Just fun pictures today celebrating probably my 2nd favorite holiday! We took a day to feast & play with the other seniors in our area & captured some fun pictures of the day. We are grateful for soooo many things; our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ and all that He has given us is obviously number One. Additionally, I'll list a few things that come to mind that we are grateful for: our mission experience in the Philippines, young/od fellow missionaries, the Filipino people, my wonderful family and friends, my amazing Dad, my husband and mission companion, and our health...... I could fill pages on this blog with the things I am thankful for but I'll stop there and plop in a few pictures of fun things this week.
BELOW: Logan Tyler Zollinger; our youngest grandchild who is growing up fast! He helped his mamma make pies for Thanksgiving & made his very own chocolate pie recipe that has been handed down in the family from my Granny Staples (Dads mother).
BELOW: My wonderful granddaughter Riley Lynn Zollinger! I miss her sooo much!! She is also showing off her baking skills & made her very own chocolate pie. I can't wait to get home and make cookies and gingerbread houses with those grandkids again!
BELOW: the ginormous Christmas tree in the lobby of the hotel where we had our turkey feast. These big hotels really go all out! I should have included a picture with us in front of it to give size perspective....that little velvet fence is about 4 ft off the ground! Dunno, but this thing was probably 3 stories tall!
BELOW: This the first picture of our afternoon at the aquarium. The place is called Cebu Ocea park and is quite the gem in a very large, crowded city and we REALLY enjoyed ourselves! It isn't just an aquarium but has a pretty cool reptile exhibit, AND a saltwater crocodile tank! Those things are HUGE. The park also has a really cool bird exhibit AND a bird show that was really fun! The handler below below is holding a Philippines Sea Eagle. Not as big as ours but a really gorgeous raptor!
BELOW: As we walked through the bird exhibit, they had all of these cool, small & colorful parrots! This is the back of Elder Larry Hansen, and this parrot got on his shoulder and kept grooming him and just fell in love with him. He finally had to brush him off as we left the exhibit. He & his wife LaPreal have become really good friends!
BELOW: This little girl was SO cute! Her big brother wasn't brave enough but she volunteered to feed the birds and they just swarmed her & she giggled and giggled!
BELOW: This is Elder Dyke Millard; another parrot whisperer! This bird immediately jumped on his shoulder when we entered the bird walk and just seemed to love him! He & his wife Kimber are really cool and talented people. She is a sourdough goddess & he is an IT architect; they are great! We get to meet the coolest people.
BELOW: It really was an aquarium visit! Look at this tank in comparison to the size of the people. This was the feeding show.... taking a really clear picture was tough but note the size of the divers' surrounded by the fish. There were black-tipped reef sharks and check out the size of the rays! They have very distinct markings, and we sat there for probably 30 minutes just mesmerized!
BELOW: Only in the Philippines!! Note the lower right center. If you look carefully, you can see that they have set up a Christmas tree IN the tank for the holidays!! I couldn't believe it.. these Filipinos reallllly like their Christmas season. I thought this was SO cute!
BELOW: Even in the reptile cages! This is a reptile cage in the black light reptile exhibit we walked through and once again, note the Christmas tree in the lower left corner of the cage. Most enclosures had some kind of Christmas decoration.... I thought this was hilarious
BELOW: The jelly fish room. These tanks were amazing! They were probably 10 ft tall and there were several on three sides of the room. The lights changed shades every little while... another mesmerizing exhibit. I am soooo going to take Adam & Amelias family when they come for their visit next spring. We have lived here 17 months, and our friends the Frey's (medical missionaries in the Dumaguete mission) found this hidden gem. We didn't even know it existed & we thought was had explored!
BELOW: Jelly closeup... thinking I might have to make a jelly fish painting or quilt!
Hope everyone's Thanksgiving holiday was great. We continue to miss you all but love our work here as well. We will write more next week.
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