Sojourn in Solana

Weekending in Anilao is beginning to be enjoyable for all the kids, ages 2 to 22 (almost). T and I even found time for the special pursuits of each.

For B, it was a great time to go diving before he heads off to the U.S. again. His short, post-graduation vacation is almost over. He is due in Evanston in early August to take a YPO-Kellogg course called "Preparing for Professional Life" together with about 30 other fresh graduates from all over the YPO world.

He had a mix of dives, ranging from a tough, current dive in Mainit Point, where we got to see some barracuda but also got caught up in Mainit's torrential currents, to a more leisurely outing at Twin Rocks, where we spent close to an hour finding octopus, terrorizing pufferfish, taking pictures of clownfish and nudibranchs, blowing bubble rings and generally just taking it easy.

At Twin Rocks, B also got to try out his videoing skills:

With us in Anilao was B's girlfriend J9, who took the scuba diving course with him and Tyrone. T's Speedo shorty wetsuit was a perfect fit on J9, which turned out great as her Scubapro suit was a bit too thick and unwieldy for her.

Annika got to try out T's octopus regulator after our Twin Rocks dive earlier today. She turns 10 in January and she is suddenly interested to go scuba diving before her birthday, just to beat her brother Tyrone, who went scuba diving in Palau when he was 9 years and 11 months.

Meanwhile, Annika spent a lot of time snorkeling, so I think she will be quite comfortable in the water if we can get her into a class in the next few months.

The last time T and I were here, in February 2006, we were able to visit with Ichay and Raul Bulaong, and took their girls and nephews to Sombrero Island for the day. Unfortunately, they couldn't make it this weekend, but we saw their new sailboat, Marikit, moored just off their house. We will have to try that sometime!

Earlier this year, while T and the kids were away, Tyrone and I spent a weekend in Solana with his cousin Francis. Some of those videos are on YouTube and I did blog that trip earlier as well. It's too bad he is still at CISV in Italy. The news we heard from Sunshine, his Adult Leader, is that he asked a French girl to one of their formal dinners and she said yes. Apparently he is supposed to be the heartthrob of the camp.

As for Athena, she is enjoying salty water more and more. She used to hate the feeling of the sand in her toes, but on this beach visit she was quite happy to sit on the beach and play, as well go dip her head into the water.

There's a great satisfaction, truly, to seeing the kids evolve, each at their own stage and at their own pace. When things are going great, it's much like a perfectly blown bubble ring, rising softly to the surface.

Would that currents never come into their lives to break up their fragile rings...