Philippine Adventures

Day 2

We are staying in Angeles on an old American Air Force Base called Clark Field. After Mount Pinatubo erupted in the early 90's, the American's left & it is now run by the Philippine Government. We drove to the outskirts of the city & visited some rural areas.

Lots of Caribou here to help in the rice fields.
We visited a family in the countryside and all the kids in the neighborhood wanted their photo taken with us!

These are Jeepney's-the bus system!

We went to Nayong Pilipino, (Philippine Village) which was basically a cultural center.

We walked through all the little villages & learned a little Philippine history.

This volcano represents Mount Pinatubo.

Rice Field

We had lunch with the missionary couple!

Actually found something Little Man would eat!

The kids spent a few hours swimming at the hotel.

The water was just a bit chilly!

Day 3

We drove to Urdaneta, where Andrea's grandfather died in 1992 while serving a mission. We traveled through many cities, little towns, & saw many sights along the way.

Lots of fruit stands & little markets along the side of the road.

Banana & papaya trees, pineapple plants, & chili plants are all in the backyard of the mission home & office.

Little Man & the son of a church member.

We are a little crazy after traveling here & then a day of driving with the kids, but we are having a blast!!

We ended the evening by playing games.

The Murri Amazing Race!

We began our big adventure that our kids started referring to as our family's own amazing race! We picked up the kids from school and we were off! We started in Denver and flew to Los Angeles, California.

The kids were excited because they thought they would meet a celebrity in LA. We had the opportunity of meeting Michael Irvin, who used to play for the Dallas Cowboys! He was pretty cool and spoke with us for a bit, giving high fives and knuckles.
Next stop Guangzhou, China

Entirely too long of a flight! We decided we could never do the real amazing race because of the long flights! This photo was taken when we arrived-the kids were so excited to get off!

The kid fit right in! Next stop, Manila, Philippines.

We arrived safely and were given a small tour of Manila.

We stopped at Fort Santiago, the oldest stone fortess in the country. It is located inside the Walled City.

We then drove 2 hours to Angeles.

Battle of the wills!

We also got a tour of the mission office.

Snow Day!

Today was the 2nd snow storm of the season & school was cancelled!

(Yes, that snowball hit me, but AFTER I took the photo!)
The neighbor boys came over to join in on the fun & brought a sled w/them

Murph

Diva

Little Man even got some sun! It was a great day off!

Happy Halloween!

Our Ward Trunk-or-Treat was a hit with 3 doctors, a pirate, & a mummy!

For the Father/Daughter Activity for Activity Days Girls, they were supposed to go as a famous couple, but 2 doctors & a patient did just fine!



On Halloween, we went to a friend's house & had dinner, then all the kids & the guys went trick-or-treating. Our kids were a doctor, a pirate, & Commander Cody from Star Wars.

Birthday Boy!

Little Man turned 6 & really wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for dinner. As parents, we hate that place, but for $20, you get food AND entertainment, plus he was so happy!

He received a few lego sets & wanted to put this one together as soon as we got home!

We did make cupcakes 3 days later but totally forgot about candles & pictures! He had a great birthday weekend, though.

Mother/Son Event

This banner hung in the lobby of our school to get everyone excited about the upcoming mother/son event!Little Man & Andrea were able to attend. When we arrived, we checked in at the lobby of the school & were given a travel itinerary & our passport. We listened to a brief video from Mr. Holmes (executive director) & we were off!

There were 7 different continents that we had to visit & do a task, road block, or detour on each one.

At the end of each task, they would stamp our passport & give us our next clue. We had dinner, dessert, & even "passport photos" (have not received yet) during the "race."

The pit stop brought us back to the lobby of the school where we were checked in by our principals. Poor Little Man really thought we were going to meet "Phil" & win a million bucks! He was a bit dissapointed that his principal gave him a carrabiner w/a compass on it as the prize.

It was such a fun activity that Andrea forgot to take pictures of us during any of the events! She did discover that Little Man is way more competitive than we thought!