Tarawoods 01....

undeniably, jon and i have not been posting in our blogs (including this one). but that doesn't mean that we haven't been doing anything or going to places lately. this past few weeks, we've been mostly at Tarawoods....a nature sanctuary in Tanauan, Batangas owned by the family of nini's husband.

Tarawoods was formerly known as Tara Farms when i used to go there with nini and some of our friends during the 90's. at that time, there were flower, vegetable, and fruit farms as well as a chicken breeder farm and a small farm house in the place. now, the breeder farm is gone and several houses have sprung up (or converted) around a main 3-storey house (with it's own air conditioned seminar room). It still has the vegetable and fruit farms and it is open for rent to families or groups for seminars, private parties, weddings, reunions, etc.

jon and i first visited Tarawoods last August 26, 2007 together with nini, miguel, roberta and cora. during that visit, rob (who is Tarawoods' landscape designer) and nini suggested to bob's mom and dad to put up a swimming pool to add to Tarawoods' amenities. and so, planning for the pool started that day.

the next time we visited was last march 9, 2008. by then the pools (one main pool, one kiddie pool), the shower rooms, and the gazebo have been constructed. we went there because rob and nini were asked to landscape the pool area. planning for the landscaping began in earnest.

the gazebo:
the male (left) and female (right) shower rooms:

the main pool:

the kiddie pool:

by our next visit in april 7, 2008, the materials as well as the personnel for the landscaping job have been assembled....and that weekend, landscaping was begun until well through the night (pakyaw style). these continued for the next weekends until april 27 when we last visited.