Puerto Galera

We spent two nights at Oceana resort at Puerto Galera, Mindoro this past weekend. It was Hero's Day on Friday here in the Philippines and to celebrate we were in the Jeep bright and early at 6:30 AM trying to beat the traffic to the ferry Pier in Batangas along with all the other travelers trying to get out of Luzon for the long weekend. This trip we vacationed with two friends who are divers and don't have any children of their own. We were worried about cramping their style but it ended up to be really nice having company and the girls loved them. Adelaide especially found a new friend in Rachel. The traffic going south on the expressway was nasty and the drive took longer than expected. Once at the Pier we were faced with throngs of people waiting for bonka boats. The got us on a large bonka that was overcrowded. We were squashed together for the hour long boat ride with wriggling, crying, children! I was a nervous wreck on the crowded boat, imagining the worst case scenarios over and over in my head. Fortunately everyone on the boat had a life vest so that put me at east just for a moment (a short moment). I was truly questioning my parenting decisions as we pulled away from the Pier. It was at this moment that we momentarily considered that we had made a bad decision in trying to go away this weekend. Like all our other trips in the Philippines, the travel to the destination is horrendous but when you finally arrive it's all worth it.

The Australian owner of Oceana picked us up from the small pier in Puerto Galera and drove us to the resort. It is situated on a private beach and has amazing views of the crystal blue water and densely lush mountains. Mindoro is mostly known for its trekking and diving. Since we do neither with small children we spent the two days at the resort enjoying the rocky beach, pool, and grassy vegetation. Addie became familiar with the terrain very quickly and was running all over as if she owned the place. We had a family room that allowed us to spread out a bit. Bella comfortably took her naps in the dark air conditioned room. The cabin was close enough to the pool that we could let her nap and still enjoy the sunshine. I was thrilled to have my Filipino breakfast both mornings of fried eggs, garlic rice, and longonisa (kind of like a sweet sausage). Addie downed mango shakes twice a day and Bella devoured a plate full of the mango and watermelon both days. Justin and I could sit by the pool with our banana daiquiris while Addie swam in the pool. Addie was in the pool and at the beach off and on for a good 8 or more hours on Saturday. She got a little too much sun that day but ate a ton of dinner and passed out cold that night at 7PM. The was in heaven.

It was really nice to see a different part of the Philippines since we've seen Boracay island twice before. There are tons of beautiful spots we want to see before we leave next year so we are planning our next beach weekend for May. We aren't sure where we will head this time. No matter where we go it's guaranteed to be a long trip there but spectacularly beautiful once we arrive.

The owner helping us out of the boat with our massive amounts of luggageThe boat I despise!We immediately checked out the beach.and the pool. The view was pretty spectacular.the hammock was awesome although it ended up being a swing not a napping spot for either Justin and I.Here Justin got a swift kick in the nether-regions. We joke that we may never have that third baby because Addie kicks him there so often. I still can't help but chuckle when it happens. I know, I'm terrible.Seriously cute babyview from our bungalowI was wishing I was that guy just sitting there reading his book.the eating area and front desk area of the resortAddie doing tricks in the poolI love those chubby baby thighsAddie had rocks and sand in every part of her swim suit, if we would have let Bella, she would have put every rock in her mouth.
Bella and I have the same look on our face in this shotMy favorite youngest daughterOur friends brought back the blow up duck after their dive on Saturday. Addie sang "Rubber Ducky your the one" for the rest of the afternoon.
Bella smiles like crazy when we put my glasses on her, it's the funniest thing.My sweet husband let me sleep in both mornings. He caught the sunrise on Sunday! That's like 5:45AM. He's so awesome. The girls were rearing to go early this trip. Bella was awake more than usual during the night. I don't know what I'd do without Justin. He's a great Dad!

Grandparent Easter Bunnies

The Easter Bunny delivered gifts to Grandpa and Grandma's house this year. My folks had to pass them to the girls in the mail. That sneaky Easter Bunny! Adelaide especially likes her new fancy party dress. She hasn't taken it off the past two days. So much for it being a special occasion dress or a picture dress. She's adopted is as her new princess gown. She gladly posed for me so we could share the photos with Grandpa and Grandma. I attempted to get both girls in their flower headbands. It didn't go so well (see photos at the bottom). Mommy and Daddy were especially thankful that the Easter Bunny threw in some See's chocolates and Robin's eggs! Thank you to the West Coast delivery from the Easter Bunny. It was wonderful. I am thrilled that Arabella is back to her happy self after spending the majority of the weak moaning and groaning and crying from her swollen gums. She was miserable and the only thing that helped was the infant Motrin. That stuff is a miracle! Today she was back to her happy playful self and giggled and laughed and practiced her walking skills. Just in time for our weekend away. Now we wait to see when those top teeth will pop through. She's getting her teeth late just like her cousin Riley! She's 11 months and still only the two bottom teeth. We are headed to Puerto Galera, Mindoro this weekend. We are pumped for a quick trip to the beach! Photos to follow as always.

little jab

As I rummaged through the pantry for green tea tonight, I found this and suddenly felt homesick. Sometimes all you need is a little tiny reminder of home and the memories come flooding back. This tea reminds me of fall at PLU, meeting friends for grilled cheese at the coffee shop for dinner, Saturday's spent at the library studying, and lots of daydreaming about graduating and being a big girl.

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny was rather sneaky and hid a basket for Adelaide and Arabella yesterday! Addie was pretty cute about finding her basket and then helping her sister locate hers. She was even good about accepting the Easter Bunny's request for her to share her Koko Black chocolate bunnies with her Mommy and Daddy! The new Barbie dresses were a big hit along with the Eve (from WALL-E) Pez dispenser. After our adventure the day before, getting out of the house for the Ayala Triangle Easter Egg Hunt before 9AM was a serious chore. Justin kept giving me the look like "why are we doing this?" and "this is all your fault!". I threw clothes on without a shower or even washing my face. We made it to the hunt and for the second time in two days were the ONLY white people in attendance. Of course, I was singled out to give an interview to a reporter about the event. I refused to give her my last name so Justin and I joked that it will be printed in the paper with "Interview of Sara, the white woman" in the byline. Addie collected Easter eggs with the other children at the park. The rules were for each child to gather 10 eggs. No parents were allowed to enter the egg hunting area. When they cut the ribbon the big kids ran and all the little ones three years and under just kind of stood there and Addie started crying. Daddy bear took over and told them to screw the rules and went to help Addie hunt for eggs. In typical Filipino fashion some of the kids grabbed garbage bags full of eggs and didn't think twice about sharing with the other children. Every man for himself even if you squash the little kids. We decided that our daughter didn't need lots of eggs anyhow but the principle of the matter still bugged us. It was especially annoying that the parents of the children didn't discourage the selfishness. When we got fed up that no one was queuing up to wait for the bouncy slide and instead pushing their child to the front we decided to leave. After Bella's nap we enjoyed an afternoon brunch buffet at The Peninsula with friends. It's a beautiful hotel with decadent food and they had an entire Easter celebration for the kids complete with cookie decorating and balloon sculptures. I savored the few relaxed moments of sipping my favorite hot loose leaf caramel tea when our friend Kristi took Addie into the play room. The lunch reminded me of how fun it is to be overseas in the situation where we are friends with amazing people we otherwise wouldn't know. We are truly blessed to have been given this awesome opportunity to live in the Philippines. We were all exhausted by Sunday evening. It was a busy weekend. Bella was so tired she went to bed at 6:30PM woke at 11PM and slept on through to morning. She woke briefly at 5:45 AM then back to sleep until 7:00 AM. She went down for her morning nap at 8:30 AM. Poor girl is exhausted!

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.

the last family on earth (or so it felt)

Holy week leaves Metro Manila, and particularly our neighborhood Makati, a ghost town. The entire Filipino population exits the city for their provinces to celebrate Good Friday and complete the Stations of the Cross. Some take it even further (do not view the link if children are present. The images are pretty gruesome).

We had the city to ourselves. Nothing is open so we stayed home for the most part. Arabella and I still nursing colds. We made it to the park and pool as well. We ended up going a bit stir crazy. It was really nice having Justin home Thursday and Friday.

This was the middle of the day on Thursday. There is usually four lanes of traffic crammed onto a two lane road. It was a little eerie how quiet it was.This sign is hanging on the walls outside buildings on the way to the park. It basically states that you can't urinate here. Public urination is still all over here. I see guys peeing on the side of the street every time I go for a car ride.The girls really enjoyed the park. Arabella is getting so big so fast. It's as if she's saying "you can't hold me back!". It was a million degrees and the middle of the day so we didn't stay long before all of us melted and couldn't wait to get back to our chilly apartment.We had a dance party at our house Friday. Addie requested the little iPod and then pulled up her favorite, the Black Eyed Peas. She puts on her club face and a tutu and grooves to the beats. She made sure her little sister had a tutu as well. Bella already knows that if you touch the iPod it lights up and she can turn it off or change the song. She is always trying to touch the iPod during our dance parties. Justin and I are getting extremely tired of "I'm a be" and anything on The E.N.D. for that matter.