Holy Week

Nothing beats taking some time off and spending every second of it with family. Like every holy week, we drove off to Tagaytay. Instead of going in the morning, we left Manila at lunch time to avoid the traffic due to fellow vacationers going out of town. It was a smooth ride along the highway and thought we made a smart decision of leaving late. But as soon as we were close to Tagaytay, we inched our way to our destination, which normally would have taken half an hour, took 2 hours! I didn't enjoy that.

 Outings with the family are always something to look forward to, especially for the kids. I wish there were more kids in our family but Matt only has one first cousin, in law's side, and also one from our side.

Crissy with the kids

Camping in the garden

Nevertheless, the two have such a great time. Their imaginations and energy keeps them going the entire day, skipping naps and sleeping late. They played and played, munching on junk food and hydrating on bottomless juice to recharge. Ahh! To be a kid again.To be carefree and only worry about being able to dodge parents during bath and bed times.

busy painting!

There was really no need to find ways of keeping the kids busy, they can do that on their own. But since it is the Easter break, what's Easter without Easter eggs, right? So, we boiled some eggs and let them paint it. After putting them to dry, Dennis hid them in obvious places. No challenge so I decided to move the eggs around. Bad idea. Matt and Tracy had such a hard time egg hunting and I wished I just left them where they were. With our coaching and pointing, they were able to find all the eggs. An experience the kids will surely remember.

Matt's thought, "Not bad."

TADAH!

Growing up, we spent holy week at home. No loud and happy music. No watching funny "video tapes" and too much laughing. We had to be solemn in our thoughts and actions. Before I started working, I would attend the retreats in Sto. Domingo facilitated by Fr. Sonny Ramirez.

It's a little different now. We were not able to go to confessions and we badly needed to with all the eating we were doing! Although, the check list remains - Visita Iglesia, station of the cross, confession, listen to the 7 last words and Easter morning mass. 

The only thing we were able to accomplish in Tagaytay was the station of the cross. Luckily, we were able to find this small chapel that was about to close. Traffic was horrible so we were stuck in the house the entire time. We'll do better, next year.

Flower Power

With a tough week that went by and much more ahead, I needed some cheering up. I normally would have gone to the mall or had mani-peds, but instead we went to Dangwa. Ahh! Nothing like fresh flowers to brighten up my weekend...literally.

For the benefit of those that are not familiar with Dangwa, this is a strip along Laong Laan where they sell assorted, beautiful and colorful fresh flowers. Flower shops also get their supplies here and sell them x numbers of time the actual price.

Carnations, paper roses, roses, gerber, daisies, tulips...etc.

This is just one of the many stalls. So hard to choose!

Voila!

So, I decided to get the classic...roses. Of course the roses I got were pink -  but I also got yellow roses and some others (forgot the name).

Hmm...can't seem to catch the color but it's pale pink. Anyway, fresh flowers are always the best for all occasions. So simple but this made my Sunday.

Stress

This week has been one of my many challenging weeks. A lot of people lose weight due to stress but unfortunately, I'm not one of those. Shucks!

When I'm stressed, I walk...

I walk to clear my head.

I walk to calm my nerves.

I walk to buy coffee for my caffeine load
I walk to the farthest ATM. 

I walk and...

I walked in a trance and allowed my feet do the "thinking", erhm, the walking. Auto-pilot mode and this is where it brought me. I must be THAT stressed out!

What a good way to cheer me up :o)

Blue & Green

Colors of my weekend: Blue & Green

Talk about no plans. Friday night when Dennis & Matt picked me up from the office, Dennis tells me we're going to Subic in the morning. No hotel reservations. No planned agenda. No preparations.

I normally have a checklist of the things to bring: from food, clothes, toys, sunblocks, Matt's inflatables and beach toys...etc. Without my checklist, trust me to miss some items - his toys.

Subic. I would normally prefer to go to Tagaytay. Love Tagaytay! The last time we went to Subic was two years ago. We made a stop over from Zambales. Not much to do. Didn't like the beach. But to my surprise, our overnight stay was too short. So much to do, so little time!

Tree Top Adventure

We didn't have time to go on the Tree Top Adventure. We were rushing to the zoo. But I loved the huge and tall trees! You don't see these tall trees and thick forest often.

Monkeys crossing the road

 I've heard about the monkeys but this was my first time to actually see them. I didn't include the pictures where the monkeys were all nearing the car.

Fishing area

We just sat there and enjoyed the sound of the soft waves hitting against the rocks. So calming.

Segara Suite

 Matt loves hotels! I wish we had more time to enjoy the amenities but we were on the go the entire time.

Camayan Beach

 After a long drive from the hotel to this beach was worth it. Subic doesn't really offer nice beaches but Camayan beach wasn't so bad. The water was clear and clean. Didn't see any floating plastics or styros, which we often do.


Matt forcing his smile but scared of the camel

 Zoobic was a good experience! Though the "safari" wasn't anything like game park I've been to (Kafue Game Park), it was still fun. Definitely going back before the summer ends :o)