The beginning of September we finally got Matt’s parents out here to the Philippines to visit us and to meet their newest grandson, Blake. Matt’s brother Drew also came out to visit as well for a week during his school break. Then the second week his older sister Angela and her husband Peter joined the party. The first week we stayed in Manila and showed his parents around while Matt still had to work for a few days.

We ate at People’s Palace a few times

We watched Matt play basketball

Rosalyn found the grandmother of her co-worker selling vegetables at a local wet-market

We walked around the neighborhood of that local market and received many stares since foreigners aren’t normally seen in that area

Matt and Drew spent some brother time wakeboarding

The boys also took their parents to Sky Ranch in Tagaytay so they can see life outside of Manila

Grandpa magic with Blake to keep him happy

We waited to have Blake blessed until his grandparents arrived. 3 generations of Farleys in one photo.

Drew convinced Peter to get a suit tailored made by the same tailor who made the 1980’s James Bond suits

Peter was invited to do a presentation at The Medical City hospital that Angela and Matt were able to attend

After a week in Manila, we took a plane ride and then a boat ride and arrived in Boracay! We stayed at the Shangri-La in Boracay and rented 2 villas that connected. It was a perfect set-up for our families and we felt like royalty with our own personal butler on call. We have never been disappointed with any of the Shangri-La hotels, and our experience at Boracay was the best.

Our private pool at one of the villas which the kids really enjoyed.

Beautiful ocean view as seen from the Shangri-La with wonderful weather while we were there.

Family in the ocean and enjoying the white powder sand at the public beach.

We had our own private dinner at our villa where enjoyed a 3 course meal and had some good conversations.

Lost in paradise!

More photos of Boracay here.

A co-worker told Matt, “It was really smart of you to marry a Hawaiian.”  Any excuse we can find to go to Hawaii, we will take.  With my younger sister in Hawaii and recently having twins who would be blessed in our church, that was the excuse we needed to leave our own children for a few days and spend time in Hawaii.  And the bonus was that Matt’s brother was also going to school there and I hadn’t seen him in over 2 years!

The twins: Derek & Keith

My sister's family and us

Our brother recently returned from a mission in the Philippines

Enjoying Matsumoto shaved ice with ice cream in Haleiwa

Numerous waterfalls from all of the rain

The weather wasn’t great while were there.  It rained everyday and flooded in some areas.  So, we never put on our swimsuits or went to the beach since it was too dangerous to swim.  But, we enjoyed our time being together with our family.  I guess we will just need to go back again…I’m sure we can come up with another excuse!

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines for the first time and wrote a short blog post about it here.  Luckily, I was able to return for a second business trip the last two weeks of September.

This second trip was long enough to permit a weekend with my brother Drew, who is serving a two year LDS mission in the Cagayan Valley (a one hour flight from Manila).  It was great to spend some quality time with my brother after not having seen him for nearly two years.  It was also fun to see him as a missionary, participate in missionary activities, and hear him speak Tagalog fluently.  He finishes his mission in December 2011 and will then attend university at BYU Hawaii.

Similar to the last trip, I was taken yet again by the kindness and warmth of the Filipino culture.  I guess you could call it culture shock, but with a positive connotation.  This alluring contrast was even more pronounced in the small city of Tuguegarao where Drew lived.  Over the weekend he taught me a few phrases in Tagalog which served me well throughout the trip (‘How’s it going?’ ‘Thank you sir’ ‘Yes sir’ ..etc..)  Most of these attempts at Tagalog were received with a very surprised smile and a bit of laughter.

The photos below illustrate some of the highlights of the trip, and the rest can be found here.

This map shows where Drew is serving his mission (Tuguegarao), and where Tia's grandparents are from (near Cebu).

The Peninsula Hotel is almost too good. It's hard to leave and come back to reality.

Security "bomb dogs" sniff any baggage coming in and out of major buildings (hotels, offices, etc).

This monument at RCBC Plaza is to commemorate Phillipine independence (July 4, 1946)

Drew's apartment in Tuguegarao. Most of his neighbors are college students.

Tuguegarao City. The green building is the mall / market.

These taxi tricycles are the main method of transportation. They can pack in 5-8 Filipinos.

A traditional bamboo house and a traditional shoulder ride.

Maybe I'm bias because our kids are part Filipino, but the kids over there seem a lot cuter than the ones in the states.

A Saturday morning service project (weeding / clearing land). I'm holding a traditional local dish -- hot chocolate made straight from the bean. It was a sweaty 95' degrees and we are drinking hot chocolate and they are wearing jackets (apparently trying to avoid a tan, light skin is more attractive in their culture).

Dinner with a nice family from Church. The second boy from the left is named "Fourteenio" because he's the 14th kid in the family, and born on November 14th, 1994. (I was also born on Nov 14!)

I came across lovely Father’s Day Portrait below on AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com and thought “If that dad deserves such an amazing gift of love, so does mine!”.