Hannah's 7th Birthday

I was told that for Filipinos, the must-be-special birthdays for a daughter are the 1st, 7th and 18th birthdays. So for Hannah's 7th birthday we thought of doing something else instead of the Jollibee kiddie party in school. She and her classmates are becoming very good in playing the longest happy birthday greeting game because kiddie parties happen quite often in school. We planned to go Zoobic Safari in Subic, Pampangga but thank God we changed our mind because we would have been stranded there scared of Typhoon Ondoy's wrath that ravaged Luzon on Hannah's birthday. We escaped Ondoy because before it hit Luzon, we left the Philippines and went to Hong Kong for Hannah's 7th birthday. The weather there was hot and sunny and we heard of Ondoy only when one night we saw it in CNN then family and friends started texting about what's happening. It was sad but we thanked God for guiding our decision to celebrate the birthday somewhere else.

This is our little lady filling up and signing her first departure card.

Welcome to Hong Kong !

A lady from the travel agency met us at the pick-up area in HK International airport and took us to Hotel Panorama.

Private Kodak, ooops, Canon moment in the elevator.

View from the hotel's viewdeck at the 40th floor.

After we left of luggages in the room, we went to Hong Kong Disneyland.

Train Station

Can anyone tell me how to be the grand marshal of the parade? I'm guessing you should be the 1st complete family that enters Disneyland for that day.

Meet, greet, ride, enjoy

Our tireless daughter leading the way to meet as many princesses as we can

Cinderella

Our daughter told Belle that she played Belle in their school play of Beauty and the Beast.

Snow White

Aurora of Sleeping Beauty

Alice in Wonderland

Hannah enjoyed the cute dolls in It's a Small World

The castle changes it's look at night because we were there a month before Halloween.

We spent our whole day in Fantasyland that fit perfectly to what our daughter likes. This is the closest we got to Tomorrowland.

But it was worth it. This day of course is our daughter's 7th birthday.

Going back to the hotel

Happy birthday Hannah. We love you.

Pioneer Fishes in NUVALI Lake

The lake in NUVALI turns orange every morning and afternoon.

It's not magic. It's the scheduled fish feeding in the lake.

8,000 Koi fishes were introduced to the lake. When feeding time comes, they gather in the taxi boat docks and you can almost hear them say "feed me!" So buy fish food near the lake and start feeding them. The fishes clean the lake of algae and keeps water insects away. It's an effective move. The water strider insects I saw during the NUVALI Grand Launch last April are gone.

The clubhouse of Treveia NUVALI is almost complete.

Ballet Recital in SM Mall of Asia

When Hannah introduced herself on the stage during her Senior Casa Graduation in Montessori, she announced loudly and proudly to the audience that she wants to be a ballet dancer. It was a unique aspiration among tons of kids wanting to be doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, politicians and police men. It generated quite a positive stir in the audience that encouraged my wife and I to support her in her dreams. So we took her to a ballet studio to start training.

The first time she saw the practice going on, she whispered to her mom "Sana di na lang ballet dancer ang sinabi ko" (I should have not said that I want to be a ballet dancer). But those Barbie movies and the 12 Dancing Princess have such a huge influence that it did not take an hour for our daughter to change her mind and continue with her ballet lessons.

She took her lessons seriously and she never wanted to be late. She met a lot of new friends and every lesson was a fun experience for her.

After weeks of training, it was time for her first public performance. Where? In Center Stage theater of SM Mall of Asia.

It gave me a feeling of being back to when we watched Lea Salongga perform in Miss Saigon but this time with our little daughter on a similar stage. Performing in a real theater was a good experience for her - the final stage rehearsal minutes before the show, backstage makeup and chitchats, excitedly qeueing for their turn to perform on stage and performing in front of a fully packed theater. Hannah had absolutely no stage fright and she performed well.

Hannah with friends Shane and Louie.

Hannah with Jam-jam.

Seeing your daughter perform two ballet pieces on stage is quite a momentous event that makes you want to stand up and shout "That's my girl!"

Good job Hannah!

Video: SM Mall of Asia Recital

Encore In Robinsons Mall

After a few weeks, they had another full program, this time in Robinsons Mall.

She performed again two ballet pieces to a different set of audience free for all to see.

Here are some of the other performers.

Proud parents.

Video: Robinsons Mall Recital

Opening number - Waltz of the Flowers

Serenade

Thanks to coach Jonathan Terry of Dance Factory for teaching Hannah. He was previously a principal dancer of Dance Theater Philippines and partnered with Anna Villadolid, Maryanne Santa Maria, Lisa Macuja to mention a few.

Dance Factory
Robinson's Place, Dasmarinas, Cavite
(046)696-3275