Liking the Big Apple: Pearl of the Orient Seas

What is the Philippines? Yep. We were just there, and that explains the inactivity here. Back in September, I was too busy making sure that I was packing everything that the little boy would need. I tell you, it was no joke... especially since I was packing for a family of three and we're flying to another country. Come on now, you can relate! It's a lot of planning and work and lists. I took over the guestroom, brought out the clothes and gifts and things and more things, and got crazy filling the luggage that I lined up on the floor. Sure, we can buy essentials that we may have missed to bring or we ran out of. BUT, this is a short vacation and I didn't want to be bothered with grocery shopping when I could be in Greenhills shopping for things that I want. Haha. I wish.

This visit was really just to be with family. We met up with dear friends as well. So much to do, so little time. We made sure Andrew had his taste of the Philippine scene. We did a pictorial in historic Intramuros. We took him to Manila Ocean Park, which was amazing. A family outing to Zoobic Safari was also arranged to celebrate two of his cousins' birthday. We also dropped by the 29th Manila International Book Fair, where I got him numerous bilingual (filipino-english) books. After a family day at the farm in Pao, we did a quick side trip to the Monasteryo de Tarlac in the Lubigan Eco-Tourism Park. The view was breathtaking! It. is. beautiful. up. there. You should visit!

I'll stop now and let some pictures do the talking.