Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving holiday, we took a 7 hour or so road trip to Bacolod. We had a wonderful time getting together with old and new friends.

Below are pics of our trip.....enjoy!

Robert always enjoys this particular route because it reminds him alittle of the piney woods of East Texas. As an agricultural project, the town here planted pine trees. They are not the same kind as in Texas, but still smelled the same...and felt the same. Ask Robert how much sap he got on himself because he decided to be a tree hugger!!!!

Of course our goofball had to do the same. The first thing I noticed about this tree was that it looks like it has eyes and a mouth....the eyes dont look too pleased :)

Our view while on the road trip







Once we got to Bacolod, we immediately met up with the Allen and Hagen family at the small waterpark (that I've posted pics of before) in Bacolod.

Carly and Mikayla (best friends)....they met back when the Allen's lived in Legaspi.

The guys have to show off their stuff at the pool.

(Zac and Ben Hagen, Jamin and Jesse Murphy, Caleb Allen)

What post would not be complete without Jesse's signature facial expression? I'm sure these will come back to haunt him when he gets older, haha.

Aye, aye captain!!! Jamin playing on the pirate ship at the pool.

The waterslide trains.....

Wade with all the kids inside the pirate ship.



Jamin, Carly and Mikayla hanging off a huge water mushroom in the pool.



Let the festivities begin....

Joanna and Jen did a great job decorating the tables.

The kids table even looked cute, too!



Jen Hagen, me and Joanna Allen




Carly and Mrs. Linda Moore (who is looking great with the weight loss....you go girl!!!)




Jesse is acting all hungry!!!!

Mk's: Jamin, Caleb, Mikayla and Carly




Jen Hagen helping out in the kitchen




Steven Hagen got turkey duty! He was up since 4am cooking this!!




While lunch was still being prepared, all the kids decided to draw turkeys on the board...and a couple of others drawings.

Drum roll please........
(we had way too much food!)


Can we please say the prayer so we can eat????




Ben Hagen helping Jesse play the guitar.




Throughout the post, you have seen some blond headed kiddoes and a couple of adults that I've never posted pics about before. Meet the Hagen family. We first met this sweet family at a homeschooler's conference back in Feb 2008. They are really good friends with the Allen family and decided to spend Thanksgiving in Bacolod. We were so excited to get to see them again, and enjoyed our time with them, along with the Allen's, the Moore's and several other missionary families that live in Bacolod. Note-Thanks to the Yandall family for opening up your home for a great time of food/fellowship on Thanksgiving night. We had a great time!!!

Anytime we post pics of the Allen family, you will notice that the kids are either swimming or bowling. Not too many other options for them to do here, but the kids love it. Below are pics taken at the bowling alley in Bacolod.



Who's son is this??



Robert messing around with Ben, while Steve holds him upside down....poor kid!



Wade Allen and Ben Hagen

More co-op pictures

Here are some more pics taken while at one of our homeschooling co-op meetings.

Jamin and friend

New friend - Kim Powers




Another good friend, but nameless for security reasons...you know who you are, haha!




Old friends from Cebu-Sharon and Autumn Sigrest

Sharon with her two kids - Brian and Autumn

All the co-op kids playing around in the pool....actually they are ganging up on Jared, so it seems!

A little of this, a little of that

We finally have an official American restaurant in Cebu...besides KFC, Sbarro, Pizza Hut and McDonald's. We had to take pics for our first visit. It wasn't too bad, but was extremely crowded and noisy. Reminded us why we don't normally go to TGI Fridays in the states. Nonetheless, it's a great memory of the good ol' U.S. of A.

Connie's play-do turkey



Jamin's pilgrim hat

Jamin's play-do face

Ok, so these pics might seem odd. I just got in the mood to take pics in my kitchen.....a small kitchen with not much color, I might add. Below is a must have in the Philippines....rice cooker. No more instant rice for me! We have actually grown fond of Filipino rice....and like it much better than the fluffy rice in the states.

My little 2 burner stove/oven. Cooking big meals can become quite interesting, but cooking in shifts has become common place for us.

Also something else common here is a water dispenser. It is not safe for our family to drink the tap water. One of these 5 gallon container of water cost us p50....about $1 depending on the peso exchange.

Our favorite bread made here in the Philippines

Do you notice something odd in this next picture? Why are the eggs not in the fridge? When you buy eggs in the grocery store or market, you won't find them in the cold section. They are on the shelf like other non-cold items. I thought this weird at first, but was told this is how eggs used to be stored a long time ago. They actually last longer this way.

The only thing I don't like about the eggs here is that they come in the carton 'as is'. You can see in the pics that there are some markings on the eggs....this is actually a cleaner batch. Usually there is chicken poop, etc on the outside of the eggs. Don't worry....I scrub my eggs clean before I use them...these 4 eggs were just about to get a scrubbing.

My favorite dish detergent of choice. I have only seen this variety here in the Philippines. This is great for greasy dishes!