Pick up trucks and eggplants

The second day of our trip, we decided to see some sights that are important to the family in Tarlac City. Gus' brother, Jack, has a pick up truck, so Nathan really enjoyed riding around in the back with his cousins. A far cry from his Evenflo car seat!

Our first stop was the cemetery. Visiting the graves of loved ones is an important part of Filipino culture. We were able to visit the graves of Gus' Mom, brother, our great niece and nephew who passed away shortly after birth, and Gus' grandmother Emilia. Of course it was special to show Emie where her name came from. The family brings flowers, lights candles and just spends time together.

Next, we headed to a piece of property that Gus' brother Dong owns just outside of town. He moved to the U.S. two years ago, but the family maintains a small farm on the property. They grow eggplants, bananas and kalamanci (kind of like a key lime). The kids enjoyed the water pump. Yes, Nathan is still in pajamas. It is a casual culture and we fully embraced the style!

Nathan filling his shirt with eggplants for lunch.

Dong also had a beautiful house built on the property and it has a lush garden surrounding the yard.

Emie picking kalamanci.

Our brother in-law owns and maintains the property next door, so we headed there to let Emie chase some chickens and ducks.

Nathan and cousin Yong found an old construction truck to explore.

Then we headed home to make our kalamanci lemonade and grilled eggplants for lunch. Yum!

Ahhhh . . . where to begin?

We are all back to sleeping through the night again and I think I finally have some energy to start some posts about our trip to the Philippines. We had an absolutely wonderful trip and I certainly found myself head over heels in love with this country, and our family there, by the time we left. I had been there once before, but it was a different feel this time. Hard to describe, but I felt like a visitor before and now it actually feels like home.

Our flight over went very well, all things considered. We were able to get a bassinet for Emie to sleep in and Nathan did really well with sleeping in his seat. He was also very adherent to the seatbelt sign as he pretty much thinks that pilots and train conductors are the coolest people in the world right now. Our total travel time was around 25 hours. When the family picked us up at the airport, we were all just thrilled to see each other in person. About 10 of them came to Manila. On the way to the house in Tarlac City (the house where Gus grew up), we stopped at Jollibee for lunch or dinner or some meal (our stomachs were fully confused by that point!). Jollibee is a Filipino fast food chain that serves fried chicken, spaghetti, burgers and of course, rice with each meal choice!

Seeing Lolo was certainly the highlight. He is crazy in love with our kids and they love seeing him. He is doing so great physically and was really able to spend a lot of time out and about with us.

Um . . . yeah, I guess I looked like I just came from 25 hours of travel.

My niece Bing is often who we talk with on Skype and Nathan couldn't believe she was real. They decided to sit at their own little table. Nathan was so excited because he was holding his first Coca-cola.

Nathan loves Lolo! Don't you love the guys with guns in the background? I didn't even notice them when we were there!

Well, there is plenty more to come, but at least I've started!