Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Kristen's Field Day
I am still not impressed with the Field Day the elementary school puts on. I had to explain to my parents who thought it would be a track and field day for Kristen, that it really it was just a bunch of fluff events. We supported Kristen and were able to cheer her on in a few of the "events" her class participated in.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Baptism Day
Our life has been a "leetle" bit crazy lately, but we didn't want to forget about this most important day for Kristen. My parents flew to Denver from SLC on Saturday morning. Kristen's baptism was scheduled for 1:00 pm. It seemed as though we were all going in different directions. Amy had to be at the school by 6:45 am for her one and only track meet of the season (every other track meet was cancelled due to bad weather). Chris would need to pick her up around 10:30 am. Misha had play practice at the school from 9 am to noon. Chris was working on packing. Hopefully the morning was well orchestrated with all of these different activities that we would make it to the church early enough to get ready for Kristen's baptism.
I quickly pulled together some lunch, printed the program for the baptism, made sure Kristen had a change of clothes, and rushed to get Misha from her play practice. We left a little later than I had hoped but still had time to get most things set up. Sadly, I forgot the SD card for my camera and will have to wait for my dad to download pics and send them to me.
Kristen shared her special day with her friend Sophie. They both looked beautiful. I was so impressed with Amy as she volunteered a couple of weeks ago to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. She did a great job.
Kristen's baptism was beautiful as well. As Chris brought her up out of the water, he gently wiped the water from Kristen's face and then enfolded her in a hug. I could tell that this was a very special moment for both of them. I met Kristen close to the locker room and helped her get changed from her wet clothing to the beautiful white dress made by Grandma Ball.
Grandma Ball has made white baptism dresses for all of our girls and those dresses will always be a special memento for my girls.
We had such a wonderful day together.
I quickly pulled together some lunch, printed the program for the baptism, made sure Kristen had a change of clothes, and rushed to get Misha from her play practice. We left a little later than I had hoped but still had time to get most things set up. Sadly, I forgot the SD card for my camera and will have to wait for my dad to download pics and send them to me.
Kristen shared her special day with her friend Sophie. They both looked beautiful. I was so impressed with Amy as she volunteered a couple of weeks ago to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. She did a great job.
Kristen's baptism was beautiful as well. As Chris brought her up out of the water, he gently wiped the water from Kristen's face and then enfolded her in a hug. I could tell that this was a very special moment for both of them. I met Kristen close to the locker room and helped her get changed from her wet clothing to the beautiful white dress made by Grandma Ball.
Grandma Ball has made white baptism dresses for all of our girls and those dresses will always be a special memento for my girls.
We had such a wonderful day together.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
A Library Card
One of the perks of turning eight that Kristen had been looking forward to was that of receiving her very own library card. Even though our life has been a little crazy lately, I went with her a week after her birthday to help her get her own card. She was so excited.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Kristen's Birthday
Some of the amazing things that Kristen had to look forward to at eight were her baptism, getting her very own library card, and her very own set of scriptures.
I volunteer in Kristen's classroom at school on Friday mornings. It worked perfectly for me to celebrate with Kristen at school on her birthday. Sorry to Mrs. Petersen for the sugar high so early in the day.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Journey to the Philippines - Day 15
Check out Christopher's Blog
Almost home. We left Korea at 4:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in San Francisco around noon on Wednesday. We were excited to be back in the United States of America. Once more through Customs and Immigration. We were a tired, rag tag looking bunch. Chris wasn't feeling so hot and my stomach started to follow suit. I thought maybe I was just hungry. The food options on our last flight hadn't been so wonderful.
We picked up some $6 parfaits (highway robbery), cereal, and milk in San Francisco. It was all crazy expensive. We finished eating and boarded the flight to Colorado. I fell asleep for some of the flight but began to feel really sick about an hour and a half in to the flight. I took some pepto bismal chews hoping they would help to settle my stomach. I tried to slowly sip water. I found the little blue "barf" bag in the seat pocket in front of me and just made it sure it was sticking up higher than anything else in the pocket. Nothing was helping, in fact, my nausea was increasing by the moment. I finally nudged Chris a couple of times. He must have been in a deep sleep because it took some effort to get him to wake up. Once he knew my plight, he was fully awake. I asked, "Do you have anything I can take?" He gave me two Immodium. I looked at the bottle. "That was for diarrhea, Chris!" Perhaps he wasn't fully awake.
You know that feeling you get? I grabbed the little blue bag and turned toward the window. I made certain to keep my nose on the outside of the bag. I was so stealthy at throwing up, Chris didn't even realize until I told him. He pushed the call button for me and a very helpful flight attendant (not always the case on a United flight) kindly took my bag away and brought me a ginger ale. I felt badly for the guy sitting next to Chris, but I also felt ten times better. Not 100% yet, but better. Not to worry about the Immodium, I was certain they were out of my system now.
We had made arrangements with our friend Claudia to pick us up. There was some confusion as she thought we were arriving at 7 pm. Our flight landed around 5 pm. She left her house mid-meal and headed off to the airport. By the time we had deplaned, found our luggage, reported Amy's bag as missing, she was waiting for us. We loaded our luggage in her van and fell exhaustedly in to her van. At this point, we were telling our kids not to sleep. We wanted them to be able to sleep a reasonable amount of time later.
We shared some of our experiences with Claudia and were just thrilled to be done traveling. We were home.
Almost home. We left Korea at 4:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in San Francisco around noon on Wednesday. We were excited to be back in the United States of America. Once more through Customs and Immigration. We were a tired, rag tag looking bunch. Chris wasn't feeling so hot and my stomach started to follow suit. I thought maybe I was just hungry. The food options on our last flight hadn't been so wonderful.
We picked up some $6 parfaits (highway robbery), cereal, and milk in San Francisco. It was all crazy expensive. We finished eating and boarded the flight to Colorado. I fell asleep for some of the flight but began to feel really sick about an hour and a half in to the flight. I took some pepto bismal chews hoping they would help to settle my stomach. I tried to slowly sip water. I found the little blue "barf" bag in the seat pocket in front of me and just made it sure it was sticking up higher than anything else in the pocket. Nothing was helping, in fact, my nausea was increasing by the moment. I finally nudged Chris a couple of times. He must have been in a deep sleep because it took some effort to get him to wake up. Once he knew my plight, he was fully awake. I asked, "Do you have anything I can take?" He gave me two Immodium. I looked at the bottle. "That was for diarrhea, Chris!" Perhaps he wasn't fully awake.
You know that feeling you get? I grabbed the little blue bag and turned toward the window. I made certain to keep my nose on the outside of the bag. I was so stealthy at throwing up, Chris didn't even realize until I told him. He pushed the call button for me and a very helpful flight attendant (not always the case on a United flight) kindly took my bag away and brought me a ginger ale. I felt badly for the guy sitting next to Chris, but I also felt ten times better. Not 100% yet, but better. Not to worry about the Immodium, I was certain they were out of my system now.
We had made arrangements with our friend Claudia to pick us up. There was some confusion as she thought we were arriving at 7 pm. Our flight landed around 5 pm. She left her house mid-meal and headed off to the airport. By the time we had deplaned, found our luggage, reported Amy's bag as missing, she was waiting for us. We loaded our luggage in her van and fell exhaustedly in to her van. At this point, we were telling our kids not to sleep. We wanted them to be able to sleep a reasonable amount of time later.
We shared some of our experiences with Claudia and were just thrilled to be done traveling. We were home.
Journey to the Philippines - Day 14
Wednesday, 10 April, 2013 The interesting phenomenon about Wednesday was that we were going to get two of them.
We arrived at the Incheon airport around 4:45 am. I remember waking for a moment or two during our flight from Manila to Incheon and noticing that we had been served food. The next time I woke up, the food had been removed and a little sticky notes was left on my seat to show that I had been served and if I needed something to let the flight attendants know. So tired. Must sleep. This was one of my favorite pictures: my girls sleeping on the floor of the terminal in Incheon as Chris tried to get things squared away for our tour to Seoul and to make sure that we were okay to spend more time in the Rest and Relax lounge for Asiana. It was 5 am and the terminal was close to empty.
It was so hot when we left Manila and not so hot in Korea. In fact, many of the outside workers were wearing heavy jackets. We had tried to plan for this, but you know, the best laid plans... The warmer clothes I had pulled out of Kristen's suitcase had been put right back in Kristen's suitcase, and she was only wearing her newly purchased dress with flip flops. All but Chris were wearing flip flips. I think his words were, "I believe I warned you..." It was not warm in the slightest, and I believe I had noticed while Chris was still in the Philippines that he looked pretty goofy wearing his Keens with socks. Kristen had a t-shirt. She wore a pair of my capris with the tie belt cinched as tight as it would go (the capris just happened to make it into the carry on) and Chris' sweatshirt. Unfortuntately, that meant that Chris went without, but he had socks. We looked quickly at the airport for something to purchase, but when all the stores were called Fendi or Prada, you pretty much thought you could make do.
Asiana was a class act. Not once did they question the size of our group. We arrived at the lounge with some pretty tired girls in tow. I think we had all been able to sleep on the flight from Manila; we were getting so that we could nod off pretty much anywhere and any time. I can now say, as well as Chris, that I have showered in Korea.
We stayed in the lounge until our tour was to start and made our way through Customs and Immigration. We now have some pretty cool stamps in our passports. We had to wait for about thirty minutes and watched some crazy Korean dating game show to pass the time.
Gotta love my capris on my 7-year old.
We boarded the bus with our tour group of 31 led by a cute Korean girl named Ina. The ride to Seoul was about an hour long, so she only talked for a few minutes and then let us enjoy the scenery--if that's what you want to call it--I thought it hilarious that we had a tour bus full of people and many were sleeping.
Kristen, in fact, announced that she didn't sleep a bit. I had proof otherwise.
I actually did stay awake for some of the trip and was impressed that the landscape didn't look all that much different than Colorado--brown.
Our first stop was at a small museum and welcome center--Cheongwadae Sarangchae. We learned facts about Korea and enjoyed our first moments in Korea. It was obviously an attraction many tour buses stopped at. We snapped pictures of the rollerblading police, the bike police, and the architecture.
Our next stop was a five-minute walk to the Blue Palace. Though the members of our family were the only Americans on the tour, our guide referenced and compared to the US throughout the tour. The Blue Palace was similar to our White House, though much smaller. Ina took a few pictures of our family and instructed us in saying "Kimchee" instead of "Cheese". It worked.
The tour was scheduled down to the minute. Our third stop was a Buddhist temple. Instructions were given to take pictures outside the building only, to remove our shoes if we entered the building, and to be respectful. I watched as the ladies standing at the entrance noticed Chris' camera around his neck as he exited the temple. He hadn't taken any pictures, but they were quite concerned. A worship service was in progress. I don't know the protocol for such services, but this particular service was filled with women--little, older women to be exact. Talk about pushy. We were standing on the stairs when the service let out. These ladies had no problem grabbing on to us, moving us out of their way, using us to balance as they put on their shoes. I have never seen a pushier bunch of ladies, but they were cute, and we were obviously in their way. We loved the colorful lanterns strung about the temple.
Before reaching the temple, we passed a memorial Post Office. Lo and behold, it had this cool sign of Psy outside its entrance. Misha half-heartedly danced "Gangnam Style", but Amy was more than happy to oblige. In fact, she had been waiting for just the right moment. One couldn't have been more appropriate than this moment.
Driving in Korea was nothing like driving in the Philippines. It was quieter, less noisy, and ordered.
An authentic Korean lunch had been planned for us at a local restaurant. We weren't given a lot of instruction concerning our meal at the Korean restaurant. I think I was the only one to order the vegetarian option with no eggs. The rest had BBQ. Our table was covered in small bowls and plates. Our girls tried a few; Chris and I tried them all, kimchee included. I'm sure there were a few muffled snickers at our expense.
Our last stop gave us the opportunity to shop for souvenirs. I think I would have liked more time. We only had half an hour, and with Kristen's urgent need to use the restroom, we were all limited. Amy and Misha were a little sad (read mad) that Kristen was the only one who found a memento.
Still, we were the last ones to arrive back at the bus. We boarded the bus for our hour drive back to the airport. I think we all slept. We got another stamp in our passports and had a short time to wait back at the lounge before boarding at 4:30 pm.
I would have to say, watching the boarding process for our flight was humorous. Almost the ENTIRE flight was filled with a senior group of some sort traveling to San Francisco. They were up and down and chatting and changing seats. We had a lot of fun just watching them. They would pop up out of their seats even as we taxied.
Chris and Misha lucked out with one of the few empty seats on the plane between them. Amy, Kristen, and I sat together. I really tried to work on my blog and think I was successful in typing only one day. I was exhausted, and I had Kristen sleeping all over me and food piling on my tray because the other two were sleeping. I finally got up and sat beside Misha, but she and Chris were both sleeping as well. Somewhere close to the International Date Line, Chris' stomach started to feel somewhat queasy. Let's do Wednesday all over again.
We arrived at the Incheon airport around 4:45 am. I remember waking for a moment or two during our flight from Manila to Incheon and noticing that we had been served food. The next time I woke up, the food had been removed and a little sticky notes was left on my seat to show that I had been served and if I needed something to let the flight attendants know. So tired. Must sleep. This was one of my favorite pictures: my girls sleeping on the floor of the terminal in Incheon as Chris tried to get things squared away for our tour to Seoul and to make sure that we were okay to spend more time in the Rest and Relax lounge for Asiana. It was 5 am and the terminal was close to empty.
It was so hot when we left Manila and not so hot in Korea. In fact, many of the outside workers were wearing heavy jackets. We had tried to plan for this, but you know, the best laid plans... The warmer clothes I had pulled out of Kristen's suitcase had been put right back in Kristen's suitcase, and she was only wearing her newly purchased dress with flip flops. All but Chris were wearing flip flips. I think his words were, "I believe I warned you..." It was not warm in the slightest, and I believe I had noticed while Chris was still in the Philippines that he looked pretty goofy wearing his Keens with socks. Kristen had a t-shirt. She wore a pair of my capris with the tie belt cinched as tight as it would go (the capris just happened to make it into the carry on) and Chris' sweatshirt. Unfortuntately, that meant that Chris went without, but he had socks. We looked quickly at the airport for something to purchase, but when all the stores were called Fendi or Prada, you pretty much thought you could make do.
Asiana was a class act. Not once did they question the size of our group. We arrived at the lounge with some pretty tired girls in tow. I think we had all been able to sleep on the flight from Manila; we were getting so that we could nod off pretty much anywhere and any time. I can now say, as well as Chris, that I have showered in Korea.
We stayed in the lounge until our tour was to start and made our way through Customs and Immigration. We now have some pretty cool stamps in our passports. We had to wait for about thirty minutes and watched some crazy Korean dating game show to pass the time.
Gotta love my capris on my 7-year old.
We boarded the bus with our tour group of 31 led by a cute Korean girl named Ina. The ride to Seoul was about an hour long, so she only talked for a few minutes and then let us enjoy the scenery--if that's what you want to call it--I thought it hilarious that we had a tour bus full of people and many were sleeping.
Kristen, in fact, announced that she didn't sleep a bit. I had proof otherwise.
I actually did stay awake for some of the trip and was impressed that the landscape didn't look all that much different than Colorado--brown.
Our first stop was at a small museum and welcome center--Cheongwadae Sarangchae. We learned facts about Korea and enjoyed our first moments in Korea. It was obviously an attraction many tour buses stopped at. We snapped pictures of the rollerblading police, the bike police, and the architecture.
Our next stop was a five-minute walk to the Blue Palace. Though the members of our family were the only Americans on the tour, our guide referenced and compared to the US throughout the tour. The Blue Palace was similar to our White House, though much smaller. Ina took a few pictures of our family and instructed us in saying "Kimchee" instead of "Cheese". It worked.
The tour was scheduled down to the minute. Our third stop was a Buddhist temple. Instructions were given to take pictures outside the building only, to remove our shoes if we entered the building, and to be respectful. I watched as the ladies standing at the entrance noticed Chris' camera around his neck as he exited the temple. He hadn't taken any pictures, but they were quite concerned. A worship service was in progress. I don't know the protocol for such services, but this particular service was filled with women--little, older women to be exact. Talk about pushy. We were standing on the stairs when the service let out. These ladies had no problem grabbing on to us, moving us out of their way, using us to balance as they put on their shoes. I have never seen a pushier bunch of ladies, but they were cute, and we were obviously in their way. We loved the colorful lanterns strung about the temple.
Before reaching the temple, we passed a memorial Post Office. Lo and behold, it had this cool sign of Psy outside its entrance. Misha half-heartedly danced "Gangnam Style", but Amy was more than happy to oblige. In fact, she had been waiting for just the right moment. One couldn't have been more appropriate than this moment.
Driving in Korea was nothing like driving in the Philippines. It was quieter, less noisy, and ordered.
An authentic Korean lunch had been planned for us at a local restaurant. We weren't given a lot of instruction concerning our meal at the Korean restaurant. I think I was the only one to order the vegetarian option with no eggs. The rest had BBQ. Our table was covered in small bowls and plates. Our girls tried a few; Chris and I tried them all, kimchee included. I'm sure there were a few muffled snickers at our expense.
Our last stop gave us the opportunity to shop for souvenirs. I think I would have liked more time. We only had half an hour, and with Kristen's urgent need to use the restroom, we were all limited. Amy and Misha were a little sad (read mad) that Kristen was the only one who found a memento.
Still, we were the last ones to arrive back at the bus. We boarded the bus for our hour drive back to the airport. I think we all slept. We got another stamp in our passports and had a short time to wait back at the lounge before boarding at 4:30 pm.
I would have to say, watching the boarding process for our flight was humorous. Almost the ENTIRE flight was filled with a senior group of some sort traveling to San Francisco. They were up and down and chatting and changing seats. We had a lot of fun just watching them. They would pop up out of their seats even as we taxied.
Chris and Misha lucked out with one of the few empty seats on the plane between them. Amy, Kristen, and I sat together. I really tried to work on my blog and think I was successful in typing only one day. I was exhausted, and I had Kristen sleeping all over me and food piling on my tray because the other two were sleeping. I finally got up and sat beside Misha, but she and Chris were both sleeping as well. Somewhere close to the International Date Line, Chris' stomach started to feel somewhat queasy. Let's do Wednesday all over again.
Journey to the Philippines - Day 13
Tuesday, 9 April, 2013 Our last day on Boracay. To be honest, I was ready to come home. Chris was kind enough to schedule a massage for us at 9 am. Prior to that, he took off from the hotel around 7 am to go take some pictures. His picture-taking excursion turned in to so much more as he found himself all the way back at Station 3 and D'Talipapa. It was probably a three-mile round trip. He picked up a few more souvenirs--woven mats for me--along with the pictures he took.
He wasn't back by 8 am but the girls, and I decided to go down for breakfast and order. The pancakes took some time to be served, so we hoped he would be back in time for that. No worries. He arrived around 8:30 am soaked in sweat from his fast-paced jaunt. The girls each ordered plain pancakes with mango on the side. After breakfast, the girls swam for a short time, and we began to hurriedly pack. Time would be short with the massages.
We were given saris to wear and met the young ladies giving our massages by the front office. They took us down toward the beach gate and then turned off into a private area of the property in a grotto that was made to resemble a secluded cave. Two tables were set up and we soon found ourselves relaxing on the table with the breeze of the ocean wafting over us.
Chris thoroughly enjoyed his massage. I endured mine. I asked twice if I could have a softer massage. No luck, so I just endured. And then, as she was finished, she rubbed oil all over my bangs and the front of my hair. Are you kidding me? I didn't have time to shower. I was not pleased. We hurried back up to our room and tried to finish pulling the packing together. We had a jeep scheduled to pick us up and take us to a jetty port at 11 am. We would return to a different airport--Caticlan--but would leave the island the same way we arrived via the banca (boat). As we boarded the boat with all of our luggage and seated ourselves near the front, I was truly grateful we had chosen to sit there. About five rows back from me, a lady was drenched by a rogue wave.
We found trikes outside the jetty port to transfer ourselves and our luggage to the Caticlan airport. We probably could have walked, however, we had no idea that the distance was so short. We arrived to find that our flight was late. Surprise! At least it wasn't cancelled.
After checking in, Chris headed to the front desk to speak with a security agent. He looked to see that Amy was carrying the camera and motioned for her to follow him. Here he was reunited with his iPad. Such a miracle. He had Amy take pictures of the amazing moment.
We got settled in seats and then realized that we weren't really in the actual waiting room. We picked up all of our stuff and moved to a fairly full waiting area. We made use of the charging station as we waited for our plane to arrive. Caticlan was a small airport, surrounded by homes.
While waiting, the girls rummaged through our snacks. By this point, they were fairly depleted. Kristen bought a can of Pringles that were quickly devoured. We watched as the plane arrived. We walked out of the terminal and boarded the fairly small plane. I had to sit next to a guy who was rather large and who took over my space. And then he fell asleep. His legs encroached even more into my space. Fortunately it was only a one hour flight.
We landed in Manila only to board a bus for transfer back to the terminal. Our plans for Manila had changed in the past few days. Originally we had planned to rent a car and driver and check out sites around Manila. Armida, Normita, and kids really wanted to see us again. Chris cancelled our first car and driver and then asked Jun, who was based in Manila, if he would be available to drive all of us around so that we could spend the afternoon together. He agreed, and we were happy to walk out of the airport to smiling faces.
Our first stop was back to the Marriott hotel to pick up our extra bags. Again the van was scrutinized by security as we drove up. It didn't take Chris long to run inside and return. So handy to have left our bags there. Since we hadn't eaten, we grabbed a quick lunch at Shakey's pizza. It was a sit down place, but we ordered simply and asked them to hurry. Allysa and Allyson came in to the restaurant with us, I think they wanted to spend as much time with Kristen as possible. Those three were fast friends--our Philippine cousins if you will.
Our next stop was the Manila temple. The grounds were beautiful, yet again, secured and watched by guards. We had no trouble entering the grounds. This, I believe, was Armida's first visit to the temple. I think her two girls had been to visit the temple with their Primary group, but we were excited to share in such an experience.
During our first meeting with Armida's young son, Armand (4), I don't think he said a single word to us. He was very shy. On this day together, he was very rambunctious and talkative. It was adorable when Armida played popular Filipino songs, Armand and Allyson would sing along.
We tried to the find the American cemetery without any luck. Chris' wifi service wasn't working. You realize how much you rely on technology when you don't have it. We bypassed the cemetery and ended up at the Mall of Asia. We hoped to have dinner there and spend some time just letting the kids have fun together.
Amy, Misha, and I had fun shopping at the pharmacy. We hadn't really purchased anything on our own up to this point. You can get most anything at the pharmacy without a prescription, but we did have to stand in line. The girls had rashes on their backs from swimming and the heat. We now had our very own tube of hydrocortisone cream from the Philippines. The cream was no different, I am sure, than in the US, but we felt accomplished. Amy would have loved to shop more, but we really had no room for any extras.
Pizza Hut turned out to be a treat for all. Our pictures had been downloaded to our iPads, so we were able to share pictures with Armida and Normita. The kids didn't really care about pics; they had fun dancing, hiding, running, and playing.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye. There weren't as many tears this time as there had been on our previous goodbyes. We didn't have a lot of time to hug at the airport either. Traffic was crazy even there. We gathered up all of our bags, stepped to the curb, and waved goodbye. We were a little nervous because the curbs and sidewalks outside the airport were totally packed with people sitting on the ground. Our fear was that they were waiting in some kind of obscenely long line and that we would be at the end of it. No. Hallelujah. A security guard spotted us and pointed us toward the security scanners at the entrance. Whew.
The inside of the airport was so much quieter...and cooler. We plopped our suitcases down and transferred things back around again. We wanted to have one carry on with us in Incheon, Korea so that we could change and shower if necessary. We checked in, paid more terminal fees, and made it through Security and Immigration. Chris had been given four passes to the airport lounge. We took a chance that they would allow all of us to enter and were pleasantly surprised when they did. It was late. Our flight had been scheduled for 11:45 pm and was delayed until 12:30 pm. We mostly charged our devices and snoozed. Kristen was totally exhausted. When we were finally able to board, she stayed awake long enough to get buckled in to her seat and was out again.
He wasn't back by 8 am but the girls, and I decided to go down for breakfast and order. The pancakes took some time to be served, so we hoped he would be back in time for that. No worries. He arrived around 8:30 am soaked in sweat from his fast-paced jaunt. The girls each ordered plain pancakes with mango on the side. After breakfast, the girls swam for a short time, and we began to hurriedly pack. Time would be short with the massages.
We were given saris to wear and met the young ladies giving our massages by the front office. They took us down toward the beach gate and then turned off into a private area of the property in a grotto that was made to resemble a secluded cave. Two tables were set up and we soon found ourselves relaxing on the table with the breeze of the ocean wafting over us.
Chris thoroughly enjoyed his massage. I endured mine. I asked twice if I could have a softer massage. No luck, so I just endured. And then, as she was finished, she rubbed oil all over my bangs and the front of my hair. Are you kidding me? I didn't have time to shower. I was not pleased. We hurried back up to our room and tried to finish pulling the packing together. We had a jeep scheduled to pick us up and take us to a jetty port at 11 am. We would return to a different airport--Caticlan--but would leave the island the same way we arrived via the banca (boat). As we boarded the boat with all of our luggage and seated ourselves near the front, I was truly grateful we had chosen to sit there. About five rows back from me, a lady was drenched by a rogue wave.
We found trikes outside the jetty port to transfer ourselves and our luggage to the Caticlan airport. We probably could have walked, however, we had no idea that the distance was so short. We arrived to find that our flight was late. Surprise! At least it wasn't cancelled.
After checking in, Chris headed to the front desk to speak with a security agent. He looked to see that Amy was carrying the camera and motioned for her to follow him. Here he was reunited with his iPad. Such a miracle. He had Amy take pictures of the amazing moment.
We got settled in seats and then realized that we weren't really in the actual waiting room. We picked up all of our stuff and moved to a fairly full waiting area. We made use of the charging station as we waited for our plane to arrive. Caticlan was a small airport, surrounded by homes.
While waiting, the girls rummaged through our snacks. By this point, they were fairly depleted. Kristen bought a can of Pringles that were quickly devoured. We watched as the plane arrived. We walked out of the terminal and boarded the fairly small plane. I had to sit next to a guy who was rather large and who took over my space. And then he fell asleep. His legs encroached even more into my space. Fortunately it was only a one hour flight.
We landed in Manila only to board a bus for transfer back to the terminal. Our plans for Manila had changed in the past few days. Originally we had planned to rent a car and driver and check out sites around Manila. Armida, Normita, and kids really wanted to see us again. Chris cancelled our first car and driver and then asked Jun, who was based in Manila, if he would be available to drive all of us around so that we could spend the afternoon together. He agreed, and we were happy to walk out of the airport to smiling faces.
Our first stop was back to the Marriott hotel to pick up our extra bags. Again the van was scrutinized by security as we drove up. It didn't take Chris long to run inside and return. So handy to have left our bags there. Since we hadn't eaten, we grabbed a quick lunch at Shakey's pizza. It was a sit down place, but we ordered simply and asked them to hurry. Allysa and Allyson came in to the restaurant with us, I think they wanted to spend as much time with Kristen as possible. Those three were fast friends--our Philippine cousins if you will.
Our next stop was the Manila temple. The grounds were beautiful, yet again, secured and watched by guards. We had no trouble entering the grounds. This, I believe, was Armida's first visit to the temple. I think her two girls had been to visit the temple with their Primary group, but we were excited to share in such an experience.
During our first meeting with Armida's young son, Armand (4), I don't think he said a single word to us. He was very shy. On this day together, he was very rambunctious and talkative. It was adorable when Armida played popular Filipino songs, Armand and Allyson would sing along.
We tried to the find the American cemetery without any luck. Chris' wifi service wasn't working. You realize how much you rely on technology when you don't have it. We bypassed the cemetery and ended up at the Mall of Asia. We hoped to have dinner there and spend some time just letting the kids have fun together.
Amy, Misha, and I had fun shopping at the pharmacy. We hadn't really purchased anything on our own up to this point. You can get most anything at the pharmacy without a prescription, but we did have to stand in line. The girls had rashes on their backs from swimming and the heat. We now had our very own tube of hydrocortisone cream from the Philippines. The cream was no different, I am sure, than in the US, but we felt accomplished. Amy would have loved to shop more, but we really had no room for any extras.
Pizza Hut turned out to be a treat for all. Our pictures had been downloaded to our iPads, so we were able to share pictures with Armida and Normita. The kids didn't really care about pics; they had fun dancing, hiding, running, and playing.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye. There weren't as many tears this time as there had been on our previous goodbyes. We didn't have a lot of time to hug at the airport either. Traffic was crazy even there. We gathered up all of our bags, stepped to the curb, and waved goodbye. We were a little nervous because the curbs and sidewalks outside the airport were totally packed with people sitting on the ground. Our fear was that they were waiting in some kind of obscenely long line and that we would be at the end of it. No. Hallelujah. A security guard spotted us and pointed us toward the security scanners at the entrance. Whew.
The inside of the airport was so much quieter...and cooler. We plopped our suitcases down and transferred things back around again. We wanted to have one carry on with us in Incheon, Korea so that we could change and shower if necessary. We checked in, paid more terminal fees, and made it through Security and Immigration. Chris had been given four passes to the airport lounge. We took a chance that they would allow all of us to enter and were pleasantly surprised when they did. It was late. Our flight had been scheduled for 11:45 pm and was delayed until 12:30 pm. We mostly charged our devices and snoozed. Kristen was totally exhausted. When we were finally able to board, she stayed awake long enough to get buckled in to her seat and was out again.
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