Christmas eve was a long, but fun day. Once we were up, we all took turns taking showers and a bath. He loves the water and really had been asking to go to the pool since we arrived. It had been raining non-stop, so the pool was closed. The bath was a little fun for a while. He likes a bath less than warm, which is insane to Beth, but makes perfect sense when you live in 90F on average. After baths we headed up to the top floor lounge restaurant for breakfast. We had already prepaid for Beth and I, and Christopher was 50% off. The food was amazing. The spread is so diverse, it was incredible. Going up there for breakfast is a no brainer and was the best investment we could have made.

The clouds finally broke and Christopher was super excited to head down to the pool. The staff at the hotel is really on top of things, as they have lots of rules for how things work around the place. Between conduct and dress, they don’t really play around. While floating around on our own was nice for a bit, a bunch of kids showed up and Christopher was really excited to play and speak Tagalog with the other kids. We’re a little apprehensive when he is speaking because we really can’t monitor what he is saying, but no one was looking at us like he was out of line, so we just let things ride. It’s hard not to be a helicopter parent, and all the parents in the Philippines are super laxed. It seems to me, that if no one is bleeding then it’s all good. The play was getting a little rough, so we put a final countdown on pool time before heading back up to our newly cleaned room.

We had a late lunch, as we had made reservations for Noche Buena dinner. The hotel had Mass in the restaurant at 10:30PM as well. We were floored that this made things so easy on us, but it was going to make for a very long day/night. Lunch was really good. It was in one of the little mini restaurants on the lobby floor, not associated with the hotel itself. We ordered a big spread since we weren’t really sure what we were getting, though the pictures all looked good. Christopher really ate like a champ. We’re working on leaving things on the plate when we’re full, both Christopher and I that is.

We came back up to the room and attempted to get some nap time in. We ran into a little resistance but he’s a good boy and does lay down when we insist. After nap time we did some playing. Beth taught Christopher some tic tac toe, and we played a couple board games. “Dahday” ruined snakes and ladders because he got the big ladder and ended up winning the game. We had some snacks to try to hold us over, and we put on a movie to try to get us as close to Mass as possible. We raced some match box cars, and did various other activities. We misunderstood the Mass start time and headed up at 10PM. They told us it was 10:30-10:45PM start time. We ended up heading back to the room and Christopher passed out. Getting him up wasn’t too bad but he didn’t make it through Mass. Mass was very interesting, definitely not your text book Mass. It certainly wasn’t to my taste, but the priest did have a decent Christmas message in the end, so I’m not going to harp on the rest of the liturgy.

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Dinner was pretty good, but breakfast up in the restaurant still can’t be beat.

One of the funniest things Christopher says currently is “not” for no, and “djare” for there (You have to hear it to understand that spelling). His English is quite good and getting better by the hour it seems. He is excited to speak in Tagalog though, he likes one of the hostesses at the restaurant lounge, and she seems to have taken a friendly shine to him as well. One thing Christopher completely lacks is shyness. I’m looking forward to just getting him home, so we can focus in on the family and remove all of the distractions.

We do need to get in some attractions before we go, and Christopher really wants to go to the zoo. Upon future questioning, what he really wants to do is go to the aquarium. Thankfully, after some investigation, the government run zoo is in pretty sad shape, so I’m looking forward to taking him to the Rochester zoo as an alternative. He’s specifically asked to go to the zoo on his birthday. We will be making a day trip out to the aquarium though.  I guess he’s all about all things water. Between the pool and the aquarium, we have a water-based son. One of the other fathers at the pool asked him if he was Aquaman, to which he proudly said that he was.

Christmas day started late. Christopher didn’t wake up until 9AM and that was only because we cracked the curtains. We had the gifts all setup against the TV so they’d be seen first, but he still needed his sleepy eyes to be directed towards the gifts. He started to understand what was going on and got excited.

After gifts we went up to the restaurant for breakfast. While the food was just as good and diverse, the crowds were a little more intense at 10AM. The staff there was great, and Christopher’s hostess friend was there again. The one highlight of breakfast was that we sat on the garden side. What the garden is, really, is the smoker’s section. While I waited for the bill, Beth and Christopher went out there to check things out. Christopher came back, very excited, that there was a Koi pond, and I couldn’t just take a picture of the fish, it had to be a video. The gentleman next to us was very kind and pointed out that there were also three turtles if you looked hard enough. They ran back out to find the turtles and I was close behind them, after I signed for breakfast. We weren’t seeing them, and noticed the gentleman was coming out. He gave Christopher a tutorial on how to lure the turtles out with bread. Christopher was very excited! He was able to feed the turtles, though it was no aquarium.

After turtle time was up, Christopher was already in negotiations for more pool time. We headed back down to the room to change and head down to the pool. The sun was beaming down on us and I ended up running back up to the room to grab the sunscreen. To buy some time, Beth ordered some drinks. They made some fresh fruit smoothies, which were really good, and I had a San Miguel beer, two actually. We put some sunscreen on and let it set while we enjoyed our drinks. We ended up down at the pool for a couple hours before finally deciding we needed to get out. Christopher was bummed, and was already asking when we’d be back down. While we were wrapping up, a kid from Monday’s pool time yelled “Hey Christopher!” from the balcony above. He’s becoming the mayor of pool, and while the kids all remember him, we have to explain to him who each kid is, and that he’s previously played with them. He does remember once you explain to him what swimwear they had on when they were playing, and you get the big “Ohhhhhhh…”

We had to figure out dinner and we were trying to decide between yesterday’s lunch spot and the upstairs lounge restaurant. As we wandered downstairs, we ended up going to a spot we hadn’t tried. It was one of the little mini restaurants and this one had a bit of everything.

It wasn’t phenomenal by any means, but it was only $35 for a family of three. I gave the waitress a decent tip. I tried to tip well today, these people are working on Christmas after all. On that note, I love how everyone, strangers and all, just say “Merry Christmas” to you as you wander around. It’s so heart warming. It’s such a sad thing we’ve lost in the USA. That’s a whole other blog post, but worth mentioning. As I happen to be writing this part of the post, I’m trying to decide if I’m going to be getting food poisoning from dinner. We have some activated charcoal pills in the event things seem to be turning. Hopefully you don’t read on later, that things did not go well for your humble author.

After dinner we swung by the front lobby, as Christopher was asking about ice cream and Beth remembered that they had gelato up front. So, Christopher had vanilla, Beth had ube, and I had strawberry. Ube, for those that aren’t sure, is a starchy tuber, basically a purple yam. Her gelato tasted like a bowl of fruity pebbles that’s been soaking in milk for a while. I have to admit, it tasted better than my strawberry gelato.

We got back to the room and had some down time before we started getting ready for bed. I had my first real dad son duties to tend to, which will require some follow up on. Thankfully Christopher isn’t shy, as previously noted, which just makes things so much easier when we need to sort certain sensitive things out. It’s a true blessing. We prayed a rosary, our second as a family. Christopher gave us a tutorial on when to sit and kneel during the rosary. I think we have the hang of it now. For those curious, you kneel for the first and last decade of Hail Mary’s. After some teeth brushing and general settling down, we just chilled with the TV on in the background. Christopher grabbed the photo album and looked at his baby pictures with Mummeh and explained to Mummeh what she was looking at.

To be continued.