We were supposed to drive to Tagaytay yesterday for a family picnic. But, since I couldn’t wake up early (hehe), we decided to drive to what we used to call our home — Pilillia. We lived there for only four months in 2013, but it is our favorite home among all the places we’ve called home.
The town is just so quiet and relaxed. The people are very nice, too. And the food — oh, the food is just wonderful! Everything’s fresh from the farm so cooking AND eating is like dining in heaven.
Our Sunday adventure began soon after I woke up. It was 10 in the morning and I was craving for the coffee we used to have in Pilillia. So, we prepared the kids’ bag and drove off to The Daily Beans, our go-to breakfast place and my office away from my home office because that’s where I used to work when I didn’t feel like working from home. This is why I sooo miss living in Pilillia!
The Minis love hanging out here, too. They love munching on the cafe’s delectable oatmeal cookies while Daddy A and I would have our piece of blueberry cheesecake paired with brewed coffee.
On our adventure day, though, we decided to order a heavy breakfast: Bacon with Egg and Fried Rice. There was a long and activity-filled day ahead of us so it was just right to fill up our tanks!
After breakfast, we headed to Tanay to buy swimming clothes. The original plan was only to go fishing, but since we were there, we agreed to have a quick swim at Daranak Falls.
Since it’s a Sunday, the picnic area around Daranak Falls was already occupied by early birds. It’s a good thing that A discovered another less visited waterfall within the area. We had to pay an extra PHP100 each to get to Batlag Falls, but that’s fine. There were less people there and the water is much shallower than in Daranak Falls, which is perfect for us since we had two kiddos with us.
That’s not the best photo of Batlag Falls. That’s actually just one of the mini waterfalls. Batlag Falls is much bigger, but I wasn’t able to take a photo because I had a Little Man in my arms who fell asleep while listening to the rushing water. 😀
The surroundings became colder as late afternoon approached. I noticed the Princess’ lips turning violet already because of the cold, cold, cold water (if you’re going here, don’t forget to bring baby oil for the kids!). That’s when I asked her and Daddy A to wash up so we can go to our next destination.
One of our other favorite restaurants in Pilillia is Bulawan Floating Restaurant. Aside from the scrumptious and affordable food, it’s a nice place to go fishing! When we were still living in Pilillia, Daddy A would often take The Princess to Bulawan Floating Restaurant for a whole afternoon of fishing. She really enjoyed it, especially when she’d catch a huge fish with her bamboo-made fishing rod.
But before we went fishing, Daddy A ordered snacks and drinks for the family. The hike to Batlag Falls was a challenging one — especially with kids! — so we just had to refuel… with lots of sweets.
Daddy A had Halo-Halo while I ordered Saba Con Hielo. The Minis, on the other hand, had the most delicious fresh ripe mango shake.
We had to wait a while for our fishing rods since all the rods were in use when we arrived so I decided to take a few photos of my three loves.
You know Daddy A and The Little Man are up to something when they’re smiling like this:
Wait for it…
And there you go:
Our boy was so small when we used to bring them here. But now that he can crawl and walk, he really enjoyed exploring the place!
The kids particularly enjoyed checking out the trees and looking for bugs.
They also liked hanging out by the fish pond.
Our rods arrived soon after we finished our snacks and drinks. And The Minis went right into fishing!
The Princess and I caught a catfish after an hour of waiting!
Daddy A and The Little Man caught one Tilapia…
The staff said there weren’t a lot of fish in the fish pond so we decided to call it a day after catching two fishies. We then went to our cottage and had our dinner.
Daddy A ordered our favorites: Ginataang Tilapia, Grilled Squid, Grilled Liempo and Bulalo. Would you believe that we only spent PHP 1,425 for our snacks, bait, the two fishies we caught and brought home and our feast of a dinner!
The Minis both went to sleep after having dinner. Daddy A and I finished the dishes (yes we did!) then we drove home.
It was an extremely tiring day, but it was fun. Daddy A and I cannot believe that we survived all the activities we did with two toddlers. Haha! We love that The Minis really enjoyed our adventure and that they can’t stop talking about it until now! I am looking forward to more adventures soon. If the budget permits, hopefully we can make it a weekly thing!