Days before this trip, we have reserved rooms at Puerto Del Sol in Bolinao, Pangasinan. For some reason, our reservation was not in any of their records. So we waited for almost an hour before we were given rooms.

While waiting, we bide time checking the pools and talking about school and work stuff. Husband’s cousin was asking if I know anything about online teaching degrees. I shared that there are now many of them that are NCATE accredited. We then checked out the beach. We were discussing more about online teaching degrees while I was looking at my steps, when I looked up and saw this, I must admit I was in awe, I had to take picture.

Anyway, let me share my review of our experience in this resort.

Good points:

Picture perfect. The pools, the casitas and the beach look great!

Casitas are spacious. Ours has two rooms: one has a king size bed and the other two single beds (smaller than a twin bed but big enough to accommodate two persons). The bathroom has bidet (number 1 requirement of my daughter), and the casita has cable tv and ref.

Beach was awesome. At 6am, I woke up to take photos and I was delighted that it was low tide and the water was so clear. I was happy that I was so far away from the shore and yet, the water was still shallow.

Look at this photo, if you look closely, you’ll see that my feet were underwater and that the water was just ankle high.

Bad points:
CRICKETS. Lots of them the night that we arrived… in the pools, walkways, and gosh, even in the dining table! Some rooms had lots of them too. We were told that was just because it rained. Hmmm.

Front desk isn’t open for 24 hours. My husband’s uncle and aunt wanted to change room as theirs was infested with crickets. They called the front desk, nobody was answering. They called security, same, nobody was answering. They had to walk to the office just to have their room changed.

Blogging from the Splash Mountain, and a bit sleepy, I squint at my teammate’s laptop while trying to browse for diamonds frames. Another team mate showed me hers and I want one for myself!

Speaking of Splash Mountain, I just want to share that I hate it!

Like I blogged last night, I’ve been looking forward to bringing our little girl to their kiddie activity area. In fact, I’ve asked my teammate, who’s also one of the organizers of this offsite to call them to ask if resort dorm is near the kiddie activity area. And they informed us that yes it is just walking distance.

Oh yes it is very near! BUT they didn’t inform us that it is CLOSED on weekdays!
FRUSTRATING!!! Argh!

And yes, the photos in their website are deceiving.

To be honest, I don’t mind if my daughter wears rejects as long as she feels comfortable. I always look out for pants and leggings as she uses them often in school. They usually play outside and her favorites are the playhouse, where she pretends to have walk in tubs, and of course, the slide. While she wears dresses and skirts in church and anywhere that won’t require too much physical activities.

Anyway, I had stumbled on decent rejects, or so they claimed, from a local stall. If they are rejects, then they must look and feel just the same, right?

I also bought two original dresses, same style just in different colors, from the online site. I just thought I’d share the difference that I’ve observed.

From afar, they look the same!

But if you look closely, you’d notice that the logo of the supposed “rejects” is not sewn as good as the original ones.

And, the original’s collar is sewn to the dress with a different fabric, not of the same fabric.

The biggest difference? The original ones feel so soft to the skin, perfect for babies and toddlers.

Today, my daughter (together with kids of friends) had a grand time playing at the newest branch of Active Fun located at the 3rd level of SM Annex.

The kids had fun swimming in the pool of balls, going up and down the padded steps and stairs, and sliding down the giant slides, while mommies had fun taking pictures paparazzo-style. These are just some of the many fun things for the kids in the place.

Wouldn’t it be nice to spend your kid’s birthday in such fun place?

Active Fun have several party packages for the perfect party with invitations, lootbags, cake and of course, unlimited play! Click on the photo below to view the packages.

Click on the thumbnail below to see a wide-angled view of the place.

More photos will be uploaded to my Facebook and Flickr soon. Stay tuned.

Sunday night, we had dinner with my parents and siblings at Adarna Food and Culture located along Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City.

Great: Ambience is very good. It’s like eating at your grandmother’s house in the province, very cozy just like home. I also liked the furniture and decors. I’d say it is a very interesting place for photography enthusiasts.

Good: I liked their rellenong bangus paired with pickled ampalaya. Felicidad was good too according to my siblings who tried it.

Bad: I don’t know if it’s just Sunday but I felt that they were short-staffed. I had to follow up on our iced teas twice. And maybe I was full from a previous party that I didn’t like their seafood special.

Can you guess what this is?

Anyway, my dad shared his Cagayan de Oro (versus his Davao) escapades while my mom shared that my aunt was bugging her, asking if I know any used rv for sale. Also, it was a good decision I didn’t wear my skirt which was the same with the skirt that I gave my sister because she’s wearing it tonight. My brother has a new tattoo with “arkitekto” on it. While the other brother reminded me of their band’s pictorial.

I thought I took many pictures but when I got home I realized I took less than twenty shots. And not any one of them included me or my husband.

Last weekend, we went to Pansol for hubby’s team outing. The place is called Casita de Anna Maria. In my opinion, the place was beautiful, the pool was clean and the place was well-kept. There were three rooms at the third floor, all air-conditioned. The second floor was a spacious hall where there were tables and chairs, which could serve as a function room. We ate our lunch, dinner and breakfast in this floor. And of course, the ground floor was the lounge area facing the pool.

Good points: I think I’ve mentioned the good points.
Minus points: the three rooms weren’t enough to accommodate 30 persons comfortably, plus the rent was more expensive compared to the surrounding competitions.
Extra: the payment included the caretakers running for errands and cooking for dinner and breakfast.

It was a nice place for a simple photo opp. There were three (or four?) DLSR’s circulating and Mikee had several pictures. Too bad I didn’t bring our EHD, I could have copied some pictures from their memory sticks.

Good thing though, I was able to take some shots with our handy digicam. Here are some: