Maia Recommends: Kite Flying In Luneta Park

One of our household's biggest struggle after a very sedentary summer was finding outdoor activities that the little miss can genuinely enjoy.

Weekend food trips to the city usually end up with her tugging us relentlessly to go home. 

"This is boring, Mommy." (translated to: I need to get hold of my gadgets before school starts on Monday)

Today, we braved the city traffic once again to try a new activity - kite-making. The NCCA has been holding several activities (all weekends of June) in Luneta Park and this weekend was the last leg of their Arts in Public Places in Luneta series. 

We left home at a little after 1pm hoping to get ahead of the traffic congestion but ended up getting stuck anyway. We arrived in Luneta a few minutes after 3. We searched for Burnham Green but after being dropped off right in front of Jose Rizal's monument, we couldn't find the venue of the event. I approached a park guard and we were pointed towards a cluster of tents across the road. 

Sadly, the event was not publicized well. At 3:30, we were the first to register. We waited a few more minutes before we started making the kites. Nevertheless, when we started flying the kites, people started noticing the activity and a few more kites joined ours in the air.

I do hope the NCCA will continue to organize events like this which parents like me highly appreciate. We get to pry our technology, gadget-loving kids away from the couch and remind them that spending time outdoors is still so much fun. 

Watch video!

I myself didn't realize how relaxing and delightful kite-flying was until I got hold of the string and started maneuvering the kite to stay up in the air. 

"It's fun to steer, Mommy!"

We will come back soon. Luneta Park as night is yet another thing that we are looking forward to experience.

The larong pinoy and kite-making event still runs until July 17th. Do drop by and join! Click here for the event page: Larong Pinoy & Kite-Making. Like the National Commission for Culture and the Arts page as well to get updates of other government sponsored art activities around the metro.

Mother's Day Lunch At Pamana Restaurant

Today was more of a spur of a moment thing. But having been burnt out at work for weeks now, I have been wanting (and needing) a reprieve (from the house, from the sight of my computer) even for just a few hours.

So even if the kids have been very vocal about hating commuting of late, they all agreed to give me some slack today and allowed me to finally embrace the reprieve that I've been yearning even if just briefly. We decided, albeit at the last minute, to head off to Tagaytay to celebrate mother's day. Last year, we also spent mother's day there at Bag of Beans. And since my nephew is vacationing with us as well, it would be nice to bring him up there as well too. Maia was excited to show him the place where Mommy and Daddy got married.

The plan was - hear mass and eat. And maybe visit a few sites if time would permit. Tibs did warn me though - manage my expectations. It's warm in Tagaytay now. And yes, the temperature didn't give us much options when we got there. After hearing the 11am mass in Lourdes, we walked a few meters towards Pamana Restaurant and that's about how we burned our time in Tagaytay.

No regrets though. I still was happy to "escape". And I finally made time to buy those plants that I've been asked to buy for my team's work area. (Kind of defied my purpose of escaping the thought of work, but at least I had a change of scenery. Which was enough for now, at least).

On Pamana Restaurant:

We ordered what we feel is just the appropriate thing to order when you're in Tagaytay - Bulalo and Crispy Tawilis. Tibs is a big fan of Binagoongang Baboy so we also tried that. We ordered their ube halohalo for Gogol and Sago't Gulaman for everyone else.

The Bulalo serving was too large for us. We should have just ordered small or medium and we still won't feel it's "bitin". We had leftovers for everything and it was good enough for another meal (yes, we had the same thing for dinner).

Price-wise we wished there were more of us to share, then the close to P2,000 bill wouldn't have really mattered. But sadly we were just a group of 3 adults and 2 kids who only devoured the cold desserts. Safe to probably budget at around 300/head if you are with the company of purely adults.

The restaurant is kid-friendly and on a Sunday, we just came at a perfect time (at around 11:30ish) because a few minutes after that hungry diners came rushing. We picked a table at the rooftop. We had a great view of Taal and it was pretty breezy considering the ultra hot summer temp. They could work on providing more toilets though because it really was a long line we had to endure just to get bladder relief. If you're with kids, that could be a really difficult situation to be in.

Maximizing Summer Vacation With Family Without Breaking The Bank

How have you been spending your hot summer days of late?

My health has suffered the wrath of this uber hot weather. Extremely hot, humid weather outside and winter like temp in the office is a recipe for disaster, healthwise. Yesterday I finally went to see a doctor. Now, I have to take plenty of medicines to hasten my recovery.

Anyways, as much as I wanted to make this summer a fruitful, learning filled experience for the little miss, coming home exhausted from trying days at work just makes me look forward to lazy, home-confined weekends divided into bonding times with the husband and the little miss and an hour or two of me-time. Me-time mostly spent window shopping.

I've been looking to update my office wardrobe and that of the little miss’s as well as she seemed to have undergone a growth spurt lately and I found just the perfect online shop to search for fashionable women’s (and little girls’ too) clothes at Zalora. This online shop is just the perfect place to burn my free time on since it caters not only to women but to the entire family as well (I couldn't resist looking at the men's section as well and making mental lists of several things that I can score for the husband). While I build up my shopping funds, I content myself with ogling and listing pretty things that I come across online.

my baby girl, all grown up

 Apart from online window shopping, I'm equally ecstatic to get my cooking mojo back so I also spend some of my weekend time at the kitchen experimenting on some recipes. I tried baking blueberry muffins today and made some cookie dough in advance for the little miss's afternoon snacks this week. She's about to start her summer classes (got her free passes to an 8-session ballet class) as well and she's bringing some homemade cookies to share with her classmates.

can you spot her from this crowd of pink?

We've had chances to raid the village facilities too lately - the pool and the playground - particularly and this is one activity that I've sort of missed doing too. When the kid was still a toddler, we used to spend plenty of time strolling and playing at the playground. Now, we're making the excuse to visit the playground so we can limit her TV and computer time.

We still have a couple of activities lined up this summer. But I will have to reserve them for the later part of this month and maybe early May. I hope to recover completely this week so I can finally spend more time outdoors with my loves (if only to kill time at the playground and the pool). I'm also thinking of coming up with a summer income generating project (inspired by what my friend Maqui and her adorable little Aki's summer project) for the little miss since there's an ongoing basketball tournament in our village. I'm thinking of letting her sell ice pops and homemade cookies to the tournament participants.

Plenty of ideas, eh? I hope before summer ends, I get to actually do half of them.

Maia Travels: Siquijor: Playtime At The Beach

I was cleaning up my Photo folder and came across a folder of my photos  taken using my phone which were dated October to November of this year. I clicked it and saw these:

Siquojor is forever etched in this little girl's memory because she spent a lot of time playing by the beach. We also spent all 3 of the mornings we were there early by the beach making sandcastles using our hands and what-nots we could find on the beach. The mere thought of it brings a big smile to my sleepy face.

I am going to sleep with wonderful thoughts tonight. And yes, I think I can officially say now that I am a converted beach lover. Yes I still love the mountains and the flora that abound it. But a day by a quite beach, with just you and your loved ones is equally relaxing too. Thoughts of summer on this cold, wet December night, not bad at all eh?

Weekend Love: Another Rainbow Sighting

I don't know if my memory is right but I think this weekend was the first weekend this month where we finally got to experience bits of sun. It was also the first weekend of this month that we stayed home, or close to home (discounting the quick trip to the nearest mall yesterday to run a few errands).

So this afternoon, we let the little girl drag us down to the pool. We didn't join her to swim but it gave me and the hubby an hour to bond (i.e. talk nonsense and laugh our hearts out) while watching the kid have her own moment of fun.

What a nice bonus as well. Just when we were about to head home, this twin rainbows as the little miss called it earlier appeared.

Ah, just the perfect ending to a weekend well spent.

despite how crazy the past week was, it seemed to be telling
me - Joy is everywhere. You just gotta open your heart more and let it in.

Weekend Love: Kiddie Fun At Star City

I never developed a fondness for theme parks. When I visit a place I would rather raid the local palengke, bakery, museum or zoo. But of course, when you become a mother, your preferences take the back seat when you plan something with your kid.

When the company I work for announced that they are sponsoring an Employee Fun Day at Star City my instant reaction was to delete that email. Good thing the announcement came in installments and on the 3rd email, I realized that although this is not something I would personally define as fun it actually could be something that might be fun to the kid. So I asked the husband's opinion and he decided we will go for the little miss's sake.

Friday morning, the kid could hardly contain her excitement for our trip. We're going to "ROCK" City! Yehey!!! Before we could react to say she might be referring to a different place she immediately corrected herself -- "ay Star City pala".

Being the clueless parents that we are, we only paid admission for the kid and decided to just pay per ride inside when the kid has finally chosen the rides that she'll take. But when we got in, she wanted to immediately try the Pirate Adventure with my cousin and her Ate Inday. I inquired at the nearby booth and was told a "per ride" option is not available in Star City. If you want to try the rides you will have to purchase a Ride-All-You-Can pass. We had to walk all the way back to the main entrance so we can avail of the corporate discount. We were able to get her RAYC ticket for only P270 (normally P400/person). Had we inquired before we got in, it would have saved us the hassle of the long walk back and the relentless whining from the kid. But...these things just happens. Moving on...

I always look forward to the weekend because...

OF THEM!

This is one of my favorite photos of my little family. This was taken when the little girl was around 6 months. And we were enjoying a quiet weekend at home. I literally closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I recalled how good Maia smelled then. And how soft her tiny chubby body was. 

Ahhhh, precious memories that I hope to remember till I'm old and gray. 

Maia Travels: A Weekend At T-House, Tagaytay

The minute our kid laid eyes on our wedding photo album, T-house (where I had my bridal preparations done) immediately grabbed her attention. Every year, during our anniversary, my husband and I would troop over to Tagaytay to hear mass at the church where we got married and last year we decided it was time for us to bring the kid along as well. T-house is conveniently located beside the church and she immediately saw it.

"I want to see what's inside, Mommy! Can we get in, please?"

Unfortunately, our anniversary trip to Tagaytay is always riddled with other plans so we never had the chance to take the kid inside even for a peek. But the kid is persistent. Once in a while she would take out our wedding album and declare "ONE DAY, I WILL GO AND SEE THIS PLACE".

Finally!

Thanks to Deal Grocer, her ONE DAY finally happened last weekend. The husband booked us an overnight stay mainly to celebrate my 35th birthday quietly (away from the noise of the city). We planned to do it on a Saturday, but apparently, you will need to book at least 2 weeks prior if you want to reserve a slot. So we grabbed the next best thing which was Sunday. Being a commuting family, we prayed hard for good weather. But an hour before we left the house, the sky turned grey. It dampened my mood but not the kid's. And her excitement is really contagious it seemed to push the gloomy clouds away. After a heavy but brief downpour, the sky cleared and we headed out. Kid was singing and hopping. You can tell she's over her head happy. 

grey as grey can be. but didn't stop us from having the best weekend ever!

T-house is 4 rides away from our place (3 jeepney transfers and one bus ride). Because of the prior downpour, it took us almost an hour and a half to get to the place (twice the travel time of 45 minutes on ordinary, sunny Sundays). Oh and we also made a short stopover at the grocery to buy snacks (mostly chips and cookies for the kid. READ: Junk haha). We planned to stay in for the rest of the day so we wanted to be armed and ready with our potato couching must-haves.

"Mommy, are you going to wear your white gown again when we have our pictures taken?" It just dawned on me that the kid was probably expecting us to 'get married' again. To replicate everything that she saw in our wedding pictures. Oh my poor little girl. In between chuckles, the husband explained to the little girl that we are just checking in to rest for now. When she's a little older, maybe we can replicate our wedding again even if just in pictures. (OR maybe we can afford to do a renewal of vows with immediate family members then, we'll see). She didn't cry (thankfully). I guess, she didn't make room for tantrums and drama on this trip (fortunately for us!).

When we arrived at the hotel, kid was speechless and just beaming from ear to ear.When we were handed our key, she immediately grabbed it and proudly carried it till we got to our room.

welcome drinks and a question: "bakit F3 yung binigay na room number sa atin?
bakit hindi F1?"

"Hmmmmm, ang bango bango naman ng room natin Mommy!" 

Ahhhh soft sheets and cable TV. THIS IS THE GOOD LIFE.

She proceeded to claim her space on the bed and feign sleep (with a matching loud snore). She was so amusing to watch. The husband and I couldn't stop laughing at all her comments and observations. She really is a great travel companion now.

I'm really glad we took this trip. Seeing how happy she was, I already received the best 35th birthday gift ever.

(more photos after the jump)

What Makes A Great Weekend

To me a swell weekend consists of  --

a good night's sleep. (read: a few minutes of a beautiful morning spent awake in bed but with a little girl still snoring beside you)

a perfectly brewed cup of coffee to start the day.

a hearty breakfast to pair that cup of coffee with.

a morning mostly spent organizing stuff, that will usually need an entire day to get organized. but still. it's very therapeutic, you see.

a power outage that would drive us out of the oven-like house, drop our mobile phones and laptops, and find something creative to do instead.

Ahhhh..I wish I have actual photos to show and be more visually descriptive of the phrases above. But I seem to find myself always busy enjoying BEING in the moment these days, I always forget to take a snap for documentation purposes. But to working moms like me (and working daddies like my husband) weekends are very sacred. So we just try our best to be in it, in every way we can.

Oh well. Memories are still better. I'm going to live with that. Have a great week ahead friends!

Maia Travels: Mother's Day At Bag Of Beans

Tagaytay is becoming a favorite destination for our little family. Thinking that it's much cooler over there, we left the house early last Sunday to hear mass at Ina Ng Laging Saklolo. Then we planned to have breakfast after at the main branch of Bag of Beans further up in Mendez. I just learned recently that they now have a branch at the Tagaytay Rotunda strip of restos (what's that called exactly? I can't remember anymore). But wanting to find a more comfortable and well, quite breakfast place we decided to take a extra few more kilometers to travel to where the original cafe is.

The last time we ate at BoB was when Tibs and I were planning our wedding in 2007. We stumbled into this quaint little cafe (if I remember correctly, the extension where the buffet set up is now was not there yet) because we were looking for a big place to for our families to stay in after the wedding. Although we already acquired our house then, it wasn't big enough for several families to stay in. Good thing, as I was a member of w@w then, I found Amirsache Villa and we were able to rent the entire place.

Oppps, I digress once again. Sorry about that. Going back to my story, we've stopped over the store several times after that coffee date often when my family comes over to visit but we never thought of stopping there to grab a bite. We've always just come back for the bread and never really bothered to check out the restaurant inside.

Deciding to spend our mother's day there was just right. Although the resto was packed when we arrived at around 9:30 am, we were immediately ushered to available seats. But as they were bursting with guests, food took a little longer (probably than usual) even if we only ordered usual pinoy breakfast fare of longanisa, chicken tocino, chicken pork asado. I ordered funny face pancakes for the little miss because the day before she mentioned of wanting to make me pancakes for mother's day breakfast (and i indeed ended up eating most of the pancakes and her eating most of my longa meal). Tibs upsized to bottomless brewed coffeesince we both are huge coffee drinkers. I think we still make better brewed coffee though. With our ever-reliable tiny 3d coffee maker and a few spoonfuls of Monk's Blend ground robusta coffee. I got curious too how the restaurant turned out to be so packed with hungry guests so early in the day and the servers told me they open as early as 6. I made a mental note to invite the hubs for an even earlier breakfast date (and maybe a short run? hmmmm) one of these days.

 The restaurant also serves buffet breakfast (at P395/person) and brunch (at 495/person).

While we wait for our food, Maia, Ate Inday and I took the opportunity to explore the area and took turns posing for photos in almost every photo op-friendly corner. We were silly like that. The little girl even set a limit on the number of shots we should take of her. (Dito mommy, 4 pictures. Dito 5 ha. Kailangan 5. two pictures lang tayo dito, mommy. Kalurkey having a camera-hugging kid)

So even if the day was supposed to be all for me, it turned out to be HER day mostly. The number of photos of her alone would be enough testament to that. Gone is that camera reticent kid that I used to chase just to steal a few decent photos from. Lately, she gleefully volunteers to have her photo taken.

We left Tagaytay just before noon. The highway was not that busy when we got there around 8am-ish but at noontime, it was evident that it was a special Sunday. Most restaurants we passed by were all packed with nary a vacant parking spot within plain sight. I guess on special days like this it's better to plan an early morning trip if you ever decide to come up to Tagaytay.

I'm really happy that Tagaytay is now very commuter-friendly. It makes planning for special weekends a lot more easier for me.

How did you spend your mother's day?

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Bag Of Beans
Coffeeshop, Restaurant and Bakery
115 Aguinaldo Highway, Crossing Mendez West
Tagaytay City
046 413 2724

How to commute to Bag of Beans via Aguinaldo Hi-way 

Take bus or jeepney (at the Olivarez terminal) that is heading towards Nasugbu. Bag of beans is along the highway to your right a few kilometers after Crossing Mendez Intersection.

More on Tagaytay sights here.

Conversations With Maia: On Oily and Fatty Food

Yesterday was our bookstore date day. But a date with my little girl will never be complete without a stop at her favorite eating place -- (what else) JOLLIBEE!

When at Jollibee she almost always orders the same thing - one piece chicken meal (with lots of crispy skin) and a glass of pineapple juice.

But in the middle of yesterday's meal, while she was savoring each bite of the crispy skin/coating, her dad reminded her that she's already past her monthly quota of Jollibee chicken meals (she's had one almost every week and we normally only treat her once a month). She responded with a look of pure disappointment (and a muffled growl - she goes GRRRRRRRRRR and matches it with a piercing glare and huge, huge pout).

I explained to her why it's not good to always eat in fast foods. I pinched her chicken and showed her how oily it was. I told her that if she keeps eating oily chicken skin every week, the oil will eventually coat her heart and it will stop beating.

SILENCE.

Then she puts her right hand on her left breast and cheerfully announced: "OKAY LANG AKO MOMMY. NARINIG KO PA ANG HEART KO EH. TUMUNOG NAMAN SYA. DI NAMAN NABALUTAN"

And she goes back to munching on her chicken with great gusto (gave up the fork and spoon and proceeded to eat with her hands).