Missing out on Milestones

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Being with my son for the past 5 days (weekend + 3 work days) made me realize how much he has grown and is now his own person. He gets frustrated easily, plays with several toys at the same time (oh, he looks like his dad but is more of me in attitude) and he is an affectionate and articulate little boy. Reviewing his pictures and making a pact to have them all printed soon, I found this from our Baguio trip with him smiling, showing the lower front tooth that fell off the early part of this year. I didn't even get to blog about that important milestone where he felt like a "big boy" now that the baby teeth are being replaced by permanent ones. Fast forward to August, he now has 3 permanent teeth, not one needing tooth extraction. Yey for cost savings and louder yey for another benefit of breastfeeding! I love you my little boy and mom's gonna miss you when I return to work.

Going Home

This is the longest trip I've taken after I got married. I thought 14 days will be long enough to have a slower pace at work, time in between meetings, and have time and energy left to try getting my feet wet here, literally. Because it definitely was a loooooonnnggg time away from my son.

Did manage to get my feet wet, but it was still for work and not leisure. But been doing this for the last 8 or so years and I've learned to just count my blessings.

Like on this trip, we were fortunate enough to see playful dolphins who surprised us with their appearance along side our speed boat. They are not known to be so plentiful in this particular bay. Or the very good salad with scallops and prawn tails we had one evening. Or going on the sunset cruise, a fitting cap to the flurry of activities the last 2 weeks. Or meeting my island-based friends for dinner one day. Or the tuyo, sardines, salted egg feast they prepared for our despedida.

The sweetest thing about going on trips, if ever there is one, is the look on my little one's face when he sees me later.

TagayTay-Canyon Cove-Nuvali Birthday Celebration: Tagaytay Leg

We planned it to be a road trip with designated stops. In celebration of the husband's nth birthday, we are going on this Tagaytay-Canyon Cove-Nuvali outing.

We left our place early, picked up his lolo and lola and went straight to Nuvali.

The backseat passengers.

Arriving at the destination, we went straight to the main attraction: fish feeding.

It was a bright and sunny day, perfect for this little family's outing.

Among the many meals we were to share on this adventure, the first was his all time favorite.

After finishing off that ice cream (which was a breeze), we were off to Tagaytay where we planned on having breakfast at Mile High Diner.

 This little boy enjoyed the entire trip the most.

The Diner.

 

We filled our tummies with Filipino and Continental breakfast fare. We have an hour more to go  before we reach our final destination that morning.

It's easy to please a man, or a boy for that matter, Give them food and look at their smiles after.

Of source we will not leave Tagaytay without this pic by the ridge.

Next stop: Canyon Cove

 

A Brush up on History and Our Luneta, Intramuros, Fort Bonifacio Tour

A few colleagues were in town for our business planning recently, and I volunteered to drive two of them around Manila one Sunday morning.

An hour before I left hime, I panicked and thought, I did not know Manila that well at all! Shame on me when I was born in the city, studied there in High school and has been working in the area for close to 12 years already.

My, my.... A quick brush up with history is in order.

The itinerary: Luneta, Fort Santiago and CCP.

The first stop. We were looking around and taking pictures when they sudently looked for Rizal. I was flabbergasted. Where is he??? It was only when we made a full circle of the monument when we realized we've been taking pics of the backside all along. Rizal was in front, thank goodness.


Intramuros, San Agustin Church. Pls do not even try to understand my body here. It looks alient to me. Why did they paint the facade peach?


Beatiful walls, still at Intramuros.


Nice cobblestone street. I hope informal settlers here can be relocated.

Manila Cathedral. All I knew was that Sharon and Gabby were wed here and that Sharon fainted. Hahaha. But would they even care? Hahaha. I'm so glad I remembered Cory was brought here so we talked about that and the ensuing procession. Good thing her son is now the President so that at least qualifies for current events?


Fort Santiago across the Cathedral. Scaredy cat. Horses I do not like! This one is on a horse-drawn carriage (kalesa)


Still at Intramuros, this time at the Rizal Shrine. It was coincidence I was wearing a Pinay and Proud shirt. So perfect for taking visitors around.


Thee image on every tourist brochure.

No pictures of CCP. It was just too hot to pose by then.

Lesson learned: go brush upon yoour history. I'll be a better tour guide next time.

I’d Take the Sun Anytime

December in the Philippines in 2010 was welcomingly cool. The type where you can put on a light jacket and still feel comfortable, where the air conditioner isn’t necessary to get a good night’s sleep.

That’s the weather I like. Cool but the sun’s rays still leave a tingling feeling on your skin.

Given a choice between extremely hot and extremely cold, I’d take the former.

I have not seen snow and maybe after the novelty of playing with it for some time, I’m sure it will wear off and I’ll be yearning for the heat and warmth again.

During a recent trip to China, it was winter time and even if the weather forecast said it's 4 degrees, the wind factor made it so much colder.

So, I wrapped myself in 4 layers of clothes... and I still did not feel warm enough.

Arrrggghhh, I'm really a girl of the tropics.

p.s. next time I should probably invest on those fur lines boots. My feet were freezing.