Where else would you go on
2 January 2004?
 


They aren't as scary as they look.  Really!
 

 Island Cove
Bacoor, Philippines
 
First stop, our rented hut to drop off the 100 pounds of gear we'd brought for our day long outing with Tina, Kiko and their boys Meko (Mikael) and Sefo (Josef). Island Cove is a resort park 30-45 minutes south of Manila in Cavite province.  Then we hit the kiddie pool.  Arriving before 9:30 a.m., the water park was just opening and we had the freezing water to ourselves.  Jonathon turned into a popsicle but over time warmed up with the exertion. There were mini-slides, lots of things spraying all over and up to 2 feet of wading fun.


Don't ask me what he's surprised about, I have no idea. The cold?

But who can resist the call of the giant slides.  Oh sure the signs all said that children under 12 were NOT ALLOWED, but heck, our kids are the same size as most Filipino 12 year olds. And tandeming was NOT ALLOWED, but as long as we're breaking rules.... 
 


You think they enjoyed it?

Thankfully the boys wanted nothing to do with the slides, but Rebecca has developed a competitive streak with her sister.  Down the slide she went, and two more times for good measure.

Next to the kid pool was a volleyball court.  Dirty sand, but what do the kids care?


His swim shorts got "Dirty!" so off they went.  Thank goodness he still counts as a baby.


 

 <- Just because I could, and because he'll hate me for it later.  Hee.

Wait, did you think that chicken mom would miss out?  OK, I was goaded, kind of, but there I am.
 
And *whoosh* I go down.  In slow motion.
 

With a mighty splash I survived the drop.

A new favorite photo of the boys?  They're making this harder and harder to pick one. The towel robes were wonderful to have as the air temp was pleasant, but wet bodies still got chilled.


A lucky shot.
Not Just Swimming

After lunch (another adventure, as always.  Ever seen a waffle dog?) we went fishing.  The area is enclosed so we assume the fish are stocked.  And some folks really were catching. But not us.  It was either the bait (a sticky paste of something and something else) or the fact that kids could not stop bouncing the poles up and down or taking the hooks out of the water entirely.  I think they were trying to catch flying fish because those are the only things that could have caught the hooks at all.
Patiently waiting. "Come here bish!" Shake shake shake and the food drops off again. And again.

Having fun, and still waiting. The fish kept stealing the food.
Waiting some more. If one spot didn't work, they'd move to another. And another and another. Maybe waving it would work.  Nope. Bummer, no fish today.

So off to the playground where the teeter-totter was Jonathon's favorite and they all burned off the remaining energy. No, that's exaggerating.  We went back to the pool again before heading home. Isn't a 9:30-4:30 day long enough?
Next to the playground was a mini-zoo with more badly cared for monkeys, a pudgy iguana and lots of birds.  One of the monkeys was caring for a baby, another was eating a popsicle from a visitor, and the ostriches looked like they were getting plucked for Thanksgiving 2004 (they're big birds, must start now).
I was tired of Philippine "zoos" after the first one in Manila. Tina and Kiko were kind enough to entertain Jonathon with the animals.

If you were here, wouldn't you have done the same?