A Quick Update

Sorry it has taken sooooo long to update the blog, but November & December were exceptionally busy as you can imagine!!!

At the end of October we went away for the weekend with some friends of ours to a place called Coco Beach. It is on the next island south, taking a 3 hour drive to the pier (a bit of beach at the back of someone's house!), then a one hour boat trip. It is a place made entirely from natural materials with few modern amenities. In a nutshell, a nipa hut, cold showers and no air-con. The boys loved it, because they got to sleep under mosquito nets which they'd never done before. Johnny didn't much like the cold showers!! And I just loved it!

We stayed for 3 or 4 nights, along with half a dozen other ex-pat couples from the same village as ours, so the kids had loads of other people to play with. We got a boat to another small island, where Bradley took to snorkeling like the proverbial fish!! He thought it was great, and we couldn't get him out of the water!! Adam of course wanted to go in the sea with John & Bradley, so Lydia (our helper), being the star she is, went in the sea with him, just so Adam could be one of the big boys!! Those who know me better, know that I hate the sea!! However, even I succumbed to the snorkeling, seeing all of the beautiful fish & pretty colourful coral. But a quick look is enough for me, and I'm more than happy to leave it to the boys!!!

Other entertainment included the swimming pools. The main one was good fun, putting on pillow fights across the pool, which John was desperate to play, even though all the other players were under 10!! He got his wish though & after knocking off the reigning champion - a 17 yr old who John reckoned was built like a man and was very strong!! - John stayed on to knock off a few 10 yr olds, then met his match when another 40 yr old challenged him!! To be fair, they both went into the water, and finally, that was the end of that!!

The other pool was "The Silent Pool", a 10 minute climb up the hillside. It was just OK, nothing special, but the coolest thing was how we got back down to the main area - a Jeepney on a railway track!!! Don't ask me why we climbed UP and then took a ride DOWN, but hey, we got to have an hour on a deck chair while the kids played safely at the playground.

The food was OK in this place, nothing special, but plenty good enough for us!! There was a revolving restaurant that we ate in on our last night, that used to be rotated by a couple of guys turning a handle (honestly!!). But after a while, we had to ask them to stop the rotation (there was only us and one other couple in the restaurant), because we were starting to feel a bit sea sick!!!

On the boat going back to the mainland on our way home, our attention was brought to a group of dolphins swimming alongside the boat. I have to say, that made the weekend ever so special!!

~~~~~~

Our next break was at the end of November to Shangri-La on Mactan Island. Just the four of us went this time, we took a 45 min flight from the nicer airport out of Manila, and after a 10 min drive at the other end, we were in the lap of luxury! VERY different to Coco Beach!!

We arrived quite late on the Thursday night, which meant we had 3 full days at the beach/pool. The beach was lovely, the pools were great, the restaurants were all good, and there was lots & lots for the kids to do - if you had children who wanted to do it!! Adam was grumpy the whole weekend, and cried at just about anything. Bradley was pretty good - enjoying the sea, and the pools, but would quickly get fed up with Adam & start arguing. He was also very anxious, so much so, that after the Friday night's fiasco of a screaming Bradley being left with the babysitter in the room, we just didn't bother again!! We bought a pack of cards & a couple of beers & sat on the balcony for the following night!!

The resort itself was really great, and has so much there. We're going to give it another go, and hopefully the boys will enjoy it a bit more next time, which means we'll enjoy it a lot more too. Also, a few days after we got back, Adam was diagnosed with Hand, Foot & Mouth disease, so that's why he was so grumpy!!! How guilty did we feel??!!!!

~~~~~~

As most of you know, we came home for Christmas, and what a treat that was!! The first half of December had been absolutely hectic, with 3 parties in one day the weekend before we left. We attended our sons' Christmas shows, which were such a hoot!! Bradley's was very good, and a very sparkly, showbiz kind of affair. He was a reindeer this year, and we went to town on getting the costumes for him & his classmates, but they looked great!!

Adam's was hilarious, but all for the wrong reasons!! It was comical to watch a group of 2 yr olds standing on the stage and look upon their audience in absolute awe, while their teachers are frantically singing, performing the actions to the songs, and trying to keep the little ones on the stage, while still smiling!!! A couple of them were getting into it, dancing around, but they only really became animated when the instruments came out, and they could follow their teachers' directions, who were desperately trying to get some reaction from the kids!!! After a disastrous first meeting between a screaming Adam & Santa - "I don't like Santa, I scared!", he soon calmed down when he saw the food in the party room.

Our trip home was short, but very sweet, and we had a fantastic time!! It was really great to see all of our family and friends again, so much so, that I didn't want to come back to Manila, and had quite a bit of adjusting to do, when we got back!!

Still, we're 3 weeks in now, and all is well. We are all back into the swing of things. John completed the roller coaster of his first year end at work. Bradley went back to school and has had quite a few play dates over. And I've been my usual busy self...... Read two books, had a facial and a massage, been going to the gym, lunch with the girls, dinner with the girls, etc etc etc

The boys have had their hair cut now we're back in the tropics, and I'm off for mine on Friday.

Until next time........