30 April 2016 (long weekend)
In my last post I mentioned that Mark is off to the USA on a business trip. Since the school has Monday off, the girls and I have decided to take a mini-break from Tianjin and head to (much) warmer climates. To Sanya!
(Do you remember our first summer here in China? That was …what?…four years ago? We visited Sanya. It's a subtropical island off the coast of southern China. It's part of China. And, best of all, it's only a four hour flight away (and direct from Tianjin!). That makes it a nice destination for a relatively get-away. I've heard some Chinese people refer to Sanya as the "Hawaii of China" but in all fairness, it's not at all like Hawaii. I mean, it's nice and warm but it's not Hawaii.
Last time we stayed at the Marriott in Yalong Bay. This time we're staying at the Hilton. And, as I found out by accident- they're right smack next door to each other! (I think I like the Hilton a wee bit better than the Marriott in this case).
View from our hotel room. We could have paid a LOT more money for a beach view but I'm thankful for this view of the mountains. Added bonus? This side is QUIETER than the ocean side.
Nice stretch of beach for playing:
We spent most of our 2.5 days RIGHT here>>>
In the pool. Or next to the pool. It was absolutely blissful not going anywhere or doing anything. Just swimming and drinking fresh coconut juice out of green coconuts. Both girls repeatedly thanked me for taking them here. That's got to be a good sign, right? That down time was just what everyone needed – in particular Annika who was feeling very low and down on Friday. By Saturday afternoon she'd perked back up and was her usual funny self.
Going shell and beach treasure hunting! Want to join us???
Running in the sand:
Beautiful plumeria:
Taking a break from swimming. Ava's writing while I'm reading on the balcony of our hotel room.
It's Hammock Time!
Enjoying breakfast (and the vast & delightful breakfast selection):
Like a jack-o-lantern but not. Ava having fun with her piece of coconut:
Sunflowers growing in a small plot of sand:
The pool even has its own sandy beach:
A lovely plot of cosmos flowers:
Swim! Swim! Swim!
Girls playing pool volleyball:
I really appreciate that we're able to pop off on weekend get-aways like this one. I know that won't always be the case but we're all really thankful and grateful that we were able to manage this trip.