Philippines Pt. 1- Plantation Bay, Cebu

 We spent the first three nights of our trip to Philippines at an amazing resort in Cebu called Plantation Bay. A friend was kind enough to offer her husband's corporate discount for our booking, which was an offer we couldn't refuse! We really loved the resort- the staff were so friendly (and tipping is not allowed there, unlike other resorts, so they didn't even have ulterior motives- they just were nice!), and it seemed like every detail had been thought of to make it a fun and relaxing stay. 

 The girls loved the huge jacuzzi tub in our hotel room. I think the bathroom was probably bigger than their bedroom is here in HK, so we enjoyed the extra space!

 We had a "poolside room", which meant we had a little patio leading out to this pool, which was shared with the other rooms in a little cluster. The water wasn't deep, and our girls are thankfully old enough that it didn't feel dangerous. They loved swimming in it and playing around it, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. 

 Walking to breakfast on the first morning. 

 The resort had several "jeepneys" that you could hop on if you wanted to go from one part to another. 

 The whole place was practically one big pool. There were lagoons and waterslides and even though it was all man(human)-made it was still really nice. You wouldn't think so if you read the reviews on Trip Advisor though. Why do people complain so much?! 

 The beach was really small, but the sand was soft. I've seen pictures and have been told of amazing beaches in the Philippines, but I think you have to island-hop to get to them, and with young kids, traveling directly to Cebu was the simplest for us. We just were surprised that the beaches were so small, and in the case of the next place we stayed, basically non-existant. 

We were told that they were filming a Filipino movie on the beach. 

This girl loves the water! Never gets old!

  

 In addition to the Jeepney's there were also horse-drawn carriages to take you where you wanted to go (or to give you a ride just for fun!). Like seriously, how can you complain about a place like this?!

 After going down the waterslide countless times and swimming in the ocean, Annika still wanted to keep on swimming and playing in the water. 

 The view of our room and patio. 

 There was even a Chinese New Year parade complete with drums and dragons! 

 We didn't even need to battle the crowds of Hong Kong to see this...

Annika on the waterslide that she loved so much.

One final glance from the lobby as we checked out of beautiful Plantation Bay!

This is what January 31 looks like in Hong Kong...

 I'm not sure why, but we rarely venture down to the clubhouse these days. I find the time goes by so fast from after school until bedtime, and the girls don't ask to go lately, so we don't think to take them. But this afternoon when Leila suggested we go down to play, I couldn't even remember the last time we'd been. So I grabbed the camera, and we all enjoyed the sunshine while they wore off some steam. 

 Last week Annika lost another one of her top teeth, so now she has a row of three that are out. She's been toothless since summer! Where are those front teeth? Should I be worried?

 This is Leila's grin lately. She looks like such a goof! 

 Yup, January 31!!! This year we've noticed that December was much colder than it was last December, but this January was waaaaaaay warmer than last year. And way sunnier. Last year was very drizzly, grey, and cold. Now I'm curious how this February will compare to last February. My hopes are up for nice weather, at least while Rita is in town. No rain, please!

 

 We often reflect on how blessed we are to be living in this mild climate. We are not taking it for granted, and are trying to enjoy every minute! I'm sure there will be many cold, snowy winters ahead of us, so it was so nice to enjoy this beautiful last day of January!

"Fun Day"

I'm always really impressed with people who are creative at coming up with costumes for Halloween or costume parties, etc. That's not something I am very good at, or care that much about. So when Mike and Annika told me that this month's "Fun Day" was "Dress Up As Your Favorite Movie Character OR Bible Character", I just thought "oh goodness... how and where am I supposed to come up with costumes when we don't really have anything that looks like a movie character OR a Bible character?" 

I don't think Mike is all that gifted in creative costuming either, so we both chose to put it out of our minds until the evening before this aforementioned "Fun Day". So, we ended up making a quick trip to the Mong Kok market and ducked into the first stall that had anything remotely costume-ish. Out came a Fantastic Mr. Fox and a stunning Cinderella. Done and done!

But the best line of the day came from Leila when I was helping Annika get her Cinderella costume on, and I was saying to her how lucky she was to have this pretty costume and how much I would have liked something like that when I was six. Leila turned to me and said "You mean there wuh no stow-ahs (stores) when you were six? Just a dusty old fah-wam (farm)?" That really made me LOL, even though it was only about 6:30 in the morning!