Little Santorini in Ilocos

April 2015: First Roadtrip as Husband and Wife

Hello, dolls!!MERRY CHRISTMAS!! <3 It's truly a Merry Christmas for me because FINALLY!! After 4 years, I am finally with my family during the holidays. It wasn’t an easy journey to get everyone here but with God’s grace, our dream of being together for Christmas came true. It has been a crazy busy week as my family catch up and make the most of their time here.

Having my family here reminds me so much of my life in the Philippines. I love waking up to the smell of garlic fried rice on weekends and how my Dad asks me if I am hungry every 10 minutes (like for real). Following the core of our holiday traditions and adding some of A’s made our Christmas extra memorable this year. It reminded me of our union 2 years ago and how we embraced each other’s family values and created a version that is perfect for our little family <3 DSC_0927A

In 4 months, A and I will be married for 3 years. We started our marriage by being with our families. Like there was no “solo honeymoon” phase for us because every day was allotted to going on adventures with them. Not that I am complaining! Our entire wedding trip was memorable because we got to spend A LOT of time with both of our families.

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One of the things that we planned to do with Peter and Ali was to go to the beach.

I know…I know… why not Palawan or Boracay….

First of all, they were in the Philippines for a short time. Short, in the sense of us spending most of their time doing wedding stuff. It was hard to plan a trip to an island with not enough time, so instead, we went on a road trip.

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First order of business: gas station breakfast lol

A and I were looking at resorts in Batangas. I initially wanted to go there since it’s less than 3 hours away from where I live. My Dad suggested that we take them to Ilocos since our family friend has a house there that is very close to a “Greek” inspired resort.

Since we got an invitation from our family friend, we decided to go. It was a very different experience for all of us. I have to say that I am glad we went there instead because we got to do things that we cannot do in Manila and especially here in the US.

Like go to a local perya (funfair) or let Peter,Ali, and A see what province life is like. No AC, disconnected from the internet, and major major hospitality from people you’ve just met.

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