Getting to Know the Other 62 Years

Flew to Ozamis for my grandmother's 85th birthday celebration. :) 

We've been wanting to have a celebration for awhile now since her recovery from cancer, 2 years ago. Every year has always been a blessing, the realization that life is precious 

just makes it that much more important to celebrate it.

 

If i have the privilege of living to my golden years, i hope i touch atleast half as much lives, or have at least half as much people love me the way my grandmother has. :)

The Preparations.

1. making lola's give aways on the day itself, a lil passion me and my mother share; creating these little tiny random gifts. We started with 100 pcs, but by the time we got to ozamis, there were only 79 left. They were super fragile.

2. my grandmother and one of her apo-in-laws (to the nth degree) about to start make-up.

3. With my aunt who has been my grandmother's caretaker all these years.

 

 

lola's grand entrance :D as usual, mummy forgot to tell the celebrant it was time to enter (just like in my debut) sooooooo.... we almost missed our entrance! hahaha :) but it worked out.

 

For my part, I presented the AVP to lola, which to me was an amazing experience because I was exposed to the other 62 years of her life, it added to the 23 years that I've known and loved her -- the entire night was amazing because you think you know your grandmother, wait til you hear what she'd done in her teen years, etc. :)

 

   

the people who served during the entire party were all somehow "touched" by lola,

as her student, niece/nephew, friend, or some random stranger who had heard about her.

 

one of my lola's best friends who had some words of advice for me on love, boys and families. :)

  

what was particularly fun was that I got to ballroom again. <3

people don't ballroom as much anymore. :(

 

and so did my daddy and baby sis. :))

 

growing up, i felt that i had such a small family... and i never really had cousins... i was always jealous of the big families who had cousins their age during bdays, new years, christmas, random celebrations. But it was nice to realize that despite that, i had a HUGE family pala :) and there was nothing but love that night. :)

   

the relationship between my dad and his mother-in-law is one of the best in-law relationships I have ever seen. ♥ they are absolutely amazing. i teared up during my lola's speech when she said "my children", and other people reacted "diba only child si bebe (my mum)?" and my lola replied "si Toto (my dad) is my son." :)

XOXO,

Joanie

Hoyohoy Zipline

  

So this is the Zipline post I talked about in the previous post.

Hoyohoy Zipline

 

Our host, Congressman Leo Ocampos.

Before the rain poured and we got stranded in the drop-off ledge.
You can see the nimbus clouds in the background.

 

 

The zipline was 2.35KM (it's literally across 2 mountains)
so you can imagine how far the walk was going to be to go back,
they usually picked you up in a pick-up truck.
But just to keep with the experience -- and to bring us back to the main lodge,
we rode horseback through the woods and up the mountain.

 

We had the option of renting a 4x4 to get back up.
I've always wanted to ride a dirt bike but someone overturned it and broke it so it wasnt available.
(these are just for picture purposes hihihi)

 

Look at our precious shoes! :(

XOXO,
Joanie

Dalagang Bukid

After our annual mausoleum and cemetery visit for All Soul's and All Saint's Day,

we headed off to Hoyohoy 
-- a mountain top in Tangub, Misamis Occidental, Mindanao.

 

I didn't really know what to expect -- to be honest, I thought we were off to the beach again,

until the view started to take my breath away (figuratively and literally).

    

When I was younger, I was a contestant to the Mutya ng Wika competition in school.

(a filipino beauty and brains contest held during the Linggo ng Wika celebration)

During the question-and-answer portion, I was asked

"Kung pipili ka kung saan ka mag bakasyon, saan mo mas gusto, 

sa Disneyland (Florida) o sa Baguio (Philippines)?"

I answered "Baguio po."

At that time, I honestly didnt know how to speak in tagalog, and I wanted so very much to explain that it was because I wanted to see the beauty of my own land first before appreciating foreign land,

but because I couldn't speak an ounce of tagalog, I froze.

The host prodded on "Bakit?"

"Gusto ko lang po!" I answered.

Needless to say, I didnt win, I placed 2nd that year 

(but I was grade 1 going against grade 2-grade 6 students, so I was still proud).

 

 

 

The point of that little blast-from-the-past anecdote was that, 

I love the Philippines and its beautiful surprises.

I probably still wouldn't trade travelling to a whole different country with backpacking around the Phils.

but its nice to be reminded that our country has so much to offer if given the chance.

This little baby's name is ZIPPY -- why?! she's named after the ZIPLINE here in Hoyohoy,

it boasts to be the longest in Asia at 2.35KM (if i remember manong's words correctly),

I'll post pics of that another time. That's a whole different adventure in itself!

 

Visit soon! :)

If you like nature and beauty, you won't regret it.

XOXO,

Joanie