memorial weekend...

Such a shame not to say anything about a great weekend spent with an old friend from college. All I did so far was to post pictures of the said visit, and none was said of the good times and stories that should have accompanied such photos. So, let me remedy my laziness and bore my readers with our escapades.

Friday

Did not go to work (shhh...). My visitor said he's be arriving before lunch so I figured I'd just take the whole day off instead of having to fight traffic. Woke up early (around 6:15am), have to get the kids ready, work (for Kyla) and school (for Axel). Made coffee first (a must if I want to stay sane the whole day), then started on breakfast. The kids were complaining a bit, they are so used to going with me wherever I go, so taking of with my friend for the afternoon without them is something new.

Tito Al (as my kids call him), came around 11am. We spent some time actually looking each other over (we haven't seen each other in 20 years, except in pictures). After that, I let him rest a bit before we drove off to West Covina for lunch. Hungry as we are, we did not stay too long, we have tickets for Pirates and we did not want to be late. Him, being a photographer, took pictures along the way. After watching the movie, we looked for a place to have coffee, where else? Starbuck's (apparently his fav). Time flew so fast, as it always does when one is having fun. We did a lot of catching up as old friends do. It was great seeing him again. After that, we went home (he'd be staying with us for a few days). He still has to meet up with his other friends later that night.

We got home and the kids rushed out to meet him (first time in person). No shyness whatsoever. Axel had already challenged him on a football game (XBox 360). While we watched some show, Tito Al got ready to go out again. He left, but then he came back (he left his cellfone :P, ulyanin din pala, he he), then he left again... only to come right back... his friends cancelled on dinner. He was really disappointed about that, but then he decided to ask the kids to go out and have dinner. Kyla and Axel hurriedly got ready (never one to pass up food). So off we went to.... Applebee's. Tito Al and Axel got steak, I got fish and chips and Kyla (amidst teasing), got a weight watcher's dinner terriyaki something... Tito Al got subjected to a lot of teasing from my kids, it's like they too were long time friends. It was a refreshing sight to see. More stories, food, a lot of teasing. 'Twas a great night. All too soon it was time to go home.

The night was still young (I'm not). Tito Al and Axel played NFL, while we watched. Sent the kids off to bed after that. The oldies stayed up for a while with more stories. Sleep was a welcome respite.

Saturday

Woke up at the sound of my cellfone's alarm... WT.... Then it dawned on me that I am supposed to wake him up so he can get ready for the baptism he's going to attend. Tried to wake him up... and tried again... his own alarm went off... no success, tried waking him up again... Man! He's worse than my kids. He just won't wake up. Finally, after more than half an hour of alternating alarms and me shaking him up, he woke up.

While he got ready, I had coffee and breakfast going. Can't very well let him starve. He left after breakfast. Didn't really do much with him that day. This was his day with other friends. I had to wait up for him, though. Have to let him in. We ended up watching some Tagalog movie with the kids (Agent X44). Yeah, yeah... the things I have to put up with to entertain my guest. At least the movie was funny enough and have the kids chuckling to themselves as they got ready for bed.

Sunday

This was the big day. We are going to Griffith Observatory. But first we have to get through the morning. Tito Al made breakfast this time ( a late breakfast, seemed like no one wanted to wake up early after staying up late for 2 nights). Had bacon, eggs, toast, rice, coffee, orange juice. Learned a new way to cook bacon and eggs (thanks!). After that they had to get the steak ready for BBQ. Tito Al actually got my kids to help with the preparations, my only part was to get the grill going. The steak was a great success! Made some mashed potatoes to go with it, and of course, rice is a must... We were almost late in starting out because we were enjoying our late lunch too much. Good thing that there was no traffic and it was easy to find parking once we got to the shuttle that would take us to the Observatory.

At the Observatory...

Shuttle trip was a bit of a ways. Tito Al fell asleep, and I think so did we. Woke up just as the shuttle was parking. The view was breathtaking! We took our time walking up to the entrance. I have one professional photographer and an aspirng photographer in tow... not to mention I was handed a digital camera and was instructed to take as much pictures as I can. That proved okay because something was going on at the Observatory when we got there. People were actually outside waiting to be allowed in. Apparently, there was some fire somewhere and they were taking precautions in case we have to be evacuated right away. Minutes later, we were allowed in, false alarm, whew!

We started by going up the side stairs... we were more interested in taking lots of picture than actually seeing what was inside. This proved to be a lot of fun ( but I hate stairs...). This trip is highly recommended, but be sure you're ready to walk (a lot!) and you're not afraid of heights... We stayed awhile, looked at the exhibits, we even got to see the moon close up using the huge telescope. Axel got stuck between the columns, I liked the part where I weighed less than half of my real weight (big grin), Kyla got excited over a compass and Tito Al had the time of his life taking pictures of whatever took his fancy.

Too soon it was time to go. It got really cold while we were waiting for the shuttle to take us back to the car (brrrr!!!!). We decided to have dinner at In-N-Out Burger (more fun), and then went home. Tito Al and Axel got to play more games, Kyla watched, I was too tired to stay awake and kept closing my eyes while they played. Sleep..... please.....

Monday

It's Memorial Day, no work! Yey! We did not get up till late. We did get ready though we're not going anywhere because Tito Al took our pictures (pang-portrait daw). With that, the visit was over. He left before lunch because he has a golf game that day. We stayed and lounged around the apartment the whole day watching anything that comes on screen. It was a good thing though... friend coming over for a visit is always fun but also tiring.

It was nice seeing you... hope we can do this again sometime. And thanks from all of us.