Friday, July 11, 2014

PediaSure Plus Promo Extended

Abbott Philippines is again extending their PediaSure Plus Rewards promo where we, Abbott Moms, can get a P200 less on every purchase of 1.6 K can of Vanilla flavored PediaSure Plus.

My kids loved the taste of PediaSure Plus Vanilla flavor and I will still continue to give them this complete nutrition-packed growing up milk. As I mentioned before, my kids Mishka and Tristan are picky eaters, they only eat bread and pasta and no rice for them. It is not an easy Mom-task of getting food that they like. Everyday is not the same, as they easily change the food they eat. One day it's bread and the next day is pasta but not bread and pasta on the 3rd day... Good thing PediaSure Plus is there to provide the essential nutrients even if my kids are not getting it from the food they eat.

Though the promo has been extended, Mercury Drug is not anymore included in the list of their accredited merchants. 

I received a package from Abbott yesterday with 6-month equivalent of promo coupons and a letter from the Head of Marketing - SNG Abbott Nutrition International Maurice Reyes

With the exclusion of Mercury Drug from their list, they have added several merchants for us, Abbott Moms to have easy access in purchasing PediaSure Plus for our kids.

These are the following:

Robinsons Supermarket
CSI, Gaisano Mall (Davao)
Iloilo Supermarket
Landmark
Magic, Metro gaisano/Super Metro/Metro Fresh n Easy
NCCC Supermarket
Puregold
Rustan's Supermarket
Shopwise

This time the prizes for the Grand Draw are bigger than ever.

There will be a First Raffle Draw on September 26, 2-14 where 100 lucky winners will receive P2ooo worth of Gift Certificates each.

The Grand Draw will be on January 23, 2015 and these are the prizes:
  • 1st Prize: 2 winners of P75,000 cash
  • 2nd Prize: 2 winners of P50,000 cash
  • 3rd Prize: 2 winners of P20,000 cash
Consolation Prize: 300 winners of P2000 worth of gift certificates

Promo now is ongoing until December 31, 2014. 
Make sure to keep your receipts of purchase for claiming prizes purposes.

If you want to have these promo coupons just call Abbott's hotline 995-1555 and press 1 for Pediatric Nutrition and they will deliver it to your doorsteps within a week.

Good news! For existing Abbott Moms who joined this previous PediaSure plus promo, the Grand Raffle draw will be on July 26, 2014... Fingers crossed for that... Yipee! Excited!
Last time I won a consolation prize of P1,500 worth of gift certificates. 
Now rooting for the 1st Prize  (",) Let's see!

Call Abbott's Hotline now and get your coupons soon.


Update: Sadly I didn't win anything this time. Did you? Please let me know so others would know it's a true raffle promo. :) tia


Tuesday, July 1, 2014

My First Family Getaway - Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay

Never thought that this day would happen.  We always plan things, but these things never happen. Lots of reasons behind that I need not elaborate.

Our family was very happy to finally experience an out of town trip for the first time. This was also planned two weeks ago and was canceled on the day of our confirmed booking due to my daughter's cough and colds and next my son too......but gladly, thankful for the Reservations Officer and they allowed it re-schedule a tentative date until my kids are all well. Special mention to Tyrone and Ms. Kate.


The booking is to celebrate my husband's birthday, June 22nd. When it was canceled, I knew we can never go for a family outing anymore, or any other day beyond that. He had a vacation leave for the whole week and I know how hard it is for him to take a leave.


The day finally came. It was June 28th, 5:00AM when my husband called from the office and asked me if everything is okay and if we can still go to Tagaytay. I, of course, said yes and that I'm just waiting for him to make the decision and besides everything in the suitcase is still intact.


We arrived at Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, Laguna around 8:00 AM which is, yes, too early. I have no idea that stores would open there by 10AM and we can't wait for an hour or two because the sun is draining us out.  We just ate breakfast, feed the famous coy fishes (an overrated Nuvali was just about these feeding fishes) and ride the boat. Nothing more. But seeing the kids having fun, we, too enjoyed the moment.



Breakfast at Crisostomo, Solenad 1 Nuvali


Tristan: They're (the fishes) hungry. (",)




Mishka: Oh my goodness!
She uttered these words when the boat was shaky, battling with the waves.


My dear son Tristan. Yes, he is a boy. lol

We transferred to Solenad 2 just across the road to buy some things at Robinson's Supermarket and strolled for a while hoping some stores would open as early as 9:30AM, but no luck at all.

We arrived at our destination around 11AM.

Warm greetings from the staff of Taal Vista Hotel welcomed us as we proceed to the front desk. Processing didn't take much of our time. Hoping that an early 12PM check in would be possible, so we took pictures at the Lake Wing area and let them play at the Kid's Corner where we spent an hour.

Mishka and Tristan were very happy playing with these cute kids.
When they are all going crazy and hyper and screaming all at the same time, I suggested a Silent Game for them which was effective for just 5 minutes, yes, and they continue with their shark and octopus hunting game. Kids never get tired, really! 

Besides Kid's Corner, there's also the Gym and Game Room for the grown ups.

Kid's Corner is located at the Lake Wing

My husband spent his time playing here while we were at the other room.

If maybe we have 2 days to stay there, I would have used this room just to experience being in a gym and workout. Try lang (",)


It's lunch time and we are all hungry so we decided to go out and look for a place to eat. Even in Tagaytay, Teriyaki Boy is still their favorite.

We went back to Taal Vista to wait at the parking lot for an hour. I called the front desk 3 times and still housekeeping isn't finished yet. My kids are getting bored inside the car and Mishka is even crying with zero patience left.

Exactly 2PM I called again and as expected the room is available already. A tiring morning it was especially to my hubby with no sleep yet and still able to drive us there, but when we entered our Premier Lake room, this one welcomed us.

   
Complimentary bathroom kit, bath towels and even hand towels, fresh fruits with a welcome note from the management, two bathrobes and two pairs of disposable slippers.

We watched a movie while munching with our baon chips. There's an electric kettle, hair dryer,  3in1 coffee sachets, creamer and sugar, a mini ref and wi-fi in every corner of Taal Vista.  Bottled water, cup noodles and the rest have charge already. I suggest you bring some snacks and your own bottled water coz you know how prices are in hotels. 
Don't ask me. (",)

Yep, there's a bath tub and on the left of the TB is the powder area with a huge mirror.
Typically for Pinoys, they would, as I did, look for a dipper or search for a bidet.
Good thing I had a medium side bottled water and cut it in half to make it my own 'tabo'. 
Though there's a tissue there, I dare not use it, I am not a tissue lover hihihi.

A 36-inch HD TV will be there for you when you need it anytime of the day... Cignal satellite cable has the finest HD channels, why don't we have it here in Pasig? or I'm just not aware.
  
A quick pic before going to McDonalds. 
Mcdo is the only foodie friend you can have there in the middle of the night. Open 24-hours located across the exit gate of Taal Vista, beside Casino Filipino.

This family getaway is wonderful enough for a first time experience, but I got something very unexpected and very close to my heart that happened. While I was about to get my keycard at the front desk, I immediately saw my childhood best friend Celeste with her daughter Chloe. Oh, I am just so overwhelmed with happiness at that moment because I missed her a lot, it's been years since we last saw each other. Well, good friends we will be forever.

With Celeste at Cafe Veranda for our buffet breakfast.
A free breakfast for two is included in the room package already.  

Cafe Veranda also offers room service, and they are available 24 hours too just like Mcdo, only you know how much it cost.


I love their bacon and arrozcaldo and beef tapa and juices and also the choose-your-own scrambled egg add-ons. Waffles and pancakes are present too with different syrups. Overall rating for their buffet breakfast is 4 out of 5. Haven't seen any desserts or I just didn't roam around the restaurant.

Oh there's a free mini delicious chocolate cake with birthday greetings for my Mahal.
 It made him smile naman. Thank you Taal Vista for that.


All in all, this experience matters a lot because I have my family with me. Knowing that they enjoyed every moment we spent time there. The kids are running on the grass area so I don't mind if they fall down on their knees or na-out of balance while running because it's safe. 

Skyranch is just walking distance from Taal Vista Hotel. 
That's the zipline tower and Sky-eye at the back, however, we never visited the place. 

The spectacular Taal lake view is the best for me. I am indeed a nature lover (",) There's also a wedding happening the moment we arrived there, so it feels like a very solemn and love-filled atmosphere.

I will not have second thoughts of going back there if time and budget permits us. I hope we can make it two days vacation there as we still have lots to explore. We didn't get to visit the mountain wing where the swimming pool is located and also someone told me there's a garden there.

The Taal Vista Hotel accepts major credit cards and I happen to avail of an almost 50% discounted price because of my SM Advantage Card. Remember that if you will be first timers in this prestigious hotel, make sure you spend two or three nights, one is never enough.

Till then on our next family getaway. No planning needed.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored blog post...

P.S. 
They have no idea that I am a blogger, so this friendly experience with the staff of the hotel are very real.

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Email me at  chaicgalapon18@gmail.com