June 12, 2013-
Here's a case where I'm glad the girls don't take after me….they both want to learn how to scuba dive!!!!
(FYI: There is NO WAY you'll talk me into going diving!!!!!)
Yesterday we signed them up for age-appropriate scuba instruction. Annika is going to do the Bubble-maker class and Ava will get to do the SASY class. Annika will get to wear her own gear but Ava will use a regulator attached to her instructor's tank.
The girls are really excited! Let's get some breakfast first at the Big Buffet in the Tides buffet restaurant and head to the beach. We're supposed to be at the dive shop at 9:00am.
This buffet even had a special kids section (although the girls didn't really like the choices there)
Ummm…so yeah. The big buffet is definitely nicer than the small one in the Ocean Lounge.
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Time to head to the scuba diving shop! The girls are excited to try scuba diving!!!
The girls get one-on-one instruction today.
The girls have to watch a short video on scuba diving. Okay- that's done! Now we're heading to the beach for the actual instruction.
Ava just took off with her instructor…Ava doesn't seem to be afraid of anything…
Annika is having a few technical problems (I think her mask isn't the right size). Whew….they've resolved all her issues and she's now off diving with her instructor.
Ava appears to be having a blast swimming around with her instructor:
Any guesses if Annika enjoyed this?????
The sports desk at the beach has kayaks we can rent. How about we try getting two of them to paddle around in???
Oooo!!! Since we're in the Ocean Club we get to rent the kayaks for free (so, they're not really free as we paid an arm and a leg for our Ocean Club room).
Mark & Annika are paddling over the first of the two kayaks:
The girls want to go kayaking together…let's see how this goes!
Hey, they're not doing too badly. ;-) Annika likes being the person in charge of steering the boat. Ava seems to be just along for the ride.
Sadly, we could only paddle the boats with-in the confines of the swimming area. I'll be honest with you- kayaking so close to swimmers just isn't a good idea. I wish we could take the boats further out and away from all the swimmers.
Lunch time!!!!
Mark and I *really* want to get massages today. Let's head over to the Chi Spa located on the resort and book massages for us. :-)
They can get us in at 2:30pm and we're going to try the Filipino hilot massage. The lady explained that hilot massage uses virgin coconut oil and banana leaves. Hmmm….I can't wait to see what this will be like!
We need to head back to the room and shower off. The girls are going to head to the Kids Club while we're getting massages so that means they'll need to change out of their swimsuits.
The entrance to the Kids Club:
Now that the girls are safely and securely stowed we're off to get our 90-minute massages!
Oh. My. Goodness…. this massage feels SO GOOD!!!! I think I'm about to melt into the bed….and fall asleep. Zzzzzzzzz…..
Oh, right. Sorry. Didn't mean to fall asleep on you. ;-) The massage therapists used virgin coconut oil as the massage oil and banana leaves steeped in hot water. The leaves were then placed on various places on our legs and back. Soo *very* nice.
Wake me when we're done, okay???
Well, those were some of the nicest massages I've ever had. Did you get a massage too?
The girls are DONE playing in the Kids Club. By the sounds of it, they got bored playing in there. They did get to paint some interesting looking ceramic pieces.
How about we get some ice cream? Ice cream usually makes everyone feel better!
Hey. I just checked the time. It's close to 5pm- do you want to head up to the Ocean Club Lounge with us and have some free cocktails and appetizers?
The girls really want to go swimming in the pool and it looks like the big water slide is open today. Okay girls- jump in!!!!
Well, rats! The slide, the kid water park and the other smaller pool all close at 6:00pm. Why so early???? The main pool is open until 9:00pm but it's not as much fun or very interesting. Darn! The girls only got to go down the slide ONCE before the closed it. Grrr.
I guess we should think about getting dinner now anyway. Mark is interested in trying the Italian restaurant. Let's go (after we dry off and change clothes)!
Yum! Dinner was tasty and thank goodness we didn't have to wait long to get our meals.
Aaaaand….now we're off to bed. We've got to get up at 4:00am (yes, I said 4:00AM) so that we leave the resort at 5:00am for a very special scuba/snorkeling trip. You'll just have to wait and see where we go and what we'll see!!!!