Kinabuhayan Cafe, Dolores, Quezon

A bit of a confusing name, but we all made it there in the end. And what a lovely place. And the food. Very yummy. A perfect lunch stop-over on our way to the actual Kinabuhayan.

Good friends. Bela, Kai, Milan, Hana, Booker, Luka.

Cutest girl in town!

Outside the malls

We are still trying to find nice places outside the shopping malls and the excursions take us both here and there. And we keep discovering new small places. Nice signs.

Under the mosquito nets...

... sleeping beauties.

Sidcor Sunday market

A great "local" Sunday market, just a ten minute drive from home - as on Sunday mornings Edsa is generally fairly and by Manila standards "empty". Everything from organic veggies to meat (which we haven't tried yet) to great youghurt, coffee and loads of other yummy stuff. At different prices than the posher ones in Makati and the Fort. Trying to make our visits a weekly routine - just waiting/hoping for everyday life to start follow some kind of pattern...

Hana

Her new favorite pastime. Kai loves it, too. And I'm thinking, maybe I should give it a try as well...

Concentration. Bella and Siena waiting for their turn, Noelle just hanging out.

Getting the grip on back hand, certainly the hardest.

Pulkabacke substitute

As close to a pulkabacke (toboggan hill?) my kids have gotten so far...

Kinabuhayan Retreat

During spring break we also briefly ventured outside the city, drove two hours down to Kinabuhayan, close to San Pablo, where we found a perfect camping spot at the Bankong Kahoy Valley Retreat. We brought our tent but used the restaurant for yummy food and drinks, had plenty of fresh raspberry shakes and quite a few cold beers. The kids rode around on the horses, went up and down on the tropical version of toboggan, Kai super enjoyed the zip line, all of us were amazed by the millions of fire flies in the forest and billions of stars in the sky. Relaxing and fun and with loads of fresh air - it even got chilly at night, yeah. We'll definitely be back soon.

Our spot.



Fresh and yummy local food at the restaurant.

 Not to mention the dessert.

And yes, mummy the photographer was there as well.

Be back soon!

Spring break

Is finally over. Some time ago actually. I've just been lagging behind. But we did have a great time, with many lazy mornings at home, lots of sleepovers and the house full of kids almost all days long. So much fun we had (and so busy mummy was), we forgot to take pictures.

Many late morning breakfasts and loads of pancakes. Gotta love living in a country where we don't even have a dining table inside.

Art in the park

Every year the Velezques' park in Salcedo fills up with art galleries promoting new and so far "unknown" artists through the Art in the Park festival. Of course we went to have a look. Of course I had to do a little bit of shopping.

Now proudly resting on my Vietnamese lacquer chest, waiting to be hung somewhere. By (so they say) award winning local artist Chas Maratas.

Visiting creatures

For the first time ever - which is pretty good I have to say - little creepy creatures visited Hana and Kai's scalps. Got rid of them all it seems, with special shampoo and a very fine comb. Hope not to see any of you soon again.

Cafe Juanita

As kitsch as can be. Lovely interiors and totally ok Philippine food.
Parents enjoyed. Would go back. Booking recommended.

Bye bye mormor and morfar

And then came the day when we had to say bye bye to the grand parents. Now counting down the days before we go to Sweden for our annual summer holidays...
.
Thanks for coming and see you soon!

Gittan och fårskallarna

One of Hana's all time favorite picture books is Pija Lindenbaum's "Gittan och fårskallarna". A most amazing story and wonderful illustrations.
And there she was. Suddenly. Right in the middle of it. Very cool.

Aninuan Beach again...

Of course we had to take "mormor" and "morfar" to our favorite beach - Aninuan in Puerto Galera. We spent three nights there doing just as little as usual. And it was as lovely as always.

 A fairly windy day...

 Late afternoon hanging out on the beach.

 Writing.

 And drawing.