Fun Family Weekend

This fun family weekend happened almost two months ago and almost got buried in all the chores until I browsed the pictures in our digital camera.  As I have reiterated a million times, we are a military family and if you are one too, I think that you know how hard it is to plan  family trips and so in my husband words, we maximize!

Early Saturday morning (as in 5:00 a.m.), my husband and I were talking about what we planned to do that day since he was trying to decide whether to attend the PMAAAI general assembly which was to be held that day or to skip it all together. It was to be held in Manila Hotel (and very far away from Angono, I might add). But, as often is the case in our family trips, at the flick of his fingers, he decides to attend the event and take us along.  It is not often that we go to Manila after all. The next few minutes was a flurry of activity.  We had to search for his Barong Tagalog (he has many but he decides on the one we can't find!) and his pants and shoes, wake up the girls (who I believe were somewhere faraway in dreamland), get them showered and dressed, pack all the necessities for a baby in tow (thank God, the diaper bag is always ready to roll!), and out the door all in the span of an hour. Yes, we did all that in a span of an hour with just one bathroom! He had to be there by 8am so that he can register and be entitled for the raffle which is sort of an icebreaker for the event. (Serious stuff can get boring and they might be caught dozing!).  Along the way, he asked us what we were going to do to kill the time (he will be in the assembly until 12 noon) and I said that we can go to Museo Pambata since I have always wanted to go there and take Big J to learn about stuff (geeky mom here!). He also added that after his meeting, we can go to Manila Zoo as he has never been there and as parents, we know for a fact that animals are kids' favorites, hands down! Our itinerary decided, we rode happily in the car until we hit traffic and glancing at our watches, it was 8:45 a.m.! The husband then decides to just skip the meeting all together and was about to turn left towards Manila Zoo, when he changes his mind again and decides to attend the meeting. I swear, he is more fickle-minded than I am and I am a girl! Hmm...

Anyway, we get to Quirino Grandstand and we see a lot of cars parked there already and a few stragglers like us, hurrying to get to the meeting on time.  He quickly changes into his Barong Tagalog leaving me to lock the car.  After locking the car (like an obedient wife should) and with a spring in our step, my girls and I were off to our own adventure! First stop was Museo Pambata.  The entrance fee was quite steep (100 pesos) but as I know that it is an interactive museum separated into different theme rooms, I obliged. Thank God, Little J was still 11 months old so she was free to enter.  As we were in the first floor, our first stop was the Maynila Noon/Old Manila room.  Being a lover of that time period, I think I was happier than Big J. We looked at the Galleon that brought different spices from the Philippines to Manila and we had fun sniffing the different spices.  We also had fun talking to the different national heroes. You just have to lift a phone and press whether you wanted to speak to them in Filipino or English.  It was a pity that some of the phones did not work.  Big J had fun riding the tranvia and gamely posing for the camera. We had fun exploring all the different themed rooms but it was missing the science-themed room which I had wanted Big J to explore. After we toured all the rooms, we were informed by the staff that they were going to have a presentation.  I thought it was a story telling and to our surprise, our visit was perfect since we were able to see the Philippine National Folk Dance Company perform!  They have different activities every Saturday; so, be sure to check out their website.

Big J trying her hand at marketing.

Little J trying on the fireman's helmet

Big J and the interactive sketchpad.

Big J helping her little sister ride the tranvia.

The Tinikling

As it was still early, about 11 am, and hubby was not yet finished with his meeting, I decided to tour the girls through Luneta Park and its different nooks and crannies. As it turned out, it was just Big J and I who toured the park as Little J was fast asleep! Hehe. Luneta Park is divided into three parks and we had no problem going from the Quirino Grandstand to the LRT station and back.  Thank God, Manila is such a walkable city that is accessible to physically challenged individuals in wheelchairs and in our case, strollers. We were not able to go to all the places of interest as Big J was tired from all the walking (under the noontime sun no less!); but, you can see from the twinkle in her eyes that she enjoyed the trip. You could see that this park is a favorite as there were a lot of people most especially families having picnics and flying kites or merely relaxing together.  There were also young people practicing dance moves and cheering stunts.  You could really see that Manila is such a dynamic city! The City of Manila will definitely be in our list of places to visit and explore!

A trip to Luneta Park is not complete without a picture at the Rizal Monument

After lunch, we met up with hubby who had a surprise for us (which I will be revealing in a separate post) and off we went to Manila Zoo.  I was amazed at how many people still go to Manila Zoo with the abundance of other zoos in the metro.  Animals always brings a smile to kids' faces, my husband included (who is a kid at heart anyway!).  Even Little J was wide awake looking at all the animals. I was reluctant to enter the reptile house as I am terribly afraid of snakes and seeing them in an enclosed area was enough to make me rooted to the spot.  But, as a mom, I had to overcome this fear so that Big J wouldn't be scared.  I survived that experience, thank you! I was just sad that there were no giraffes or lions anymore.  I think lions rule, by the way! I thought that maybe because of the other zoos, Manila Zoo was neglected as there were fewer animals than what I remembered back in my childhood. Oh, that was ages ago! Hehe. 

Tarzan and Jane, is that you?

The Girls and Mama

Guess who enjoyed the trip the most?

The fun family weekend ended with my girls asleep on our trek back up our hilltop abode and the next day would be Little J's first birthday party. Yes, we were tired but in a good way. Hurray for fun family weekends!