First year fun!

What a difference a year makes. Imagine, one year ago today, I went home to Manila to visit Elsie after giving birth. I still remember going to Medical City and being introduced to this little bundle of joy named Marcus Jose.



Last weekend, I went home to Manila to attend Jose's first birthday party, and saw that Jose is indeed all grown up!



Just as Elsie promised, Jose's first birthday party was something to jump up and down about. He celebrated it at this place near Cainta Junction called Bounce, and the highlight of the place was this huge inflated play place where both kids and adults can bounce around.

Since we designed and created both Luis and Ella's 1st birthday cakes (as well as Elsie and Mac's wedding cake - making us the official cake maker of the Chua-Dormiendo family!) we did Jose's first birthday cake as well. Inspired by the venue and the colours of the invites, I sketched this:



And thanks to the magic hands of Ate Bullet and Raymond, they took my sketch and created this:



As soon as they opened the play venue, everyone took of their shoes and dove into the fun. Some kids dove deeper than others, like my godson, Luis. He wasn't just having fun in the mini pool, he was drowning in fun!


Ella gamely went up and down the kiddie slide, and it was amusing and amazing how she'd make the same "wheee" sound and giggle the same way each time she did it. Suddenly, I had that "Groundhog Day" feeling. Hahaha.


Apart from the kiddie slide, there was a bigger slide where both kids and the kiddults could use. And use it they did. There was a queue going up, and after sliding down, they ran back to the queue because they HAD to do it all over again. Having slid down twice, I could attest to how fun it was. Much better than the bouncing castle which was only fun for a few minutes, then dizziness sets in after. (Elsie says that it's our age showing.) Back to the slide, everyone had a piece of the action, including Kin and Nic.



And Mark.


I was beginning to wonder whether I had a photo on the slide, then realized that I was holding the camera - ergo, not too many photos of me. That's the peril of being the cameraman, but it was a job I loved doing that day. It was so, so, SO nice to take pictures of excited, happy and smiling kids. Speaking of excited, happy and smiling, Elsie was kind enough to take a shot of two supersized kids.



Ah yes. The joys of parties and being a kid again.