Escapades of my never ending voyage: Atlanta 2005

Christmas is the time for giving and receiving...time to love and share...time to be happy and celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. But it's the other way around here in the US, besides the decorations in the malls and lights on the streets, I don't see anything that makes me feel the spirit of Christmas. In the Philippines, once the month of "ber" arrives. Peoples starts to decorate their houses and make their Christmas shopping list for those who are "nauthy and not" even with their "butas na bulsa". Malls and radios start to play Christmas songs. Streets are full of life with colorful Christmas lights. People seems to be living in a very fast phase...Even with the hardship of life in the Philippines you will feel the love and happiness in the air...

On the 24th of December 2005, my husband still needs to work so we travelled from Charlotte, NC to Atlanta at around 8pm, we almost spent our Christmas on the road. We drove to Walgreen since it's the only shop open to sell food. We didn't even have the chance to shop for Zoe's & Josh's gift because hubby was working 24/7. Luckily, our friends in NC gave them gifts before we headed to Atlanta and that's what they opened on Christmas eve. We never felt so lonely on a very happy occassion such as Christmas but when we hugged each other we felt the love in our family. I realized that no matter where we are or what we have on our Noche Buena, Christmas is with us for as long as we are together...

Ang munti naming salo-salo

Thanks to Walgreen for our Noche Buena

Thanks to Tito Anton for the Elmo.

Thanks to Tita Theena and Tito Micke for the gift.

New year's eve, new life...life that is basically us, "only Us". Me and my husband, Zoe and Josh. My new year's resolution is not to be over-standard or else i will have a hard time finishing everything on my own. I have no problem at the moment since we have been living in the hotel for like 2 months now in Charlotte, NC where cleaning is not my responsibility YET. But, when it comes to my kids' welfare, I still could not afford to down-grade my standards because they are my precious ones...

Our New Year's Eve celebration is as lonely as Christmas...we missed our love ones in the Philippines, we missed the "paputok" (fireworks) for like hours and the "usok" (smoke) that seems last forever. After we had our salo-salo, we just cuddled in the couch and watch the countdown in the TV, then went to bed with the hope of a better year in the morning.

That's baked ribs and Pasta... yummmm at least, homemade na yan di na binili...

This is US...noticed the teary eyes of everyone...

This is after we attended the new year's mass at Saint Jude.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all!!!

Last November 27, 2005 was our very first "lakwatsa". We visited the newly opened Georgia Aquarium, it is the largest aquarium in the world... Along with our lakwatsa were Tolitz, Amy and little Aldwin who visited Atlanta for Thanks giving. Since we just decided to go there the night before, we didn't get the chance to purchase a ticket online. We suffered from blistering wind falling in line for 4 hours to get in but the long wait was worth it because we saw a lot of water kingdom species that we never saw before... Zoe was so amazed as a am specially when we watched and heard the Beluga whales sounds.

Daddy and Josh were looking at the same spot...it was the great white shark coming !!!

A pose at the Tropical fishes section

My family at GA Aquarium

After exploring the whole aquarium we sat down to do some gags. Josh was on his nap time.

A pose outside the Aquarium before we bid goodbye

The great thing about roaming around Atlanta is that the tourist destinations are just close to each other. The GA Aquarium, Coke, CNN, Phillips Arena and the Centennial Park. You can visit it all in just one day. So before and after our GA Aquarium Escapades we took a glimpse of the Centennial Park.