Us with our tour guide and his van.

Our first stop was to try to find a painting and we looked at this Korean Flea Market. This place was like a cross between Greenhills (in Manila) and a U.S. thrift store.

The USA has the White House, but Korea has the Blue House for their President.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Royal Guards with tourists at Gwanghwanum gate at Gyeongbokgung Palace

While purchasing this painting from the pictured artist, some locals walking by asked our tour guide if Matt was a Hollywood actor!

After lunch we saw these street performers doing the “Farmer’s Dance”

We went inside the Samsung showroom and had fun playing with the different interactive things on display.

We walked around the streets of Gangnam.

Gangnam Style

We walked the streets of Bukchon Hanok Village where people live in the old style Korean homes.

To end the day we went to the North Seoul Tower and looked out over the city.

We drove an hour to a Korean Folk Village where people were in costume and you could see homes to how things use to be.

Kalani crossing one of the three different kinds of bridges at the Korean Folk Village.

For lunch we stopped at a Korean BBQ restaurant and it was so good.

In Korea there are so many side dishes during meal time.

Matt wanted to hold Blake in the Moby Wrap while we walked around the South Gate Market.

A highlight of our time in Korea was visiting Baskin Robbins everyday. It took Mason a few trips before he realized that “BR” is Baskin Robbins.

We flew from Manila to Cebu. Then took this plane from Cebu to Siargao

The local grocery store

Kalinaw Resort. Our room is on the right and the kids loved that the pool was right next to our room

Kalinaw Resort at dusk. The owners have made this such a nice resort with the little details

First island to visit was “Naked Island”. Nothing there, just sand.

Second island to visit is “Dako Island”. We had a yummy lunch prepared by our resort here.

Last island to visit “Guyam Island”. Not much here, just some trees and rocks.

Traveled around the island to Magpaponko Swimming Hole during low tide.

Exploring the island of Siargao. Very quiet and peaceful place.

Our last day we met this family during low tide. The father was teaching his children how to fish.

We made it to the famous “Cloud 9” surf spot. Matt and Tia got surfing lessons and both stood up on our board. Here Tia is surfing a small wave.

We enjoyed our time at Siargao, and the staff at Kalinaw resort was a big help during our time there. They played with Blake during all of our meals and were just so pleasant.

My uncle had to go to Taiwan for work for a couple of days, so my aunt and I did some girls things. Like take a sugar cookie decorating class with some of my friends.

I celebrated my 36th birthday with my aunt by going to see the musical play “Beauty and the Beast”.

We showed our aunt how we watch movies at home…by having a therapist massage your feet, back, arms, head, neck, etc.

I took them to Tagaytay so they could see the countryside. Here we are with Taal Volcano in the background.

And we enjoyed sometime at Nurture Spa which was so relaxing.

We made them work out with us at Focus Athletics. We had to burn off some calories before we hit the buffets and restaurants.

Our uncles enjoys seafood, so we took him to a Dampa seafood place where we chose different seafood to buy and then took our purchases to the restaurant and told them how to cook them. It was all delicious.

Magnum Cafe is always a favorite since you get to make your own magnum bar.

We took a plane and then a boat ride on the Coco Princess to get to Siquijor island.

We stayed 2 nights at Coco Grove on Siquijor. We were so happy to be able to show them the island that my grandfather came from and the beauty that island holds.

We were able to enjoy dancers while we ate outside one evening at Coco Grove.

We had so much fun being all together again.

Inside the Fullerton where we stayed and had this amazing view while walking to the elevators

The Fullerton staff spoiled our children and gave them their own plate of sweets. One of Matt’s co-workers has a sister who works at the hotel and played a part in this. We love how friendly people are throughout Asia.

Our first destination was Jurong Bird Park where we watched two different bird shows and got to see lots of different birds.

We ate lunch like locals at the hawker stations

Kalani got a henna tattoo that lasted about a week

We spent the afternoon at Gardens by the Bay

Cloud Forest with the tallest “indoor man-made waterfall”

The Flower Dome was decorated for the upcoming Chinese New Year

The “wet market” in Singapore is found in one building in Chinatown

We visited a Hindu temple called Sri Mariamman Temple. The outside roof is full of characters

The ceiling inside Sri Mariamman Temple is covered in paintings

We visited the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Our tour guide took us to this model of Singapore. It shows what developments they plan on making in the next 5,10, & 50 years!

We got to ride in the Singapore Flyer and get a different point of view of the country

We all were able to fly a plane with a real pilot in “Flight Experience”. We chose what airport we wanted to fly to and then were given different flying experiences (daytime, night time, bad weather, engine out)

To end our 2nd day we took a ferry boat ride and did the River Explorer

View of the Merlion of Singapore that we saw on from the ferry boat

We spent the last day on Sentosa Island

iFly Skydiving experience was awesome. It is for 7 year olds and older, so Matt, Tia & Kalani participated.

Our last night we went over to Fullerton on the Bay hotel and had some snacks and drinks at “The Lantern”. We had a wonderful view of the Marina Bay Sands light show and were spoiled by the restaurant manager who is Matt’s co-worker’s brother-in-law.

We made hygiene kits at church and then Matt and Robbie delivered them to the city jail with other members from our church.

We went to the province to celebrate our cousin’s 1st birthday party and all of these guys wanted a photo with Matt and Robbie before we left.

Mason with the 1 year old birthday girl.

Annual Light Show at Ayala Triangle

Life-size gingerbread house at the Peninsula Hotel

Manila Airport was a mess on Christmas Eve. Luckily we found a place to wait to board the plane on the floor in front of a TV

We were able to ride on the Coco Princess from Dumeguete to Siquijor. It is Coco Grove’s private boat that goes straight to the resort.

We enjoyed our time at Salagdoong with cousins

Mason got dropped off the platform at Salagdoong. Later he ran and jumped off on his own while other adults were too nervous to do the same.

Because it rained the day before, Cambugahay Falls wasn’t as clear as it normally is. But still beautiful and we enjoyed our time there.

We explored more of Siquijor and found another waterfall after walking through the “jungle”

While hanging out with family, the kids played in this “tree house” that was built for our 5 year old cousin.

The children who live near our cousins welcome our children to play with them whenever we arrive.

The boys always seem to go to a cock-fight in Siquijor

We got to listen to Island Melody Band on Christmas Eve. Due to the rain they had to move the show indoors.

We arranged to have our family come to Coco Grove to have dinner with us. This is the first group of people to arrive to the resort.

We tried to see how many cousins could fit on the circular bed at the Penthouse.

All of our cousins and 2 sister missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who came over to have a catered dinner with us at Coco Grove.

We were able to attend church in Siquijor with our friends from Manila.

Finally on December 30th, we were able to return home and the kids could open their Christmas presents.

Matt and Robbie went out dancing with some of our Filipino friends

2014 was a wonderful year for us and we are looking forward to 2015 and all the adventures it holds for us.