Michi Photostory

Back to school is fast approaching and honestly, I’m not yet ready. How I wish I could extend summer vacation. Are you ready this coming school year? 

Well, as early as the first week of May, I’ve been preparing for the school year 2015-2016. I have this “Back to School Checklist” to make sure that I won’t miss out on anything. I want to know the possible expenses so I can prepare my budget. 


Last month, I enrolled my son in McDonald’s Kiddie Crew and the fastfood is just beside his school so I took advantage to drop by after his Kiddie Crew. I just got the school supplies list, books list, and our schedule to buy books.  

After that, I started my preparation. 

1. Inventory of school supplies - I checked our supplies and assessed the stuff if we can reuse it again, just like these crayons, I told my son that we will reuse his crayons. (checked) 


2. Make a list of supplies - I listed all the things that we need to buy for school and home. (checked) 

3. Try on the uniform - For the last three years, I’ve been buying new sets of uniform every school year so I’m really glad that this year, we can reuse his old uniforms. 

I just need to buy one set of uniforms because, in grade school, he will wear a regular uniform for 4 days so I need an extra uniform. (just in case hindi agad makalaba at plantsa). My son needs gala uniform too for the Friday mass (once a month). (checked)

4. Shop for supplies and uniform- after doing my inventory and list, I went to school to buy a uniform and school supplies like notebook and envelope (stuff that has logo of school). Then I went to National Bookstore to buy the other stuff because it is cheaper compared to school. (checked) 

5. Shop for books - in my son’s school, there’s a schedule on when you can buy the books but you can still buy after the scheduled week. But I always buy on the day of schedule. (Takot maubusan and baka napagpilian na ang matira) (checked) 


6. Make a list and buy clothes needed for school - aside from uniforms, we still need to check other clothes needed like white sando, socks, handkerchiefs, and underwear. (checked) 

School shoes and rubber shoes still fit so less expense. (checked) 

7. Shop for school bag/snack bag - we bought a new trolley bag (box type) for my son because he has more books and notebooks in grade school so even his old bag is still working fine, we have no choice but to buy a bigger one. (checked)  

Read: Choosing a School Bag
          Shopping for a School Bag

8. Shop for water bottle, lunch box, and utensils - my son will be in grade school so I need to buy this stuff. (checked)

9. ID bag tags/name tags - I will reuse the old bag tag and print a new name tag.  (checked) You can also laminate this and use as bag tag but I will use this as a name tag. I bought an ID case.

10. Print labels for school supplies. - I printed the book labels with name only because I can’t wait till June 6 (release of section). I want to cover the books as soon as possible. #nocramming (checked) 


11. Make appointments for haircuts, dentist, and doctor - haircut and flu vaccine was scheduled on the first weekend of June.

I have to schedule our dentist appointment again because the staff just texted me yesterday. Our appointment was canceled because the dentist has a dental mission on the scheduled date. 

12. Take "first day of school photo" - I always do this for memory's sake. 

I'm waiting for the orientation day for the grooming kit list. So far I’m almost done with my list, I just need to prepare myself. In two weeks, I will set up my alarm clock again. I need to wake up early to prepare for my son’s baon. Waah! Another dilemma for me, a menu for lunch baon.

Whether I like it or not, two weeks from now I have to kiss goodbye to summer vacation. I’ve been busy preparing all my son’s needs this coming school year and my back to school checklist is almost done.

Aside from books, one of the major expense in school is a bag. I just bought a trolley bag last year and it is still working fine but the problem is, we need a bigger bag because my son will be in grade school.

I told my husband last year to buy box type bag so we can reuse it the following year but he doesn’t like the idea because it is too big for my son. Ok fine, siya naman magbayad.

Two weeks ago, when my friend told me that she will go to SM, I asked her to check the price and design of the Hawk Bag box type bag. She sent me the pictures of the bag.

I was shocked when she told me that the price is P4,299.75. Waah! Mahal pa sa bag ko and almost double the price of our school bag last year. Click here to see our old bag. She informed me that there will be less 10% sa weekend sale.

After few days of waiting, we took advantage of the weekend sale and went to SM. The mall was really packed and box office hit ang pila sa cashier but of course tiniis ko ito para sa discount. Lol. I got the bag at P3,869.77 from P4,299.75. The salesman said, “kung nandito kayo before 12 noon may additional 10% discount. Sayang, 20% discount sana.

Hawk bag has been the leading manufacturer of high-quality bags and accessories since 1978. That is why,, I like Hawk bag because tried and tested na namin. I also like the features of the bag.


Ergonomic Design - I like the simple design and color. This box type has six wheels so my son can push or pull the bag in any directions.
Lock Stitch Technology
Heavy Duty Zipper
Multiple Organizer - it has a lot of pockets so you can easily organize the school stuff.

Pocket for the water bottle.
Pocket for snack/lunch.
Pocket in front where you can put the pencil case, scissors, crayons and many more.
Pocket at the back is where I put the extra clothes.
Pocket inside the bag where I put the whiteboard.

Weather Resistance - there’s available cover if it rains. Are you done with your back to school shopping?

Update 2017: 

When my son was in Grade 3, his grandmother gifted him a new school bag for Christmas. The Blue Hawk Bag is still in good condition but we need a bigger bag for his Grade 4-6 school stuff. We gave the old bag to his cousin. The price is P4299.75 less 10% discount.

As promised, I will share with you our cave experience in Bolinao, Pangasinan. There are three caves that you can visit in Bolinao, such as Cindy’s Cave, Wonderful Cave and Enchanted Cave. But because we have very limited time, we can only visit one cave. We chose the latter because it is the popular cave.  

So far, Enchanted Cave is the third cave that I’ve visited in the Philippines. I’ve been to Cambagat Cave, which is located inside the Panglao Island Nature and Resort Spa and of course, the famous Underground River in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.  

It was a long weekend, so the place was really crowded, a good thing that we were able to park immediately.

Effective March 2, 2015, the entrance fee is P150 per person. I was thankful that they did not charge my 6-year-old son. 


Upon entering the resort, you will notice the coral rocks and fossils clams. I’ve read in one sign, this is proof that the place was part of the sea 10 million years ago. 


There are cottages that you can use inside. 


We immediately looked for the cave, and as expected, the place was packed. My son was scared at first, it was his first time to swim in a cave. If you are not a good swimmer, you can rent a life jacket. 


The cave is not that big, I guess it is similar to Cambagat Cave in Bohol. 

After several minutes inside the cave, we went to the kiddie pool so my son could enjoy. 

This is the shower area. You need to get water from the deep well pump. The dressing area is beside that shower area, too. 


As much as we want to stay long, we need to go home early. I think we only stayed for 1 hour. Di namin nasulit ang P150 entrance. Hehehe!

It’s been a while since the last time I baked a cookie. I was checking our cupboard when I saw this Betty Crocker Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. I can’t remember when and where did I buy this instant mix. 

I can bake from scratch but from time to time I buy instant mixes because I’m a lazy baker. Lazy because I don’t want to use a lot of baking stuff in measuring and mixing my ingredients because it means, I have more stuff to wash. 


It was my first time to use this Betty Crocker instant mix and I loved it because it only needs two additional ingredients which are 1/2 softened butter and 1 egg.


I just mixed the three ingredients and scooped it on my baking tray. After 12 minutes, I have my oatmeal chocolate chip. 


I’m not fond of chewy chocolate chips but this time I loved my chewy oatmeal chocolate chips. My son who doesn’t like oatmeal cookie still ate one piece. When my husband went home, he liked it too. Sarap na sarap kaya binaon pa sa office.

We were in SM Southmall last Saturday, it was past 1PM already and we’re still not having lunch so we look for a restaurant that was not packed. We ended up in Marciano’s, a pizza, pasta, and steak restaurant.


Only one table was occupied so we chose this table where you could see the chefs preparing and cooking your food.


Upon being seated, the staff gave us the menu, and while browsing I realized kaya pala wala gaano guests, the meal was on the pricey side. Hehehe! You need a P600-700 budget per person.

We ordered Dow Jones P1,288 + P100, it includes Italian potato wedges, roasted vegetables, US T-Bone Steak 300g and a fish fillet. We still ordered two garlic rice at P88 each cup. 

Ang mahal ng garlic rice

The good thing about DIY Trip is you can visit those places that are not usually included in travel packages. My husband suggested UPMSI Bolinao Marine Laboratory, where you can see giant clams. 

We’ve been to Giant Clam Culture in Camiguin, way back in 2011 and we already saw different clams. Little did I know that the Bolinao Marine Laboratory is the official marine station of the Marine Science Institute (MSI), University of the Philippines, Diliman. The clams that we’ve seen in Camiguin came from BML.

After our visit to St James the Great Parish, we went to Bolinao Marine Laboratory. I was not sure if the office was open but we still tried our luck and I was glad that they accommodated us. We registered and paid P20 per person. The guard informed us, na nagstart na yung tour habol na lang kami.

The tour started in Dry Museum where you can see different clam fossils. 


Then we went to AVR where we watched video about the history of BML and what they are doing. 


Then we moved to Outdoor Hatchery. This is bigger compared to Giant Clam Culture of Camiguin. 


We’ve seen the stages of how they culture clams, sea cucumber and even corals, from eggs up to the adult stage.



In Camiguin, if you want to see the giant clams in the sea, you can rent a boat for a fee. You can choose for glass boat or a regular boat. But I’m not sure if it is available in BML because it was not offered to us. 

It was Mother’s Day last Sunday and my husband insisted that we go out to celebrate. I was feeling lazy because I know that restaurants are packed and traffic is everywhere. I’m pretty sure that a lot of people will celebrate Mother’s Day.

To all the moms out there, it was our day yesterday. They say that it is only our vacation leave every year. Hehehe! But not for me, I still did some chores yesterday because I know that my chores will just pile up if I will not do it.

I wish I could have “momcation” (mom vacation) but time and budget did not permit me. It is not my priority because we had home improvement + we’re starting to buy the school supplies, uniform, and other stuff that my son needs for this coming school year. But next time I will pamper myself. Hehehe!

I was really lazy to go out yesterday but my husband insisted we celebrate Mother’s Day. He suggested that we try the Korean restaurant in Silang, Cavite. We always passed this restaurant but we don’t even know its name. Hehehe! When we parked our car, dun lang namin nabasa name. We had an early dinner and it was a nice experience. I will share our “Baek Yuen” food trip in my next post. 

To my son:

You are the reason why I can celebrate Mother’s Day. I admit that being a mom is not easy, it's challenging. But I’m forever grateful to God for the blessing of being called “Mom”. Every time I see you, I know that I did not leave the corporate world for nothing, because I left it for my everything.

Sungayan Grill is the most recommended restaurant when you search for Bolinao, Pangasinan so I included this in our itinerary. After our Bolinao Marine Laboratory visit, we went to Sungayan Grill for early lunch. 



Sungayan Grill is a floating restaurant in Balingasay River, this river is one of the cleanest rivers in the country. It is really good to know that we still have clean river. 



When I first saw the restaurant, I remember our Loboc-Loay River Cruise experience in Bohol. The only difference is the food is not buffet style but I think they also offer packages so you can experience river cruise while eating.



But since we are only three persons it would be practical to just eat at the floating restaurant. Good thing that there is available table for us but unfortunately we are not on the side of the river. But I’m still thankful because some guests were no longer accommodated. 



We browsed the menu and the staff immediately informed us that sungayan fish is not available. Too bad we cannot taste the sungayan fish so my husband ordered Sinigang na Malaga P150 and Grilled Liempo P130.



After several minutes, we’re still waiting for our order and some guests were already complaining na kanina pa sila don and tagal ng order. The staff went to our table and asked us if we are still willing to wait, mga 30 minutes pa daw kasi bago maserve food. We said yes, since nandun na rin naman kami, we ordered Halo-Halo P40 para may makain na kami. 



The restaurant was really packed at that time, I’m not sure if this is always the scenario. It was long weekend + summer vacation and at the same time GMA staffs were there. I’m not sure from what show but I saw them from St James Parish hanggang Enchanted Cave. (Same kami itinerary) hehehe! 



Finally, our order was served. The serving was big enough for three persons. Price is very affordable too, our bill is less than P500. We enjoyed our food and I do recommend that you visit this restaurant if you are in Bolinao, Pangasinan. But make sure you are not really hungry because it took them almost 1 hour to serve our food.

My husband was born and raised in Pangasinan, so we always have reasons to visit this province. Most of our visits to Pangasinan involved staying in their house or visiting Lingayen Beach. You can check it here. 

It’s been three years since our last visit to their province, so we took advantage of the long weekend (May 1 - 3) to visit my grandmother-in-law in Bugallon, Pangasinan, and at the same time visit Bolinao, Pangasinan. 


We’ve never been to Bolinao, Pangasinan, so a few days before our trip, I checked possible places that we could visit for a day. After breakfast (May 2), off we went to Bolinao, Pangasinan. We used Google Maps and Waze for directions. 



1. Our first stop was St James the Great Parish located in Don Alonzo Ponce Street, Poblacion, Bolinao, Pangasinan. The church was made out of black coral stones. Its church tower is seventy-five feet, which is the tallest in the whole of  Pangasinan, but the earthquake toppled about half of it in 1788. After that, the church was accidentally burned in 1819 and suffered in Typhoon Emong in 2009. 

2. UP Marine Science Institute - my husband suggested this, so I searched if this is open to the public. We’ve been in Giant Clam Culture in Camiguin, but I had no idea that the Bolinao Marine Laboratory (BML) is the main office. 

According to their website, BML is the official marine station of the Marine Science Institute (MSI), University of the Philippines, Diliman. BML serves as a research base for the scientific activities of MSI’s senior staff, visiting scientists, graduate students, and other collaborating institutions.


The clams that I’ve seen in Camiguin came from Bolinao, Pangasinan. There is no doubt that this is the main office because their outdoor hatchery is bigger compared to Giant Clam Culture. The entrance fee is P20. 

3. Sungayan Grill at Balingasay River 


We had lunch in Sungayan Grill, it is a floating restaurant in Balingasay river. This river is one of the cleanest rivers in the country. I will share more of our experience in my next post. 

4. Cape Bolinao Lighthouse

I’ve first seen this lighthouse in the “The Promise” movie starring Angel Locsin and Richard Gutierrez. 



I’ve been to Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Pagudpud and Guisi Lighthouse in Guimaras so this is the third lighthouse I’ve seen in the Philippines but unlike the two lighthouses, we can’t go up to the top. 

5. Enchanted Cave 

There are three caves that you can visit in Bolinao, Pangasinan such as Cindy’s Cave, Wonderful Cave and Enchanted Cave. We chose the latter because it is more popular. I will create another post for this cave. Entrance fee P150. 



The cave was our last stop because we have to drop by at the Bani market to buy seafood for our dinner. 

Places that you can visit in Bolinao, Pangasinan. 

Falls - Bolinao Falls 1 & 2 and Tara Falls 
Resort - Puerto Del Sol Resort, Punta Riviera Resort and Treasures of Bolinao Resort. 
Beach - Patar White Beach and Rock View Beach Resort