Today I saw the most beautiful colors of the nature and realized why I keep woooing when seeing them even though it’s not the first time.
In our agenda was island hopping and snorkeling. We departed 8am with our family friend and his kids and helped. Wife got toothache and didn’t join us. It’s just wonderful to travel with another family with similar age kids as they enjoy so much more the activity when they share them with peers.
The first island was 20 min speed boat ride and we did snorkeling with the guide for 1.5 hrs or so. The corals there were okay, not as beautiful as el nido and Bohol. Yet I encountered two surprise findings. First I saw a sea turtle swimming round us, rare appearance in this part of the ocean according to the guide. Then I se live clams with bright purple inside, opening and closing. They were among rocks so I wouldn’t have spotted them if I didn’t know what to look for. So after the first time the guide showed me, I learned how to spot them. I was a AWW. So magical. Then I realized I keep awwing when I see nature wonders for two reasons: 1) I know so little about them so I didn’t know what to expect. When I see them, whatever they do naturally I find it amazing. 2) I didn’t expect to see them because I had no prior nor expectation to be amazed, so when I do see them I am amazed. This way of seeing things is so different to how I approach to things and people I know and familiar with. Whenever I approach to an event/issue/people, I already have an expectation and understanding of it. So when it doesn’t go as I thought it would, I am not happy about it and even want to change its course. Thus the source of our daily frustrations. If I could adopt the way I approach and face the nature, I’d be always happily surprised.
After we came back from snorkeling, girls went to the pool/beach. Hubby took a nap by the pool, and I just relaxed. Read some, called my mom, while making sure the girls don’t go under the sun before 4pm. After just 1.5 days they are already fully tanned despite my constant reapplication of sunscreen
I did some room exercise before we went to dinner and witnessed the color of paradise
This is theosophy beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. Natural pink. I want to paint it at home!!!!
During dinner Sofia asked me who’s Malia Obama. I had no idea but thought it was Obama’s daughter and asked her why. She said the book she’s reading the girl is dales Malia and she wish she’s Malia Obama. I said probably she wants to be the most powerful man’s daughter. Would you like to be president’s daughter? She quickly said no because she loves her life exactly how it is. She said if her dad or mom is president, he/she would be too busy and too stressed out, thus won’t pay attention to her. I said to myself: thank god, I’m not working too much to make her feel she’s less important than work.
Girls and I fell asleep before 8pm while hubby went out to have a drink with our friend.
Our New Journey 
Beautiful beautiful pictures!! Very deep post for “vacation brain”- haha!
How does it feel traveling with another family? Come to think of it, I don’t think we’ve ever actually traveled with anyone besides my parents. I feel like I’m a little bit complicated on vacations- I like to do things a certain way, my style, etc. I always feel like if we traveled with other people maybe that would be either frustrating or awkward, trying to coordinate plans with others. With my parents it’s easy, because they are very easy going and basically let me just plan what we do, for the most part! haha! We also have very similar tastes in things so we click well. It seems like you guys have a pretty easy rhythm with this other family though, not needing to be with each other constantly…doing your own thing sometimes, together other times. I feel like it might stress me out a little bit but then again, could also be very fun, in the right situation! Glad it’s working out great for you guys.
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I used to be like you, preferring to travel by ourselves to avoid having to coordinate. But when you find the right family it’s easy and being in a resort makes it easy too. We don’t have to do everything together, and we are fine to be flexible. I definitely don’t want to travel with complicated families. Hahaha. But it’s really wonderful to see kids playing with peers. give it a try
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This looks like such a lovely vacation, and I really love how much emphasis you put on being together as a family. Your girls seem so very content and confident in their family situation which is just wonderful to see! Spending time together and sharing experiences really helps cement a deep family bond, and I just love hearing about all the beautiful and exotic (to me!) things you get to do.
We haven’t really traveled much with other people; my husband and I definitely are very compatible when it comes to travel (I think it would be so hard if your spouse liked to do travel differently – i.e. one likes to sit and people watch all day and another really likes to be exploring nonstop); I think it would have to be a very specific sort of travel partner. Some of our closest friends would be PERFECT, but we’ve never managed to coordinate a trip together yet. Maybe when our kids are a bit older (theirs are all adults now)?
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