Last Tuesday, my hubby and I together with my youngest brother and my niece Vernice went to the immigration office in Poro Point, San Fernando La Union to pay the annual fee of my hubby. I asked my brother to drive for us. It was a two hour drive from where we live. On the way, we stopped by at Jollibee in Agoo, La Union to have lunch. Jollibee is Vernice's favorite fast food restaurant.

After we ate we proceeded to the immigration. It took maybe 15 minutes to wait for hubby's annual report to be done and we went out of the immigration office around 2PM. Before leaving the entrance gate I asked the guard where is the Thunderbird Resorts and he told me the direction. It's only about 500 meters away from the immigration office so we drove there. Before leaving, Vernice insisted to get my camera and took our photos.

at the front of the Bureau of Immigration, Poro Point, San Fernando La Union. Li'l Vernice took this pic.

Hubby and I in front of the immigration office. Vernice took this pic.

The security guard at the Immigration office. Vernice was the one who took his pic.

 

When we reached the entrance of the resort, we asked the guard to let us in because we wanted to have a sight-seeing. He obliged and opened the entrance gate. It's a good thing they don't require and entrance fee. Thunderbird Resorts is located in a very spacious land and the buildings of the hotels are Mediterranean style patterned after the buildings in Greece. If you are there, it looks like you're in a foreign country. I also read in the internet that this place is where the celebrity John Estrada and his bride got married last year. 

We feasted our eyes with the nice view and took some photos. I just wished we were able to see the inside of the hotel too. One of these days, I would like to go back there with hubby and spend a night just to experience the beauty and quietness of the place. They have also a golf course there. So if you want to be away from the busyness of life in the city and you just want to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature, then Thunderbird Resorts is the place to visit.

Li'l Vernice

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My hubby and I had a mini vacation in Oklahoma City for 3 days and 2 nights. Hubby didn’t like to go there because he wanted to go back to San Antonio but I told him that we can go there next time. We’ve been there last year so I’m not really that interested to go back unless we have to. I want to see places that I’ve never seen before. We’ve passed by OKC many times but I haven’t seen the tourist attractions there. I heard that OKC has a lot of tourist attractions that are worth visiting. So I searched the internet of the things to do in OKC. I even printed the directions going to those places from Mapquest because we don’t have a GPS. I also searched for a good hotel to stay and read the reviews in the internet.

So last Thursday, we went to OKC and checked in to a hotel which is close to the tourist spots. After we ate our lunch at Denny’s which is just next to our hotel, we went to Bricktown Canal and we rode the Water Taxi. This place is a copycat of the River Walk in San Antonio. It’s nice there but there’s not as many attractions as in the River Walk because Bricktown Canal was only constructed a few years ago. The place is not as crowded as the River Walk although there are many tourists there too. When hubby paid for our tickets, the sales lady put a badge in our wrists and she said we can ride the water taxi as many times as we want to during that day but we only rode once. I enjoyed the ride and of course I took a lot of photos and video. Then we went back to our hotel to rest and that ended our activities in day one in OKC.

My hubby took some stolen shots and he caught me off guard. He kept laughing and I didn’t know what he was laughing about so I laughed with him while he took my photos only to find out later that this photo that he took made him laughed. He told me not to delete it.


But I have some good poses though to redeem myself from those bad stolen shots. I just love to pose.

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This morning, hubby and I accompanied Mary Ann to Fort Worth for her biometrics. She had asked my hubby to drive for her because Jeff had to go to work. So the three of us went there and we arrived at La Gran Plaza Mall at 11:00 AM. She went in at the CIS office and asked if she can have her finger prints taken but they told her to wait for her scheduled time which is 12:00 noon. So we roamed around the mall and I saw a pair of sandals that caught my eye and I bought it. Whew! Me and my addiction of buying footwears. I’m still waiting for the 2 pairs of sandals and 1 pair of shoes that I bought online. There goes my blogging money again.


Then at exactly 12:00 noon they let in Mary Ann in and had her biometrics taken. It only took 15 minutes and she was done. Since we were already in Fort Worth, we decided to dropped by at Botanic Garden and have some picture taking. It was my 3rd time to go there and it was Ann’s 1st time to see the garden. The garden don’t have that much flowers as before. We just walked a little bit, took some photos and we left.

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Every time we stop by at the park in Burleson to use the restroom, I can’t resist taking pictures in the park. That park is so clean and sometimes a lot of people are having picnics there. The trees are so green now and also the lawn. It’s the best season of the year. I lost count of how many times we took pics in that park. I will just post one here.

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Traveling from Wichita Falls to Alvarado is smooth until we reach Fort Worth. Lots of cars there and traffic is bad. Hubby and I hate it because of the congestion and he can’t drive fast. He drove slowly and it’s like ages till we pass by that area. Then after that he can drive fast again. The same thing happened when we drove back home. There was congestion again and I told hubby we can’t do anything but to be patient until we passed Fort Worth. He said that’s the reason he moved out of Fort Worth because he hated the traffic there. My hubby was born and raised in Fort Worth but he moved out there many moon years back. Hubby likes the country life. I captured the congestion of vehicles in Fort Worth with my camera.

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Our Sunday School teacher Bro. Hugh & his wife Ms. Mareta invited us to attend the Balloon Festival in Tahlequah, Oklahoma this past weekend, August 17-19. They rented a vacation cottage house in Cookson Hill, OK, about 12 miles from Tahlequah and a 5 hour drive from Wichita Falls.

The house has 3 bedrooms and all the rooms are clean and bright with large windows. The kitchen was furnished with gas range, ref and all amenities are included in the house such as linens, towels, washer & dryer, flat iron & board, tv, dishes, cookwares and utensils so we were able to cook our breakfast. We really like the house, it’s old but updated, clean and well decorated. It’s so peaceful and quiet in that place and there were a lot of trees in that area so it’s cooler there. It’s like a home away from home. We went to the Balloon Festival Friday evening for the balloon glow. It’s my first time to watch a balloon festival and those ballons are really huge and colorful. I took some photos when they had those balloons lighted up and twinkled. After the balloon glow, they had a fireworks show to wrap up the day’s event.

The next day, Saturday, we went again at the airport in Tahlequah and watched the jeep rock climbing show. The jeeps climbed the pile of rocks and went down a deep hole and then go up and down another deep hole again. Oh my, that’s a scary thing for me, they call it extreme wheelin’. There was also a classic car show. Those cars are old models but I bet they are expensive, maybe the price is the same as a brand new car if not more expensive.

While waiting on the balloons to fly, there was a live concert but I didn’t really care about it because I don’t like those kind of music. It’s good that a group of Gospel singers sang next and we sat down and listened to their songs. The balloons flew later than what was scheduled because there was a shower in the afternoon. It’s good they decided to fly anyway but not a lot of them because of the rain.

Before we headed back home yesterday, we attended the Calvary Baptist Church in Eufaula, the same place where we had the summer camp last June. The preacher preached a good message and we’re really blessed. We had a good time during this weekend getaway and we enjoyed it. We are so grateful to Bro. Hugh and Ms. Mareta for inviting us to the Balloon Festival. George and I

enjoyed it.

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Last Monday we went to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington together with the teenagers, kids and some adults in our church. My husband was not able to go because he has to work. We left at 7:00 AM and it was a two and half hour drive from Wichita Falls to Arlington. The park opens at 10:00 AM. I thought that there will not be a lot of people there because it’s not a weekend but I was wrong. There were lots of people there. There were different kinds of rides there but I just chose to ride the smooth rides. I’m chicken when it comes to riding those thrilling and adventurous rides like the Superman, Coobrila and the roller coaster rides. Oh my! Just looking at those rides makes me feel dizzy and weak. I just rode the train rides and the boat ride. I enjoyed riding the Boomtown Depot train because I was able to have sight-seeing around some parts of the park.

It was hot and humid at noon and in the afternoon (maybe the highest was mid 90’s)but it’s a good thing that they have those fans with mists all around the park and I like to stay near them when I feel hot. It made me feel better. After roaming around the park and had picture taking my feet became sore in the afternoon. So my friends and I just sat down across the Superman ride and watch the riders there. We left Six Flags at 9:30 PM and I got home about past 12 midnight. I really got tired because of too much walking and my husband said that I look darker now because of too much exposure in the sun. I really don’t mind if my skin become darker as long as I have fun fun.

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Last Thursday, George and I together with my friend Sofia and her 2 kids Heather and Josh traveled by car to Colorado Springs, Colorado. George drove and it took us 12 longs hours on the road before we got to Colorado Springs with all those stop overs in the gas station, rest areas and picture taking on the road. Also one time we got out of the way. Just getting out of Texas took us a long time because it is such a large state. When finally we got to Colorado, we were amazed by the scenic views and also the cool weather. We checked in to our hotel but then there was a problem because we reserved a family room for 2 nights but the receptionist told us that we just reserved 1 night and the next night day we have to transfer to another room because the family room are all taken the next day. We really got irritated maybe because we’re so tired and we told the receptionist that we came all the way from Texas, 12 hours on the road and we don’t want to transfer to another room the next day because it’s a lot of hassle. So she finally gave us the key to our room and give it to us for 2 nights. Whew! there was a misunderstanding there. It so happened that there were a bunch of tourists who checked in and almost all the rooms were full. Early that evening Sofia’s friend Miriam and her family came in our hotel and we went to Seven Falls but George was so tired driving so he decided to stay in the hotel. Seven Falls is so beautiful at night because of the computerized lighting. The water changed into different colors. It’s so cool! There were a bunch of people there and there was a cultural show but we were so busy taking pictures of the water falls that I didn’t have time to watch them. We rode the mountain elevator and went to Eagle’s Nest. At the top we could see the falls. What a view! Miriam took us to Denny’s for supper that night but I was so tired and sleepy that I didn’t have the appetite to eat my food.

The next day we went to Garden of the Gods. Oh my! the view is spectacular. I felt so amazed seeing the rocky mountains so high. Only God can make those magnificent views. I feasted my eyes seeing the beauty of nature while we were hiking in the Garden of the Gods. I’m a nature lover and I really love sight-seeing. We can only say "Wow! What a view!" We spent half day there and after we ate our lunch, off we went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I have seen all the photos of Ashley that she posted in her page here in Friendster so I really wanted to see all those beautiful spots in Colorado Springs. We spent the whole day just hiking and walking. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo lives up to its name. The zoo is really in the mountainous area and this is America’s only mountain zoo. So we have to walk up and down the mountain zoo just to see those animals. This zoo has the the world-famous giraffe herd, the largest of any zoo. On top of the mountain zoo, you can see the breathtaking mountain scenery of the zoo and also Colorado Springs. At the end of the day my feet got tired. Then Ashley called and she decided to meet us personally the next day before we leave. She and her hubby Scott came to our hotel and then took us to breakfast at IHop restaurant. I was so glad to see Ashley and her hubby. They are nice and good-looking couple and we enjoyed talking with them. My only regret is we only had a short time to be with each other because we have to leave early and also Ashley had to work at 11:00 AM that day. After we ate our breakfast, Scott and Ashley took us to a scenic overlook view in Colorado Springs wherein we could see the Pikes Peak, Cheyenne Mountain and the US Airforce Academy. We took some souvenir photos with them and after that we said goodbye to each other and we headed back home. We really enjoyed our short stay there and we had fun. Thank God we got home safe and sound.

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