You see, when we booked this trip to the beach, I planned on getting the best tan ever. But when I found out our other family trip is scheduled 2 weeks after our trip to the beach, I have a change of heart. I don’t want to end up looking toasted in our (family trip) photobook.

So I guess I have to look for one of those modern outdoor seating with canopy… and hibernate? Hahaha. I’m torn between having the best summer trip and having the best out-of-country photos. I know I just need to choose one.

I’ve been wanting to just lounge and waste away time under the sun. Tsk.
Seriously, is it possible?

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.

While they discuss the pros and cons of going in spite of the rain, my mind was flying, thinking of my brother’s draft of their wedding invitations that he emailed me. I can’t remember if I have replied with my comments.

Guess what? The rain suddenly stopped and the sun shone. Amazing, isn’t it?

At noon, we decided to go. First stop was the Governor’s island. Unfortunately for me, since I am pregnant, I stayed at the foot of the island and just took some pictures. So yes, I don’t have any of those usual photos of the island looking down at the sea. We stayed there for approximately 30 minutes.

Next stop was actually in the middle of the water for guests to snorkel. There was a ramp where our boat was anchored, and they were given life vests and snorkels (rented). This lasted for about 30 minutes too.

Our third stop is my favorite. It was the Marcos island. This was where my daughter played and built sand castles. I also stayed in the sand to cool off. We stayed here for an hour.

We were asked if we still want to stop over this or that island twice, but we declined. But we agreed to stop by the children’s island. We didn’t enjoy it much and I was too tired to even take photos. We got back at around 4pm. I’d say that was 4 hours well spent!

Friends have been around the continent for summer. I couldn’t help but admire their photos and wish I, with the husband and daughter, could get a taste of the culture and food too as they did. My aunt also asked my sister to post photos of their China trip way back in 2007. And one couple friend will be in a Mediterranean cruise. Wow, right? I’ve also been seeing these awesome Branson vacation packages.

Hmmm, it’s now only six months (and 1 week) to go before this year ends. Maybe I could wait before we go again for another family trip, and keep my promise.

Same with our Singapore trip, I wouldn’t mind going back there. What I would include in the itinerary is the bird park and other parts of Sentosa such as the Siloso beach and underwater world. And I would definitely bring swimwear and pool floats for our daughter. I guess I still can’t over that my daughter expressed her desire to swim twice during that trip. First, inside our lodge which has a pool, and second, in the wet play area of Singapore zoo. You see, she’s not much of a fan of water, be it pool, showers or fountains. So I probably saw it in the Singapore zoo website that they have a wet play area, I probably just brushed it off. Sigh.

In the Ancient Egypt, there’s The Mummy ride for adults and there’s also Treasure Hunters ride that kids can enjoy. Same with Sci-Fi City. While it boasts of the two Battlestar Galactica tracks, which are both for adults, it also has a whirling twirling attraction called Accelerator, which caters to the young ones.

There’s no need to take some special hgh supplements, not even Bonamine, as this ride is not as dizzying as it looks. Like I previously said, this ride is for kids so don’t expect too much. It’s not a ride where you expect to throw up.

Revenge of the Mummy, according to my husband, felt like the Space Mountain ride in HK Disneyland. It is an indoor roller coaster with very little lights. Again, I was too afraid to ride it.

So we just waited again outside the ride. It was the perfect time for me to take some rest from too much walking. I didn’t notice how long the ride was as I was thinking of manual directory submission. Anyway, this time, husband didn’t get his photo from the ride because he said he looked awful on the photo.

I planned on riding the Treasure Hunters jeep with our little girl but when we got there, we were told that they were having some technical problems. Tsk tsk.