Day 27: The Legend Villa - Our Home for the Weekend

A few weeks back, I accompanied my husband to Manila for his diplomate exams.  We were booked at The Legend Villas in Mandaluyong for the weekend.

As a blogger, I may need to improve on some aspects like taking photos, and getting details about the place.    I was planning to explore the hotel on my own while my husband was reviewing, but I ended up catching up on sleep.  I actually scolded myself for that, but lesson learned and hopefully If I ever get the chance to go somewhere again, I won't end up curling in bed like the last time, lol!

This was the room we stayed in

The room we stayed in was what they called as a Studio unit.  It comes with a queen-sized bed, a cable television, a mini-ref and fully air conditioned of course.  The bathroom was spacious as well.  I guess my only complain would be our bed, because the mattresses were so firm that it seemed I was sleeping on the floor, and the pillows were the opposite, it was so soft that it felt like my head was drowning in pillows, lol!

Me smiling like a kid.  Obviously excited :)  

I was going over the menu looking for something to order, but we decided to go somewhere else to eat.

Hungry and tired from the trip, but still happy :)

Our room had a free breakfast buffet coupon so we started our Day 2 with a bountiful breakfast at Lola Maria's Restaurant.  They also offer lunch buffet's daily from 11 am to 2 pm.

Good thing there were still a few guests so I had the chance to have this photo taken by hubby :)

Breads and jams of all kinds

Aside from the food on the photos, they also had an area to order pan cakes and you can also order how you want your eggs cooked.  The dessert area had native delicacies like biko, sapin-sapin and puto.

Caught up with our friend/neighbor who also was there to accompany her husband for the boards.

After having breakfast, I had the chance to wonder around the lobby of the hotel and had the chance to take some of these photos...

I so love this sungkaan :)  This area was located at the side of the lobby and you can actually play sungka here.

A table with a tic-tac-toe board game :)

Part of the hotel lobby receiving area.

They also have a pool but I never had the chance to check or even get some photos, too bad.  During our stay, I noticed that most of the guests came in groups or families because they do have some family suites or rooms that could accommodate groups of six or more.

I liked the hotels architecture, the facade reminded me of Spanish Villas.  The room was spacious.  Service was good, they provided clean towels everyday.  I enjoyed my stay there and would gladly recommend it to friends who would be looking for a place within the area,

These are the things I would miss most about Legend Villa, the free newspaper hanging on your door everyday and these cute little things...

Looking forward to another weekend get-away :)

Day 14: What was your most memorable vacation

I would consider every vacation to be memorable.  Whether it's going to my home town, heading out to the beach over the weekend or a quick trip somewhere new.  But one vacation that stands out so far was the weekend we spent at Badian. A friend invited us to stay over at their beach house so we decided to grab that chance to go on an adventure.

The best part of that weekend was when we went to Kawasan Falls.  We had to walk about a hundred or so meters to get there, but it was all worth it.  The place was soooo beautiful! 

Here are some photos of our weekend at Badian :)

The beach house which was built by the owner himself, literally!  With the help of his workers of course, lol!

It was low tide when we arrived so we just enjoyed playing in the sand :)

Sea shells by the sea shore :)

We had a little camp fire by the beach after dinner.

This little girl was up way past her bedtime :)

Day 2 in Badian started with a long walk to Kawasan falls

The souvenir shop we passed by on the way to the falls...

Are we there yet? 

This was the first falls.  The view was breath taking, but I almost lost my breath when our guide told me we had to climb up to get to the second falls, lol!

The water was crystal clear and really cold...

Thank you Lord for the gift of nature :)

At last after all the walking and climbing through steep terrain, we arrived at our destination.  

The water was so refreshing, and we had fun riding the bamboo raft :)

Sunset at Badian...

It was indeed a memorable weekend.  A much needed break from our usual routine.  I guess every once in a while, it helps to just stop and appreciate the beauty of the world around you.  

Take things slow, enjoy life and all that it has to offer. Make beautiful memories you can always look back to :) 

A Visit To St. James Amusement Park

Every once in a while, we skip our weekend visit to the malls and head out somewhere new.  So on Christmas day, we decided to go to an amusement park.  The St. James Amusement Park across Parkmall is still in operation and now has put up a mini-zoo or mini-farm as you may call it inside the park premises.

The kids were actually more thrilled with the animals rather than the park rides.

Cute baby sheeps and even a deer

The park also has a camel, a few ponies and two baby tigers, and an ostrich.

For one token, you get a chance to feed the baby sheep and deer.

The kids got the chance to ride a pony

Andre would not miss out on the disc hockey and Micah never too old for these baby rides, lol!

This was Micah's favorite event, jumping up and down on the trampoline!  I had fun watching her and got the chance to rest from all the walking around!

Micah posing in front of the farm entrance and the other photo  was taken with the intention of capturing the ostrich, but I guess it was camera-shy so it walked away :)

It was a fun-filled day!  Walking around the park can be tiring, but looking at the kids having a blast was enough for me to disregard the aching I felt on my foot, lol!  Andre enjoyed feeding the baby sheep and Micah loved jumping on the trampoline.  But the highlight would probably be seeing the baby tigers and the pony ride.  I would love to go back and hopefully muster up enough courage to ride the Black Ship and the Lantern Wheel, *wink*!

Special thanks to Uncle Cocoy and Auntie Thea for some of the photos here and for spending Christmas day with us.  Until our next weekend getaway!

Our Company Outing At Shangrila

Last weekend, we had our company get together at Shangrila Mactan.  We were booked for a 2 night stay at the resort, thanks to our CEO it was an all expense paid outing!

It was an unforgettable weekend of fun, food, a couple of drinks and laughter!

I actually stayed for one night because I started missing the kids.  But it was worth it, the place was really beautiful.  

 The rooms were big and cozy!  I loved the sheets, they were so comfy you would just want to lay in bed the whole day and snuggle in!

     The breakfast buffet was my favorite!  I usually skip breakfast, but not this time...

The resort had a couple of pools you could swim in.  This one was my favorite, the family pool area.  I am sure my kids would love it here, and I'm saving up so I could bring them hopefully soon!

I love the beach!  Too bad I was not able to swim because of a monthly visitor, but that did not stop me from getting my feet wet! 

I could go on and on about how awesome the place was, but I guess what made the weekend really fun and special, were the people I was with, my friends and work mates.  I spend 8 or more hours each day with them at work, and if these guys work hard, they sure know how to party hard and have a good time!

A big shout out to our CEO who went out of his way to let us enjoy the weekend, and made us feel appreciated!

Our Easter Weekend Get-away

It was a last minute decision to head out somewhere for Easter Sunday.  Personally, It's no big deal whether we spend it at home, in the mall or go on a vacation.  What really matters to me is to spend the day with my family.  However my husband pretty much insisted that I look for a resort where we could spend the weekend and he had a budget set aside for that trip.  I knew I'd have a hard time looking since majority of the hotels and resorts were booked for Holy Week.  

Finally, after spending hours surfing the Internet and calling up every resort that was within the budget, I found one that still had a family suite available.  It was a water park resort in Danao City, about an hours drive from Cebu.  We initially wanted a resort that both had a pool and a beach, but I was not lucky enough to find one.  Most of the resorts were booked weeks before the Lenten season.

We arrived at the resort at about 2 in the afternoon.  I knew in an instant that the place was packed because we had a hard time looking for a parking space.  At the front desk, I had to wait for my turn because there were also other guests checking in.  After filling up the form, we were brought to our room which was spacious enough.  It had a queen size bed and 2 double beds, a small ref and a TV.  The bathroom was huge enough to fit a family of 4 in the shower all at the same time!  

The kids wanted to go to the kiddie pool which was at the Water park area, but knowing that the place was jam packed, we told them we'd go check it after dinner that evening when most of the guests not staying in the resort have left.  We settled for the pool outside our room, and I spent hours soaking in the sun watching my kids enjoy and making sure to apply sun block every now and then.  Dinner was fun, we set up a table near the pool and as promised we went to see the water park as soon as the kids finished eating.  We went straight to the kiddie pool and stayed there for about an hour before we decided to call it a night and head back to our room.

On Day 2, I rented a table inside the water park because it would be more convenient for us instead of going back to our room which was about 5 minutes walk from the main resort.  As early as 9 in the morning the kids were splashing away and enjoying the kiddie slide.  We also had fun going around their "lazy river" pool and I personally enjoyed the shooting waters coming out of the statues since the strong current had a massaging effect especially on my back.  Everyone had a good time, and the kids were heartbroken to find out we would be going home. Andre asked me if we would be coming back, and I told him there are other places that we have yet to discover.  Summer is just beginning and there would be more adventures waiting for us.  He smiled and said, "Okay let's go home na, and thank you Mommy, Andre was happy swimming in the pool, next time we'll go to the beach naman"...