Day 19: A Picture of a Happy Memory

I took these photos of my kids last week when we attended the summer outing of CCMC's Tumor club.  I was sitting under the shade watching them in the pool, and just took these random photos of them playing, Andre carrying Micah on his back pretending to be a dolphin and later on Micah sharing her cookies with her brother.

Looking at them made me so happy.   I must have done something good in the past to be blessed with my kids. It makes me proud whenever I see how they take care of each other.  

I am just glad I brought the camera that day and was able to capture those special moments that are now part of all my happy memories.

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"...

Remember Only the Happy Moments

One thing on my wish list is to go on a "real vacation".  Because from what I could remember, vacation with my family is heading to the beach house of my in-laws.  For once I would want to go someplace where I could enjoy a few days off, just relax and not having to worry about anything else.

I don't really want to elaborate on what happened during that vacation, but I guess what matters most to me is that I was with Ross and the kids, I saw my sister in law and my cute nephew, Ross was able to spend time with his brothers, and I got to spend a few days with my side of the family.  I guess that's worth it!!

And as what I have been telling myself, I just want to remember only the happy moments of that vacation, and I guess these photos would say it all....

It was around 7 in the morning, we all decided to head out for a walk.  The main beach house was located about a few hundred meters from the main road.

I had to carry Micah because the sand gets in between her toes and she would start screaming that her feet were dirty.

We didn't actually go that far because Andre also wanted me to carry him because as I would quote what he said, "Mommy, Andre's feet is tired".  

A visibly tired and grumpy Andre.  Walking is definitely not one of his favorite activities..

After playing and running around, it's time to cool down.. so my kids decided to use the garden hose as shower and had another 30 minutes of goofing around.

We skipped going to the beach that day because of the big waves and we spotted a couple of jellyfish swimming around.

That same afternoon, the water was calm and we decided to head out and watch the sunset...

We were able to see the sun go down... such a beautiful sight.  And this made me realize that what matters most is that at the end of each day, is to be with the ones you love dearly, and forget those who don't.  Life is too short to waste it on people who are so bitter that they do not learn to appreciate the good things around them.

"The happiest memories are those spent with family."