Mt. Maculot, Cuenca, Batangas

I was reminded of my childhood days after watching a video clip on Facebook.  You can click here to watch it.  It was so nice reminiscing about the moments I had, especially those times when my brother and I would spend our vacations in the province.  I was born in Cuenca, Batangas, where my grandparents' house is situated in the mountains of Mt. Maculot.  I am glad and proud to have experienced life on the farm, and I also want my children to have a taste of what it is like to live a very simple life in the province, something that most young generations no longer experience nowadays.  Games and toys are very different now as technology advances, but  I believe that my children can enjoy both the privileges of the latest technology and nature.

We were blessed to have a place to go where my children can see and experience nature.  My parents decided to build a house there, which is still under construction.  This has given us the opportunity to visit Cuenca almost once a week.  My eldest son calls it our "Home Gardening Day. " My parents spend their free time gardening there, as they have a large plot of land to work with.  It's so nice to see their plants growing, flowering, and bearing fruit.  Of course, the kids cannot do the hard work of tilling the soil, but what they can and love most is the harvesting part. Whenever we visit the place, SJ, our youngest, is excited to see his grandpa's eggplant.  He has all the energy to gather all the eggplants for harvest. The children are also able to pick calamansi fruits in the garden.  Most of the time, the banana trees bear fruit, and we share in the bounty too.  Everything is freshly picked from the garden, and what's most wonderful is that it's free!  A distant relative gave us macapuno during this week's visit, so we came home with lots of goodies.

We added a hiking activity during this week's visit.  We all agreed to look for my grandfather in the mountains where he usually spends his days.  My father says that grandpa's land there is also beautiful and that we should see it. I still managed to hike even though my tummy is almost at its seventh month.  We were glad to see my grandpa there working, as we expected.  We all love the place; lots of Mahogany trees grown there, which they planted years ago. The fresh air and a closer view of  the peak of Mt. Maculot made it wonderful.  It was just a few minutes' walk from my parents' place, though it was on a bit higher ground.  It was then that I discovered that JC would love the idea of hiking. When we got home, he said that he wanted to go back to Cuenca and hike the mountain again. For me, it would be a great hobby rather than spending most of his time in front of gadgets.

These activities I know will help my children enjoy outdoors and appreciate the beauty of nature God has created.  Soon we will introduce them the games we played before.