Christmas in Lada...

...complete with all the trimmings!

In such contrast to our last Christmas at our island home surrounded by people that do not celebrate Christ's birth.  We enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday...small white lights on the tree, stockings hung by the tree, candles burning, Christmas music playing, and yummy treats to taste! 

Dennis and Jeanie stopped by for a couple days on their way back to the island.  So fun to play games, enjoy meals together, and make divinity.

 Our care team back home in Alaska and Steve's parents blessed us with a Christmas box!  Special treats from home make being so far away from family and friends for the holidays much more bearable. 

Hmm, wonder where we will be for Christmas next year?

Sabang-Underground River

Okay, so I took a LONG break from blogging and it is long past time to start up again!  Sorry to my regular readers for my long absence, but now we have faster internet so I should be able to do a better job of keeping my blog updated.  So back to where I left off...

For the last part of my parents visit to Palawan we took them on a two hour van ride to Sabang and the Underground River.  We took Steve's parents to Sabang earlier in the year and were not thrilled with the place we stayed, so thought we would see if we could find something a little better.  But we found that the accommodations in Sabang are either high price for a very nice room, or low price which matches the room...nothing in between!  Oh well, we can make do for one night.

Despite the accommodations, the beach is beautiful and the Underground River is an amazing experience!

 To get to the Underground River from Sabang we travel by pomboat for about 20 minutes to get across the bay to the entrance to the river/cave.

 We gingerly pile in a 12 person canoe with a guide to take us into the Underground River.  The river goes for many kilometers inside the cave, but we only travel for 1.5 kilometers into the cave.  The cave is full of bats flying over head...thank goodness for the hard hats!

 What a fun experience and a beautiful place!

In Puerto Princesa

After the week at our house in Lada we all got on a van for the four hour van ride to Puerto Princesa.  Five of us were supposed to enjoy a flight to Puerto, but bad weather forced us all to take the van.  Those that didn't get a ride in the plane were a little disappointed!

While in Puerto we stayed at the New Tribes guest house...our favorite place to stay when in town.  The kids had fun showing Grandpa and Grandma around to some of their favorite places to eat and see.

Shopping at NCCC is always a must when in town!  Adams, Alyssum, and Kailee bought new hats!  One of our favorite places to eat is at Chicken Inato's where we enjoy bbq chicken on a bamboo skewer and mango shakes.  Mmm, they are the best!

One day we hired a driver with a jeepney to take us around Puerto.  It was great to have our own wheels for the day!  We started by visiting a park/war memorial in the middle of town.  The park had recently been given a new look and we were pleasantly surprised at the pleasantness of the new park.  Turned out to be a great photo spot!

The next stop of the day was the Butterfly Garden.  It is a very small zoo/garden with butterflies and greenery in abundance!  They also feature a variety of insects and reptiles found throughout Palawan.  Some of the kids could spend hours at the Butterfly Garden as they are mesmerized by the beautiful fluttering butterflies

For lunch we visited another favorite spot, Baker's Hill.  It is also a beautiful garden/zoo with a playground for younger kids.  They have a nice restaurant and bakery.

 We didn't give our food much time to settle as we traveled just a few kilometers down the road to Royal Oberoi Hotel for the kids to swim in their wonderful pool.  The adults enjoyed watching the kids play games in the pool!

What a fun day touring around Puerto Princesa!

Dad and Mom visit!

So wonderful to have my parents visit for a couple weeks!  We were anticipating this visit for quite some time. 

Steve, Ann Marie, Ethan, and Tyler met them in Puerto Princesa at the airport.  All except for Steve got to fly down to Lada, right up to our front door, on a New Tribes airplane. Since we live on the New Tribes airstrip, Ethan and Tyler have been dreaming of the day they would get to fly with Josh in his plane.
Grandpa and Grandma decided they wanted to fly down rather than take the four hour bumpy van ride, so the three older kids got to join them.  It was a short sweet flight of only 45 min! They loved seeing Palawan from the air.  The road looked so smooth, from the air!  Nice neat farms with small houses and trails from the main road.  It is amazing from the air how clean and well laid out everything looks...such a different view than on the ground!

We spent the week here at our house in Lada and around Brooke’s Point.  We took them on a “city” tour showing them some of the sights of this small town at the southern end of Palawan.

Brooke's Lighthouse named after Sir James Brooke

A view from the top of the lighthouse

Pom boats at the pier

Christmas in September!

Christmas dinner!

Christmas is just so much more fun with Grandparents so we decided to celebrate Christmas in September!   Steve made a wonderful breakfast on “Christmas” morning and we had hot chocolate and apple cider for this “chilly” rainy morning.  We decorated a small tree with lights brought from Alaska.  Christmas music made the morning complete!  We read Isaiah 53 together, and then opened presents.  Mom had to get quite creative with the gifts she brought since she was trying to not bring too much luggage.  Their suitcases were maxed out for weight, but they managed to fit it all in!  Even a 10lb box of screws and nails for Tyler!