Hello September!

I am blogging from Baguio and while we await check in time I thought maybe I can squeeze in some time to do this hello post.

We're here for the weekend with the hubby's high school barkada and I can't help but nurse a slight stab of guilt leaving our little kid at home. But it's been literally ages since Tibs and I took a trip without the kid so I guess there's really no reason for me to let that guilt linger. We need this. For us. and to reconnect with friends as well.

Baguio is a memorable place for us because this is where we went on our first trip as a couple some 7 years ago. We like to travel but we try to avoid being touristy when we do that. For one, we are really budget travelers (read: kuripot because we have little budget) so we avoid the price-y tourist spots. We take public transportation (aka jeepneys, pedicabs and even motorcycles), we eat in carinderias, we stay in Inns/Pension Houses, we shop at the public market and cook our own food if the accommodation permits us to. But that was fun to do and we really enjoyed those travels. After getting married and having a kid though, we never took trips like that anymore and yes honestly it's something that I miss doing too. 

When this barkada trip invitation came up, Tibs didn't hesitate a bit. I guess he missed going on trips with me too. (Trips where we didn't have to worry about the kid and where we can pack light as light can be, that is). We looked forward to this and prepared the kid for it. Thankfully, our strategy worked and we didn't encounter any difficulty when we bid the kid goodbye last night. She in fact seemed like she was looking forward to taking a break from us too. (hahaha true i tell ya!) We just promised to call when we get to Baguio. I called earlier and she just asked if we're in Baguio already. She gave me a brief report of how her morning went (what she had for breakfast mostly) and told me to have fun and that was it. No crying fits, no lengthy goodbyes. Our baby is now a little lady indeed. (huhu)

Anyways, I am confident we are going to have a great weekend here. The mere sight of the facade of our wonderful villa is already giving me a high. The guys have a lot of activities planned for the day (yes, the guys take charge of everything and the wives are just here to enjoy. Lucky women, we are!) and I'm sure that will extend up to the wee hours of the morning. Sulitin na di ba? 

Sharing with you a photo of our beautiful villa here at the Camp John Hay compound and wishing you a wonderful September ahead! 

such a beauty right? i didn't have photos of the interiors but this is a 3-br place with 3 T&Bs.
big enough to house a large group like ours (10 pax)

Hello May!

We welcomed the first day of the 5th month of the year by staying indoors. When my siblings and I were kids, my late lola always welcomed the first day of May with great revelry. She always looked forward to May because of Flores De Mayo and Her 'Hello May' ritual was usually accompanied by a piping hot pot of arroz caldo or 'palutaw' (which is just like Ginataang Halo-halo). Oh the nostalgia that May brings. I would've wanted to replicate lola's ritual but I fondly remember too how May smelled of flowers and dew and cool air then. It was never like the May that I've been experiencing for the past years that I've been living in Manila and now here in Cavite.

Of late, the summer heat has been almost unbearable that every time we're out and exposed for more than 10 minutes under the scorching sun and Maia would become lethargic, I would shake her just to keep her conscious. (insert Tibs' stiffled laugh) YES, I have heat stroke paranoia. And yes, in my part of the world, the paranoia never goes away. 

So anyway because we couldn't stay out for long unless we're dipping in a pool of water, we instead welcomed the first day of May indoors. Well, to be honest, I was secretly wishing we would do just that because the past few days had kept me extremely busy with work and other activities totally unrelated to family life. I missed my two-some, cool-some duo.I miss storytime with Maia. I miss cuddletime with Tibs.  I miss playing referee to their fights. I miss cooking for them. I just missed my family a lot. So yesterday, we ditched previous plans the last minute and decided to just get lazy and do family time some justice.  We did all the things I missed. Told/exchanged stories, cuddled, tickled, ate tacos and quesadillas, did some crafts (this is fast becoming a favorite bonding activity too in our household)!

Here are some photos I posted at instagram to summarize our day:

Fluffy Bunnies book. One of Maia's favorites since she was a toddler.
This was a gift from Lola Joyce.

Quesadilla/Soft Tacos Galore!
(my cheese dip ingredients on the left, quesadilla in the making on the right)

Maia busy at work

We did a choo-choo train from paper tubes and egg trays. Maia did that one so fast, I got pressured of thinking what to do next. Good thing I kept a Pinterest board of Arts and Crafts activities so I was able to come up with another paper tube (which was the material that I had on hand yesterday) activity instantly. Maia enjoyed the paper tube flower stamping more and I reckon it's probably because she loves painting pictures. At first I thought that making the patterns was difficult but I turned out to be easier than I'd imagined. I made a separate post of these two paper tube craft activities in case you would want to make your own version. Please click here for the Egg Carton + Paper Tube Train and here for the Paper Tube Flower stamps. 

May 1st came and went. It drizzled slightly during the late afternoon just about the same time when Maia  decided to drag all of her stuffed friends outside to show them the stars. It's a good thing the sky cleared up as soon as she got herself and her stuffed friends seated comfortably so I could claim proudly how we had a tantrum-free day yesterday. That was a first! 

Can you please join me in saying - "YOU DID GOOD, MAIA!"

Something For The Homebody: Gardening

Gardening is one of Tibs's favorite hobbies (he's only got 2 anyways - the gadgets and that - lolz). Our neighbors would always compliment our landscaping and would express their awe when told that Tibs did it (with minimal help from the village gardeners) himself. 

Getting Down and Dirty

When we're anticipating our favorite lazy weekends, he would make sure to squeeze in some garden time. Kitchen time (and of late i'm also starting to enjoy Crafts time) is my therapy, his would be this. He would look forward to dropping by the garden shop and would never come home empty handed. Most of the flowers and plants in our garden though were either given to us by friendly neighbors, by the village gardeners or brought home by us from a visit to Angeles or Antique. Come to think of it, most of the garden expenses were for the soil, fertilizer and grass. The garden just came to be this beautiful because of all the effort (read: hardwork) that Tibs's painstakingly put into it. Now, this part of our home has become our favorite corner. Maia and I would usually hold our arts and crafts sessions here. On lazy afternoons, we would just plop on the grass and munch on meryenda. When my parents come over to visit, they would come out and prefer to have their morning coffee here. 

everyone else is down on the ground except me hehe

Watching Tibs work in the garden has somehow inspired me to challenge my planting skills. And when I saw a Maqui's herb garden, that got me inspired even more to pursue Tibs' suggestion of me taking up a corner of the garden and turning it into my own herb garden. We've already have some sweet basil, tarragon, oregano and peppermint growing in there but I'm hoping to add more herbs and prettify this corner. I already have this set this in my summer goals. Hopefully before the rainy season kicks in, my plants will all be thriving already and could already withstand the rains.  

Italian Oregano and flowering Tarragon

I know this is me dreaming big again but I'm hoping that with me doing this, we will be able to encourage Maia to be more conscious of her environment, to learn to care for it and to raise her to be a nature lover. Model what you intend your child to be, right? I could only hope we're doing the right thing here.

this basil plant is now all over our garden. it was surprisingly easy to grow and i didn't even have to intervene with it's propagation (hahaha)