couldn't walk around any longer, it was too hot and steamy!

Here are some photos from my sony cybershot:




It was that crowded:

Had to get a double stroller else we wouldn't stand a chance:


aww

My baby:

When we first sat them down:

See how sad she is after we took bboy off:


Lunch Time:


Hit the pool:


Enjoying the Tidal Wave Bay: