My family and I love going on vacations. We love to go to Tagaytay or Baguio during the Christmas season. Last year, since our eldest son was requested to be a pianist in his cousin’s wedding in Cavite, I found a very good excuse to spend the last few days of 2017 in Tagaytay again.

The wedding was early in the morning. Call time was 7:30 AM. It was also my eldest son’s first time to be a pianist in a wedding. So, it would be best to check-in in a nearby place so we don’t need to wake up too early and travel all the way to Cavite. I have 3 small kids and just thinking of dressing them up and getting them ready for an early morning wedding is already a big challenge. Now, factor in that my husband and I are also part of the wedding entourage as secondary (candle) sponsors, that is really one BIG challenge!

Once we have confirmed the date and time, I started checking out our potential accommodations. I heard good reviews from friends about Crosswinds, Tagaytay. But the rates are a bit high because it was peak season. I suggested to my husband that we check out Airbnb options. The rates were more affordable. We found a nice unit with two queen-sized beds. Perfect for our family of five! Finding out that the wedding reception would be at Crosswinds, Tagaytay also sealed the deal.

 

One thing that made me like Crosswinds was that the place makes you feel like you are in Switzerland. There are thousands of pine trees all over the place. It’s like you are not in the Philippines. The buildings and houses look like Swiss buildings, too.

It’s my family’s dream to go to Europe for vacation. But since we do not have enough funds for that yet, this is our small step towards fulfilling that dream.

The place we got was just 30 minutes away from the church where the wedding ceremony would be held. That helped ease my worries about being late for the ceremony.

It was also a good thing that the unit owner found a way to provide us with a hairdryer, iron and iron board. I don’t have time to go to the salon. I needed at least to have my hair blow-dried. My husband needed to iron the dress shirt that he will use for the wedding.

On the day of the wedding, we got to the church around 45 minutes before the ceremony. One of my fears happened. The piano in the church was not like the pianos that my eldest son usually use. There were two levels. Good thing we were a bit early. He had some time to try and figure out how to use it. I also believe that it was a lot of grace and help from God that my 9-year-old son was able to play the songs in the wedding Mass, including the songs for the entourage procession, pictorial and recessional. It was his first time to play love songs on the piano. He studied two love songs for this wedding: Stolen for the pictorial and From This Moment for the recessional and pictorial also. For the entourage procession, he played Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.

We were all amazed that he got to play the songs even though he’s not used to that kind of piano. It was also dark in the church’s choir loft. I even had to stack 4 monoblock chairs so my son could reach the piano and play comfortably. I was nervous because I could not guide him. The last time he was at a wedding, he was as a ring bearer in his uncle’s wedding. He was only 3 year’s old then. This time, I had to be downstairs because I was part of the entourage. But God guided him and he pulled it through!

 

The reception was held at the helipad of Crosswinds. It was al fresco dining. The winds were strong. It was chilly. The soil was damp and soft because it rained in the past days. It was hard to walk in heels. It was also hard to keep our hair in order. Anyway, we still enjoyed the view and took a lot of photos.

After the reception, we finally had time to rest. We took a nap that afternoon before going out for dinner. We initially planned to eat at Cafe Voi-la. But the lines were already long when we got there and the tables were full. Our next option was to eat at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf which was right beside Cafe Voi-la. The seats inside the coffee shop were already taken when we got there. But there were still seats outside. We’ve decided to eat there because we were too tired to go further. We had pasta, sandwiches,  and pastries. We also bonded over hot chocolate and cookies. Our boys loved sipping hot chocolate! It was really chilly in the evening. Good thing that after some time, there were guests who left the coffee shop and we were able to sit inside.

After dinner, we played UNO before going to bed.

The following day, we woke up late. It was almost lunchtime. Perfect for brunch! Although the unit has cooking facilities, we were not in the mood to prepare our own food. 

Cafe Voila was full as usual. We trouped to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf again. We didn’t mind because we love the ambiance and our boys loved their hot chocolate. We took a nap after lunch.

We woke up early enough that afternoon. Thus, we got a table at Cafe Voila, finally! They also had a nice ambiance and good food.

 

My second child and I already had mango float for dessert at Cafe Voila.

But our children still want to go to Coffee Bean again for hot chocolate. We indulged them. Anyway, we’re not in a hurry to go to sleep. The rest of the boys and my husband had their dessert at CBTL.

The following morning, we woke up early so we could have our photos taken at the attractions at Crosswinds before we go back to Manila.

Cafe Voila was full again so we headed to our favorite hang out place at Crosswinds… CBTL again! 🙂

Crosswinds is a beautiful place where you can enjoy the beauty of nature. It’s nice to walk around and just bond by talking or taking pictures. You can also pick a spot outside and read a book. We’d love to go back there in the future.

I’m so glad we chose this place for our Christmas vacation last year. It surely gave us a lot of happy memories.

 

There is a swimming pool also in the building but we didn’t have time to swim during this vacation. Next time! We have an excuse to go back here then! 😉