Fresh fruit and relaxing

So how about a little fresh fruit...pineapple, mango, watermelon, pamello, oranges, bananas, sebana(soursop), or marong(in the picture)? We love the fresh fruit we eat at every meal, both the fruit we know and the new fruit we get to try! Some reason I think the fruit in Alaska is just not going to taste the same when we return...not to mention the canned fruit we eat lots of in the winter!

Last we got in lots of school and dentist appointments. Ann Marie had lots of cavaties so we decided to get them fixed while we are here...to save on a little money! So Ann Marie had two appointments last week and then Joleigh and I each had one of Friday. Ann Marie only has one more visit and then she will be done, I have several more to fix cavaties and to get xrays for some deep ones and wisdom teeth. Not looking forward to possibly getting my wisdom teeth pulled, but I have needed to for a long time and wouldn't mind saving the money. So these next two weeks will be rather full of visiting the dentist!

The kids have had lots of fun just playing wherever we are...as you see in the goofy picture of the boys! They all look forward to PE on Wednesday when we go swimming at the pool, and this week we also went to a park to let them run. Ethan and Tyler are a little challenged by being enclosed within the four walls of the compound when they are used to having acres to run and explore. It just takes a little readjusting of what kids get to do and enjoy. I recently read a book about a family that moved into the "Red Light" district in Amsterdam, they had two children and no where to run and play. The family had moved from out in the country with lots of room to explore, kind of like Alaska, but they knew that God had called them to the city and they would all readjust. They each had to find new things to enjoy within their four walls, so we are doing the same!

On Wednesday Steve and I, and Joe and Jenn got a wonderful retreat over to Samal Island at Paradise Resort. We rode a small ferry boat over to the island and stayed there overnight. We went beach combing, playing with hermit crabs, ate dinner, breakfast, and lunch by the beach, and we went snorkeling. Paradise Island resort caters to foreigners as their getaway so it had all the "comforts of home". Snorkeling was a new experience for Steve and I, a little hard to get over the feeling that you might suck in a lung full of salt water, but once we got used to it we had a lot of fun! We swam around for over an hour enjoying the discovery of lots of colorful small fish. I felt like I was swimming in our old fish tank with striped fish, angel fish, bright neon fish, and on and on...it really was quite a sight! We had a very relaxing time and the kids all did great back at the house under the care of Ann Marie and Joleigh.

We brought back roses for the girls for Valentines Day from the flower market. How does a dozen roses for less than $4 sound? It is so much fun to be able to get things like that for so little money! A couple days ago the kids all made Valentines for each other and we bought candy, so when we returned we had a card exchange. It was fun to see each others creations and enjoy some Filipino candy!

Sunday evening we enjoyed a treat of barbeque hamburgers over a makeshift grill...felt like our summer barbeque's at home in Alaska except just a little warmer! Real hamburgers are a special treat here as it is just rather costly for all the fixings, and we sure enjoyed them! After hamburgers then everyone got to cook their s'mores over the hot coals. Mmmm, good food and great company!