a visit to antipolo

after attending mass at the antipolo shrine, we had early lunch at  savory chicken at the victory mall park & shop almost across the shrine. we were one of the first customers so we were able to get a good seat.

the first and last time i was able to eat at savory chicken was in early 2000 in their escolta branch. it's been a while that i can't even remember how it tasted back then.

we ordered hototay soup, chopseuy, lumpia shanghai and the original savory chicken. my updated view of the food - the chicken was good. it was --- savory to say the least! lol! and i like the crispiness of the chicken. the hototay soup was also tasty, and the fresh egg was the perfect touch.

 i wanted to have some dessert before buying pasalubong from antipolo. i saw this cupcake place nearby but i forgot the name of the restaurant. i wanted to try their different cupcakes so i ordered three kinds -- red velvet, choco fudge and cupcake smores. then i ordered tea and carrot cake.

among the three cupcakes, i liked the red velvet the best, next was the choco fudge and last would be the smores. the last was just too sweet for me.  i actually just had a taste of the cupcakes as they were more for aly and those were the flavors she wanted.

the tea and carrot cake went well together. nelo & i liked the carrot cake. it was just the right sweetness and i love the frosting.

after dessert, off we went to the pasalubong center behind the shrine for some pasalubong. the best pasalubong from antipolo - suman sa ibos, coco jam and kasuy nuts! aling cora, the store owner gave us a sample of her suman to taste. we dipped it in muscovado sugar - yummy!

after we've satisfied our spirit at the mass and our tummies with the food, it was time to go home. hopefully we can go back to antipolo and explore more of the city. until then...

independence day pilgrimage to antipolo

every year, the parish of san fernando de dilao in paco holds a pilgrimage to the national shrine of our lady of peace and good voyage in antipolo. this is done every june 12, independence day. the former is where we attend mass every sunday and where nelo also serves as a lay minister.

we've joined past pilgrimages but not recently. this year, we decided to join in the pilgrimage again and bring along nikko with us.  we went there with my sil and her family. the mass was scheduled at 8am and we left the house around 6:30am. it was raining when we left and nikko's outfit was just perfect for the weather.

when we got there, the previous mass has not yet finished so we had to wait. once inside, i told nikko to sit down on the church pew. good thing the lady was nice enough to let him stay there. i told nikko to hold on to his lunch box. we always bring this whenever we go out. it's filled with his favorite fruit- banana, some biscuits and his cerelac.

it was hot and humid inside the church. as expected, there were a lot of people who were attending the hourly masses. lucky for us, my sil was able to find a seat right behind the lay ministers. our mass already started around 8:30am.

nikko was behaved during the entire mass. of course there's the occasional "shrieks" from him and being carried back and forth between me and his yaya. but other than that, he was a good boy during the mass.

after the mass, we lighted a candle for our special intentions then paid homage to our lady.

 

then it was off to an early lunch. more on that on my next post.

nikko's first out-of-town trip: tagaytay

sometimes, a spur-of-the-moment decision brings better results. and that's exactly what happened with us last saturday.

early last week, we were planning a weekend pictorial with nikko at the park for his birthday materials. nikko will be having a western-themed party, and the park was best option at the time. then, last friday, nelo mentioned about possibly going to tagaytay.

ting! light bulb moment! i said why not tomorrow (saturday)! there were horses at residence inn and it will be the perfect touch for nikko's pictorial.

we invited along my sil and her family and planned on a picnic right after the pictorial. this was also nikko's first time to travel with us outside of the city. i have no idea how to gauge his possible reaction. i forgot to mention that my 6-yr old niece aly was with us. and she adores nikko a lot!it will be riot trip!
we were ready by 6:30 am and waited for my sil. they got to our house at 7:30am, we packed all our staff in the car and we were on our way by 8am.

 you can see nikko's excitement on the road. same thing with aly as she wanted nikko to stay with her at the back. but, no can do. we just made a short stop at the shell station at south superhighway and we were off again. we told aly to take a nap first and i breastfed nikko also so he can sleep en route to tagaytay.

 we reached our destination by 9:30am. nikko woke up just in time.  it was a smooth drive until we hit a snag on the way to residence inn. it was traffic for about 30-minutes or so. turns out there was a vehicular accident along the way. but past that, we were at residence inn by 10:30am.

after parking, we got ready to change nikko's outfit. meanwhile, nelo and myla asked around for the rates.  we did not go inside residence inn anymore but just stayed outside where they had a horse track for those who wanted a horseback ride. the rate was a steal at P50 for a 3-round ride at the tracks!

 nikko was ready by that time and nelo asked the horseman to bring the horse near the car. we placed nikko on top of the horse and you can see that he's cautious but he likes it. he didn't budge a bit and he was well behaved. nelo was just behind him keeping him steady just in case. then it was pictorial time.

after that, he took a ride with his ate aly around the tracks.  love his expression! he was enjoying it but he was oh so serious. he probably knows that if he budges a bit he might fall from the horse.

 

 

after 2 rounds of horseback riding at the tracks and 3 set-ups for the pictorial, it was a wrap! picnic time! we really enjoyed the pictorial and i can sense that nikko did as well.

after the picnic, we dropped by tierra de maria for a church visit. we had to say thank you for a safe travel and for a smooth pictorial session with nikko.

 

 we just dropped by the good shepherd sisters, rowena's and loumar's to buy pasalubong for the family.  then it was time to go home. a very fruitful and fun weekend!