-1 (Flashback): I have lots of memories as a kid of having long family road trips during summer. It would normally be a 3 up to 8 hours of driving going to some province in the Philippines.

My dad be would driving. My eldest brother also in front helping navigate with an actual paper map, or asking for directions if we got lost. Mom would be in the middle, beside my older brother and sister. Mom was right at the center of the car, so that she could pass on food and water to anybody. She would also make sure everyone was behaving properly. Then as the youngest, I would be all the way behind the car with all of the bags.

I distinctly remember one time, I kept saying “uwi na tayo” until I fell asleep. But when we reached the destination, it would always be non-stop fun as well.

Back to the recent present times…

1. One of our family trips in the Philippines was to go to Punta Fuego in Batangas. It was roughly a 3-hour car ride from Alabang. Baby Ju and Mika were in their car seats. In between them was Mae, making sure they were entertained. Mika was shouting ‘booooring’ every now and then. Baby Ju cried every now and then too as it was his first time in a car seat.

Meanwhile, I was driving, attempting to focus on instructions being given by Waze, as it was being buried by the sound of Baby Ju’s crying, Mika’s ‘boring’, and the kids playlist on Spotify.

2. It was on one long highway when the kids and Mae fell asleep. It was quiet. Finally. This was when it dawned on me that I was already the ‘dad’ in this trip. I was in the front seat driving. My entire family behind me. I was no longer the kid in this road trip, no longer a cause of chaos, but a protective force of order.

3. One of the reasons why we went home was because my sister living in the US was also coming home with her entire family too. All of us were staying in the same house. It was going to be a nice chaotic but fun reunion. In total there were going to be 6 kids in the house, and I was excited to see how they’d interact with each other.

Here are my observations:

Mina is 12, the ‘ate’ of the group. She loves to draw and create art and has a quirky and weird personality. She can pretty much play with any of the kids. And even more impressive is that if she’ll automatically help any of the kids, without any instruction from an adult.

Alby is 10 and takes pride in being the disgusting cousin. He likes to stick his finger inside his belly button, then put his finger near your nose to smell. And indeed, it smelled. If he finds you lying down, he will fart in your face. He also loves to trash talk his sisters Mina and Timay, ‘you suck, or you’re so bad at this’ when playing any game.

Gab is 7, the most hyper and energetic of all. When it comes to jumping from stairs, sofas, or anywhere really, he’s always the first one to initiate. He’s always running around and cannot keep still. So when all the kids are playing, he’s the amplifier of chaos. When the kids are relaxing, he will find ways to get them going again.

Timay and Mika are both 4 years old. I’ll describe them together because the entire trip they were inseparable . From the moment Mika wakes up, she’d wonder if Timay was already awake. Then they’ll jump on the stairs or from the bed together. Stay upside down. Watch TV together. Dance. Color. Eating. The only time they’d be separated is when it’s time to nap (because they simply won’t nap if they’re together).

Last but not the least is Baby Ju who just turned 1 year old. Even though he is already able to walk, he is still unable to judge whether what he’ll be doing is dangerous. This is why among all the children, he is the only one who requires constant adult supervision.

The other older children could entertain each other. But only Baby Ju had the ability to entertain the adults. He could make them do anything he liked. He only needed to point towards something, and he would be carried there. He would babble, and the adult would tell him what the object is. Finally, he could simply cry, and he would be returned to his yaya, or mom.

4. One morning, Alby told me that he killed a cockroach in the bathroom last night.

I responded, “Oh, you killed Betty”.

Alby, surprised, asked: “You name them?!”

I answered in a serious tone: “Yeah. There’s Betty, Bob, James, Sarah and Don”.

Mina overheard the conversation and shouted, “There’s more than one?!?!”

5. Another night, around 9pm Mina and Alby were about to take a bath. Then they saw another cockroach and started screaming. They set off on a mission to try and kill it. Because they were shouting so loud, it caught the attention of the other children and they joined in on the mission.

An hour later, they were like the ghostbusters, each one with their own weapon of choice. Alby held his dad’s shoe. Mina had a slipper in hand. Gab was dual wielding a set of alcohol sprays. Mika was holding the thing you use to blow balloons. They hunted cockroaches until 11 in the evening. They managed to kill only one.

6. The last part of our trip was to go to Boracay for 5 days. It was four families, comprised of 9 adults and 6 children. Plus the luggage. Plus carry-ons.

7. At the check-in counter, I saw that Mom had brought lots of food (chicken and cheese rolls), dessert (Becky’s brownies), fruits (Pomelo) and lots of bottled water. It was in a cooler that was as big as a medium sized luggage. I thought it was excessive as there would be water and food at the airport, and when we arrived in Boracay.

Mom commented though: “If your kids are like my kids, we’ll need this.”

True enough, while at the boarding gate, the kids started to say they were hungry. Other adults started to eat too. Meanwhile the queues at the airport were long. By the time we boarded the plane, everyone had already gotten something from the cooler bag. On the plane, the rest of the food was finished.

Then on the first night, we were too tired to eat outside so we just ate at the hotel. There was no good enough dessert. It was mom’s Becky’s brownies to the rescue.

Mom really knows best.

8. When travelling as a large group, you can expect that somewhere sometime someone or something will go wrong. I wondered what and when it was going to be.

When we landed in Caticlan, right after leaving the plane, Kuya JM realized that his phone was missing. There was still time to report it, and the attendants at the plane immediately searched for it.

However, it was already gone. It was not in any of the bags, other pockets. We already had to leave as the vans and boat which would take us to our accommodation was already there. They simply filed a report and left their number should anything come up.

Kuya JM was feeling down as he realized all the inconveniences of having to replace one’s phone, and the data inside.

Right off the bat, this was already a big thing going wrong. Did this mean we could already relax, as tapos na yung malas?

Did it even count? As technically we haven’t ‘started’ the vacation yet.

9. The beaches of Boracay were breathtaking. When we arrived it was low-tide so the sand bar was exposed. It was sunny enough that it was warm, but cloudy enough that you could stay very long in the beach. The children started to play and dig around in the sand.

The mood was lightening up. Kuya JM was starting to feel better. So I went to him and said: “Kuya JM, para sumaya ka, may joke ako para sayo”

“Ano?”

“It-text ko sayo”.

…

10. He laughed. He started telling others what I just told him. When Mom heard, she looked at me and said: “G*go!”

The trip pretty much after that went smoothly. Kids in the beach. Buko Juice. Digging in the sand. Floating in the beach. Looking for tiny crabs. Good food.

11. The next unexpected thing that pretty much happened was during our buffet dinner in Hennan. An hour into dinner, loud music suddenly started playing. It was the song “Shut up and Dance With Me”.

But it wasn’t recorded. It was live. Turns out the buffet service crew had started an all-out live song and dance performance in the middle of the buffet area. They performed another song which I think was from Momoland.

Many in the crowd loved it, they started clapping and cheering on. Meanwhile, other guests who had just started to eat, found themselves in an awkward position not sure if they should proceed to get food, or sit back down.

12. Mika started to stand on their seats and dance as well. We danced with her.

I said to Mae, “Grabe siguro ‘to, every night nila ginagawa”.

Then Mae replied, “Ang hirap naman kumita ng pera”.

13. After our Boracay trip we were ready to go home to Singapore. We were already spent, and we had spent a lot. Grateful for the fun and chaos of being with everyone, we were looking forward going back to our reality. To get back into daily routine and embrace order once again.).