Weekend State Visit

The Idul Fitri Weekend was also a long weekend here in the Philippines. In Indonesia, this would be a time of homecoming, with thousands of people moving across the country to reach their hometown to spend the holiday with their families.
For various reasons, we did not join the rush.
But we still have the long holiday, which we used to explore the island a bit.

Not too far from our place, there is this Shrine on top of the mountain, built to commemorate the soldiers who died on the Bataan Death March. The shrine was recommended to Mama by this kindly American who just recently visited the site, and so.. with the holiday and a break in the clouds... why not?

The weather cooperated nicely that day, cloudy (which means that it was not too hot) with no rain. In fact, if you see the top of the cross, it was kind of foggy up there. I think those fogs got Kecil a bit worried. Especially since her parents might have mentioned that we might be going right up into the clouds.

It was a bit of a climb. Look at how far we were from the parked cars! But at least it was a good climb. It was not as if we had to go through bare trail and all.

Once we were at the bottom of the Cross, I couldn't get the whole cross inside a frame. Ha!
Then we took the lift up to the observatory floor (the hands of the cross, yikes!). It was really foggy up there, with wet walls and floors thanks to the said fog. Kecil got really nervous up there, what with all the water, fog, height and all.

Soon it was time to go (especially because Kecil was getting antsy to go). By the way, I know that the shrine is military related, but Kecil's dress was pure coincidence.
Anyway, we had our lunch at nearby town.

The mall was actually newly renovated to look like old-style hotel or palace.
And across the mall was the city church, complete with a row of statues in front.

All in all it was a pretty interesting weekend trip. We look forward for more such a trip in the future.

Swimday...

Given the weather nowadays (LOTS of rains/storms), any sunny day has gotten a new tag around here: Swim Day!!!
The other day, Mama actually manage to snap a few pics with the Big Camera. A rare occurrence, indeed, considering that the Big Cam is... well... big and NOT water proof. It was heavy to lug around, requiring lots of care in handling around the pool, and does not even quite give you a lot of angles to shoot with. But what can I say? This Mama's not very happy with the color/quality of the pics taken using the Other Cam. So....

Despite the listed deficiencies, the Big Cam did manage to get some decent pics. This Mama LOOVEES all the vibrant colors that so capture the warmth of the sun.
Ahhh.... sun.... so good to see you around.

And of course, we got a few pics of the happy Lil Girl, as well.
Her bathing suit is getting a bit loose from all the swimming-washing-drying-swim-again rigor.

We spent a good hour in the pool despite the water being quite cold (it might be sunny that day, but the weather had been less than warm for the past few days, and with water, it's the night before temperature that mattered, no?)

We look for another dry, if not sunny, day spent at the pool, preferably with Daddy as well. It was very unfortunate that he was not available that day. Who knows, Mama could have taken a few more pics.
Well... until then. Cheers!

Spotted!

At the shadowy corner of the house, reading her piece of paper with sunglasses on .... why... do we have a secret agent in the house?

But with such conspicuous dressing.... a movie star?

Or even a dancer?

Rainy days do not bring many opportunities to be out and about, so we ended up watching lots of cartoons at home. Kecil requested for long socks/stockings after Alice in Wonderland. I think we were going out for dinner with Daddy later on that day.
Overdressed? Maybe. But we had fun!

T'was still raining...

Well... after that short weekend of sun, we were back to rainy weather this week, which means that we were stuck with loitering around the house instead of walking around the complex.
With umbrella/rain coat ready, that is.
Good thing that, although the rain definitely make Mama cranky, it does not seem to have a similar effect on Kecil ...

As a matter of fact, she seemed to get a lot of fun from playing with water and rocks with the Dog...

Not to mention making funny faces. Haha!

The skies has cleared up a bit today, so here's hoping for a good-weathered weekend ahead. A loooong weekend! Cheers!

Sunday photoshoot

We had some time to burn before we caught the Zombies last weekend, and so we went for a drive around the area. The weather was not quite sunny, but it was not pouring torrential rain either, just nice for a short photoshoot.

We went near the beach, where we caught sight of some of the big ships that frequented the bay...

Then Mama and Daddy took turn with the camera, just so we both have a picture with Kecil each. I'd say they both turned out pretty well. Did you see the sliver of blue sky behind Daddy?

All in all, it was a good weekend. Perhaps Mama should put a tripod in her wishlist, just so we can take a picture all together, Mama, Daddy & Kecil, instead of taking turn at the camera. Until then!

Zombies!!!

During the weekend, the local mall actually invited some Plants & Zombies for a short sing and dance session. 

Now, the truth is, in our house, Mama is the one playing the game. But having an iPad laying around about the house with the game was enough to familiarize Kecil to the figures.

And so we were stuck, figuratively, with going to see the said show.

That's effective marketing for you, I suppose.

The seats are available only for those who have made some purchase at the mall, and since we did not need anything that day, we just watched from the gallery upstairs. Thankfully it was not too long.

Another benefit of watching from upstairs was that we did not have to endure the oh-so-loud music. The railings (with it's fiberglass panels) kind of protected us a bit, and the sound was not so loud upstairs. Still... Kecil was mesmerized.

T'was a good weekend.

Last tip?
We chose the 1pm slot (instead of the 3pm or the 6pm ones) as we thought it would be less crowded, and it was fine. I think because most people are still having their lunch somewhere else. The 6pm slot is not recommended as it is just right before dinner, and would have the biggest crowd (we were there the day before around 6.20 and the crowd was unbelievable!).

Here's looking forward to more local events. After 3 years of having to drive 60 odd km to the nearest mall, it's kind of nice to have civilization right at your doorstep, kind of. Cheers!

One (1) sunny day

After bitching and moaning about the rain, the skies finally relented (but not before dumping record amount of rain water around here, I'd say!), and we got ONE sunny day, yey! We even have blue sky!

So.. what's a girl to do when sudden sunny day beckoned?

Why, we went for a splash at the pool, of course!

The Little Girl still remembers very well all her how-tos: from splashing, jumping, swimming... all she did with great enthusiasm and not a small amount of panache.
I think this Mama should really leave her worry that Kecil would ever forget how to swim etc.
It's like cycling, no? Once they get it, they won't forget. Still... I guess Kecil's Mama is a worrier (as distinct from 'warrior'!)

Me thinks Kecil wanted to go to the beach, because the first thing she grabbed after the announcement to go swimming was her 'beach toys', consisting of her bucket, the watering can and a fish mold.
We did checked out the beach during the rain, and it was pretty cool to see the sea angry and brown. But the beach was absolutely filthy, with horrendous amount of flotsam and what-nots. So, I guess Kecil had to make do with playing at the poolside for now ...

... and making funny faces as she surfaced from the water.

All in all, it was a good (sunny) day spent.
I guess this Mama should have her fill of sun for now. Especially since more rains seem to be coming our way next week (sigh).

Here's hoping for better weather soon. Cheers!