Our family is blessed to have doting in-laws who love us generously. Family outings with the Aunts and Uncles are always a blast and our children always look forward to these trips. And so on a cool Saturday morning, we packed our bags with overnight things and headed to Laguna, a couple of hours away from Manila, to cheer and give moral support to my sister-in-law who was participating in the “The Bull Run” for the first time. We told the kids that it would not be a weekend of activities as we will be in the hotel room most of the time. The weekend will be all about sleeping, eating and sleeping. We hadn’t even planned on going out of the hotel. The children seemed content. To me and my husband, this was the dream weekend:)
My sister-in-law booked us at El Cielito Hotel, a couple of minutes away from Paseo Premier Hotel where she and my other sister-in-law were billeted. Our tagging along for this weekend getaway was decided at the last minute and all the other hotels near Nuvali, where The Bull Run would be held were fully booked. Our room at El Cielito was the last one. I thought, it was really meant for us 🙂
The last time we stayed at El Cielito was almost six years ago. We had a very nice experience and we pleasantly noted that nothing much has changed since then. It was still the same, simple, but homey hotel. The staff was very friendly, though service during that weekend was a bit slow. We thought that they were probably overwhelmed with the number of visitors they had. It seemed that majority of the guests, if not all, were participants of the Bull Run and their families. We didn’t mind so much. The friendliness of the staff made up for it. Parking was a bit challenging though as there are limited slots at the Hotel’s basement. However, there are a couple of parking spaces out front. You just have to be very careful not to leave any personal belongings and to secure your vehicles.
My favorite part of our stay were the bread and pastries. I was surprised that they tasted good. I honestly did not expect they would as the display was done so simply and the price was very affordable. A gentle reminder to me that good things do come in simple packages.
For coffee that afternoon, we tried their whole meal bread. We were not disappointed. And for only sixty six pesos, our tummies were instantly filled. The price may be cheap, but it certainly was not done cheaply. Among the other bestsellers are the blueberry cheesecake and raisin loaf, which i can honestly say, taste just the same with the famous Baguio Country Club version. And it was way cheaper too at only ninety nine pesos.
After coffee and pastries and depositing our stuff in our room, we then headed to Paseo Premiere Hotel to drop off my sisters-in-law. It is also a business hotel and fairly new. It is conveniently located within the Paseo shopping and dining district. It is also right beside the South Luzon Hospital and for Moms like me, this is a very reassuring thing when going on out of town trips with the kids.
I brought the kids’ swimsuits just in case we could find a nearby place to swim. We knew that our hotels do not have a pool. Still, you never know what we may discover. True enough, Paseo Premiere’s sister hotel, Technopark Hotel had a pool and guests of Paseo Premiere are welcome to swim there upon endorsement. The kids were jubilant. I silently congratulated myself for thinking of bringing their swimsuits 🙂 The drive to Technopark was no hassle at all. It was just a couple of minutes away from Paseo Premiere. And just like at El Cielito, the hotel staff were very friendly, courteous and accommodating.
We were the first ones at the pool that afternoon and we took advantage of it pretty well. The kids swam while i devoured a novel i brought with me. I never leave home and go anywhere without a book. You never know when that precious and rare moment would come when you could read 🙂 My husband planned to swim with the kids but he never got around to it as fronting the pool was a billiards table. It has been ages since he played. I was so happy to see him enjoy his “me time”. Best of all we all got to do our own things that afternoon while being together in the same place. It was truly a lovely afternoon for us.
We left Technopark a couple of hours later, just as the other guests started to come down for a swim. They too were families of the Bull Run participants. We were grateful we were there early. We went back to our hotel after to freshen up and a short rest. By then, other guests , all participants of the Bull Run have started to arrive as well.
Rested and refreshed, we then went back to Paseo to have dinner with my sisters-in-law. It was a very cool evening and the stars were out. We browsed through a couple of Outlet Stores first before settling into Zong for dinner. We were happy we chose to dine there. The dishes we ordered were very filling.
Fried salt and pepper squid. Me and my husband’s all time favorite.
Roasted chicken. For my chicken lover little boy 🙂
A different kind of vegetable rolls.
Steamed boneless milk fish. My first time to try this dish and it was absolutely delicious.
After dinner, we strolled for a bit to enjoy the cool breeze and the starry night.
We even stayed to listen to the live band for a bit as they sang our family’s favorite Rey Valera song.
We would have stayed a little while longer but we planned on having a early start the following morning to watch my sister-in-law start and finish the Bull Run. So we headed back to our cozy hotel. But the night proved to be too early for our late sleepers and soon we found ourselves down at the hotel’s coffee shop once again to eat more pastries and ice cream. It was a busy evening too at the hotel as the Bull Run participants were already having their breakfast at eleven thirty. They were due at the starting line at one o’clock in the morning.
After coffee and cake we went back to Paseo Premiere to see my sister-in-law off for some good, solid, family support. We were her very own cheering squad:)
Breakfast the following day was simple but filling. The buffet menu was the same as what you would would normally have at home on a lazy weekend. The kind of food that our cozy, little family enjoys. We were never a fan of fancy food. The kids had cerreals and donuts while me and my husband had corned beef, omelette, seafood chowder, garlic sausage and my favorite raisin loaf.
It was a quick weekend getaway, but surprisingly there was nothing quick in it. We enjoyed everything at our pace and had a relaxing, unhurried and beautiful time. My sister-in-law finished the 42k marathon and we were so proud of her. Though we were sad to leave, we made a promise to visit Sta. Rosa again for another lazy weekend and further explore the other amazing things that it can offer to simple and fun loving families like ours.
My Greatest Adventure 