Tag: greenhills

Date Night: Wafu and Kilyawan@20

Last Saturday, my husband and I celebrated six years of marriage. And he started the day with these lovelies:

For months, we’ve been talking about how to celebrate. Should we eat out? Watch a movie, a concert? Do we bring our daughter with us? Do we leave her with my mom and sister?

So, we finally decided on having lunch together with our little girl and brought her back home where my mom and sister will take care of her. The Schatzis were off to another date night: at Music Museum!

We rarely had official date nights. The last probably was this one, which I also blogged about. And it was last January! And we watched a concert as well, featuring my colleagues from the UP College of Music, and our Ninong Mark Carpio, who was also part of the Kilyawan@20 concert.

It’s safe to say that my husband and I bond well all these years because of food and music.

Dinner stop: Wafu in Greenhills

As we arrived Greenhills really early, we decided to look for something to eat. A light meal would do. The few minutes of walking around brought us to Wafu for some Japanese cuisine. We had these:

Wafu Salmon Sashimi. Fresh and yummy.
Wafu Salmon Sashimi. Fresh and yummy.
California Roll. Just enough to fill our tummy.
California Roll. Just enough to fill our tummy.
What's Japanese without Ramen? We split into two so we both got just enough.
What’s Japanese without Ramen? We split into two so we both got just enough.

And for these three, our bill was only less than P800! Pretty good deal. Must note, though, that prices do not include service charge and local tax. The less than P800 included them both already. The first two dishes were smaller servings, thus, priced less.

My view. The restaurant has high ceiling. I heard there's Teppanyaki. Must try soon!
My view. The restaurant has a high ceiling (which I really like). I heard there’s Teppanyaki. Must try soon!

Now, off to the main event: Kilyawan’s 20th Anniversary Concert!

Kilyawan poster

My husband and I were in for a treat–pure a cappella goodness, not just a cappella, but popular music, beat boxing, microphones, sung by seven fine gentlemen with amazing voices and a great repertoire. You’d be thinking if they do this regularly. Well, they used to, but now, unfortunately, not anymore.

These seven were originally part of the Kilyawan Boys Choir, which started 20 years ago as Claret Boys Choir. These used-to-be boy sopranos have staged concerts and won important competitions both here and abroad.

Their conductor, Mark Carpio (yes, the choirmaster of the Madz, no less!) actually SANG in the concert (save for one song he conducted with the Kilyawan Male Choir). And for those who missed it, his solo of “Time Will Reveal” brought the house down!

Their repertoire included mostly pop songs. Older songs include Nearness of you, Shout, Change the world, Moondance (Buble fan here, and Sir Mark sang the solo!), as well as newer songs like This Love, the Madagascar theme song Move it, and OPM hits Kapag Tumibok and Puso and Bakit Ngayon ka lang and Christmas songs, too. The other choirs of the Consortium of Voices–Kilyawan Male Choir and Voces Aurorae also performed that night.

To think they’ve not sung as a group for quite some time, they did an amazing job. This same group won the Category Prize back in 2008, for the Popcappella Category of the World Choir Games in Austria. And who would have thought, these used to be boy sopranos are now successful professionals and family men.

Definitely the star of the show, Ninong Mark! We've been telling him to sing more. Looking forward to the next!
Definitely the star of the show, Ninong Mark! We’ve been telling him to sing more. Looking forward to the next!
Some Madz members watched as well, supporting our Choirmaster.
Some Madz members watched as well, supporting our Choirmaster.

More photos can be found in this link, story and snippets by Nicco Valenzuela.

To the Kilyawan core group (ER, Rhett, Rem, Jaymee–who definitely brought most of the comic relief!, Dado, Punky, and Sir Mark), and to the Consortium of Voices, congratulations for 20 years of wonderful music. You are an inspiration to many, including our own choir, who is always in awe when we get to sing together during Madz et al performances. Big congratulations also to Teacher Hazel Copiaco, the group’s manager, who’ve been the group’s second mother all those 20 years! We wish you many more years of music (and hopefully, a repeat of this concert!).

And to the love of my life, thank you for saying yes to watch this! Thank you for the love, thoughtfulness, kindness, and respect you always show and selflessly give all these years. Ariadne and I treasure you so much! Looking forward to many more blissful years together with our little one (and the future little ones God will give us).

 

~ Touringkitty

Kids Workshop: Not just your ordinary play area

We started bringing Aria to play areas when she turned one, exactly on her first birthday. Since then, we’ve enrolled her to different play groups once in a while.

Now that she’s four, she’s more active, ever wanting to discover and do more things physically. She loves running, climbing, jumping you’d think she’s a boy. But she’s not.

Anyway, we recently discovered a play area that is not just an ordinary play area. Activities were happening every 15 minutes or so, that the kids were not only playing by themselves, but also learning and having fun with other kids!

kids workshop1

Kid’s Workshop is like a hole in the wall in Shoppesville Arcade in Greenhills. I do not frequent the place, so I’ve not known this until we were invited to visit last month. Unfortunately, Aria had weeks of cough and colds, so we had to always reschedule, until we weren’t able to make it on September. But the Kids Workshop team had been very accommodating to us (special thanks to Ms. Glenda, who unfortunately we weren’t able to meet that day), we were still able to visit a couple of weeks ago.

It was a Saturday, before lunchtime, when my daughter and I got to Greenhills. I made sure she’s eaten a snack before she plays, because knowing her, she could have hours of fun in a play area. I was actually surprised that it was not just a play area, but the kids, with the help of activity facilitators, they:

kids workshop2
did storytelling,
kids workshop gh 3
had some art activities (this you pay separately),
...had games...
…had games…
kids workshop gh 6
and even more games!

The activities were great breaks from the usual play, which ran every after 15 minutes or so. Aria got to try out the many stations of this 100 square meter area:

She had fun riding the horse.
She had fun riding the horse.
Slide! Her favourite.
Slide! Her favourite.
Rock climbing + my left hand caught on frame!
Rock climbing + my left hand caught on frame!
Super Aria! They had  these capes on the racks for their Superheroes party in the same afternoon.
Super Aria! They had these capes on the racks for their Superheroes party in the same afternoon.
Mini-library and kitchen area. Lots of books!
Mini-library and kitchen area. Lots of books!

Aria got to try an art activity as well. Along with my sister (in photo), they made this:

CIMG0170

Aria's interpretation of a bug! What colourful one!
Aria’s interpretation of a bug! What colourful one!

So, if you’re looking for a place where you can let your kids play safely (and maybe while you can do your shopping or pampering), visit Kid’s Workshop. Along with their very helpful and nice team of teacher guides, plus their safe equipment and facilities (they have CCTVs installed and a clear system of registering your child and fetcher), kids and parents will have a wonderful and enjoyable time.

Thanks, Kid's Workshop! Looking forward to our next visit.
Thanks, Kid’s Workshop! Looking forward to our next visit.

Visit their website and Facebook to learn more about their upcoming events, rates, and activities.

 

~ Touringkitty