2016 Week 1 Recap: Holiday Break Part 2

December 22, 2015 - January 3, 2016

Part 1

Tagaytay Trip

Cold drinks on a cold, windy day

As mentioned in my previous post, I promised a niece that I will bring her to Tagaytay. It almost did not push through because my brother's MIL also just got out of the ICU. However, since we've already planned for it before it happened, and since they were already looking forward to our visit, we left for Tagaytay on the 25th. 

The final cast (total of 9 - 3 adults, 1 teens, 3 almost teens, and 2 kids): auntie, uncle, their 2 kids, my 2 nieces, 2 kids of a cousin. My niece, the cousin's daughter, and my auntie's bunso are all of the same age so they relate well to each other. 

Originally, it was just me, my 2 nieces, auntie, uncle and their one daughter but I asked the cousin if she's willing to provide fare for her daughter so she can also come. My intention was for these almost teenagers to continue to bond more (we were all together at my cousin's wedding too) by travelling together further down south. She agreed but we also had to bring along her brother, otherwise, he'll throw tantrums. Fine with me, since the kid, though only 6 years old, can already take care of himself, plus his sister is there to see him.

We just went to Starbucks Tagaytay (San Jose) on December 26, together with the kids of my brother, primarily to see Taal Lake. After that, we went to Puregold for groceries. We walked since it was faster that way rather than wait for jeepneys and get stuck on traffic.

The next day, we just attended mass, had lunch at Jaycee's, had more of Taal viewing, and bought some souvenirs. 

I purposefully avoided the usual tourist attractions (hello Sky Ranch and People's Park in the Sky) because I knew it would be jam-packed. I also wanted to spend more time with my brother's family and  accompany them with their nursing duties even just for a few hours. 

SM MOA and Seaside

Beautiful day to hangout by the seaside!

We left for Manila on the evening of December 27 and my auntie wants to spend at least a day in Manila, specifically SM MOA so we did that on the 28th. I had to look for a dress to wear to another event so I requested to be left alone for a while to shop hehehe. We met after 2 hours for late lunch. 

After lunch, we went to the seaside for them to enjoy the sea kahit tanaw lang. Laking bundok sila at walang dagat sa bundok hehehe. 

The perks of being with kids is that they don't mind what other people think. Wacky kung wacky. Kaya kaming adults, deadma na rin. Pagod na pagod at parang nabugbog ang katawan ko kaka-wacky at kakaipit ng mga bulilit sa akin pero keri lang. Masaya naman.

Since it was a workday, I worry that the MRT might be jampacked so we left MOA minutes before rush hour. Naabutan pa rin kami but ok lang. At least, naexperience ng mga bata kung paano makipagsiksikan sa MRT hehehe.

Quick Shopping

I was not successful with my shopping in MOA so I decided to just continue it at Shang. I need a casual dress for a friend's bridal shower. Need daw kasi nakadress and hair dress. Believe it or not, wala akong casual dress hehehe. Puro mga ginamit ko lang sa party party ang meron ako. Anyway, para ma-experience ng mga almost teenagers ang mall na yun, we stayed behind while the tito, tita and kids went home ahead.

Good thing I tagged them all along, at may mga taga pili ako ng kung anong mas magandang bilhin hehehe. I also had some Bench GCs (di ko alam san galing hehehe, baka freebie in the past) so we went to the store and let them use those GCs. Aba, mas matagal pa silang magdecide kung anong mga bibilhin nila! Hahaha!

Dropped by Chatime before going home for some milk tea. Side story: when my little niece was browsing through the pictures in my phone, she saw our pictures at Chatime and said madaya daw kami kasi di namin sila sinama hehehe. Actually, their sisters left some drinks for them but when we arrived at the apartment, they were already asleep so wala rin. Pero napaka-observant na bata. Di pwedeng magtago sa kanya hehehe.

Anyway, packed things that night for the travel back home to Baguio.

At first, I was worried of the logistics given our big group but thanks to the kids who are troopers, the proximity of the apartment to the MRT station and bus stop, and everyone's readiness to walk even with their backpacks, that we all survived with a blast! We walked and took the public transportation to get around. We only took the cab going to Victory Liner terminal in Cubao.

Part 3