MARIKINA: A Haven of Restaurants

Alam nio, mga mommies, kelan ko lang nalaman na ang dami palang masasarap na kainan sa Marikina? Oo sa Marikina. Sa Marikina kung saan laging dumadaan ang school service ko dahil ako ay nag aral sa isang paaralan sa Marikina.

Dati rati ang Soliven sa Green heights ay puros bahay lamang yan, binabaha pa nga e. Pero ngayun, pag binaybay mo sya, ang daming restos na nag sulputan. Mula kanto ng Soliven at Sumulong Hi-way hanggang dulo ng Lilac St., tabi tabi na ang kainan jan.

One time, we were on our way to my friend's house, may isang restaurant sa kanto ng Soliven at Sumulong hiway that caught our attention. Ang daming naka park na cars, so it means daming kumakain. Hmmm, nakaka curious.

So eto one Friday evening, after a hard day's work, we decided to ignore our rumbling stomach and avoid the temptation na kumain sa Megamall (default namin kainan to) and tolerate the traffic along Katipunan, White Plains and Marcos hi way just to eat at that restaurant. Pag dating dun, as expected ang daming naka park. So I let hubby find a parking space, while I got out to have our seats reserved. Pang 4 yata kami. 

Teka, ang dami ko nang sinabi, did'nt I mention the name of the restaurant yet? O sige eto siya:

Ayan, sa mga taga-Marikina alam na alam nila to.  Just be prepared to walk far, kasi hirap parking dito, sa gilid lang nang kalsada.

Upon entry, bungad agad ang maliit na dining sa loob. Pero pag umakyat ka sa 2nd floor, may space pa pala, specially if you come in big groups.  The space is very humble. Walang magarbong decorations. Simpleng - simple, pati mga utensils, plates and glass bumagay sa aura ng lugar. But don't get me wrong, the place is very cozy, yung tipong gusto mo mag tagal lang sa loob habang nag kukuwentuhan with your peers.

At dahil umuulan-ulan eto ang order ko, Stamina Ramen:

Sorry, kung di na kaaya-aya tingnan. Yes, I am that hungry, that I totally forgot to take a picture of my order and hubby's order.  Sa hitsura niya, iisipin nio na sya ay isang curry. Tama kayo, lasang curry na maanghang, pero masarap lalo na ngayong panahon ng tag-ulan. Order ni hubby was ramen na veggies ang laman, masarap din daw, lasa daw chopsuye. At ang laki ng order huh! Para sakin na gutom na ang katawang lupa, di ko halos maubos ang isang bowl.

Sa laki ng order, naiisip namin, sana pala umorder kami ng isang bowl ng ramen at isang order ng gyoza at nag hati hati na lang kami ni Daddy A.  Sa susunod, i-tratry  naman namin ang mga rice toppings nila. Kelan ang susunod? Sa susunod pag inabutan ako ng gutom sa daan.

 

Sana magutom uli ako sa tindi ng traffic.

Bata, 7 years old, nag enjoy sa DREAM PLAY

Hi  blogging world! It's been a loooooooooonnnnnnngggggggggg time since I've been here.  Yung promise ko to update this blog, di ko na natupad.

So why am I here. Wala lang, naalala ko may blog pala ako na puedeng stress reliever.  Yes, tagal ko yata na stress dahil sa mga bagay bagay.

Heniiiwey, last Friday was a holiday, salamat naman kay Ninoy at nadagdagan ang bonding days naming pamilya. At dahil ang tagal tagal na kami kinukulit ni bagets na magpunta sa Dreamplay, e di eto na ang pagkakataon para gawin yun.

Actually, hindi Dreamplay ang original plan namin.  We wanted to go to Kidzania, kasi feeling ko mas maraming magagawa dun. Yun nga lang, nung mag bo-book na ako online, fully booked ang Aug. 21-23,
sayang naman ang holiday kung di kami mag bobonding nang bongga. Sa August 31 na lang kami mag Kidzania, at lesson learned mag bobook na ako ngayun pa lang para sa Aug. 31 nang makapag Kidzania na ang bata.

So eto no, Daddy A said, Dreamplay na lang. I told him to inform the bagets kasi conditioned ang brains niya to play at Kidzania. E ang daling kausap ng bagets, sagot pa nga ng " tagal ko na nga gusto magpunta dun e". O diba dali kausap basta galaan.

And because holiday, napa isip ako na baka masayang ang punta kung mahaba ang pila sa ticket booth. I read somewhere, na it took them hours before they were able to buy tickets. So dahil matalino ako (feeling lang naman) bumili ako ng tickets sa SM tickets at P880 each for 4 hours. Di ko na inalam kung magkano ang tickets sa venue mismo, wapakels basta wag ako ma-stress sa pag pila ng mahaba at mamaximize ang oras namin no. I bought the tickets sa SM Masinag, at dahil kaka open pa lang ng mall, ako lang mag isa ang nakapila. O diba wagi ako sa aking plano :)))).

So onto our venue, I turned on my Waze Apps, na walang kwenta, san san kami dinadala. Hmmm, waze ba ang problema o si Daddy A? Hahaha! Basta C5 kami dumaan, nag Mckinley kami tapus labas namin Edsa.  Umuulan-ulan pa, bed weather talaga, pero wala talagang makakapigil sa anak ko na mag Dreamplay dahil kung hindi, ma bibingi ako sa kaka reklamo  niya buong weekends!

At eto na----Hello Dreamplay! And true enough, ang habbaaaah nang pila. Those who bought their tickets from SM tickets have a separate entrance, dun kami nag proceed and entrance was easy peasy. Our names were encoded in their system and we were given this bracelets that can be used in some activities to activate it.

In front of the entrance

Wag kayo ma-bother mga Mommies kung ngiwi ang shot na ito. Hindi talaga mahilig mag smile ang bagets sa camera, "it's not his thingie daw"? Hahaha ewan lang dito sa bata  na ito.

Eto lang ang aming natutunan, ang four hours ay sobra sobra talaga para libutin ang mini park. Pero dahil merong mga activities na per reservation basis tulad ng Cooking Class, Dreamtales Library, Dream Theatre at Dream Studio, baka kulang ang four hours.

We checked-in at 12.44 pm so we have to check out by 4:44 pm.  We reserved first sa Cooking Class sa Gingy's Kitchen, 4:00 pm na lang ang available time, sakto bago kami umuwi eto ang last activity namin. Sa Dreamtales Library 5:00 pm pa ang available, e hanggang 4:44 lang naman kami, so hindi na namin pinangarap yan.

We went first sa How to Fly Your Dragon where kids will assemble a dragon and then go upstairs to put the dragon into a hook and let it fly ikanga na parang dragon na  naka zipline.

How his Dragon turned out

Happy siya nyan Muthers, ganyan lang talaga peg niya, serious type. Next we went to Shrek's swamp. Bahay to ni Shrek, inside you will see huge furnitures where you can sit and have your pictures taken.  Medyo madilim sa loob at ang dala ko lang ay iphone, so medyo labo kuha.

Yan si Big Shrek at Little Shrek, hehehehe.

Laki table ni Shrek

Next dun kami sa Dinotrux, isang racing arena ng mga bola, controlled by a tablet ang movement ng mga bola along the race tracks. Enjoy much si bagets dito kasi bago kami umuwi, dumaan uli sya dito e. Di ko pala to na picturan, sayang.

If you go up the 2nd floor of this activity area , meron dun head ng dinosaur that you can control.  You can sway the head sideways, up and down and you can open its mouth very very wide.

We also visited the cockpit where kids can pretend they were pilots:

Eto ang mga activities na nag enjoy sya ng husto:

Dreamstudio

 Dreamstudio - this where he learned how to make cartoons.  You choose a character tulad ng panda, then select the moves, adjust the speed of his actions, and then add items as props.

Whatever Floats you Boat

Eto, pati si Daddy A nag enjoy kasi gumawa rin sya nang sarili nyang boat at nag race sila ni bagets. Ending? Talo ang Daddy, hahaha!

Maraming balls dito

Eto daming balls, may fountain of balls jan, hinihigop nya ang balls tapus mag blast sya pataas so ang effect parang it was raining balls! I forgot anu name nitong activity na ito.

We did'nt anymore try the wall climbing and the parkour kasi takot ang bagets. So we just went to our final activity. Actually there were two or three other activities that we did not try pero its okay to forego na yun, nothing extraordinary naman.

Our final activity is where I enjoyed naman. It was a cooking class, and all of us three participated in baking a gingerbread cookie.  From putting flour on the table, to flattening the dough, and then cutting it in a form of gingerbread man (using a cookie cutter) to decorating it with icing, to eating the bread, e nakaka enjoy naman talaga. But you know, I think, the cookie that we ate were already pre-baked. Kasi after 30 seconds lumabas na sa "Magic Oven" e. Hehehehe.

My work

Daddy A's work

Wyeth's work

Enjoy diba? But you know honestly, the kid enjoyed so much, pero ako so-so lang. Simple lang kasi yung theme park.  But siempre ang importante, the kid went home a happy kid. That's all what matters :)

You wear this upon entry, to access other activities

Pag exit, you surrender the above bracelets, then off you go. We bought first a penguin pillow from the souvenir shop kasi gusto ng bagets.

 And that's how our experience with Dreamplay went. Saya saya lang!

Till next theme park!!!