Cebu, 8 Aug (Mon) - the day our family holiday began

Today is the official day that our family holiday truly begun. Why? Because it is today that the husband can dedicate his time wholly to us and not worry about the race or anymore preparations - hooray!


Our morning started out leisurely. We had started packing as we were scheduled to check out of Movenpick today, and the husband suggested going out to eat, and so we did. While we were packing, J was watching TV and there was a scene in the cartoon that we started discussing/debating on. The husband insisted on one matter, while the boy was adamant of another. The husband said, 'I am right. Whoever loses will do 20 push-ups' - to which the boy gamely accepted.


I laughed and I knew that the boy was going to win, because I was more aware of what was flashing on TV (and the children's matters, in general) than him - the woes of a highly-sensitised-multi-tasking-mother. When the matter was resolved, the boy exploded with conviction, 'See? I TOLD YOU!'


Now, that was quite funny on its own, but what was funnier was that after minutes had passed as we continued to pack... the boy reminded his father, 'hey! You lost! Do your push-ups!'
The husband had little choice but drop it and asked J to do so together (because, boy team, u'noe) and I had to capture this hilarious site of my boys sharing this moment.

Manning up to a challenge

Lift wefie series: checking out

While the husband settled the administration, the boy spent his last moments - surprise, surprise - in his favourite area of the entire hotel.

 

Spot the gamer

A panoramic shot of the pool view.

We left our luggage with the concierge for safekeeping, and got ourselves a cab to head to a big mall in Cebu City. It was a very big mall that pretty much looked/felt the same as any other big mall in any country. That's the thing with conglomerates taking over the retail world - we see similar brands and a homogenous look/feel to the brand and retail stores. I picked up a coffee before I murdered anyone, and the boy found his sweet spot.

Kiddy ride

Zoom zoom.

It was such a simple set-up and all he did was go around in circles for 10minutes, but hey, if that made him happy that it makes us happy too. Our choice of brunch was a native restaurant that served their local pork.

Oink

Generally, the food is pretty tasty and a mix of sweet and sour. It's also pretty oily. After brunch, we walked about and picked up more groceries (water, some snacks, beer), and strolled about the mall and did more shopping. We bought clothes for the children, the husband and picked up a snack at McDonalds (fries and sundae - the universal good/bad food) and tapau-ed a serve of Jollibee. The drive back to the beach area (where our hotel was at) took ages, as the traffic in Cebu is generally quite bad. We were also uncertain of what to expect of our next accommodation because Movenpick was expensive and we paid for the luxury, also for the convenience due to the race. The decision to move hotels was 1) to downgrade so we can save some money and 2) check out somewhere else or it'd get too expensive/boring to be in one spot the whole week. The drive to this new hotel was a slightly off the road and for some moments, I was slightly worried as we seemed to be driving to the end of the world and the streets looked really ratty and as we drove off the main roads to smaller roads that led us to even dingier looking houses that lined the streets....

Thankfully, the place was not as bad once we got used to it. It had a beach resort feel and was pretty crowded, so I guess it was pretty fine, afterall. We spent some time settling logistics (the husband had to go back to Movenpick to pick up our luggage and his bike bag which was on its own a 3rd big piece of luggage) and when we were all sorted into our room, we had some time to be at the beach. It was pretty nice.

Capturing the evening view

There was a small, private beach area and I strolled along the breakwaters, enjoying the strong winds. J had picked up a toy from the mall earlier and was practising baseball with the husband and we hung at the beach until it got dark.

Playing baseball

We headed for dinner at the restaurant after, and ended the night with lounging in our room, watching TV, consuming our self-purchased beer/chips and winding down and getting comfy in our new room.

So much love for this little buddy

It was nice, and by this time, the boy had gotten so tanned, plus gotten so used to playing all day by the pool/beach. It was a lovely time unwinding and I couldn't be happier having the husband unwind with us too.