Family weekend

My mom decided to book a room at the Mandarin Oriental for the weekend as sort of a summer getaway for my nephews. The initial plan was that my nephews would go swimming upon arrival, but due to several delays, my family ended up checking in at around 4pm. My mom wanted us to get something to eat first, so we went to the Ayala Triangle and had a meal in Bon Chon Chicken. I ate here once before and I really enjoyed the food, and as it turned out, so did my family.

On the way to Ayala Triangle, my mom saw a billboard for 'Thor' and asked me when it was showing. I said that it already was. My mom wanted to see it so I decided to head over to Greenbelt to try and get tickets while the rest of my family had some gelato in Amici. All cinemas in Greenbelt 3 were fully booked (next available showing was close to 11pm already) but luckily for us, the old theater in Greenbelt 1 still had a lot of seats. And, since the cinema was older (but still clean and comfortable!), tickets here cost only P120. So not only did we manage to catch the 7:10pm showing, we got good seats and saved close to P400. Cool!

I really enjoyed 'Thor'. Of course, the special effects were amazing. And considering that this was a big blockbuster, I didn't expect that the cast would put in really good performances. Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins (who portrayed Thor's love interest and Odin, respectively) and Tom Hiddleston, who played Loki, were all great (I especially loved Hiddleton's delivery of an enraged and bitter Loki in one of the final scenes of the film). Chris Hemsworth was also very believable as the arrogant god of thunder who later learns the value of compassion and need for peace. I think what made the film an even better watch was the fact that it didn't take itself as seriously as most other films in the same genre. Leave it to director Kenneth Branagh to inject a lot of humor and witticism throughout the film that made it more interesting overall.

After the movie, we decided to have a late dinner in Mr. Jones. I've eaten here a few times but my family haven't, and I know there are lots of items in the menu that they would enjoy.

The next day, I took my nephews swimming while my mom went to the gym. The pool was pretty full and I wasn't really in the mood to get wet so I just listened to my ipod while looking after my nephews. They spent more than 2 hours in the pool before we went back to our room to get cleaned up before checking out. We ended up heading back to Ayala Triangle for another meal in Bon Chon Chicken (which seems to be my nephews' new favorite resto). It was a full and fun weekend, and why would it not be? Any quality time spent with the family is always fantastic.