Due to the timing of the ASEAN 50 (Association of South East Asian Nations 50th anniversary), most of the City of Manila shut down for a three-day holiday to accommodate all the road closures, high-security for the many government leaders/delegates. (And sigh...yes...Trump was one of the attendees. He got along splendidly with Rodrigo Duterte, apparently.)
As a result, our plans of going to the Upside Down Museum & Star City were thwarted when we couldn't even get to the area (coincidentally, right next to where the ASEAN summit was). So instead, we decided to make good on our promise of taking Ryan ice skating a second time and returned to the SM Mall of Asia.
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| You can see the riot police standing under the tent near the entrance to the ASEAN Summit. |
Before we went back to the rink, we thought we'd hit up an indoor playground for Ryan just to do something different...but I think that ship has sailed for him. Everything was geared more toward the 5 year old crowd, and not so much to the older kids. We still had a little bit of fun though!
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| I made an American Ninja Warrior course for him, with the final test being to climb all the way up to the top of this tower, then drop back down to the bottom without getting strangled in >20 seconds. He loved it! |
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| The second time we were at the rink, there must've been 50 people on the ice instead of 3-4 the first time we were there. |
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| The rink had a little bit of a 'Frozen' theme going on in my opinion. |
I also got to buy him a second set of warm gloves from the gift shop since we left his newly purchased warm gear at the hotel (as we didn't originally have plans to go to ice skating that day).
Our best find of the day? We stumbled into this beautiful cafe, initially attracted to the bright, rainbow colors of the butterfly chairs. Soon after walking in, Rich or Ryan spotted a room in the back filled with 'falling snow'. Admission cost? One Korean Snow dessert! We figured it was a no brainer, but also hadn't realized that Ryan's dessert was from the premium menu, and would cost almost $10.
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| That's shaved, frozen milk covered in cocoa and oreo cookies (or it was, pre-picture). Deliciousness! |
Thankfully, we had his second set of gloves from the rink, so he spent a solid 20 minutes in there frolicking in the snow. A friend who knows us well asked us, "How come no matter how hot it is, where ever you go, your family always finds snow?" I guess we love it because we don't have to live with it? I'm sure if we lived in AK the LAST place I'd be is at an ice skating rink, followed by a snow dessert cafe!
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| Rich's eagle eye spotted this gorgeous brownie kiosk at the mall, so we ended up getting a few assortment boxes for a number of friends! It's not Filipino, but they were too cute to resist. |
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| I know, I know...it's not America. There is obviously a different meaning...but good Lord. This was a shock to see. And NO, we did not eat there. How...wrong. |
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