And a Merry Christmas to All!

Yes, sadly enough, I have to go back and fill you in on our Christmas vacation over 8 weeks after we took it. Here we call the slumps of expat living, “Manila Moments,” but I have to admit it was more like a “Manila Month” in January. Now that I can see the light again, it’s time to write!

We were all pretty bummed to not be in Colorado for Christmas this past year, so it was imperative to go out of town for the distraction. First, we had to have our own family Christmas before we left. So a few days before we left for Malaysia, we sent the helpers home (it’s imperative to be as natural as possible when we have our family traditions) and started making hot cocoa! To stick with the culture, we made Filipino hot cocoa for the first time, it was surprisingly good. A little cocoa and we start passing out gifts. Some were mailed to us and some family members sent money for us to buy things for the kids, but surprisingly, we had WAY TOO MUCH! I think I overcompensate for not being home and go a little nuts. As you can see our tree was being swallowed.

The kids were pretty excited as it’s tough to re-create the atmosphere when it isn’t cold outside (we turned up the AirCon to do the best we could) and we don’t have a lot of chaos in the background. But as we have learned, more kids = more chaos, so we did pretty well.  Jones enjoyed playing with the girls while we got

organized. They built a human tunnel for him and he

obliged. When you have a one yr old getting gifts, there is really so much to unwrap. He doesn’t do too much and is easily distracted by each present. For about 30 minutes he just practiced stepping off and on the box containing his new toy. So much for the toy…

We chose Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia for our getaway. Kota Kinabalu is on the island of Borneo, within the Malaysian state of Sabah. It’s about a two hour, direct flight from Manila and then another 40 minute car ride from the airport to the resort. We asked around for recommendations on places to stay and ended up at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria resort. On the property there is a nice, large pool, fully- equipped with a kids area, slides, etc. In addition there is a very large beach. For those of you familiar with Orangutans, Borneo is one of the few places that they exist. To top off the many “cool” facilities at this resort, there is also an orangutan reserve on the property where you can hike up and see the rangers feed the monkeys. Just when we think the place can’t get any better, we check into our room and are greeted with a full size Christmas tree set up and decorated. Let me remind you that we are in a mostly Muslim country, so the Christmas tree was a pleasant surprise.

We spent our days alternating between the pool and the beach. We arrived two days before Christmas, but the first day was pretty shot as we arrived only in time for a late dinner. The next day, Christmas Eve, we explored the hotel and the beach. We walked the kids to the Kid’s Club and signed them up for a few themed-dinners for the nights following Christmas. There are special activities every day that the hotel would put on. For  this day they put covered inner tubes together in a chain in the pool and kids and adults took turns trying to run across them without falling into the water.

It was definitely one of those moments you have envisioned in your mind as being so much fun if only the people in the states weren’t so eager to sue. Curt managed to try it a few times and he vouched that it really was as fun as it looked!

There is the time between the pool and dinner that is always left for us to fill when the kids are fading quickly in the sun. The second night we were there, we found the bocce ball area, also next to the bar (which always makes any game more fun). I believe we played there for over an hour. I think they only played the “game” a few times, as Jones began interfering with their progress. He mostly enjoyed picking up the balls and throwing them after someone else had already. This doesn’t make the game easy, but it was entertaining.

 

 

The resort has a great kids club as well. The girls went for a few hours and played with the other kids. Before we left, I called the hotel and made reservations at most of the restaurants so that we were sure to be able to taste them all. On Christmas Eve we ate at the Teppenyaki restaurant on the resort. I think the kids, and Curt, enjoyed the entertainment. Not to say that I didn’t, but I did sit and watch all

four of them with stupid grins on their faces! It was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa managed to find us in Malaysia, so we spent a good part of the morning playing with all our new toys. We finally snuck in breakfast and then spent time around the pool. I can’t even recall exactly what we did as the days there ran together and the words pool and beach blur my memory. I do remember hair braids. It’s has become a routine event for the girls to get their hair braided when we go to the beach. Of course in the Philippines, it’s SUPER cheap, so we didn’t think anything of it. Ahhh, find out after that it was a per braid price here and Aleah alone had about 68 braids!!! Merry Christmas to her!

In addition, we went to the Orangutan Reserve. We hiked for about 10 minutes up to the feeding area where the rangers feed the orangutans. That was a pretty unusual experience and well worth the hike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dinner, we did the ultimate. From those that had been there in the past, we opted to follow their recommendations for the private beach gazebo dining for Christmas dinner. It was an amazing experience and we took delight in the crazy things we are able to do while living in Asia. It was late to bed after a long and yummy dinner on this night.

Jones wasn’t sleeping well while we were there, so Aleah and I took him to breakfast quite early so  Ellery and Curt could sleep. When breakfast was over, we  then spent a few hours web camming with family in the states. It was really tough to not have our traditional crazy holiday at home, but we were still able to share in the happy  Christmas wishes from afar. Instead of hectic family gatherings (they are always hectic with three kids) there was beach time, pool time, eating time and Jones added nap time.  To make the holiday even more special, the girls were able to go horseback riding on the beach with Curt (did I mention we tend to go overboard when we aren’t at home for the holidays?). On this particular evening, we decided we were justified in dumping the kids with a hotel sitter and eating all by ourselves!

We tried hard to take our time, but we were only gone a few hours. We ate at the Indian restaurant on the resort and thought it was pretty good food. Back to the room we went where all three kids were still awake…good thing we didn’t drink that much! So much for a smooth evening, Jones was just not enjoying the crib there. High maintenance would be a good phrase for him on that trip. He just didn’t want to miss anything.

We left the day after, but felt we had some recuperation time as a family while we were in Malaysia. Sometimes, here in Manila, you forget what it’s like to function as a whole unit. There are always other people around and other commitments pulling you apart. Vacation works well for us, as it does for most! I guess now the new mantra is “where do we go next?” Traveling brings us together and you can’t complain about that!