Irene's Sweet 16 Party!!

Yay!  The day is finally here where I get to share with you my cousin Irene's Sweet 16 Party!  Sorry for the delay, vacation kicked my butt LOL.

I have to say, it was very well planned out (I had final approval of the timeline so you know it's gonna be good LOL!!).  But we made sure it flowed like a good fun ..wedding reception HAHAHAHAHA!

The kiddies (especially Irene's sister, Cielo), really worked hard to plan out the song numbers and the games, for the most part keeping the program a surprise to Irene on the actual day!  I think it was very good practice for wedding planning and I'm VERY proud of Cielo and those who helped who made it all happen!  That was maid of honor status right there!!!  Cielo will have no problem helping Irene plan her wedding in... 30 years LOL!!! 

You could tell all the teeny boppers had a lot of fun!!!  NTME set up a big photobooth with props and people got really creative as well!  REALLY creative LOL!  You can check those photos out on our FB page HERE.

I am very proud of Irene.. she's like class president, plays the clarinet, gets straight A's, does soccer, etc etc.  She's just awesome.  It's crazy that she is going to my high school alma mater too.  She's doing a lot of things I did in high school, but.. she does it BETTER! HAHAHAHAH!  I see how many good friends she has and how everyone only has good things to say about her, and I know that if ever she's in trouble, she has a great net of friends to catch her.  I couldn't' have asked for better little cousins than her and her siblings.

I can't wait for Cielo and Eduardo's Sweet 16 Party in two years (they are twins, and I heard it's gonna be a Sweet and Sour Party or something HAHAHAHAHA!!!).  I am so very proud of them as well!

It was an awesome day.  Like a mini wedding, we just needed a groom.  But like I said, only 30 more years Irene, just 30 years ;)

Love you so much!

- Your Ate (pronounced ah-teh, meaning 'big sister' in Filipino) Tasha

PS. Actual video footage is coming by next week, your kuya (coo-yah, 'big brother' in Filipino) Fred is almost done :)

PPS.  Hey, do you want coverage of YOUR sweet 16?  Contact NTME!!! :)

CHECK OUT THE SLIDESHOW TO SEE JUST HOW FUN THIS PARTY WAS!!

Mountains, Smores, & Waterfalls!! Our Anniversary + Cousin Road Trip!

This post has VIDEO!!! YAY!!

So as you know, August 9th is Fred and my wedding anniversary - yay!  This year we decided to take a little road trip to camp out in the Poconos and visit Canada to see Niagara Falls!  But we also wanted to spend time with my little cousins, Irene, Eduardo, and Cielo, so we brought them along as well.  You might be saying - what!?  It's your anniversary and you're bringing KIDS?  And they aren't even YOUR kids!?

I gotta tell you something about my little cousins.  They are just plain awesome.  Whenever we all hang out, it's an adventure, and Fred and I wanted them to have a chance to see a world wonder, ride some white water, and to try smores for the first time.   It was our moment in time to experience it all TOGETHER.

And I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Here's a photo montage of our trip!

Cousin Vacay 2011 from NTME on Vimeo.

Saturday started off with Camelbeach Waterpark in the Poconos.  It's pretty big and had some cool rides.  I however only could take 9 pictures because we forgot a memory card for our water proof camera HAHAHAHAHA!

Sunday after church, we headed back to the Poconos in the evening and camped out in a cabin.  I was all for camping, but I insisted on a cabin and not a tent hahaha.   Glad that I did because it ended up raining each night hahaha!

The kiddies had smores for the first time.  They are now addicted.  Here's a video about us trying to start a fire on the first night... it took us 2 hours because the wood was damp and we didn't have a fire-starting thingy... But Cielo saved the day with her sorceress chant!

Cielo starts the fire from NTME on Vimeo.

Fred has what he considers the best method for making the perfect smore.  He says that you should not let the smore touch the flame directly, but just have it linger nearby it.  It should make the outside of the marshmellow a crispy golden brown, not burnt.

We used Hershey's 'minis' for the smores.. rather than the chocolate pieces that you snap off.  It worked really well... very easy to deal with and you can add peanut butter cup minis if you want!

On Monday, we went white water rafting on the Lehigh River.  We stuck with the class 1 and class 2 rapids, which I think were great for the kids' first time.

Didn't buy the photo they took... probably b/c of my face HAHAHAH!

Here's some footage of our white water rafting journey!  Pretty funny hehehe!

White Water Rafting from NTME on Vimeo.

That night, we used our flashlights to do some light painting hehe!

The next day we journeyed to Niagara Falls!

This was the view at night from our hotel on the Canadian side.  LOVED our hotel!! I can't believe how close the US and Canada are together lol... I always envisioned there to be a bigger gap lol..

So that's our vacation in a nutshell!!