Bye Bye Bohol

Today is our last full beach day!  Tomorrow we will visit the Tarsier Sanctuary on the way to the ferry and head back to Cebu (Jen and Andrey's house) for one more night and then it's off to Thailand!!  We have done a lot of relaxing here.  We are at the beach by 8 am (Nya still up at 5:30 am) and then the pool and then Nya's first nap:)  

We do a lot of walking and I've finally had a chance to start reading!! Yes.  Good book. `A Walk Across the Sun'  which my friend Lynette let me borrow.

So, I will try to have few words...mostly photos. Enjoy.

{Amazing smoothies here!  Such fresh fruit.  Koen spilt his the second he got it so we had to buy another one. }

{Dance party}

{Koen chatting up all of the vendors}

{Kai was petrified of jellyfish but we googled whether there were jellyfish here and I could show him that there are not!  Problem solved.  Thank you google.}

{Walking through the resort to the beach}

{We saw many sea stars and sea urchins.  Not as many fish as Moalboal but we are also in the touristy area}

{Above shows Koen as he is all the time. Go, go, go.}

{Gary got a fresh crab dinner}

{Our beauties}

{Highlight was finally snorkeling with Kai Bear}

{Many spiny starfish}

{I did get a half hour massage today.  On the beach, $5.00, so awesome.}

{I always have kids attached to me.  It's best to have the boys separated or there is a full out wrestle fest on the beach.}

{Koen has found many `dinosaur bones'.  So much coral.}

{The boys have invented a new game combining Pokemon and Cars.  Keeps them nice and busy during our one hour down time each day.}

{Our house with Koen and his newest bloody knee.  All the kids have messed up knees.}

{And, the highlight of today?  A water vending machine where you put in 1 peso (3 cents) and pick a bag to fill with water.  The kids LOVED it even though you can't tell based on Kai's face.}

All right, off to dinner!  We've been making our own breakfasts and lunches and then eating dinner on the beach!  Trish, you asked about the kitchen outside...it keeps our home cooler and keeps the ants out!  

The Philippines are known for mangoes and pearls.  I may have bought Nya a pearl bracelet today.  She is currently wearing it as an anklet.  Real pearls...cost just $6.00.  So cute! The boys each picked a bracelet too, although not a pearl one:) 

All righty.  We're outta here!

Love, Team Chapman from Alona Beach, Bohol, Philippines.

Bohol; On Our Own

We are currently in Bohol and are now on our own!  We were just a tad bit nervous about travelling on our own but it was totally fine.  Just from yesterday...we went to the mall in  Cebu.  That is the big thing to do in Cebu.  It is massive and the parking lots are CRAZY.  This first picture is kind of silly but it shows you by the lights which spots are taken and where there are free spots (with the red and green lights).  Cool huh?

Our first family photo on the trip is taken at Jollibee's. So funny.  It's the most popular fast food restaurant here and there are soooooo many of them.  We ate there once, don't need to again!

Koen had the fried chicken and the spaghetti with sweet sauce.  They like their sauce very sweet.  I do not.  Filipino's love their chicken and pork.  Koen's meal below was 100 pesos which is equivalent to $2.50. What is a lot cheaper than home?  Mangoes and pineapples!! Yum!!

Ate (auntie pronounced `Ah-tay) Jen reading `The Gruffalow'.  She also read another book about a groovy button and that song has been in our heads all day long:)  

Jen and Andrey hosted a bbq which was really nice last night.  Yummy grilled veggies and chicken!  Nice to meet some of their friends too.  Jen and Andrey are amazing hosts and we wouldn't have done this trip without them! 

Everyone wants a picture with Ella!  

Have I mentioned how much everyone loves Nya?  Non stop `Hi baby!' and taking photos of her.  They don't care about the rest of us at all...it's kind of interesting.

{Teething Nya keeps her tongue out all the time, drives Koen bonkers and he keeps trying to push it back in}

Today we took a taxi so the port and went on our first fast ferry.  It was a 2 hour ride to a local touristy island.  It was a very fast ferry.

The kids each got a dunkin donut, I got a mango smoothie (so good here!), and Gary got fries :)

Nya loves the smoothie!  Nya is not my favourite to travel with.  She has started shrieking non stop.  This makes me so nervous for our bigger flights.  Today I just ended up giving her half a gravol and then breastfeeding her and then finally she passed out with just 20 minutes left to go.  She is a stubborn one, folks.

Then, we took a taxi so the south end of the island where our `resort' is.  It's actually across the street from the nice resorts.  Therefore, instead of spending $150/night, we spend $40:)  We have two double beds, a kitchen, pool and air conditioning.  We can walk through the resort on the other side of the street and be at the beach in just 3 minutes.  It's pretty awesome.  It was recommended on trip advisor and is called `Alonaland Resort'.  It's also a lot quieter than being with all the other resorts!

{Walking around the resort}

We are just 20 feet from the pool.  We were in it within 5 minutes of arriving and it cooled us off nicely :)

We walked around the beach for a bit.  It is pretty touristy but we still have yet to see a Caucasian family with kids!  Some couples but that's it.  There are actually a lot of families from  China here.

{Koen and Nya were VERY tired so we didn't stay at the beach long tonight.  We will go back in the morning.  We put them to bed by 6:30pm tonight so hopefully that helps!}

You can get a one hour massage on the beach for 300 pesos ($7.50).  Crazy.  We'll see if I do it.  It would be a bit difficult for Gary to manage the 3 kids for an hour on his own, at the beach.  I would say that 1-10 times an hour I think, `Oh man, this would be so easy/romantic/fun if it was just Gary and I!'  but then I think `I would rather do it with the kids than without them'.  But wow, they are tiring.  Nya may have had her first time out several times today for shrieking non stop.  I've never given a one year old a time out but I think she got it.

If Nya was 4, it would be a WAY easier trip but I really didn't want to put it off for another 3 years.

The beach is really pretty.  There is a lot of English here so it is really easy to get around.

Kai and I are reading `Charlotte's Web' together right now.  Two chapters left!  Then, it's on to `Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.

And, here I am blogging away.  The kids are now asleep so I may head in and sleep in the nice air conditioned room!  Nya has been getting up 1-3 times a night.  I'm exhausted.  

Do you see our kitchen here outside?  So handy! We bought most of our groceries yesterday so we will probably only go out for dinner.  Great way to save money with 5 people and it ends up being less stressful too :)

Thankful for safety and health and friends and beaches.

Love, Team Chapman