On the day of our departure to Siquijor, Matt picked up my parents and brother from their international arrival, while I took those who had already arrived to a different airport terminal. We finally got to see the whole gang and relaxed at Cinnabon before our domestic flight.

Kalani got to hang out with her aunt Kalani, whom she is named after for a week.

Welcome to Coco Grove in Siquijor. It has become our “other home” in the Philippines!

We showed our family where and how our cousins live in Siquijor.

Salagdoong beach with the two of our Siquijodnon cousins.

We took the family to the beach across the street from where our Filipino relatives live.

We went to the lookout tower that is the the middle of Siquijor Island.

View of Siquijor from Triad Resort

More than 20 of us woke up by 5am to take a boat 3 hours away to Oslob to see whale sharks.

We are already to make memories together by snorkeling the whale sharks.

Hello whale shark! There were 6-10 sharks being hand-fed at Oslob.

After seeing whale sharks, we headed to the nearby Sumilon Island to snorkel, swim and play in the ocean.

Since the festivals were taking place, our family fed us a couple of different times at their home. We would eat at a private area on the second floor of the home as guests of honor.

While waiting for the festival performances to start, our family took naps since they were jet-lagged, and the performance started an hour late.

We took our family to the famous Balete Tree and they were able to experience a “fish spa”.

One cousin from California and the other from Siquijor. Same age and similar build.

Siblings spent a lot of time together “talking story”.

Before we left Siquijor the girls wanted a photo with a jeepney.

Good-bye Siquijor. Until next time.

My sister and cousin’s week in Manila before the rest of the family flew in.

My cousin had a direct flight from LA, California. We let her put her suitcase down and then took her to Matt’s basketball game. She didn’t last the whole game.

The boys had never met our cousin before, but quickly accepted her and would spend a lot of time sitting with her on the couch.

Jet-lag is brutal. These two would fall asleep around 7pm every night when they first arrived.

My sister came from Texas, so we loaded her up with goodies to bring here for us. Many of these treats went to friends and co-workers. The people here really appreciate sweets from the states.

I took the girls to Pagsanjan Falls. Blake and I stayed at the resort while they went to see the falls.

The girls went to Taal Volcano while I stayed home one day. It is always nice to get out of the city.

We tried out the trapeze and my cousin was really good at it.

We went back a second time to do trapeze with the whole gang.

Matt took my youngest brother out to do wake-boarding one morning.

We had to take them to Mall of Asia. In 2006 it was the largest mall in the Philippines, but now it is the third largest in the country.

We also took the crew to Sofitel hotel which is on Manila bay so they could experience Spiral Buffet.

When it was just my sister and I at home, Matt had a hard time telling us apart from the back.

We spent time doing puzzles at home since we both enjoy them

Getting fake eyelashes

Trying on jeans at Greenhills

Bowling with Mason

Evening out with Kalani to watch the performance STOMP

Fabric shopping at the place where stores come to get their fabric

Meeting our cousin Marites in Manila

We went to the Mall of Asia to watch the fireworks

We got out of Manila and went to Tagaytay and rode the Ferris wheel at Sky Ranch

We took her to watch a PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) game with a friend who recently received her mission call to Temple Square

We watched Matt play basketball a couple of times as well

The night before she left we watched the Transformer premier at the Director’s Club movie theater

And she took me to the hospital before she left for her flight. She missed Blake being born by 10 minutes!