Cebu City: Day 2

Today's a busy day of getting back to work (and talking to people I referred), but I need to write a blog entry in case I forget what we did in Cebu. Yes, my memory is actually thisshort.

Last Monday, October 29, was our second day in Cebu. That day was reserved for visiting our relatives in Compostela Province. For the uninformed, it is a fourth-class municipality, around 5 cities away from Cebu City. Again, I don't have any photos of our trip to Compostela, but I do have photos of our stay.

We stayed in one of my uncles' beach house. I'm quite reluctant to use the term "beach house" because you may immediately think of grand beach houses with floor-ceiling windows. But technically, it is a house by the beach, so it is a beach house.

It was a big lot, around 1000 square meters, with two little houses where my uncle and the rest of the family stays for vacation. It also has a small nipa cottage and some coconut trees to add to the ambience. It was so charming because the property was directly beside the water so it seems as if the property was built above the sea.

Anyway, let the photos speak for themselves:

Mama and Y by the sea

Helloooo!

View of the sea

Sister trying to do an emo shot - FAIL!

Fat, awkward pose, bad hair -- never mind the subject, the background is better!

The young ones (plus great grand-lola) under a coconut tree

And the "young once" drinking in the cottage

Charming view and wooden fence - kuno

Catching up on 20+ years of no communication

While the kids threw stones at crabs that climb the walls

More laughing

The sea starting to withdraw from the land

A pretty confused Y with one of his lolos

More beach houses by the sea

My sister and her nieces - Hahaha!

Overexposed photo of me and Y

Children and their tactics never grow old. :-)

The notorious Laxa's in Compostela, 50 years later :-)

I wish we can have a bigger family reunion, with everyone from Baguio, Pampanga, Cebu, and Davao. As we Bisaya say, puhon. On the other hand, I pray we will have a house by the sea, too, in the future. Perhaps in Lanuza, Surigao. #alamna

The Day We All Return to Work

It's November 5, the Monday after the long weekend. Or in my case, the Monday after more than a week of no work. Though I got up early and in an upbeat manner, I still feel the weight of a back-to-work Monday. I definitely feel my editing skills getting a bit rusty. That's what I get for not working for such a long time!

The last weekend has been a busy one. We unpacked things from the trip, delivered big bags of dirty clothes to the laundry shop, and had Y's clothes washed by his yaya. We were at SM again yesterday and I bought a new stroller for Y. He had a new stroller when he was still a little newborn, but the stroller was too big and bulky to be brought outside the house, so I bought a cheap, lightweight stroller.

I still have a lot of things I need to do, such as clean Y's new shoes (he has a LOT!) and clean Y's new playmat (and find a place for it in the living room). Then, we have to decorate our house for Christmas. Exciting! However, today's not the time for those things as I need to catch up on some work. I'll definitely blog about them sometime this week or next week; I need to blog about our Cebu trip first.

PS: I withdrew my salary from my ATM yesterday morning. When we got home in the afternoon, it was already reduced in half. Huhuhu. #dotingmommy&ate&daughterproblems

Cebu City: Day 1

Two days ago, I promised to blog about our 5-day vacay in Cebu. However, because it's Undas, Y's yaya had to go home, so I took care of Y full-time. I also had to work on my mom's website - http://www.davao-realproperties.com. Please visit it, by the way!

Last Sunday, October 28, we left Davao for Cebu City. Here we were before leaving the house:

On the right are our luggage. There are two more bags not in photo.

Me and Y. Please forgive the awkward position of legs.

Mom and sister ready to leave

One last pic before stepping outside the house

I checked my camera and apparently, I don't have any photos of us in the airport or in the plane. The photos we took were using my mom's phone. Since it's night already, and I'm just blogging beside a sleeping child, I will have to skip the airport/plane pics.

After arriving in Cebu, we were met by my cousin's husband, Kuya Ernie. I'm not sure but I think he works as an area manager in Jollibee. We went straight to my cousin's house in Guadalupe. Here are some photos of my pamangkins.

Y with 4-year old kuya cousin, Zain

Y smirking over kuya cousin's toy car

Kuya cousin fooling around (with my other cousin's husband in the background)

Kuya cousin tinkering the camera, sister in the foreground, and my other pamangkins with their yayas in the background

Zain is a very witty kid. If we were living in Cebu, we would visit them everyday just to make sure Y becomes as witty as him. Before we left, he said to his mom:

Can baby cousin stay here diri sa house ma? I want diri lang si baby cousin and then si bugoy brother and bugoy cousin na lang sa Davao.

He wanted Y for himself. #charmingboyproblems

After eating a hearty lunch of lechon Cebu and dried squid (which I was too shy to take pictures of), we went to our hotel just in time for check-in time. We were driven to the hotel by my other cousin's husband.

We unpacked our things and rested because we are to meet my cousins again later in the afternoon. At around 5, someone knocked on our door. We expected to see my cousins, but we were surprised to see virtually the entire Laxa clan. Most of them came from Compostela, Cebu, while my dad's brother came all the way from Bicol.

By the way, my dad hasn't seen his brother for almost 20 years.

The golden oldies: My dad, his brother and cousins, and Y

My sister, cousins, nieces, and tita

Another photo with the clan, with Y in the starring role

This time, with me :D

The golden oldies, with Y trying to fit in

We decided to gather at the Ayala IT park with the rest of my cousins and their families. What happened was an impromptu family reunion. It was my first time to see most of them.

Trying to make a picnic: Y was bundled up because it was a windy evening.

Photo of one of the buildings surrounding the park, taken by my sister

Sorry, I don't know what the building's called

The Cebuanos decided to let us experience downtown Cebuano food: barbecue and rice in puso

PS: I didn't take any food photos. I was too shy.

PPS: I just noticed there are many orbs in the photos taken in the hotel room. I don't care. I didn't bother to inspect more closely nor investigate. Ignorance is bliss.

Stay tuned for days 2 to 5. :D

UPDATE: Here are some more photos from my cousin, ate Yenyen.

Ate Yenyen's husband, kuya Ernie (with my other cousin in the background)

My other cousin's husband, a Korean dentist

And my other pretty cousin, ate Gaga, and my cute pamangkins

There we go!

Home at last!

It's the Dead's Day today, but my blog isn't celebrating it - because it's not dead yet! I know I haven't blogged for almost a week now, and the last blog I wrote was a short one the night before we left for Cebu. Well, I meant to write about our short vacation in the Queen City of the South for every night we were at the hotel, but unfortunately, it was just sooo tiring.

Sorry!

We actually just arrived back in Davao yesterday afternoon, so I could have caught up on some blogging, but all of us, baby included, just ate a late lunch and immediately fell asleep afterwards. Today, I will surely post some entries on the day-by-day experiences we've had in Cebu. I'm just going to upload the 400 or so pictures we have taken for five days.

See you later! :D

See you tomorrow, Cebu!

Right now, I'm the only one awake in the house, in spite of our early flight tomorrow. There are two things that I need to explain. First, I can't sleep without finishing MMK. It's the Halloween episode, and as with every year, I can't miss it.

Second, I'm still waiting for my nails to dry.

I painted my toenails dark blue for my feet to become presentable. I'm already anticipating the tons of pictures to be taken for the next five days, so I tried my best to not at least become an eyesore. I would have taken a picture of my toenails, but I'm not too keen on fetching my camera outside the room. Where it is dark. Wooooo.

Seriously, I'm excited to go to Cebu tomorrow, and I have a handful of reasons.

1 - It's my first time to travel with Y, and if you're a mother, you'd understand how terribly exciting it is to pack baby clothes and stuff.

2 - The next five days will be purely vacation. It's not like other trips where I have to do some stuff for work or for school. Well, my trip to Surigao with J last year wasn't work or school-related, too, but the whole time I was there, I kept on thinking what would happen if my mom calls. This time, I don't have to do or worry about anything at all.

3 - It's my first time to see our relatives from Cebu. I grew up only with my mother, father, and siblings, so I virtually don't know anyone from the extended family. Please wish me luck on explaining where Y came from. Hahaha!

PS: I was supposed to take pictures of Y's things for the trip, but I got sidetracked, sooo...