Every time we go to Baguio I always wonder why we don’t go more often. It’s a long drive but it’s such a breathe of fresh air when we get there! Randy wasn’t here so I asked everyone to come with me, Maria our amazing nanny, shieril our amazing helper and Paolo our amazing driver. So with the dream team coming with us I felt much better about going without Randy. My friend Haley, her parents and her three kids came too.
We left early in the morning and we made sure we brought Bomby along too, the Kindergarten ‘pet’ that rotates around on the weekend. I always feel like I have to entertain the class pets so this weekend was a perfect weekend for us to bring Bomby along. I did feel like security at the Embassy probably would have preferred if Rover the Pre-K dog was coming but Adam’s class is the Flaming Firebombs so Bomby it was.
A short 5 hour trip later we arrived. These three were awesome in the car. The boys had their kindles to occupy then and Miral napped and then ignored the toys I had brought for her to play with for the tissue box and wipes holder.
The first thing we did was walk up to the big house. We wanted to show Haley, her parents and the kids all the pretty views and the historical house that we aren’t allowed to stay in with kids. We even stopped to smell some flowers on the way.
By the time we got back to our house the horses had arrived! Everyone was very excited.
After horses it was on to collect pine cone in the forest.
All in all a pretty great Baguio day! And of course as usual we ended our day with dinner and roasting marshmallows by the fire.
The next morning we woke up and spent the morning being lazy. Well that was my goal, but it actually involved a long time spend trying to get pomelos from this pomelo tree, which ended with a plastic bat getting stuck in this tree, thank goodness for amazing nannies who can scale a tree barefoot and shake the bat out. And a bunch of hours spent playing T-ball, thus our need for the plastic bat.
Well, first we had a photo shoot with Bomby, because at the end of every weekend with a class pet comes the printing and making of the pages for the class journal…which makes me nervous for science projects because I am always printing photos at 8 pm in Sunday night.
Then you guessed it, back on the horses! It never gets old people. Well maybe only for me who has to walk quickly uphill to keep up with the horses and make sure they don’t start trotting…
Back up the hill for mommy to the big house.
Lagging behind…
Adam requested I take these pictures of him getting off the horse. Let’s call these his glamour shots.
Then guess where we went, if you guessed more horses, you are wrong! They opened a new go cart track right outside the Embassy compound. So we walked up there. Adam did a few laps on the pedal go carts but quickly decided to switch to a bike. The bike was pretty big, so I held his seat for a few laps…until Adam asked me to let go. Talk about a metaphor for life as a mom. I just couldn’t let go. The bike was so big and I was sure Adam was going to wipe out. I stayed behind him holding on, pretending I had let go, until Adam said- “Mommy, I can see your shadow still holding on, let go!” So I did and held my breathe and of course he was amazing! He flew around the track on that big bike and didn’t fall once. Lesson learned. Adam has always known when he is ready. It is one of his many strengths.
And not to be outdone, Malcolm has actually never pedaled before. He’s still on his balance bike with no pedals. It only took about 10 times of mommy pushing him around the track before he caught on and was pedaling around like a pro! Silver lining to Randy being in Pakistan, I get loads of exercise in.
The next morning I was feeling lazy after all those laps around the track so I went out for a run. For the boys the horses are the best part of Baguio, for me it’s running out in the woods. I missed my running partner though.
Then it was back to go carts and big boy bikes for these two who were old hats around this time.
When did my kindergartner turn into a teenager….
Then it was onto the butterfly farm! I would like to say no butterflies were harmed in this activity but I can’t be sure people….
A brief 5 hours later in the car and we were home again.
We were all sleepy and ready for bed but first….Bomby needed to be documented. So a mere hour and only one small fight with the printer later we were in bed for real.
We’ll miss you Bomby, but I won’t miss the homework….
bosas-from-us.com 