*NEW!* Portia And Nemo Visit The Fun Ranch Playground!

Earlier today my kids went to a dentist in Alabang to get their teeth cleaned.  The experience turned out to be surprisingly brief and painless for them both; as a matter of fact, they thought it tickled.  This sure isn’t how it goes for an office visit in the United States, where dentists often chide their patients for having bad teeth and then proceed with at least an hour’s worth of drilling and picking and pulling.  A piece of advice for all Filipinos:  Do not go to a U.S. dentist unless there is sign on the door that promises No Judgments (you will find these if you’re willing to look just a little bit, trust me).

Oh...I can't wait to see what happens next.

As a treat for surviving the experience, my wife and I took them to a playground near Alabang Town Center mall called Fun Ranch and Big Red Barn.  This is a giant playground/restaurant-type place that kids beg their parents to take them because the pizza and ice tea are so good.  Rigghhht.

I just love the coloring paper

As we soon discovered, their entreaties had nothing to do with the eaties and everything to do with what is probably the largest indoor playground I have ever seen.  I will not bore you with words trying to describe it.  Let me just show you some pictures instead.

This thing is four tiers high with two slides, one spiral and one wavy, going from top to bottom.  It also has (among many other cool things) a basketball court for you future LeBron Jameses to practice your lay-ups.

Or your flops if you like Anderson Varejao

My mom never did anything like this for me after a dentist visit.  Her idea of a reward was to feed me some Saltine crackers after I threw up from inhaling too much knock-out gas.  Seeing this place made me want to join in on the fun, but as you may imagine, its time is not cheap.  250 pesos will get you an hour in this Never-never land; 500 will get you a day long pass.

The food isn’t cheap either, and service is slow.  It took half an hour for the waitress to get a pizza on the table for us, and this was with just one other family in the lobby.  Still, our kids had a great time.  The older one wants to have her birthday party there later this month, and I suppose we’ll do it if she keeps prying.  By the way, here’s a picture of that basketball court I was telling you about:

No, not really.  But the pic I took is too blurry for this blog which strives so hard for focus and clarity.  I shall not insult you.

There are two Fun Ranches in the Philippines (the other is in Ortigas).  Check this website for phone numbers and addresses.  A visit will surely lighten your wallet but your kids are going to love what they find.  You will also be absolutely gobsmacked by the size of their playground, and wonder, as I did, where all of this stuff was when you were little.

Then again I LOVED playing with this

Cheers from Tag and Rose!

And from these two happy girls as well!