Summer Break

Even before the summer break ends, I could say that Ryx already had a well-spent vacation.

Just before his school activities were about to end, we already booked a swimming lesson at Lantaka Hotel by the Sea sponsored by Milo – a chocolate drink from Nestle Company. The activity was good for two weeks beginning March 24 from Monday to Saturday. The idea of enrolling him to that lesson was conceived weeks ago by Lesette, our classmate from college cum Eena’s best friend plus Ninang of Zyk. She wanted his son, Ethan, to learn how to swim because she doesn’t know how. But the problem was, Ethan doesn’t like to enroll if he will take it alone.

On my part, I wanted Ryx to learn how to swim. It’s always an advantage if you know how. However, unlike me and my other self-thought-swimmer-siblings who frequent to a nearby river in our hometown during our childhood days for a short swim (some sessions were without parents’ approval! Hehehe!), Ryx has no access to swimming pools or rivers. His probability of learning the art of swimming was slim. So when Lesette brought up the idea, I instantly said yes even without consulting Eena about it. (She said yes when I asked her later, but I had to shoulder the fee entirely. Toink!)

The kids were so excited on their first day! They got to meet 5 other students plus the teacher. (We met some of the parents/ guardians, too. One of them was so rude. I wanted to push her into the pool.) On the first day alone, I was able to conclude that it was a good investment because Ryx was so eager to learn.

The two-week period went-by in a breeze. And what did we get? A very confident swimmer. But of course he still has a lot to learn.

Ryx and his buddy Ethan taking their snacks after one tiring session

The second reason why I was able to say that Ryx had a sell-spent vacation is that he was able to live with his Momsy and Dadsy in Basilan, all by himself! Yes, you heard it right! All by himself… without us (Papa and Mama plus Zyk) around. (This was another milestone actually. Yay! Congrats Ryx.)

Your question would probably be “What drove him to take the sleep-over?” Well, it’s the idea of having Dadsy’s gadget all to himself. (Dadsy got an Ipad Air from my sister when she came for a short vacation. She gave Daddy that thing in order to make their communication convenient – no need to make long distance calls this time; they do it through the net.) So, all throughout Ryx’s stay there, the gadget was at his disposal. He played Plants vs Zombies and Adventure Time. He used other applications too like Sketch.

Other than the gadget, the desktop computer and the television were at his disposal too. He played Feeding Frenzy to the max and had his dose of Adventure Time, Oggy and the Cockroaches and other Cartoon Network shows.

Ryx really had a grand time in Basilan especially with his spoiler lola. Hehe! He can’t have those activities accorded to him if he stayed at home: 1.) we don’t have a tablet or any gadget, 2.) our PC usage is limited, 3.) we don’t subscribe to any cable-company. However, when he came back, we needed to remind him that his happy-days were over. It was tough at first because he became used to being independent. So there was resistance on his part which is very normal for a 6-year old boy. But after a while, he was back to his old self.

Vacation well-spent indeed!