Summer Days

Baby’s age: 8 months We love how Baguio is extra cold in January. We were there for a wedding and to revisit this place that I’ve always been weirdly fond of. To sum up our trip, these are the things I loved most about our first visit with Summer. 1.        The cool weather The first week of January is generally much colder than the rest of the year. Summer always liked the cold and would sweat like crazy even inside an airconditioned room. While in Baguio, we could tell how much she loved it because she slept most of the time – when we ate in restaurants, while we were resting in our hotel room, while strolling around. The little girl and the cold is a match made in heaven!  2.        Dressing up in layers It is always fun to dress up in layers. It’s even more fun to be able to eat more because the bulges will not show. I was excited to see Summer in cute bonnets and footwear. She was also finally a...

We are a family who does not want to make too big of a fuss about occasions because we believe in celebrating life’s moments anytime and as much as we can. We do not throw parties every year and normally only celebrate with family or intimate groups. We wanted to remember Summer’s first birthday by having a shoot during her birthday beach trip. I did not have a specific budget in mind but I knew I wanted to keep the cost low. Here are my tips for setting up a simple destination shoot: Choose your location This was the first thing that I did when I decided to have a birthday shoot for Summer. Because she loved the water, it was almost instantly decided that we will go to the beach and have a beach-themed shoot. Every other preparation, research and communications will stem from this. Hire local talents There were two major essentials that I sourced locally – the photographer and the cake. Because I did not know the suppliers personally, I needed to make an e...

Baby’s Age: 7 months We came here overnight twice in December 2016 to escape the holiday rush. It was a convenient ride because of the short trip from our home. Parking was around 500 meters walk to the resort along the beach. The resort staff helped with the bags but it is still best to pack light. The walk can be hot especially between 8am to early afternoon so wear hats or bring an umbrella especially for the kids. Once we arrived, I laid Summer down on the day bed on our room’s veranda. She seemed very relaxed. Unlike the curious little infant that she was at this age, she just stayed at the mat with eyes half closed. It looked like she was listening to the sound of the waves, feeling the wind on her face and in a totally zen state. Lilom is a small private sanctuary that used to be a family owned vacation home. The dining area and the hats were built with a U layout so that all of the rooms were airy and had a view of the sea. The garden at the middle had ...

Many would tell us how amazing and inspiring it is that we travel with our little girl all the time. The truth is, for an obsessive compulsive like me, it takes a lot of preparation, careful planning and extensive research. Most trips are planned and booked months ahead. In planning a trip, here are the things that I consider and prepare in advance: TRAVEL BUCKET / WISH LIST The main reason why we travel is to experience new things, taste amazing food, learn about different cultures and set foot in unfamiliar places. I’ve always had a map of the Philippines and of the world. I usually use this as a starting point for my travels. I look at it (at times pick random places), make and update my list and go from there. My list are categorized based on places I want to visit, the activities that I want to do and food I want to taste. TIME OF DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL To maximize our spending for each trip and to visit as many places as we can in each year, a number o...

Baby's age: 6 months  Our trip to Crystal beach in San Narciso, Zambales was actually for an out of town Frisbee tournament that Russ joined. With the two dogs, we left home quite late. This was our third trip so I was already used to packing and had created a packing list to make it easier and faster. The drive was relatively fast. We entered Subic for a quick lunch stop in Xtremely Xpresso. Because Summer was still on a diet of pureed fruits and vegetables, she was not able to try the food. She was obviously not happy about it. After a couple more hours, we reached Crystal Beach Resort. The property was big, with so many open spaces. It had a restaurant, airconditioned and non-airconditioned accommodations, tree houses, spaces for tents and bonfire and a very wide shoreline. The whole place had a rustic but very chill vibe. We got an airconditioned room. It was basic, simple and very small. The bathroom was equally small and the water smelled like rust. I was ...

We have booked several early morning flights (around 2 – 4:00am), both local and international. Doing this as adult passengers is no problem because we can always sleep as soon as we are seated on the plane. However, doing this with a toddler is much trickier for a number of reasons. 1.        Our toddler is a light sleeper. Unlike others who can sleep anytime and anywhere, our kid can stay awake all day as long as she sees other people still awake. Because she is struggling to keep herself from sleeping, she can get cranky. 2.        Tired and cranky baby = Tired and cranky parents 3.        Lack of sleep = lack of energy to go around upon arrival in our destination. Thus, wasting our first day 4.        Lack of sleep may also cause our immune system to go down. Getting sick will prevent us from enjoying the trip or cause some downtime if we get si...