I read @LykeLyca's post about her giveaway and I know I have to join. Upon knowing that we just have to write about celebration, I know I could write a few because our family loves celebrating any occasion, may it be birthdays, anniversaries, or even a normal day, we can turn it into a celebration.
But while I was looking at the empty slate to start writing, I somehow got stuck, I recalled the celebrations we had and what came into my mind this time was our wedding anniversaries instead.
Some of you might be aware that we purposedly set a holiday as our wedding day, this is to make sure that both of us are available on that day and that we can travel or go out every single anniversary.
The past two years, if not because of the pandemic, we might have gone out of town as well, in fact, in 2020, we already booked a ticket to Camiguin but it was canceled.
So allow me to share with you how we celebrated our anniversaries in the year 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The years 2020 and 2021 were all stay-at-home celebrations.
But before that, please check these generous sponsors of mine. They are very good writers!2016 - Baguio City
Our very first anniversary and we made sure we get to Baguio City for I had been wanting to visit the summer capital of the country. We arrived in Baguio early morning and boy, we were both freezing! We were surprised to find 7/11 stores with doors wide open, no airconditioning needed too the same is the case with their mall.
We stayed for two nights and three days in the city. We were both amazed at how Burnham Park was filled with blooming flowers then we found out it was Penagbenga Week. We had no specific itinerary though and so we just go with wherever we felt like going.
Some of the places we visited were the La Trinidad Strawberry Farm, The Lion's Head, Mines View, Burnham Park, Harrison Road, Wright Park, The Mansion, Botanical Garden, and Kenon Road Viewpoint.
We didn't book a hotel beforehand, we thought we would just stay in Baguio Village Inn along Magsaysay Road but because it was very cold when we arrived, we looked for a place to stay nearby and we were referred to Ferrioni 2 Apartelle by some locals, it was still five in the morning and the apartelle's staff was very accommodating and even gave us a spacious room with a kitchen, too bad we were not able to maximize it because we were always out the entire day. I can't remember the exact pricing per night but it was surely affordable. And the best thing was the hot shower! My husband started to love taking hot showers because of our stay here.
2017 - Batad, Sagada
Surely, our trip to Baguio was remarkable and we wanted to experience another cold-weather location thus we planned for Batad and Sagada. I had shared the experiences in my previous blogs so I'd better refer you to those articles instead:
2018 - Bacolod, Sipalay Negros Occidental
This time we decided to explore the nearby islands of Cebu, we headed to Negros Occidental. We traveled from Cebu City to Toledo City by bus then we rode a roro called Fastcat to reach San Carlos. We took a van to reach Bacolod. We only had a day and one night in Bacolod, we explored both the Campuestohan Highlands Resort and the famous Taj Mahal of Negros, The Ruins. We were not able to go to other places in Bacolod because of time restrictions as our main destination was in Cauayan in a house on top of a hill, an Airbnb which we rented for two nights and three days stay.
In Cauayan, we get to experience living in a green home, fully solar-powered home with a water filtering system, it was also fully furnished with a fridge, a sink, stove, oven, a huge tv with SSD full of movies, and a fast internet connection! It was unbelievable that such a house exists on this part of the island. The owner also has motorcycles for rent and we rented one for two days, we get to check nearby tourist spots like the Punta Bulata Resort and Spa and Sipalay, we ended our day watching the sunset at their public beach!
Then we also watched a million stars on our second night, we celebrated both our anniversary and James' birthday with a pair of Cornetto ice cream while watching the beautiful and relaxing view of the ocean and the mountains, both at the same time. I will write a more detailed one about this trip soon.
2019 - Davao
In 2019, we went to Mindanao to experience a lot of things as one of my dreams is to see a Philippine Eagle up close and Davao homes the Philippine Eagle Center. We rented a motorcycle going to the center, had met a lot of these adopted eagles, and learned so much about their situation. Pag-asa was still alive when we went there, a year after, he died due to a disease.
With our rented motorcycle, we headed to BuDa or Bukidnon Davao Road but the weather was not very cooperative yet, it didn't stop us from exploring the area. We stayed at a cute Teepee house on Highway 81 and visited Sonnenberg Mountain View in the hope to see a sea of clouds.
On our way back to Davao, we stopped by Huni Farm in Barangay Wangan, Calinan for our buffet lunch, this farm offers organic food within the farm, they have an open kitchen so we get to see how the workers, cooks, and chef prepares the food. It was a great experience and the food was delish!
Then on our last day in Davao City, we stayed in a smart minimalist home in a unit within the heart of the city, in fact, the unit was just neighbors to SM City Davao.
Conclusion
For us, celebrating our anniversary is necessary because it allows us to recall a lot of things, and making sure we are both available on this day gives us no excuse not to celebrate. Due to the pandemic, we were not able to travel for our fifth and sixth anniversary but we have Matti, our bundle of joy and that's enough.
Once everything goes back to normal, we will surely travel again, this time with our little one. I wonder where will we go next, I hope it will be in Batanes.
Join @LykeLyca 's giveaway article: Of Neck Pains, Cryptos and Giveaways
Since our anniversary is on the 24th of February, it's Cebu's Founding Day so it is always a holiday in the province, I am picking 24 as well for Lyca's anniversary date. Happy anniversary month Lyka! Woot woot!
xoxo,
mommy jean of momentswithmatti
Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.
This is also one of our couple goals, yong maisama ang kids namin sa travels. though challenging but it's really worth it.