Coco Grove

Because the Embassy observes both American and local holidays, Easter weekend was a five day weekend for us. Hooray! It was also the weekend of our fifth anniversary so we went on our first trip together outside of Manila. We stayed at a beautiful resort called Coco Grove on the small island Siquijor. I looked at pictures online so I expected the island and beaches to be beautiful, but I was still awed by how lovely it actually was in person. I kept telling James that everything was so gorgeous that being there didn't seem real! Coco Grove is a very spacious resort, so although we were there during their peak season we still felt as though we had the place to ourselves. It seemed the other guests preferred the pools to the beach because most of the time the beach was empty. They have two restaurants at the resort and the food was great and prices were much cheaper than even eating out in Manila. The mango and pineapple smoothies were delicious and the girls loved them. It was a very relaxing weekend and I'm grateful for such a fun and memorable anniversary.

We started out the day by taking Adelaide to a big indoor play area. She was so happy to have her best friend here all to herself! A couple times when she has been around him and other kids at the same time, I found her pouting and she tried to explain that she doesn't like sharing him. They play very cute together and had a great time.








After James came home from work we walked to a nearby shopping area that has many restaurant options, including several American ones. We told Addy she could pick where we'd eat that night and we kept walking until she stopped in front of "The Texas Roadhouse." She was happy with her choice because they had wonderful mango smoothies.




They brought Addy ice cream and sang her a crazy Filipino version of happy birthday. The poor girl looked scared to death while they were singing to her! But she was happy after they left and she quickly devoured her ice cream.











I didn't have a cake mix and I did not feel like making a cake recipe from scratch, so we decided to take Addy to the cutest cupcake bakery I've ever seen. She was thrilled to pick out her own cupcake. They put the cupcake in a pretty blue box and boy she treated that cupcake like it was the most precious gift! I've walked past the shop many times and assumed the cupcakes would be very pricy. I was pleasantly surprised by how inexpensive they actually were.
















After discovering how cheap the cupcakes are at that bakery, I decide to go to another bakery and let her pick out a birthday cake as well. She chose a pink cake and was thrilled when we cut it open and it was purple inside. Purple is still her favorite color. Before we moved here I bought Addy some cute wood puzzles and planned to do a puzzle themed party for her birthday because she loves puzzles so much. I had ideas for puzzle decorations and puzzle games and was very excited about it. But once we arrived I became too focused on trying to get settled and I had no motivation to finish planning her puzzle party. The good thing though is that Addy could care less about not having a fancy puzzle party, in fact she never even knew she was going to have one. She had a happy day and that's all that matters. We sure love our sweet 4 year old!

Orange flowers

On Sunday Adelaide wanted to wear her "Philippines dress" to church on Sunday. It was very cute how happy she was about wearing her Philippines dress in the Philippines. Our apartment is no longer the Philippines, she now calls it our home and the Philippines is Manila. I tried explaining the concept of a country to her but it was too confusing.

After church we went on a walk and she found a a bush with little orange flowers that look just like the orange flowers in her dress. She said she loved them and she wanted to pick them all, but I told her she could take two and just admire the rest of them.











Torah wasn't in a picture taking mood but she enjoyed playing with our water bottles.

Our first 3 days in Manila

After being on an airplane for over 18 hours, we were so happy to arrive in Manila around midnight on March 3rd. The girls slept for much of the flight and were wide awake when we arrived. I'll never forget how excited they both were when we entered our new home. Adelaide enthusiastically ran from one room to another with Torah was right at her heals, scooting as fast as she could to keep up with her sister. We started talking to Addy about moving to Manila quite a few months ago, therefore she had a long time anticipate the move and get excited about it. Two days ago Addy recognized our apartment from a distance and exclaimed "Look, I see the Philippines!" I didn't realize she thought the Philippines is the name of our new home, not the country we are now living in. Anyway, we got the girls to sleep around 3:00 am and two hours later they were both up again ready to continue exploring our apartment. A few hours later our friends came over to pick us up and take us to their home, which is about ten or fifteen minutes away.


Checking out the view from our Balcony and Torah getting acquainted with her new friend.








Hanna is a super cute girl. She was obsessed with sharing her sippy cup with Torah. Torah loved it!








We were so jet lagged the first few days. The girls would fall asleep at unexpected times throughout the day. One morning Addy slipped away into her room with her breakfast and I found her sleeping with her cereal.



Sunday we went to church at our new branch. Everyone was very kind and Adelaide enjoyed her primary class. Monday James went into work and I took the girls downstairs to swim. Since that afternoon at the pool, every single day (sometimes more than once) Adelaide will say "Mom, I want to stay here." She'll say this completely out of the blue and I'm not sure why she keeps asking and does not trust us that we're serious when we tell her we will be here a long, long time. Because she started saying this right after swimming, I think that in her mind, living somewhere with a pool is just too good to be true. Haha, right now as I'm typing this Adelaide came up to me and again said, "I want to stay here. I like the Philippines much more better." It sure makes me happy to know that she is happy here.