Boracay, Philippines

Michael and I were lucky enough to be able to take a trip, just the 2 of us, to a small island in the Philippines called Boracay. It was amazing! The beach, snorkeling, warm weather, boat rides, sunsets and just being together! We are so blessed!

We did have some flight troubles getting there but we finally made it after a 24 hour delay in Manila. (The capital of the Philippines.) Thankfully, a good friend of mine is from there and she was able to help us trough our delay. And she met us for our night there and showed us around. Anyway, even with our flight issues, we had a fantastic time. It defiantly ranks towards the top of our list as far as vacations go. And we are planning on taking the boys there next year. Here are a few pictures. I took almost 200 but these are a few highlights.

Sitting on the beach in front of our resort looking to the right.

Looking to the left.

This is Crocodile Island. One of the days we rented a boat for just the 2 of us and went snorkeling and island hopping. This was one of the islands we went to. Awesome snorkeling here! Michael and I have snorkeled in Aruba before and thought that was great. But this was WAY better! Amazing corals and such beautiful marine animals. Wish we had a waterproof camera so we could have taken some underwater pics. :-(

Another of the islands we visited. This one has 2 caves we were able to explore. So beautiful!

In the entrance to one of the caves.

Michael in the other cave.

Back at the beach!

Ah, the sunsets were to die for! Just amazing!

I must have taken over 50 pictures of just the sunsets! They were just so beautiful!

Maddox is 4!

Hello out there to my blog readers...all 3 of you! :-) Sorry I have been so lousy with updates. We had a very busy, eventful, and quick summer over here. And China has this website permanently blocked so I keep having to find new ways to access it illegally. I'm such a law-breaker!!!

Anywho, Maddox turned 4 a couple weeks ago and we had a "FISH" themed party with good friends to celebrate. This year Michael and I decided to have the party at our apartment's clubhouse. Let me say it was totally worth the cost. Not having to prepare food (other than the cupcakes), pre-clean or post clean was awesome! And all the guests enjoyed the food buffet, the pools for swimming and the "beach." It worked out well with the theme too! Below are some pics.

The boys checking out the gift from Michael and I.

Gabe got some of this train set for Christmas last year and Maddox got the rest for his birthday. The boys love it! And so do I!

Making sand angels.

Before Maddox could blow out the candles the wind did it for him! His reaction was hilarious!!

Now he did it!

Eclipse

I was super excited to be on the side of the world where one could view the longest solar eclipse in the 21st century! Sadly, I was on the tail end of a 24 hours stomach virus but I knew I HAD to suck it up to see the eclipse!! So that morning the boys and I headed outside to watch a little piece of history transpire.

Needless to say it was amazing! And the boys thought it was awesome too! Here are some pictures of the boys watching the eclipse.

Yes, they are in my bathtub! We got outside to watch and within 2 minutes the sky clouded over and it started to rain. :-( So inside we went to watch on TV. But, all of our TV's get an illegal satellite from the Philippines and so there was no coverage. With the exception of my bathroom TV. So there is where we camped out. Maddox was convinced if he looked hard enough he would be able to "see the Sun melt away!"

A crestfallen Maddox finally gave up and decided to watch the it on TV.

This picture was taken at 9:46 am. Looks similar to the night time photo in the previous posts.

It was SO DARK!