Sophie's 4th Birthday

Sophie celebrated her 4th birthday last January 19. We had a simple celebration with her lolos and lolas, tita, tito and cousins. For her cake, I thought of either buying her a character cake of her choice as I do every year or make her a cake for a change. With her consent, I went for the latter. 

This is how her cake, er, dessert turned out. It has layers of all her favorite stuff, chocolate gelatin and chocolate bread layered alternately and topped with whipped cream and cherries. The best thing about this was that she helped me make the chocolate ganache, stirring patiently until we got the right consistency and taste. She's very helpful in the kitchen, the birthday girl was hands on during the preparation. She kept telling her lolas (grandmas) that she made her cake :)

made her cake and ate it too :)

The original plan for the day was to have a lunch picnic in La Mesa Ecopark but the weather was so unpredictable, thus, we decided to eat lunch at home and if the still weather permits, visit Ecopark in the afternoon. Luckily it didn't rain that day so off to the park we went. Entrance to the park is P50, P40 if you're a QC resident. Kids 3 feet below can get in for free. We got there around 5pm and was informed that Ecopark closes at 6pm. We were still allowed to go in only until before the sun sets since the park is not lighted. Surprisingly, the park is well visited by families and barkadas. There were some who were having their prenuptial photo shoot that day. 

It was such a fun experience especially since the kids enjoyed the tour so much. Sophie and Sam are scared to ride the back of a horse but they love this open kalesa (horse-driven carriage) ride. This ride is P50 per person just to go around the circle (will take you a minute or two). Quite pricey but I haggled for a discount since there are only 2 adults and the rest are kids. I think I already told you in my previous posts that I'm a mean haggler, hehe. 

With my mom, Sophie, Sam and their cousin Seth

going around the park on a cool day

view from the top. you can take the steps if you wish to take a look at the watershed

or go up this way which I took for more challenge (with 2 kids in tow)

hubby with my nephew in the background,  taken at the Petron ampitheater

Sam enjoyed jumping around the ampitheater. He didn't wanna go home anymore.

Ecopark boasts of different types of foliage although somehow I feel that it can have more improvement. Some facilities are no longer in existence like the butterfly garden probably for lack of funding. 

We promised to visit La Mesa Ecopark again soon since we found out it's just 10 mins away from our house. It's a nice place for a together time with the family.