The True Staycation

And this is the true staycation-- staying at home!

The days leading to the long weekend proved stressful for me with the news of water and a possible power outage. And in one of the hottest periods of the year, too.  We prepped by buying paper plates (yes, no water is a great inconvenience so while I may be an earth warrior most times, we needed to be more practical in those few days also), putting up our water tank again and filling it with water, and me--well, I almost booked ourselves in a nearby hotel because the thought of no water and no electricity is simply just too much.

Good thing I promised myself I will wait until the last minute and if Friday rolls in and we don't have both-then that's the time to pack our bags and leave the house.

Thankfully, we didn't have to hie off to the comforts of a hotel. The water service resumed on Thursday night.

So, our vacations days at home were filled with lounging around and doing the art of nothing. My mind is usually going overboard with a million and one things I want to do at work and the many projects I want to start, continue or finish in the house.

That Thursday, we started a little tradition of going to 7 churches for the Visita Iglesia. The last time we did this, it was only the two of us and we were praying to be blessed by a child. Now, we already have our son with us. A 6 year old who walked, read and prayed with us.

At the Parish of the Five Wounds, our first stop

They placed the Stations at the park

Ended the Visita Iglesia at 7.30 pm. The boy was hungry!

His preschool was non-sectarian and he is at the stage where he is fascinated by science and has read and watched how the earth was formed by explosions and all that. So now, explaining this was a bit tricky, especially the Resurrection part where Christ died and lived again. His expected reply was "That is so impossible, Mom! You cannot die and live again!." We have a few important things to learn and discuss this summer.


As Easter Sunday rolled, we literally felt alive again. The rest did us good.


Easter Sunday

At 6 , I thought we graduated already from this so I prepared sugar cookies for us to decorate.

Of course after I've prepared the dough and the icing ingredients, he declared what he really wants is to the decorate eggs. And so be it.

Good thing we have all the materials on hand

And it didn't end with the painting. Of course, we have to hide and then find them.

We ended our vacation with a visit to the village park and a short photo session with the full cast. The dad and son a.k.a. main actors, the mom as stylist/photographer and refreshments girl and Amanda the dog as herself. =)

On the way to the park

Starting the climb

Tested his agility

 

Learned how to propel himself with his legs

Mom and son bonding

Then, they played hide and seek

And all too soon, it was time to go home.

How a small family celebrates New Year

When 2014 rolled in (yes, this post is a quarter late), it was just the three of us at home. My sister and her family and mama had lunch in the house.

So, how does a family of 3 celebrate?

I get to tell them what to wear. You know boys will just throw anything on for most part so this one is a plus for me. Red it is for New Year! And as their queen, I'm in the traditional polka dots. This is the pre-selfie pod days. =)

I get a nice foot massage while waiting for the clock to strike 12.




I didn't have to cook up a storm. Here's our New Year spread. Acck, hopefully, it won't be any indication of how rich or prosperous we will be this year.

 

If we were asleep, won't matter but this year is the first year the boy is awake at 12. Thank you to neighbors and those in nearby villages for treating us to nice fireworks displays that got oohhhs and ahhhhss from the first timer.

 

Cheers to Y2014 ( what was left of it, anyway)!

The Value of Money

Our bedroom is peppered with random numbers bearing the dollar or peso sign. We take it as a sign that the little one is slowly being aware of money and its value.


While there maybe a bad side of being money-aware so early on in childhood, I believe with guidance, it has its good points, too.


On Budget

I will be forever thankful that he is not one to throw tantrums. At toy stores, he will be content to push or pull you to where a certain toy caught his fancy-- but will not ask you to buy. His dialogues will range from:

• This is nice, mom
• I will buy this when I have money
• Mom, is this cheap?

Because budgeting is still hard for me, I am looking for ways to teach him that money is something that me and his dad work for, and is not something that comes to anyone easily.

But I don't want to deprive him totally-- so I have an imposed P20 budget for when we go to the mall and he wanted something -- most often at National Bookstore.


This exercise has taught him patience-- he scours the racks to find an item which will suit his budget. And the boy can be patient if needed. He has also learned that things can be pretty expensive... all the more reason to drive home our point that we shouldn't spend and spend but save instead.


Start Saving
 
So now, if he wants something, he things of it in terms of jars of money. He is always counting his savings (something he does almost every other day) because he wants to know how much more he needs to save (teka to save to be able to spend--may mali pa din ata hahaha).



For example:

After passing by Sofitel
Mom, I want to sleep there. How many jars (of money) do I need?


After seeing a for sale sign at one big house
Mom, can I buy a mansion? How many jars?





 At the most unlikely places

Another happy place for him to learn about money, among other things is the grocery. He'd look forward to this almost weekly chore with gusto, writing his grocery list ( I generally don't carry a grocery list with me because writing the grocery list stresses me out-teehee!) like this:

You can see what's important for my 5 year old here: Food!!!

So here, he's pretending to check his list and get the actual item to place inside his cart. Pretend because I don't see onions in his list.

For now, I'm so thankful that our jar is full, blessing -wise. 

My Weekend Came Early

Weekend came early for me last week. We had our little mother-son drama while I was giving him a bath ("My classmates' mommies always pick them up from school. Can you bring me and pick me up from school, please please mommy?" complete with pleading and watery eyes) so Friday was declared a holiday for mommy by the little boy.

As I was reviewing my photos from the past few days, I realized my Friday to Sunday was so full, imagine how happy it would be if we have 3-day weekends?

Anyway, these happy pictures will be my fuel to take me through work this week.

My weekend actually started on Thursday. I know we cannot have that 3-day weekend my heart and my boy so desire, so in my mind, I've declared Thursday night as the start of weekend.


Both mom and dad brought him to school on Fiday. I then brought the dad to where he can conveniently take the bus because the little boy also declared "dad should take the bus because Jared and mom will go to the mall after school".

I wanted to kill time while waiting for school to let out so I took my 2nd breakfast at Mcdo while reading the day's news. I tell you, I really appreciated this quiet time.

On my way back to school to pick up the boy, I passed by the Las Pinas Arts and Crafts Center inside BF Resort, near the Gawad Kalinga Village.  They make various items out of water lilies and does custom-made pieces.

Then, it was time for lunch! 

Even had time to visit the Off Price Show at the Filinvest Tent in the afternoon with my sister.

 Didn't get to buy anything--was too tamad to line up

Then on Saturday morning,  the whole family went to Divisoria. I'm impressed with the new Lucky China Mall, it is so nice there! Had lunch at Shih Lin and went around the shops while smelling stinky-- because we walked around Ilaya and Tabora Streets for a good 2 hours before going back to the mall. Parking was nice, airy and well-lighted and we only paid P50 for 4 hours or so.

We look like we're in HK or Singapore here

The Divi trip only took half a day. Feeling the need to use the soon-to-expire container of semi sweet cocoa powder, I browsed the net for the easiest choco cupcake recipe that didn't require too much butter. No, it wasn't for health reasons-- we were almost out of butter!

My assistant checking the yummy-ness of the batter. have to try that egg-free batter from www.pepper.ph soon so no risk of salmonella!

What the cookies lacked in form (they sadly were flat), they made up for extreme chocolate-y goodness. I printed this recipe out for good measure.

Then on Sunday, we met with my college friends (minus two) for some chika-fest at Global City. We don't venture out to this area too often but my, this trip had me changing my mind. I love the wide, open spaces and the chance for our little boy to make friends. Too bad my phone battery died before we reached High Street.

We were so hungry when we reached Serendra at 12.30. Had to fill our tummies fast. Conti's was the choice resto of the daddy

 

 

And a visit to a bookstore was also in order.

He played everywhere: benches, the grass, the shallow pools, even getting his foot wet drenched.

And fooling around the cam at Wee Nam Ki.  Love their wallpaper!

 I love weekends!!!!!

Experience Farm Life at Balik Bukid

For Manila-born and raised people, going to a farm is BIG deal. Especially when the farm is only less than an hour or so drive from our place, and there is shopping involved.

I've been hearing about Balik Bukid for years and actually planned to visit late last year. We were finally able to go this summer and we got a taste of the wonderful and relaxing farm life at the Balik Bukid country fair.

This experience is best retold in pictures.

Left: Love the fresh, colorful flowers and the MJ quote; Right top, i love the billowing white tent over the booths selling home made, all natural products; Right bottom: daddy and son by the entrance

Entrance is free, but being first timers and wanting to experience everything the place had to offer, we each paid P350, giving us full access to the facilities.


Nearest the entrance is this man made lake, where we got to fish. First timers, we caught two teeny weeny fish , which the kuya promptly put back to the lake. Nevertheless, it was a thrilling experience for us.

Still high from that experience, off we went to the boat area. A bit of maneuvering here and there and handling the paddles, and we were again off.

Of course to a kid, this big sand house was heaven-sent.

Climbing the spider web

He was initially hesitant to cross the hanging bridge but with some gentle prodding, he made it!

The bridge led to the zip line!!!

Father and son did a tandem zip

He also had close encounters with rabbits and guinea pigs.

You can also hold and pet the hamsters (but I was too scared they might bite so this is just really for picture taking)

And my big boy also did the rope course challenge!

There were lots of wide, open spaces to roam around and lounge around. We even got to bring his scooter!

And look at this charming wash area.




At the heat of the midday sun, so unforgiving at the peak of summer, we thought it would be good for the boy to cool off. There were quaint outdoor showers like this.

Instead of the planned quick shower, he got to dip in this pool.. and eventually stayed there for over an hour. Too bad I forgot to capture the kids (because the pool quickly filled up with kids) playfully splashing around.

Mom and dad took the opportunity to just sit at a wooden bench and take photos!

I wish we can do this every weekend!

Priceless!

It was great to be outdoors!

Of course the highlight would be riding this white horse. First with daddy, and then just by himself!

And what can speak more of farm life than this carabao-pulled cart!

I would've liked to get to see the booths better and longer, but there is a boy impatiently pulling me away so I just had pictures of my new drink discovery. Sold at P35 per bottle (approx), they were so refreshing and good I bought several more bottles to take home.

Banigs are available for free. We got two and enjoyed or fan hour or so the green surroundings. I was eating chips and thought I could really get used to this: no worries, lying under the shade of giant trees, my son running and playing around. It seems so simple, yet so difficult to achieve these days in the city.

Balik Bukid, we'll be back!