(Daddy recounts)
Following the previous day's adventure at sea, Day FOUR was planned to be a totally relaxing chill day at the resort. That would mean more dipping in the sea and pool again I reckon.
The boys remembered about the stretch of beach opposite our resort, so it came as no surprise where they wanted to go that morning.
The tide wasn't exactly that low for us to wade across.
Besides, the sumptuous buffet breakfast that I had earlier still weighed heavily in my belly. So the sloth in me did the next best thing.
Hassle-free transport. Who can argue with that?
After 5 minutes, we were on the opposite side with a nice view of our resort.
The water seemed to be a little clearer than the resort side, perhaps due to lesser human activity.
There were 2 large observation decks which look out to the open sea, where the sea sports activities took place.
Ayd took my tee by the way, because he was getting cold from cool sea breeze. I knew my body fats would come in useful one day.
But he returned my tee once we hopped onto our free transport back. Perhaps to act macho? Haha.
We lingered on for a while more on the beach, before moving onto the resort pool - to wash away the sand you know.
Even though we spent the entire morning in the resort, time still somehow passed by so quickly and soon our tummies were calling out for lunch.
And after a quick wash up, we decided to venture out to search for food - this time to Maribago Grill for what else, more sio bak (or roasted pork)! Slurp.
The setting was pretty nice, with individual dining huts. Mosquito coils were provided in abundance, so no prizes for guessing which insect was the menace there.
Lunch is usually followed by nap time and considering the previous day exertions, I think all 3 monkies badly needed the recharge.
True enough, all 3 of them were bouncing off the walls upon awakening. Only one place to bring them, and the one place they still just can't get enough of.
I guess the pictures say it all.
And this time, Ayd got his chance to get real up close to some starfishes.
He missed them the day before because he was too tired to venture out of the room after our adventures at sea. So he was extremely delighted to finally hold some in his hands, especially after hearing about it from his older brother.
In fact, we stumbled onto a huge area which was full of starfishes which the monkies termed it as 'The Star Pit'.
And these stars can actually crawl really fast!
See the starfish on the right 'walking' away and falling off Ayd's arm? He was absolutely tickled by it! Heh.
I think we could never ever get sick of the beach here in Cebu, especially the one at Maribago Resort. The waves were very mild - perfect for young kids. And for adults like me too, so that I can nuah with a peace of mind.
As for the little Diva, she was most definitely thrilled with her surroundings - looking for every possible moment to inch closer to the water.
But luckily for the wifey & I, she was also contented to watch her 2 older brothers splash it out in the sea.
Or maybe sometimes it was the cool sea breeze that made her light up with laughter.
Erm, or maybe some yummy food in the horizon perhaps?
Food like fresh oysters and to-die-for cocktails???
Yah, just one word to describe.
No wonder the missus was delirious over the small treat. :)
With the adults high (a bit only!) on alcohol, and the monkies high (a lot a lot!) on adrenaline, it was perhaps a fitting end to our lazy day at the resort.
Day FIVE, and it was earmarked as shopping day where we decided to head down to the largest mall in Cebu. The SM City Mall in Cebu city was only a 30 minute cab ride away from our resort on Mactan Island.
And to our surprise, it was actually really quite huge with lots of shops and food outlets. It definitely wasn't some mall with uninspiring dodgy shops with nothing to do. In fact, if you were feeling patriotic, you could grab a bun at Breadtalk or slip on a pair of shoes at Charles & Keith there!
But if you have kids, you would also know that there has to be something at the mall to capture their attention. Else, the entire shopping trip would be inundated with 'Are we done yet???' questions.
So fortunately, there was a pretty large amusement arcade in the basement of the mall to placate them.
Best of all, each token costs only 6 pesos which is about 17 cents! My jaw nearly went crashing to the floor when I went to buy some tokens. We could have stayed there all day if the monkies wanted to.
Erm, okay I take that back. I still want to do my shopping.
But the boys did go wild at the arcade, and I gladly allowed them to 'cos most games only needed 1 token. Not to mention because of the free wifi there,I could catch up on my Facebook updates. Hee.
There were other types of amusement rides as well, like the merry-go-round and airplane rides. But of course, the shopping was great too. For the adults!
We knew, though, that shopping with 3 monkies was never going to be easy. And as expected, all 3 became weary by mid-afternoon. So common sense prevailed - we halted our shopping exercise and made our way back to our resort.
And as if by virtue of a miracle, all 3 were bouncing and full of energy as soon as we stepped into our room. Conspiracy? Highly plausible if you ask me.
Do I even need to say where we ended up for the rest of the afternoon?
I even caught a glimpse of their accomplice during their time on the sand.
When dinner time finally arrived, we had our first McDonald's meal in Cebu. So that Ash & Ayd fulfill their wishes of having cheeseburger and McSpaghetti respectively. Faint.
With that, it marked an end to our final full day at this resort as we would be moving on to another resort the following day. A resort that ultimately proved to be unbelievably loved by the 2 boys!