Day 3: My Little Troopers

The end of vacation is never something anyone looks forward to...in fact, it is dreaded by all! In the Philippines, where Christmas and New Year are the longest holidays of the year, Filipinos always wish the vacation was one day longer.

Well, school resumes today, hence the rush to go back home. I was still contemplating on extending our Cebu vacation 2-3 days longer and am I glad I didn't succumb to the temptation or else we would've been stuck or stranded somewhere due to the nonstop rains and flooding all the way home to Butuan. 

My troop of 3 young ones proved themselves brave and ready for anything. The actual boat ride from Cebu to Surigao was actually a breeze, with all three of them on their best behavior. I'm glad it was a day trip which took only about 6 hours compared to the usual 10-12. It was already raining very hard when we docked at Surigao and we had no choice but to don our hooded jackets and disembark. Only our jackets were soaked when we finally made it on the bus bound for Butuan. The kids were mostly asleep throughout the 2.5 hour bus ride. Heavy rains greeted us at the terminal and we were fortunate to get a tricycle to bring us all the way home. Soaked and hungry, we finally arrived home safe and sound early last night. A quick bath, change of clothes and some leftover "baon" as dinner, we snuggled together in bed basking in the cool, rainy weather. Thank you God for keeping us safe!

Day 352: An Overnight Boat Ride

For the first time in many years, the family will be spending Christmas and New Year holidays in Cebu. The excitement about the trip has been teeming for the past couple of weeks. The kids would always ask how many more days to go 'til our trip. We took the Cebu Ferry 2 overnight trip from Nasipit to Cebu shortly after attending the Christmas Party festivities in Jarred's school. The kids were filled with so much joy and anticipation for what lay ahead for the rest of the holidays.  I'm so glad they were all well-behaved during the trip and didn't give Mommy a hard time. I was able to spend some quiet time too when they dozed off early, safely tucked in their bunks.

Day 349: All our bags are packed...

As you can see, we are ready to go on our long Christmas holiday in Cebu.  Since I'll be traveling alone with the kids, I had to send our bags ahead through an earlier voyage of Cebu Ferry 2 courtesy of BCBP Bro. Jensen.  In two days, we'll be in Cebu, spending the holidays with hubby and his family.

Day 130: PILIPINAS and SoLey...on a balance...

This is the paradise in SoLey that's awaiting a bright tomorrow...Together with the rest of the nation, its future is hanging on a balance.

Today is Election Day...Go out and exercise your right to vote!

Your country and fellow Filipinos need you to make a stand for a principled choice. Whatever happens to us and the future generation lies in your mighty hands.

I pray that tomorrow will be as clear and as beautiful as what you can see here. I see hope and peace on the horizon. May God keep us in the safety of His bosom and may He bless us all!

Day 96: Joyride

With the harsh effects of El Niño worsening the power crisis in the city, the family spent a large part of the brownout time going around the city.  It was a joyride that brought us to places we haven't noticed before.  Dropping by a small merchandise store, we picked up new sunglasses - one each for hubby, Jarred and myself; and a watch for little Cailie.

Day 29: "We're going on a trip..." (sung to the tune of the theme from Little Einsteins)

The day started very early for me...I woke up at 5:30 am to prepare breakfast, pack our lunch for the field trip and set up the kids' backpack of personal stuff.  By 7:00 am, I was ready to wake everyone up to take their baths and eat breakfast.

 

When we arrived at the school, everyone was already in their vehicles, ready to leave.  Jarred's homeroom teacher was already ringing me when she saw our car on the other side of the road.  I guess we arrived just in time.

Our convoy of about 8 or 9 vehicles filled with preschool children, teachers, school heads and parents began our trip toward the first stop which was Nasipit port.  At the port, we were toured on board the M/V Cebu Ferry 2.  We were able to see the captain's bridge and vessel's navigational equipment.  After that brief tour, we began an unexpected long and bumpy trip to Jurassic Park in Carmen, Agusan del Norte.

At first I didn't realize that our destination would be a faraway beach resort, nestled in a small town off Carmen.  It wasn't really supposed to be such a long and bumpy ride had the road to our destination been cemented.  It was, after all, only 14 km off the main highway.  So, what normally took 15 minutes to travel became an hour and a half due to bad road condition.

When we arrived at the resort, we thought that the trip was quite worth it.  It was built around a ridge and below was a breathtaking view of the sea.  Tired from the road trip, we quickly scouted for a place to set up our little picnic and had our lunch.  It was a beautiful place but hardly one that I'd consider safe for preschoolers.  The ridge sides were kind of steep and everyone had to very careful while walking.  I would've allowed my two older kids to swim as I did pack their swimwear had the skies remained clear.  When it seemed that rains would befall us, I decided against the idea and just agreed with the rest of the group that we had to go back home earlier than scheduled.  Rains + bad roads = not good.

The field trip's theme was "Enjoying God's beautiful creation" and indeed, Jurassic Park proved to showcase such beauty.  Maybe in the future, we'll have a longer time to spend there and enjoy its wonder.

We weren't able to take much scenic photos as hubby got busy with macro photography of such unusual subjects.