our adventure

Friday night we put Addie to bed with the wonderful idea that the next day we were going to wake up and go on an adventure to find a new swimming pool. She was beyond excited about the idea of getting out of the house the next day. Justin and I were desperate to get out of Manila. We almost never get in the car and drive somewhere outside of Manila. Saturday was the third time in the two years we've been here that we've driven outside of the city by ourselves. Justin found this beautiful spot called Hidden Valley Springs in Laguna, which is about 2 hours south of Manila not far from Batangas. We were totally pumped and feeling really confident about our adventure plans. We packed the night before and raced to get out of the house the next morning bright and early for our drive down. We left around 8AM. The trip went well until the South Luzon Expressway literally ended with barricades from construction and we were routed through Calamba. We had to re-route ourselves to Laguna through the tiny little two lane street villages. All the villages had snail pace traffic (I don't have any pictures of these little towns because I was too irritated at the time to take photos-I wish I would have now looking back on it) . We couldn't get a hold of the Hidden Valley Springs resort so we just navigated ourselves with our extremely vague map. We kept wishing we could hit the zoom in button on the paper map! The detour took a little over and hour in which both Justin and I hit our breaking points (luckily at different points). Mostly the slow village tricycle drivers, pedestrian traffic, and useless traffic cops kept the Jeep inching along at a mind-numbing slow pace. We finally made it to the resort at around 11:00 AM. The terrible drive was worth it when we stepped into the natural lava heated spring pools. It was glorious, beautiful, lush, and green. Everything the city is not. It was totally worth it. We swam until lunch, ate, and then swam until the girls couldn't go anymore. We knew that this day trip with the girls was a step outside of our comfort zone but it was entirely therapeutic for the grown-ups in the family. We were the only white people at the resort. All the sweet older Korean ladies went gaga for Bella. The warm pools (which I preferred) were like bath water and wonderfully relaxing. Bella splashed at the water and laid her head back like she was a little fish. We couldn't steer Adelaide away from the little pool that had a pseudo slide where the current flowed downward. She cozied up with a Filipino family and their kids who quickly taught her that if you have to pee just step out of the water and pop a squat on the ground. She fit right in! Sadly with an 11 month old and almost 3 year old the trip can only be stretched so far before they both hit their breaking point. Justin and I could have spent another whole day discovering the many pools at the resort. We were back in the Jeep at 5PM for the ride back to the city. The drive home was totally uneventful and short in comparison to the earlier debacle.

Bella really proved herself to be as hard-headed as we thought she was this trip. She demonstrated her stubborn determination by remaining awake the entire time we were in the car. She woke Saturday morning at 6:30 AM. Normally she would have had her morning nap about 9AM. Instead of snoozing in the car during that time she fussed and cried until she overcame the desire to sleep and moved into exhausted hyper activity. She blew bubbles, babbled, and played until we got to the resort, all while rubbing her eyes. When we got to the resort she enjoyed the pools and they soothed her fussiness. She finally passed out in Justin's arms (a first) as we walked to lunch at 12:30 PM. The warm breeze, the trees, the tree bugs buzzing; how could she not fall asleep? She was recharged after less than an hour nap and pushed through the rest of the afternoon at the pools like a champ. She was beyond exhausted when I buckled her into her car seat at 5PM. When the sun set at 6PM during our drive home she drank her bottled and couldn't help but nod off for about 20 minutes. She then woke and screamed the rest of the ride home in her car seat. When we got to her bedroom at 7:30PM she was asleep almost before her head hit her crib mattress. I could not believe her ability to hold out until she was in her bed. The ENTIRE day! It was ridiculous. It's hard to explain to people that my baby only sleeps in her crib. Never once has she fallen asleep in her stroller, and really never in her car seat. She's one tough cookie. Addie was the same way when it came to sleeping in the car.

The Filipino Boy Scouts helped us with our bags to the changing rooms. They were so cute; pointing out different varieties of trees indigenous to the area and talking with Addie.Bella loved the waterfall.Justin and his mini-meYou wouldn't know she was super tired.Addie eating her snackWe laughed at this sign that was posted a about 5 minutes down the road from the resort. This country isn't known for it's road signs and after all the difficulty we had finding Laguna that morning this sign really got a good laugh from us. We were like "perfect, now that we have some directions home we shouldn't have any trouble." It was kind of like the sign at Ocean City, MD that tells you which direction San Diego, CA is. It's kind of how they don't give you any advanced warning that there is an obstruction in the road that you will need to merge away from. The large arrow directing you to move out of the lane is placed right after the obstruction. God knows how you are supposed to know it's coming when cars and trucks are in front of you.