TAKE 2 AT LOPEZ FARMS

It’s our second time to visit this place and this time we spent my sister and niece’s birthday. My sister was not with us the last time we were here, it was just my brother, my half-sister and her family and my Dad and step-mom. So this time was a first for her together with an Aunt and her family who weren’t able to join us also the last time. It’s good that they also enjoyed the ambiance of the place but this time around, the climate was much cooler since it was nearing December. We still occupied the same rooms downstairs while my Aunt and her family stayed in the room they were supposed to occupy upstairs beside Papa’s room. My sister stayed in my Papa’s bedroom since it was quite big while my half-sister was in the room next to ours, in the basement, where just outside there’s a billiard table, table tennis and a swing.

We still enjoyed the second visit that we made here at Lopez farms. Though we were a bit late in joining them since I had to go to work for a bit yesterday then we just followed them to the farm in Cavite. Admittedly, we got lost a bit and had to ask many times for the right directions but we got there at around six in the evening pa din...just in time for dinner. Mt Aunt and her family arrived just as were about to eat and after eating, the boys got busy downstairs playing billiards while the rest of us stayed in the family room browsing over the old photographs in Marinduque...too bad that I just brought that album since that is all that Papa asked for e...next time I will bring the others. We had fun goofing around and stayed up until very late with the kids watching movies in the laptop.

The next day, we did nothing much but eat and laze around all day...the kids swam in the pool again and played basketball and the numerous fun games and swings the place had to offer. I tried to read a book but ended up sleeping and not reading at all, the place is just so conducive to sleeping! I just love their hammock and wish that someday I would be able to install one just like it...in our teensy weeny home hehehe. We feasted/gorged ourselves with food... and took naps in between family chats. In all, it was a totally relaxing and fun-filled weekend, spent meaningfully with the people we love. Till next time and next foodtrip!

FAMILY GET-TOGETHER AT LOPEZ FARM

To celebrate my brother’s homecoming this year, my dad opted to spend an out of town weekend at Lopez farms somewhere in Cavite. We dropped by Project 4 to pick up my brother and current beau before proceeding to Makati to go to Cavite in convoy with my dad’s vehicle. We left at around 12 and reached Cavite some two hours later. The place was quite pretty indeed. It is filled with so many trees and hammocks that make the place so utterly relaxing. The main house is also quite a marvel – made entirely of wood and filled all around with windows, making it quite airy and spacious, too…not that it needed to expand its space since the place is already big, as it is.

At around three in the afternoon, the kids took a dip in the pool while I just lazed around the house reading a book. When night started to fall, I helped the hubby and their current hired helper (Ateng went home e!) cook the grilled meat and we had dinner in a while. The dining area filled up the back part of the entire house. It had a very long table…which was just right for a big family like ours. It was a truly satisfying meal we all shared and afterwards, since the place had no TV, we made small talk and exchanged stories in the sala…amid the background of a tuko croaking somewhere in the trees that surround the place.

In a little while, we retired to our bedrooms. We were given rooms downstairs – one room for us and the other bedroom for my brother. There was one airconditioned bedroom upstairs, beside the sala for Papa and Tita E. The other was just a fan room which was reserved for an aunt who did not come…instead it was my stepsister’s family who slept there. Papa’s room was quite big and could accommodate us if we wanted to sleep there but it was a bit cold and so after I used his laptop a bit inside the room, I went down na rin to our room…but aside from the four bedrooms of the main house, they had a dormitory that could house about fifteen to twenty people…just right for a teambuilding session.

The next day, we did nothing much…they swam a bit, ate a lot, laughed a lot, slept some more and basically enjoyed our stay in that very peaceful and restful place. Sometimes, it's nice, too, to get away to a place like this...without any television and just nature at its most basic...well, we have electricity but at least we spent much time just TALKING with each other, getting updated on what's going on in each other's lives instead of just staring inanely at the boobtube...we also got to reminisce about our past vacations...happy times we spent together...it was a fun and meaningful time for us...if not for the proliferation of numerous insects, this would be one good place to return to...