And then it was 2011….

Whooosh! Did you hear that? That was 2010 speeding by as if the last two months never happened. The DWs and I were up to our eyeballs with the shop  (http://manilababyshop.com)  and with family.  We all went home to Negros Oriental to be with our 88-year strong lola with all of my mom’s brothers and our cousins. It was an absolutely busy Christmas and it was one of the best we’ve ever had.  I love Christmas because the occasion calls for the celebration of family and we certainly celebrated that with our trip to the province.  The fact that 2 out of the 4 days of our stay there we ate lechon definitely helped us ease into the Christmas spirit 😀

DW’s Milestones

The trip was also DW’s first airplane ride and his first real dip at the beach. Our trip to Subic earlier the year was the first time DW saw the beach and he absolutely enjoyed playing at the shore and letting the waves lick his tiny little feet. This time though, like a duck to water, the boy “swam” and splashed and certainly did not want to get out of the water!!!  I certainly gave birth to a water baby 😀 DW cried when we went home but for me and BDW it was a great sign as we love the beach ourselves! Now there’s another reason for us to drive off to a nearby beach (or even fly! I’m dreaming of a Bora trip for us three this year)

BDW’s Breath of Fresh Air

I was also excited about the trip because it was BDW’s first trip to a real province. BDW is a city boy who grew up in the South and considers summers at his cousin’s house in Pasig as his “province”.  I was just too happy to point out the fish ponds and rice fields that dotted my lola’s tiny city and the fact that the beach was just a 5 minute ride away from our house.  The definite difference in the quality of air was also a welcome plus for us. The smoggy and dense Manila air was replaced with air that is cool and crisp and mmmm just fresh!

My Forced Exile from the Web

Although my lola had wi-fi in the house (courtesy of my cousin), the signal was pretty spotty and the Globe signal was dead where we were.  I only had my BB and Iphone with me and I left my laptop in Manila. Without any Globe and wi-fi I was forced to relax and to take a break from the intermittent checking on Ubertwitter for new tweets or to actually draft a post on my BB using the WordPress app. I forced myself to not think about this blog and to just take a break and just be with my family and just do *gasp* — nothing!. I actually took an afternoon nap! Something which I never do because I’m always busy doing something else (be it offline or online).  I survived the 4-day hiatus with nary a twitch nor a desire to go online. It was actually good for the spirit haha but I definitely missed blogging and tweeting (i’m @manilamommy) though but I now have a new found appreciation of creating my own offline time.

Happy New Year

And now we’re back in Manila and I’m pounding this entry while I’m at my office, in between a presentation and a publication of a report.  The pleasant experience of doing nothing has gone back to furious multi-tasking for me and BDW, opening up the shop again and to add to that, Yaya Tems is on holiday!! Oh well, that’s the life of  us city folks I guess 🙂

I hope the holidays gave all of you the breath of fresh air you needed to face the new year. I bid you all a great 2011 and I leave you with this family pic of me, the DWs and my lovely lola 🙂

We woke DW up for this picture, his Christmas spirit was still asleep 😛

Cheers to everyone and may the new year bring you and your family, peace, love and prosperity.