10 days after school started this year there was a holiday on a Wednesday and then the following Monday. We decided to pull Kalani out of school for 2 days and go on another vacation!  We headed up north to Baguio where there were trees that resembled pine trees and reminded us of Tahoe in California.  The only down side to our trip was that there was a monsoon…good thing we have a driver who took care of us and all of the driving.

Driving to Baguio during a monsoon. So thankful we have a driver.

We either had rain or fog during the drive. It took us about 5 hours to get there with a lunch stop along the way.

Since we had our own car and driver we created our own itinerary of things to see on our first day in Baguio. Thanks to the hotel for their recommendations and TripAdivsor for other people’s experiences, we put together a nice day of activities.

1st stop: Botanical Garden

There was a drizzle while exploring the Botanical Garden, but we all had a good time.

2nd stop: The Good Shepherd Convent where we bought homemade goodies

3rd stop: Mind’s View Park

Souvenir item for sale…minus the laptop

Mason was excited to get a wooden snake for his treat and to get a photo with this “cool dog”

It was still raining pretty good while we were at Mine’s View Park. The local way to get rid of the water that collects on the tarps without getting water in all the shops.

4th stop: Bell Church with some history of China on site as well

Leaving the Bell church Matt was asked if he wouldn’t mind taking a photo with some Filipinas

5th stop: Tam-Awan Village

The next day we decided to drive from Baguio to Banaue to see the 2000 year old rice terraces.  It was a beautiful drive that took 6 hours to reach our destination.  We only looked at the rice terraces for about 10 minutes because of a downpour.  So we took a longer, safer way home that took 8 hours.  The kids and adults did very well on that 14 hour car ride!

The clouds would come and go on our drive to Banaue…but it was still a beautiful drive

We stopped to stretch our legs and check out Ambuklao Dam on our way to Banaue

Banaue Rice Terraces

Local Igorot ladies that wait for tourist to come take a photo. Matt gave this lady more than the usual tip!

On the way home from Banaue we pulled off the side of the road and purchased some wood furniture at a rock bottom price!

We stayed at The Manor at Camp John Hay and had a wonderful time. Matt and I worked out every day and then got a massage. The kids loved exploring the place (when it wasn’t raining) and they also had art classes at the hotel.  We met up with a co-worker/basketball teammate of Matt’s for dinner on Saturday night. Also on Saturday, 4 families from our church arrived in Baguio but stayed at another hotel.  We actually didn’t get to see any of our church friends until church on Sunday…before we headed back to Manila.

The kids each painted 3 art pieces at the hotel on a rainy day.

Our Manila church friends that were in Baguio the same time as us.

Random lion head we saw on our drive back to Manila

Bridal Veil Falls was a good place for pictures and to get out and stretch our legs while heading home.

Before we return home to the states, I want to go back to Baguio when it isn’t raining and we can pick local strawberries! More Baguio photos here.

Some friends of ours invited us to spend a weekend with them for the birthday celebration of their daughter who is Kalani’s friend.  It happened to be over a 3 day weekend so we took advantage of that and had a wonderful time being with friends and enjoying the beach and resort.  We drove about 2 hours to get to Canyon Cove Resort.  With it being a holiday weekend, we didn’t get any promotion deals, so we felt like we paid too much for the rooms and food.  The buffet breakfast was okay if you wanted to eat the local Filipino type breakfast, but after 2 days of it we were done.  We arrived on Thursday evening and left Saturday afternoon…you know that the food wasn’t great when “Jolliebee” is a better option.  Still, we had a good time hanging out with friends and being on the beach and Kalani and Matt got to ride a jet ski!

The resort had a nice pool, access to the beach, play ground, fish spa and volleyball court.

Mason loved having his “Big Boy Friends” around, and I think they also liked having him around as well.

Kalani loved having friends around to swim with.

We had some fun playing sand volleyball.

When it wasn’t overcast too much, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

As soon as we came home from Perth, Australia we found out that Matt had a business trip to Singapore.  So of course we booked tickets and off to Singapore as a family we went.  I really like these business trips where Matt’s company pays for his plane ticket and hotel room, so we just have to pay for our plane tickets!  Matt flew out on Monday and had business meetings Tuesday-Thursday.  The kids and I flew to Singapore on Wednesday and did our own thing on Thursday and stayed together as a family for Friday-Sunday.

We stayed at the Fullerton Hotel and because of some connections we got a free upgrade.  We had a beautiful view from our window and the staff were all very friendly and helpful.  Singapore is truly a melting pot and it was difficult to figure out if people were Singaporean, Malaysian, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc.  And it is also true that Singapore is expensive.  We probably spent a small fortune during our time there, but we made some wonderful memories!

Fullerton Hotel is were we stayed. It has an interesting past and has been around since 1928.

Day 1: Crossed the boarder into Malaysia to go to LegoLand

Day 2: S.E.A. Aquarium in Sentosa

Day 2: Universal Studios which was near the aquarium on Sentosa Island. This was the first time that Matt has been with us at an amusement park!

Day 2: When we finally left Sentosa Island we took these cable cars to get back to the mainland.

Day 2: View of Sentosa Island at night as seen from our cable car.

Day 3: Mason enjoying the science center.

Day 3: Walking around Arab Street

Day 3: At Little India doing some shopping!

Day 3: We went up to Marina Bay Sands Hotel to check out their infinity pool.

Day 3: The shoppes at Marina Bay Sands…very high end stores.

And this is Marina Bay Sands Hotel with the shops in front of it.

Day 3: Dinner at some hawker stalls.

Day 3: The kids ended the day by swimming in the pool.

Day 4: Met up with cousins that are living in Singapore and spent the day at the zoo.

Day 4: Singapore zoo has a fun water park where the kids spent over an hour.

Day 4: We walked over to the Night Safari after the zoo and spent the evening with the animals.

More photos of our Singapore vacation here.

The end of May Matt had a business trip to Perth, Australia.  So, we pulled Kalani out of school for a week and explored Western Australia.  A very generous co-worker that we actually met while our two families lived in Aberdeen, Scotland invited us to stay at his home during our week and they served as our chauffeur and tour guides.  They have a daughter Kalani’s age and a son a couple of years older than Mason.  The kids all got along well so that was nice for everyone!

It was getting to be winter time in Australia so I looked forward to wearing jeans, long sleeve shirts and not sweating.  I checked the forecast for the week and we would be leaving Manila where it was around 98’F to Perth where it was suppose to be 70’F.  However for about 24-36 hours the weather dropped from the normal 70′ F to 55′ F, but still we went out and enjoyed Australia!

Our first outing in Perth was to Burswood Park to meet up with Filipino co-workers for a BBQ.

We toured around a small section of Kings Park on this beautiful day.

Ended our first day in Perth by visiting City Beach. The kids didn’t need their swimming suits to enjoy the water!

Day 2 was spent at SciTech.

Day 3 we went to the zoo. The kangaroos roam freely in the Australian section.

Day 4 we visited the museum. This dinosaur was making some loud noises.

Day 4 was also spent walking around city center and taking the free hop on hop off buses.

Day 5 was spent at the aquarium. Mason really liked the touch pool.

Day 5 was also the coldest day we were there so we had some fabulous hot chocolate at the nearby shops in Hillary.

Day 6 we went to Caversham Wildlife Park where dreams came true of touching kangaroos and koalas.

Day 7 we toured the Fremantle Prison that was in operation until 1991.

Farley family had a wonderful week in Perth, Australia!

I took the kids out from about 10am-2pm.  Our host family’s children were in school while we were there, and their school didn’t start until about 9am.  We would come home from our day out and the kids would return from school around 3pm.  Then we spent the evening home enjoying a home cooked meal and watching movies or playing games.  The adults did go out one evening to see Perth at night while the 4 kids were being watched by a friend.  There really isn’t a whole lot more of Perth to see or do that we didn’t accomplish in the week we were there.

More photos of our Perth vacation here.

My sister is pretty incredible.  She flew from Utah to Manila (taking 4 planes each way) with her 4 year old and 1 year old while her husband was touring Asia.  The kids and I were so happy to have them come visit with us.  They stayed for 3 weeks and we got to do a lot of pampering, shopping, eating, site-seeing, reuniting, etc.  It was so much fun.  We hadn’t seen each other for 8 months and we are not sure when we will see each other again.  It was also nice to have her around while Matt was out of the country.

What we did while the Hansens were visiting us. Stuff for the kids, for the moms and for the whole family.

Sunday afternoon at the American Cemetery in Manila.

The kids and moms enjoyed a day at Santa Elena Fun Farm. We spent the day fishing, horse back riding, feeding animals, doing a zip line, riding a water buffalo/carabao pulled wagon, etc.

Matt’s co-workers treated us to a Girls Night Out at Palladium.

A friend took us to get our hair colored. I got purple and Makana got blue streaks through out our hair. We are the Fruit Loops in a Cherrio world.

The kids enjoyed a day at Ark Avilon where we were able to feed fish and crocodiles, hold birds and a python. Sadly, Jenny the orangutan was getting a physical so we didn’t get to meet her.

We spent a morning making sock puppets with young girls who have been abused.

The kids enjoyed playing at Kidzville where they could get their energy out and use their imagination.

Just the 2 of us went to Taal Volcano on a day trip.

We met 2 more cousins that are living in Manila and had dinner with them at a mall one night.

We had a long wait for a ferry boat in Dumeguete before we could take the Hansens to Siquijor. So we spent time at the mall getting massages, pedicures, eating, people watching and fish spa…I think she liked the fish eating her dead skin cells!

Now 2 of my siblings have been to Siquijor and visited our long lost relatives.

We all got into our cousin’s boat and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Siquijor.

We picked Mckay up at the airport and headed directly to Siquijor. He was really tired and spent most of the boat ride trying to sleep.

Mckay only had 2 days in Manila with us. So we made sure he had a spa day and then we went to Pagsanjan Falls.

The kids all loved playing with each other for 3 weeks.

I loved being with my sister and showing her around the Philippines.

Not exactly sure when and where we will all be together again.  Good thing there is the internet, social media networks, facetime, telephones, etc. to stay in touch!  Thanks for coming to visit us Hansen family.