dreaming of summer vacation

mt. rushmore - summer 2005

with summer vacation on the horizon, sabin and i got to talking about vacation destinations last evening. we have established a tradition in our family that when you turn 10, you get to pick where we go on vacation. we got the idea from a girl from my hometown who did that with her family and when her son turned 10, she asked me for advice on how to travel with kids in egypt. we loved the idea so much that we began the tradition too. big sisters karoline and mathilde both (with gentle pushing) chose the US as their vacation destination when they each turned 10. although ten is a little over a year and a half away, sabin likes to talk about where she will choose to go.

dipping our toes in the aegean in thessaloniki

of course choosing where to go brings up thoughts of where we've already been. so we end up talking about turkey and barcelona and iowa and south dakota and london and legoland and læsø (an island here in denmark) and munich and macedonia and singapore and greece and oslo and ljubljana. but it always comes back to the philippines. sabin loves the philippines. and although her decision isn't yet sealed, i suspect that's where she will choose.

thanks to my work, she's already been there four times. she had such a great time on her first visit that it has sealed it for her..she adores it. the people are so friendly and nice, the weather is warm (tho' it can be rainy), the shopping is good, the food inexpensive and delicious, the hotels divine and the beaches fabulous. what more can you ask from a destination?

she got to sleep on the way there:

there were chocolates waiting for her in our room when we arrived:

she got to collect shells and sea glass on the beach at grande island, subic bay.

she saw a wonderful show with trained seals at ocean adventure park, also in subic.

she spent lots of time in the swimming pool, which was fun even tho' there was a pesky fly that kept landing on her nose.

and she stayed for the first time at the heavenly manila peninsula hotel during our time in manila.

far actually got to come along on that first trip, which was really cool. the other three times, it was just me and one time aunt monica was there too, which was super fun. since i was working, i would arrange a nanny for sabin--sweet young filipino girls who played with her and took her shopping all day long. one day she came back from the mall with six new pairs of shoes. and she hadn't even spent $20!

the watermelon shakes are heaven.

and a pedicure with warm paraffin is just the thing when you're feeling jetlagged.

the sushi is fantastic and that's one of sabin's favorite foods.

and they serve it to you here in this wonderful room, where there is a live pianist playing all day long and late into the evening:

tho' there were a few crazy late nights hanging out with a bunch of adults. (click to enlarge and see fabulous manicure w/little bows.)

and the long flight's not so bad if you've got your iPod along and new clothes to wear on the way home.

yup, i suspect that sabin's 10 year old destination is going to be the philippines. and probably more specifically, boracay, where sabin's big sister mathilde got to go with me last fall:

but as for this summer, we don't really know...perhaps we'll go visit sabin's grandparents in the US in the early autumn.

where do your vacation dreams take you, addie?