Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

Well, we made it back to the states and now that our computer is once again alive and running I can catch up on what we've been up to the last couple of weeks - and believe me when I say it's been crazy! You really need to visit our family website to view all the pics, videos, and descriptions.

Our last few weeks in the Philippines were spent frantically trying to sell our stuff, getting packed, visiting friends, and taking in as much of the culture as we could.

We visited The Lagoon in downtown Bacolod one last time to say goodbye to the crazy Talapia fish that live there.


After our relaxing trip to Punta Bulata (previous post), our neighbor Ms. Mackaling Ascalon not only took us up for a day at her ancestral home and sugar cane farm, but also had us over for a farewell dinner at her house where we ate some super delicious food which included chicken ham (seriously, it's chicken that tastes like ham!!), friend shrimp, fruit salad Filipino style (yum), and many other amazing and wonderful things to stuff our bellies with. The pic below is of the kids on an albino carabao at the farm.


We decided to go to Manila a few days earlier than our flight so we could experience what that city had to offer. Luckily, a sister of a friend of ours from the states lives there. Robert and Emma took a day off work and spent it with us! They are amazing and if we ever go back we will surely look them up again. Brandon and I were able to go through the Manila Temple. It was of course beautiful. It was just a couple days after the first typhoon hit so attendance was down, but the faith and spirit of those who were there was so strong. One man walked home after working in the temple 9 km, the last km up to his neck in water, only to find his home was gone. The next morning he was at the temple, clothes cleaned and ready to serve!


Emma had breakfast all ready for us the next morning, and then we were off to the temple again - this time to say hello to a man from my home stake who is in the temple presidency. It was a great experience to see him and hear about the strength of the people after the typhoon. After a brief visit with him, we visited MOA, The Mall of Asia. It's HUGE! It's just a bunch of shopping so we didn't stay too long, but we did get to see the ice rink and eat some yummy ice cream.


While we were at MOA, Brandon's 3rd mission companion Oliver, his wife Ces Leon, and his little girl Chelsea met up with us. It was a great reunion for them. After MOA, it was off to the Manila Ocean Park where we saw lots of cool fish and ocean creatures.


We also got to visit a super cool jelly fish exhibit there as well. The jelly fish were all clear (except for the black ones) but they had changing lights in their tanks. It was beautiful to watch them.





For our last dinner in the Philippines, we decided to have waffles! Sounds, crazy, but it was fun. Actually, Brandon and Ærowyn were the only 2 who had waffles, but everything else was super yummy too.


We said farewell to a beautiful country and a loving people, and flew over the giant ocean once again. We landed in L.A. where we spent a week playing and working. Brandon attended Adobe MAX for work and the kids and I tried to keep busy. We did get to spend a couple of days with Cousin Dallas which was great. We all walked down Hollywood Blvd and took in some tourist attractions which was fun for a day. The kids played in a fountain and had fun getting wet.



We went to a 3D showing of Toy Story 1 and 2 where we got to see Woody, Buzz, and Jessie in person!

One of the days we spent with Cousin Dallas at the Griffith Observatory. It was awesome!!! We viewed a movie in the planetarium about water in the galaxy. The kids loved it and Ærowyn knew the answers to questions about planets and stars that the M.C. had - what a smarty :) We learned all about the planets and the solar system. I hope we can go back one day at night and view the stars!!

















Well, we made it back to Marysville to get our stuff loaded and even had a chance to visit Aunt Carol one last time before she moves to CA. We will miss her, but are glad we got to see her again :) The first pic is of Ærowyn playing her organ.













So, until we get pics of our new house up, that is it for now. Hopefully it wasn't too painful for everyone :)