To Tagaytay this summer break

My little boy is asking...nay, demanding that we go to Tagaytay this summer! He said he'd like to ride the cable car. He'd also like to ride the horse again (actually just a pony with a name like John Lloyd or Diego). Somehow I can't imagine my little boy in equestrian clothing and jumping his "horse" over fences, and that's just fine with me. I like it better than the zipline where I was scared but excited for Hubby and E while they hung suspended midair. No, I was too chicken to try it. Thank goodness E did not want to repeat the experience.

It would be good to get away from it all, so I'm really hoping we could follow E's wishes and unwind a bit in cool Tagaytay.

A break

Our little family is looking forward to a few days of break this coming long weekend. We're not going far, just nearby Tagaytay where we could enjoy a few days of not working and a change of scenery and, hopefully, a respite from the Manila heat.

I don't think we're going for some swimming, because with the expected cool temperature (keeping fingers crossed), we might need to make sure that the pools there have PoolSupplyUnlimited.com pool heat pumps because we don't want to catch a chill. My children would definitely not want to go into the water if it's cold. I remember my little girl refusing to take a bath the last time we were there, while in Manila, she actually enjoys it.

We're hoping that we'd have time to bond as a family, since work and other things will be set aside, even if it's just for a few days. I am truly looking forward to it.

Camping

My dad used to tell us about the time that he and my Uncle W went camping. According to him, it was so cold that they had to close the sleeping bag around their heads. They didn't want a tent because of the weather, and decided to just rent a motorhome (they didn't want to buy because it was a one time thing and they didn't want to bother with motorhome repairs and maintenance. Despite the cold, they enjoyed the trip and my dad never tired of telling the story. They were even able to bring my grandmother to the trip since it's like a small house. I wish we had something similar to these motor homes that we can use to enjoy camping with our kids. However, sadly, we do not have parks where we can safely enjoy the great outdoors with our families. That's why we only got to experience camping when we had our school activities like scouting or the CAT which we really did not enjoy that much. Oh well, I'm at the age when I enjoy my creature comforts, so a hotel room is good enough for me!

Short getaway

We just went on a trip to Tagaytay. It was a pretty inexpensive trip for us, since we stayed in a relative's house instead of a hotel. That alone translated to more that 10K in savings, when you consider that we stayed for 3 nights (could have stayed longer if only my little girl didn't get sick). The trade off is that we had to clean up the place since it's been a while since it has been occupied.

The place is not that dirty. Just some "unavoidable" dust here and there. Good thing there was no toilet or  basement moisture from the last occupancy which could cause some mildew to grow. It was a relatively easy cleanup, not as bad as we thought.

We did our grocery and cooked our meals, which added to our savings.  A trip to the grocery costing about 1700 pesos fed 4 adults and 2 kids for about 6 meals.  If we had eaten out, that would probably not be enough for even 1 meal for us.

We also enjoyed our relative independence.  It was exciting being in charge of what to do, where to go and what to eat.

My grandma spends most of her time there in Tagaytay, and it's so easy to see why she prefers it there.  The cool climate, the slower pace of life, the fresher air.  It's so relaxing.  We went to visit her, and she seemed pretty happy.

We went to the Picnic Grove.  My son wanted to try the zipline, so my husband went with him.  We also rode the cable car.  E also got to ride a horse.  A short, but enjoyable afternoon.  But, the place was...sad.  It had so much potential, but it didn't live up to it.  The trail was very dirty, with garbage strewn everywhere.   I didn't dare go inside the restrooms, because I felt that it would be dirty, and I was right.  My son went in and went right out, exclaiming that it was dirty.  Sigh.  I hope the government of Tagaytay City would improve the place.  I'm pretty sure we won't be going back there anytime soon.

My kids are pretty simple kids.  What they probably enjoyed most was the playground.  I loved that it was pretty cool and my kids didn't get all hot and sweaty after playing.  It's a pretty good way for them to expend all their energy. 

I think we should have brought a TV though, because there are times when we needed the kids to stay still for a bit and they won't. :P  On second thought, it was ok that they took a break from TV too.

We planned to go to Paradizoo, but since my little girl developed a fever, we decided to head right back to Manila.

We really enjoyed our short break.  We were able to bond with our kids.  Hope we could have another trip soon.