Spent our weekend in Baguio to attend a wedding for the popular date of 08-08-08. Nope, didn’t coordinate this time but glad to be just one of the spectator guests for the wedding of Dicky’s colleague from Bayan. We left at 5am from our place and headed off to NLEX. We stopped in Shell NLEX for a quick breakfast in Jollibee in Shell Station. At 6am, we were back on the road. We passed through the new SCTEX road, which is a convenient hi-way to go to Baguio. We exited in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac already. It was a breeze and taking that road cut down our trip for like 30 minutes. We arrived in Baguio at 11am. We immediately proceeded in The Manor Hotel inside Camp John Hay. Good thing that we were able to check-in early so we lodged our luggages right away. For pictures of our room, check it here.

Few snapshots of the kids while waiting for Dicky to get our room key…

Saw Jacqui and the other girls from Bayan when we were in lobby and asked them where they would have their hair done in time for the wedding. Too bad, there is no salon inside the hotel so we had to go to SM for our hairdos. We quickly had lunch in Dencio’s in Mile Hi inside CJH and Dicky brought me and another colleague’s wife in SM Baguio. We had our hair done in David’s. By the time we got back, I was rushing to get dressed so we can catch up the 4pm wedding ceremony in Our Lady of Fatima. Too bad, we missed seeing the bride walked down the aisle. We got lost! It was already starting when we arrived and the church was so full and parking was jampacked.

Pictures from the hotel before proceeding in the church…

It was a nice wedding put all together by the bride, Anne. I really love Baguio for weddings. The weather was perfect. It was not raining during her wedding. It drizzled only after the ceremony and while we were all in the reception already. I like her concept, it was a black and white color theme and japanese inspired. The reception was arranged beautifully with red roses lined in the middle of the rectangular guest tables. And the food was so good. I think I had 3 cups of soup because it was so damn cold! Wine, beers and hard drinks were overflowing. We had enough.

At 10pm, the reception program ended. We had some snapshots with friends and then we headed back to our room in Manor. We were supposed to just change to more comfortable clothes and we planned to go back to the party but when we arrived in our room, the bed was calling us so we just dozed off to sleep.

Some pictures from the wedding…

The following day, saturday, the sun didn’t shine in Baguio. It was raining all throughout the day. But we braved ourselves together with another friend’s family to have breakfast in Cafe by the Ruins. I loved what I ordered, kesong puti in hot pandesal with strawberry jam and butter partnered with Rizal’s Tsokalate. Yum, yum, yum.

Then we bought take-out food from Star Cafe along Session Road to bring for the potluck lunch we had in one of the villas inside CJH where one of Dicky’s colleague from Bayan was staying. It was a big villa and the kids enjoyed running around and staying infront of the fireplace. We had good laughs while eating lunch with a bunch of Dicky’s friends (together with the wives) from Bayan.

Margaux and Bianca playing with Sam, daughter of TJ (Dicky’s colleague) and Tonette…

At 230pm, we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap. It was bed weather, perfect to just lounge around and enjoy the cool breeze of Baguio.

Pictures before heading to the room…

We woke up at 430pm and with nowhere to go, we just had a joy ride amidst the rain within circles of the city. Then we decided to just park and stroll around SM Baguio. Even inside the mall, it was freaking cold and fog was all over. Got few buys from Guess Kids which was on 50% off.

We decided to stay over inside the mall and we had a great meal in David’s Tea House for the dinner. It was almost 8pm when we went back to the hotel. We let the kids sleep first before Dicky and I went down in the lobby to enjoy good music from the band, Smooth and had few drinks together with friends from Bayan again. We bid goodbye at 12mn already. Anne, the bride went out with us as well for quick chats about her wedding. Afterwards, we proceeded in their suite where a number of their friends also were there. We just had few drinks again. Gosh, I had too much alcohol for that weekend! We went back to our room at 1am already.

Our last day, sunday, there was hope that the sun will shine that day. We freshened up quickly and headed out at 9am to let the kids enjoy a horse-back riding activity in Wright Park. Bianca and Margaux together with the yayas rode horses for a 30-minute ride. Afterwhich, we stopped in The Mansion for picture-taking then went straight to Mines View Park. Our main purpose here was to really go to Good Shepherd Convent to buy Ube as pasalubongs. Weather was good already that day and indeed the sun shone the entire morning but it was still cold.

Our 3rd day pics…

Bought more pasalubongs in the stores outside Mines View Park. We didn’t go inside anymore as it might be hard for the kids cause the stones were still slippery. Bought another knitted jacket for Bianca and some bonnets for me and the 2 kids. Had to buy cause Margaux doesn’t want to return it anymore when she put it on her head. And since it was 3 for Php 100, I just got one for myself and 1 for Bianca.

We went back to Camp John Hay at almost 12nn. Had quick lunch in Dencio’s again as we don’t want to go anywhere else anymore cause we still need to check-out the room. While waiting for the food to arrive, I walked through the Commisary area and was able to buy 3 Osh Kosh pants for the kids.  At 1230pm, we were back in our room, packed and checked out at 1pm.

We had picture-taking again in our room’s veranda before going down the lobby…

In The Manor Hotel’s garden…

We were on the road at 115pm back to Manila. It was the fastest route ever on our way back. We still took Kennon Road just the same on our way to Baguio. We encountered heavy downpour of rain while in Pangasinan and we had to stop cause it was already zero visibility. We passed again in SCTEX, entering somewhere in Tarlac and in like 15-20 minutes, we were already in NLEX. That was so quick. It was my shortest trip back from Baguio with only 4hrs and a half travel time. We were in Mandaluyong to attend a family dinner at 530pm!!! (well, dicky’s speed was at 140km/h while in SCTEX and not getting lower than 90km/hr in other major roads) I think it is really easier now to go to Baguio with the new SCTEX road which you can enter from NLEX. You won’t need to passby towns in Pampanga and Bataan anymore as you will exit right away in Tarlac. From the exit in Tarlac, it would just be another 2 and a half hours to Baguio.

It was a great weekend for the family. A nice one in the company of kids, friends, good food and perfect cold weather!