It's that time of the year, when we again pack up our gear and fly home to Manila to be with our family and all our loved ones. After the re-opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, we were relieved to get our flight confirmed for Friday, December 19, 2008. We got up very early in the morning to arrive at the airport three hours before our flight, as recommended.
Here's Little Nio posing with his Daddy and Mommy at the airport areas right after passing through Immigration Control. We spent a bit of time wandering through the Duty Free shopping area before we went to our boarding gate. Here he is wondering what's so delicious about an apple you can't eat.
A quick swig from a bottle of milk on his Mommy's lap while playing with the ear of his "Barrista Bear", and Little Nio is off running around the gate area. We try to tire him out and use up as much of his extra energy so the flight becomes a great opportunity for him to rest and catch up on his sleep.
Our uneventful flight became unexpectedly unpleasant for us. We sat in the middle row seats right behind the bank of toilets, and we bore the full brunt of all the malodorous smells wafting out of those cubicles. A disturbing reminder for me to be more meticulous about the seating arrangements I make with our travel agent.
My wife, Kanittha and Little Nio waiting with the luggage. Just waiting for my brother, Tito Nico, to drive up with our borrowed ride from my sister and her husband, Tita Tessa and Tito Louie.
Finally arriving at Lolo Jun and Lola Nene's house in Marcelo Green Village. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and just relaxing. It was then that I realized that I caught a very nasty flu bug and for the entire duration of our visit I was running a fever, coughing painfully, suffered a running nose and had the most intense headaches. Although it put a cramp in our schedule, it didn't prevent us from enjoying the holidays as best as we could.
DAY TWO
Our visit to Manila was really all about getting Little Nio to spend time with his grandparents. It's not only about celebrating the miracle of Christmas and being able to exchange gifts, but more importantly it is being able to be with family.
Little Nio spends time in the garden with Lolo Jun.
Little Nio proves beyond reasonable doubt that he's literally got lots of balls. He's discovered a giant cache of assorted balls — footballs, basketballs, plastic balls and all sorts of other balls. Don't worry about that unusual long line behind him... that's the tether for towing a toy truck, not some garden snake basking in the sun.
DAY THREE
Once more out in the garden with his Lolo Jun, Little Nio enjoys himself playing with some assorted buckets and pails filled with a bit of water.
Here they are exchanging some thoughts on how best to make mud and get messy in the shortest amount of time possible.
Lolo Jun isn't offering too much advice on the matter, so Little Nio decides that this issue should get top priority and promptly places things on his head.
After a bath and a change of wardrobe, Little Nio settles down in front of the television and gets some educational entertainment time watching the "Little Einsteins". His favorite Starbucks "Bearista" bear is a constant companion. We've named this stuffed toy "Barry Bear". Little Nio usually crosses his legs when he watches his show, and it has earned him the moniker of Don Antonio.
With all these unusual little habits, which we ourselves don't do it makes us wonder and Lolo Jun agrees that perhaps our Little Nio is an "old soul".
DAY FOUR
Our day started off a bit early, with Little Nio having breakfast with Lolo Jun. Our son eats "monk style". Buddhist monks here in Thailand are taught that one must only eat to live, and that they should transcend the niceties of having food separated into different sorts and look beyond the aesthetics. They only need to focus on the nutritious value of the food. Little Nio does pretty much the same thing when he starts mixing all his food together.
I fought off a very high fever the day before, but felt well enough to do all our last minute Christmas shopping for the entire family. We didn't bring any gifts with us as our bags were already overstuffed with some dried fruit samples for Lolo Mon and Kuya Rene, but thought it would be better to do our bit for the local economy and do our shopping all in Manila.
We went off to "Market Market", which has quickly become one of my wife's favorite places to visit because of the variety and the prices of goods there. I spent most of my time carrying Little Nio around, and his Mommy, armed with a comprehensive shopping list completed almost everything in around three hours. My brother, Tito Nico, was with us the whole time to help get things done even quicker.
We had an opportunity to meet up with my sister and her boyfriend, Tita Via and Tito David, to have lunch at this Italian restaurant at "Market Market". From left-to-right, Mommy carrying Little Nio, my younger brother Tito Nico, my older sister Tita Via and her boyfriend Tito David.
We had a great time catching up with them, and after lunch we moved over to have coffee at Starbucks. The day ended very simply, we dropped off Tito Nico who had to go and get a haircut, then we detoured to do some groceries at "SM City Bicutan" before we went home. It was very tiring because it took us about ten minutes to do all our grocery shopping, but the queue at checkout took longer than half an hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment