We love Bantayan Island!

Summer has started in our family. It was a week ago when we visited the beautiful Bantayan Island in the province of Cebu. We thought it was so beautiful that we were all willing to travel long hours to see the place. Our flight was scheduled in the afternoon and we arrived in Cebu around dinner time.

First we had a sumptuous buffet dinner at Casino Espanol with my mom's high school classmate and of course the whole gang.

We were the last ones who left the place.. see? :)

Woke up early the following day all ready for the road trip to Bantayan armed with lotsa chips, breads and drinks.

start of our roadtrip

Thanks to our driver we had a safe 3-hour trip and reached Hagnaya port just in time for the 1230pm ferry schedule.

In the ferry

After one hour, we reached our destination and went directly to the resort. It was so serene and quiet in this place. You will feel you are one with nature..

I'm feeling sleepy as I type so I have to cut this post for the meantime. Have a good night! :)

to be continued..

Our Fantabulous Singapore Trip

We went to Singapore lah! more than a week ago. I just really enjoyed our visit to that country - so clean, beautiful and modern. The five-day-vacay is so bitin! There were some places that I wanted to visit but were not able to. I wanna go back! :)

Okay, so we went there with my husband's family (super thanks to my generous MIL!) and stayed at Tita M's house who resides in SG with her husband (Thanks for welcoming us!).

It was a three and a half hour plane ride which is just perfect for a relaxing nap. But my little one did the opposite. He did not want to sleep, instead he spent the whole time on drawing. Thanks to the Cebu Pacific's paper bag which he used as a canvass, I was able to get a very quick nap while he was busy drawing on it.

We arrived at the airport at around six in the afternoon, took a cab and headed straight to Tita M's house.

the solis siblings minus their eldest brother who wasn't able to join the trip

my photo with MIL and my ever likot son

and here's our first family pic in SG

to be continued..

Stormy Road Trip

We have planned this a month before so when we knew there was a storm or typhoon in the North area we still pursued the road trip. Everyone were too excited to back out so off we went! This was during the last 4-day long weekend. The first day was spent entirely on the road. We spent 12 hours in travelling from Manila to Vigan only because of typhoon Mina. We got stranded for more than 3 hours in Agoo, La Union due to some flooded areas.

Our first stop was Baluarte in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. This was my son's favorite place in Ilocos mainly because it is a zoo. :) It was a gloomy morning but thang God for no rain that time, we were able to see the whole place and experience the pony ride.

Then we headed to Calle Crisologo but it was just a quick stop as we have a lot on our list that we should be visited.

A quick photo-op at the beautiful Paoay church. It was already drizzling at that time. Thankful for umbrellas and a water-proof camera.

Malacanang of the North

Burgos Tower. We were not able to go inside the lighthouse as it was closed at that time, maybe because of the bad weather.

Mairaira beach in Pagudpud - very quiet and peaceful beach.. so unlike Boracay.. for the soul searchers haha!

Hannah's resort - where we stayed for one night. Beautiful resort but needs improvement in terms of services.

Bantay Abot Cave - this was just a few mins away from the resort.

The windmills - where Jared got his cute little windmill. And of course, it's super windy here!

Back to Vigan! Last photo-op then started the long travel back home.

Even though our visit to Ilocos was welcomed by a bad weather, we really enjoyed it! I don't think we can come back anytime soon because of the relatively long travel but I still want to visit again! There were still a lot of places that we have not yet visited.

Our rainy Boracay vacay

We had a 4-day vacation in the beautiful Boracay last month - I know, late post again. We went there with my side of the family. We went swimming, island hopping, helmet diving, fly fish-ing and ate and ate to our heart's content. Besides, we got a lot of things to celebrate during that time. It was Father's Day, my 30th birthday and an advance celebration of my aunt's birthday.

It was Jared's first plane ride that's why he made sure he gets to read the flight manual before take off. :)

We had rain and storm on the 1st and 2nd day but we still managed to enjoy but our little boy doesn't like the strong waves so he opted to just play on the sand.

He only swam in the pool which he really enjoyed and which doesn't show in this photo haha!

The 3rd day was when the sun shone brightly. We got to do a lot of things. We tried helmet diving.

Island Hopping.. but forgetful me forgot all the islands that we visited.

Snorkelling.. corals are not that pretty anymore.

And swam all day..

So there.. that's how our rainy summer went :)

Weekend Update

Had a fully packed weekend with my wonderful family and friends. Saturday was our flu vaccine day. We availed the shot from the company where my friend works for, since it was a lot cheaper compared when you avail it directly from doctors. Our sunday was about swimming and boxing but wasn't able to bring my cam so I'll just post about the vaccine day.

Vaccination is at Makati and so we have decided to let our little one experience riding a train, the MRT. Parked the car at the mall in North Ave. and from there we walked our way heading to the MRT. It was Jared's first time and he was so excited.

Here's his dad explaining to him how to insert the MRT ticket

Got off at Buendia station and headed to Ayala Triangle Gardens to meet up with Nectar and her family. By that time it was already lunch time so we went straight to the resto to feed our tummies.

The garden looks nice and seems well maintained and the grass looks really nice on photos so we took pictures before going to the office for vaccination. Here are some.

After the photo op, we went straight to the vaccination - our main purpose! haha! Adults get the shot first. Here are the kids while waiting for their turn - busy with their doodling.

It was a really tiring day with all that walking we did. Look how tired my son was haha! We were suppose to shop first but we were all so exhausted we just went home immediately.

Summer is here!

Finally, my summer has started. And when I say summer it means swimming in beaches or pools. I know it's quite late for me but what the heck!

So we spent the 4-day vacation in Batangas at my MIL's house. I was so happy that my mom and sister were able to come with us. We are not so prepared so we did last minute booking on resorts and almost all of them were fully booked. I know it's the peak season. But luckily, my MIL were able to book on a resort in Alitagtag, Batangas, the Residencia de Riego Resort and stayed there overnight with my Solis and Geronimo family.

(photo borrowed from another website)

Check-in time was 2pm-10am and we got there at exactly 2 in the afternoon. It was not that crowded at all since it was a Friday and maybe it was not yet known to many.

We had our sumptuous merienda first before lounging into the pool.

The resort has 2 adult pools and 1 kiddie pool. Here we are enjoying the water..

Actually, the best time at this resort was during night time where you will see their pools with 12-color logic lights and a fountain surrounding the pools. Pool is also heated at night so you don't have to worry feeling cold while swimming at night. It also has its own bar and restaurant, and a wi-fi zone.

Last photo-op at the resort. We so enjoyed our short stay there.

Our Subic Adventure

This post was so long overdue.. I know.. (Why do I always have to start with this line?) We initially planned of going to Enchanted Kingdom but everyone says that the place is jam-packed and super crowded during the holidays so we decided to just go to Subic to visit Zoobic Safari because our little one has been bugging us to visit a zoo again.

Went there after New Year's day early in the morning and arrived at about 9am. Thank goodness for SCTEX, our travel was a breeze! but not to the whopping increase in toll fees.. (what a way to start the year for motorists!)

Anyway, entrance fee for adults is P445, kids 3ft and below are free, and our little guy who's over 3ft and below 4ft gets a P100 discount.

The park assigns 1 tour guide for approximately every 30 visitors. The walking tour was just ok but you won't be able to hear what the guide is saying. The guided tour begins with the aviary or the "Bird Walk" where there is a section where you get to feed the birds on your hands for 10 bucks. Hubby, Jared and my sis tried it while I take their picture.

Next was the Zoobic Park where there are pet friendly animals that you can interact with. I personally tried to feed the camel a small leaf and it was fun.

Then there there was an animal show composed of talented dogs, donkey and the amazing Tinikling dancing poodle.

The next was to get to the other area of the park by taking the tram ride or use your own car throughout the tour. We opted for the tram ride or the "tiger train" as what my son calls it.

We then toured the Savannah while riding on the tram wherein we got a close encounter with the friendly ostriches that seem to like my youngest sister for some reason.. haha!

Other areas are the Dear Deer, Zoobic Cave, Forbidden Cave, Serpentarium, Rodent World, Croco Loco, etc.

The main attraction was the Tiger Safari where we boarded the caged jeep that brought us to the open area to see live tigers roaming around freely. It took for only a few minutes so we were not that fascinated at all. And we only saw a few tigers.. maybe we were just not that lucky.

The whole tour took around 3 to 4 hours and we were starving by the time we finished it. We quickly headed to the Tree Top Adventure which is just a few distances away from Zoobic Safari.

There are a lot of awesome packages to choose from. And after a quick lunch we decided to try the Tree Drop Adventure - here, you'll be literally dropped from a 60 foot tree with just the harness supporting your life :). It took us sometime to convince hubby to try it though :) But man, the experience was so thrilling and at the same time frightening, really really worth it! Price is affordable and the staff are so friendly so I highly recommend it. :)