MY trip report, this time. First destination was Siargao - a surfer and beach bum's paradise. Next stop: Camiguin, one of the country's most beautiful islands and home to seven volcanoes. We chilled out (literally!) in the cold springs, swam in the falls, then dipped into the hot springs. We drove around one of the most gorgeous coastlines I have seen around here. Final stop was Cagayan de Oro with lots of family to see and lots of catching up to do.
We planned to have a simple birthday dinner for the four celebrants on the eve of their birthday. The actual birthday was going to be a hectic one that entailed waking up at dawn, taking a boat ride and speeding through town after town with barely enough time to spare to catch our second boat ride. The boys already knew they weren't getting A party. We had establshed that early on. But kids are kids and they started asking all day: Where are the loot bags? What's the theme? Will there be balloons? And moms are moms and we semi-cave too. A day before we left Manila I bought an assortment of stuff at the book store. Lots of paper, crafty things, art supplies, stamps. Just in case. They turned out to be perfect "giveaways" for the "party". I pretended we had a theme: Island Amazing Race. It was the only thing I could think up fast. Plus it justified no decorations. With the nipa huts, crashing waves and the surfers in the horizon, who needed decor anyway? I planned a scavenger hunt around the resort and made colorful wired bracelets to wear.
It helped we we had this wonderful oasis all to ourselves and a great ally, the resort's French owner. He helped big time. He found fresh crabs, prawns and lobsters for dinner - GrandadDoc, Mak and MacDaddy's all -time favorites. He made brick fire oven pizza with nothing on it but tomato sauce for Tato. He prepared pasta for the younger cousins.
He even baked a birthday cake from scratch. Who knows where he managed to dig up candles with such little notice, but he did. Merci beaucoup, Fred. You saved the day.
All in all a great way to turn six, fourty-one and eighty-two. See, kids, no balloons necessary.
3 comments:
Wow! Absolutely gorgeous! Looks like another slice of Heaven on Earth and, as always, you make me want to go there! Such beauty! I'm definitely jealous!!
I'm so glad you and the rest of the family had such a great time there. I love your birthday "party" theme idea! Brillant!
That sounds much better to me than any loot bag and theme party. The water, the beach and the entire adventure plus that food... Happy Birthday, indeed!
Yes, we had a super time. Thanks, Cely & Nona!
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