(Daddy recounts)
Day SIX, and it was time to check out of our wonderful Maribago Bluewater Resort. It had been an enjoyable 5 nights staying so close to the beach, and the wifey & I both agreed that this has so far been one of the best beach holidays thus far.
Even with the extra chores that come with bringing along an infant on holiday.
To mei-mei's credit, she had been quite an easy baby on this trip - her ability to sleep anywhere has been a huge plus, as well as seeing how much she (& the 2 boys) loved playing in the water has made it all worthwhile. :)
So, it came as no surprise that the 2 older monkies wanted to say their final farewell to the resort pool before we vacated our room.
The deserted pool only shows how early we were at the pool, all because they wanted to go "many many many times" on the slide before we leave.
I also found out that they are apparently immune to low temperatures as well, because the pool water was C.O.L.D.
And I only knew the extent of the coldness because I was, erm, coerced into jumping into the pool with them.
Ale, though, was banned from dipping in the pool as she had a mild running nose. So she could only watch in envy from the sidelines. But I could tell the wifey was ever so grateful for the running nose - she's frightful of the cold you see.
So it was just left to me to brave the cold.
The boys didn't have an issue with the cold water in the first place, as you can clearly tell.
Then, it was time to move on to our next resort where we would spend our 2 remaining nights in Cebu.
Imperial Palace Resort. The resort that will eventually make the 2 boys don't feel like going back home.
Well, the resort's Island Pool looks very nice for sure but that was not what excited the boys. The real reason lies beyond that pool, somewhere in the background of the photo below.
See the coloured slides? That's the big Waterpark that lies within the resort, and it was precisely what made the monkies go crazy over.
But of course, before we embarked on any fun, there was the tiny issue of checking-into our room first.
For some strange reason, Ale ALWAYS love rolling on the soft comfy hotel beds.
The room was decent, pretty much what a normal hotel room should be. But we weren't here for the room, right? Haha.
The star attraction was of course, something else. But it sure wasn't this mascot!
You can probably tell how excited Ash & Ayd were for the photo opportunity with the mascot above.
Yah, ZERO amount of excitement. 'Cos all of it were reserved for the *surprise surprise* Waterpark.
The resort's Island Pool was huge, and looked like a very nice place to chill.
Especially with a pool bar that one can swim up to!
But as expected, there was absolutely no time to pause and enjoy the pool as I was hurried along by my 2 minders. All because of this.
Yup, we finally reached the star attraction of the resort - the Waterpark.
And the Waterpark features 5 different themed pools: the Amazon River Pool (above) - a flowing river pool best enjoyed with inflatable tubes, the Wave Rider - an artificial tide pool; the Beach Pool - with a beach-like shoreline; Captain Hook's Pool - featuring a pirate ship & slides for kids; Toddler Pool (below) - so that even little ones can have loads of splashing fun!
No prizes for guessing which pool the 2 boys zoomed towards!
There wasn't even any time for me to ask them to pause so that I can snap some photos of them with the pool area. They were onto the Pirate ship faster than a firing cannonball and if you look hard enough, they were somewhere aboard the pirate ship in the photo below.
The water play structure beside the pirate ship was quite fun too, complete with slides & a tipping bucket.
And the 2 monkies were kept very busy by the slides indeed, while the mei-mei had her afternoon slumber in the comfort of her Mumy's arms.
As for me, I moved on to more exhilarating stuff.
No need for the adults to feel out of place, for there're 3 huge slides of varying heights to get one's dose of adrenaline rush. Too bad Ash fell short of the height requirements by 5cm, else he could have joined me on the slides.
And if adrenaline isn't your kind of thing, chillax-ing by the beach may just be the answer.
Compared to our previous resort, this beach wasn't anything to shout about. At the very best, it was decent - with nice, clean & comfy deck chairs.
And since the beach wasn't the main attraction of the resort, I had to practically drag the 2 boys over so as to snap at least ONE photo of them by the beach.
They weren't too enthusiastic, as you can probably tell.
At least they perked up as soon as they heard we were going to the River & Wave pools next!
It was quite therapeutic really - to drift along the river while nesting atop an inflatable tube.
That was until the 2 boys decided to be funny and find various ways to entertain themselves with the tube.
Like flipping over each other or squeezing into one float at the same time.
Things which I obviously did when I was young too. Hahaha.
Then it was back to Captain Hook's Pool for some last splashing fun before we called it a day.
In a surprise end to the day, Ayd took part in an impromptu kids dance competition by the pool and he WON! Woot! And this was what he won.
Erm, no. NOT the burger. See the glass of orange drink at the bottom right of the photo above? Yup, that was THE prize. At least it was better than nothing I say.
But the resort's ploy worked, 'cos as we sat there waiting for our drink, the irresistible smell of grilled meat wafted out of the cafe and so we succumbed. Big time.
Actually, it was the boys who succumbed. Because the wifey & I couldn't even if we wanted to - there wasn't any food left after the boys were done with it, save the pickles & coleslaw.
They were THAT hungry.
And they looked mighty satisfied, no?