It used to be M/V Doulos that my husband and I would look forward to each year. Both voracious readers, we consider trips to the bookstore a date, and going to wherever M/V Doulos would be anchored a special occasion. Then the ship ended its voyage, and we discovered the Manila International Book Fair. This year is our third.
For the past two years, I’ve only taken the girls with me. Husband is not really keen on taking our kids on long trips with anticipated long walks. He says it’s not wise for the kids to get tired when the parents are more likely to be tired also. And I get that, totally. This year, since we agreed that I should go on a weekday to avoid the crowd, I was just going to take Bea. Jude was to stay behind with his Dad, while Xia has school. But when Jude learned about the plan, he was teary-eyed. He wanted to go. He was going to look for books about the Titanic and the World Trade Center, two of his latest interests. His Dad tried to explain that Mommy cannot take both him and Bea because Mommy has not been feeling well. He said, okay. Then went to the room and stayed there.
It worked.
So we tweaked our plan. Dad and Jude would go, too. But we’d have to leave really early so we could be home before Ate Xia gets home. But when Xia learned about this, she, too, wanted to go. So a pink slip was requested. 🙂
We got there before opening time. We had our game figured out. Daddy and Jude would go their way; Xia and Bea would go theirs, and Mommy… well, she’s going to talk to her colleagues at the Filway booth, go around on her own, and would be summoned when either of the two teams need to pay already. Mommy was the banker.
Xia came prepared. She knew what she wanted and was done with her shopping in less than an hour. Bea was a bit slow, always looking at the price tags. She’s very concerned about the budget. Jude was relentless in his search for his books, but was not getting any headway. So we re-grouped, literally. Mommy went to accompany Jude, and Daddy went to look for Jude’s books, too. Finally, he found an only copy, a 2014 print of the Titanic from a UK publisher. And of course, it was not on sale. 🙁
Bea finally decided on this set. Expect some posts on Bea’s culinary sojourn here. 🙂
Part of Xia’s loot.
A few of the other items that the kids are sharing. They share the love for Pokemon. Actually, an argument ensued over these. Jude wanted the Character Guide 2, but Bea said to get get the Character Guide 1 because it doesn’t make sense to skip it. But Jude, thinking that he could only get one, wanted the later version. Good thing that the sales assistant was very helpful, and pointed out that getting both copies would save us money, so we did. Bleach and Naruto are also part of their growing collections.
But the biggest, and priciest, find is the Sacred Geometry. Really excited to start reading this with the kids!
For myself, I wanted to get a sewing book, or any craft book that I could really use for my goal of learning some crafts this year, and I found Sewtionary. It’s pricey, so I put it back on the shelf, thinking that I’d go back to it when all the others were done shopping. But alas, my brain conveniently forgot about going back after all the receipts have made their way to me. My eyes saw the bags of books, and the brain registered something like, there’s no more room for one more book. Enough!
I think I’ll just put it in my Wishlist. Someone might take pity and make it my Christmas gift. 🙂
Marge, also known as The Happy WAHM, is a virtual assistant who turned her passion for entrepreneurship into a worthy endeavor of offering complete business solutions to CEOs and business owners around the world. She turned her back on a thriving corporate career to become a hands-on mom and created a lifestyle that allowed her to build a homebased career, homeschool her children, and still have time to pursue her passion for arts and crafting.
She only posts her content on her website, TheHappyWAHM.com. If you see this content on someone else’s site then it is NOT by any means authorized.
