Papa Don & Grandma Pat's Visit

Now that it has been two weeks since my parents left I guess it is about time for me to finally blog about their visit. We had an incredible time with them. We have been missing home, so having them here brought a bit of the US here to us. They arrived here in Manila late on Monday night, and their trip started out with quite a bang. While they were in the Tokyo airport there was an aftershock earthquake which was measured at a 7 at its epicenter. Luckily, no one was harmed and they made it safely to our place pretty energized from all the excitement. The next day I hadn't planned much because I was thinking that they would be needing to sleep, but they were champs and were ready to go. We just stayed around our neighborhood and walked around so that they could see the busy streets and shops we frequent. Then on Wednesday we were able to get out more and we took them to Intramuros. We were able to eat at a small cafe in an old Spanish area of town, and they both tried a little Filipino fare. After lunch was the highlight of this day when we toured San Augustin Church which is the oldest church in the Philippines. This was probably the highlight of the day because it had a great deal of rich Filipino history. We toured the museum and enjoyed all of the intricate artifacts. We learned the interesting story about how this church survived World War II since pretty much everything else in the area was wiped out by bombings. San Augustin church survived the air attacks because the Japanese held hundreds of monks hostage here to prevent the church from being bombed. Unfortunately, they killed all of the hostages before surrendering. But we were able to see the monument to all the people lost there. After this we took a tour on a horse carriage around the area. This was a good way for us to see all of the key areas in Intramuros without having to do much more walking.

Thursday we visited Andrew at work for lunch and then we went to one of the large malls to shop at the Kultura store which has all sorts of Filipino crafts, jewelry, and souvenirs. They were able to find a few keepsakes to take home with them. Thursday evening we had our good friends over so that they could meet Dad and Pat as well. The next day we were able to visit an American cemetery that a bunch of ex-pats had been recommending to me. And when we got there we could see why. The cemetery was a beautiful monument to all of the lost soldiers from WWII. The park was incredibly peaceful and it was easy for me to forget that we were still in one of the largest cities in the world. Finally, on Saturday we were able to get out of the city. We traveled up to Subic Bay which is the site for the old American Naval base and also not far away is the old Clark Airforce base. I think they really enjoyed getting out of the city because it is a vast difference to what you see in Manila. I believe I have said this before, but it is so easy to forget where we are if we stay in Manila. But once you leave the busy developed metro area you are able to see the beautiful hills and countryside. The other thing you see is the poverty. Even the old military bases that we visited were really run down. It has been approximately 20 years since the US left, but much of the buildings and facilities have been run down a great deal. Our real big adventure in Subic Bay was our trip to the Zoobic Safari. First, Geofry (our new driver) didn't know how to get there and when he asked no one seemed to be able to tell him exactly where it was. So, we headed out away from civilization into the hills and trees. We drove for so long and so far, we all worried that we were going to end up lost in the jungle. But luckily the shaky directions got us to Zoobic, and we couldn't believe our eyes when we found it was really busy. And after we made our way through the zoo portion and to the main attraction, the Tigers we understood why. First, the zoo portion was interesting in itself because they were all native animals to the area so we were able to see some animals we had never seen before. But it was also something to marvel at the lack of facilities. Most of the animals were not really caged up and the ones that were it seemed we could have easily stretched our hands out and had our fingers bit off. I guess there are laws in the US keeping the animals away because I have never been this close to animals at a zoo before. And when I am mentioning close that brings me back to our Tiger safari. We were able to buy some chicken to feed the Tigers and get them to come close to us....Little did we know they got REALLY close. I will show the pictures because they do a better job of showing than I can say : )

 Feeding the birds not quite as delicately as a disney princess.

 Bear Cats. And yes they could have just jumped down on our heads.

 It was a HOT day and Liam's hair could attest to that.

 The car in front of us.

 They weren't scared!

 Here Kitty Kitty....

Yup my baby was this close : O

After our safari adventure we headed back to the city since it was getting late and it is a two hour drive back. Sunday ended up being a pretty low key day around here again. I think we were all tired from the trip up to Subic Bay. But in the evening we went to Rojas boulevard and checked out Manila Bay, and then visited Rizal park. Rizal park is a beautiful park where the grave of one of the biggest Philippine heroes J.P. Rizal is. Again there was a lot of history here and monuments to pretty much every Philippine revolutionary hero. And since the Philippines has been through a lot of revolutions there were a lot of statues and monuments to see. 

 Rizal's grave where there is always someone standing guard.

Monday we had to get up really early to get down to the bay by 7:00am so that we could visit Corregidor island. Corregidor is an island which sits right in the middle of the opening of Manila Bay. This island has been used as a fortress since Spanish times to protect Manila from attack. Our day included an hour cruise to the island and then a guided tour of the island. Most of the tour was again focused on WWII. I personally found this to be the most interesting of all the WWII history that we saw while Dad & Pat were here. This island was at one time an advanced US military base, but after WWII much of the island's former glory has been reduced to ruins. We all really enjoyed our day here, and it was certainly an eye opening experience for me. To actually see a place like this where so much blood was spilled really brought some perspective about how much soldiers really sacrifice for their country. 

"I Shall Return" is what General Douglas Macarther said before fleeing the Philippines. And he did he helped take back the Philippines from the Japanese in WWII. 

 This tunnel was a bomb shelter and hospital below.

 That's not a gun...This is a gun.

 These were the "Mile Long" barracks which were destroyed, but as you can see they were once the longest barracks in the world.

 This lighthouse has been rebuilt and there have been several to stand in its place. Dad & Pat hiked up the 100something stairs while Andrew and I were lazy with our sleeping baby ; )

 On the boat home

Manila's skyline in the distance. 

Our last day again was spent around Makati. We had wanted to take another trip down to a volcano, but we were unable because it was active and emitting gas that was harmful. So, another day of relaxing at home with Dad & Pat before they had to leave. The trip went too fast for me and we were missing them when they left. They left a lasting impression with Liam as well. I kept teasing them because during the 8 days that they were here Liam started making all sorts of silly faces that he had never made before. I guess their funny faces inspired him to start making funny faces back. Liam also decided that he needed to show off for his grandparents and he started clapping while they were here as well : ) To say the least we miss them a lot and unfortunately the US even more now. But we hope that they had as much fun as we did and hopefully they got a good feeling for the Philippines. 

 Lounging at our place

Grandma showing Liam the Easter Bunny

One of Said Goofy faces : )