Danny's New Haircut

Tonight Danny and I walked over to the Barber shop. He needed it cut, it looked pretty shabby. Both he and Justin's hair grow so fast. After it was cut the guy asked him if he wanted gel in it and then gave him a really short massage. Danny was smiling from ear to ear. Right before we left Danny said he wanted to pay for his haircut so he paid 5 pesos as a tip to the guy. It was really cute. Walking home he said he wanted to pay his "tip" so he didn't go to jail. I explained that you pay for the haircut and the tip is extra but I don't think he got it. Anyway, he looked so grown up that I had to snap a photo of him. MY BABY IS GROWING UP!!!!!

I told him this and he said that he wasn't getting that big yet and that he wanted to stay with me forever. I told him that one day he would want to move out but he was adamant that he wouldn't. I told him that I couldn't go to college with him and his answer was that he would make a door with a long hallway so I could come visit him all the time and we wouldn't be apart. I chuckled and then I asked him what about going on his mission? I couldn't go there with him. He thought I could. I asked him what he would do if he was on the other side of the ocean, how would we be together? He said he'd make a long tunnel under the water with a door so he could come see me.

Treasure these moments, right, because they are fleeting. Plus, now I have it down in writing so when he is older I can show him this and embarrass him.

THE PANDAS

The highlight of Ocean Adventure for me was going to see the Pandas. Danny didn't want to go see them, he wanted to go on the Great Glass Circle. I had to threaten him to get him to go but look at them, they are just so cute.

OCEAN ADVENTURE

We went to an amusement park called Ocean Adventure. There was an aquarium with lots and lots of jellyfish, sharks and huge stingrays. Part of the park was up on the mountain so you had to take these really steep escaladors to get up to the top where the rides were. Since it was the day after Halloween they had skeletons on the sides of the hill. Unfortunately, Danny wasn't tall enough to ride the rollercoasters but he had fun on the carousel and ferris wheel. One of the highlights of the trip was "The Great Glass Circle" Prior to our trip I bought the book The Great Glass Elevator because Danny loves Charlie and the Chocolate factory so much. We brought it with and read some in the airport and during some down time. There was a ride that you took from the top of the park down to the bottom. The view was amazing. It was shaped like a circle and was attached to a cable, sort of like the ride at the Arizona zoo but much, much longer. He really liked that. Finally, we ended the day with the water ride. We went down it twice. Right before getting on the flune ride there was a woman who sold me a poncho to keep the camera dry. Thank goodness for that or it would have been ruined. We didn't get too wet the first time but on the second, Danny was soaked. We changed his clothes so he didn't have to go home in the bus all wet. We had a fun Day.

Victoria Perk

Part of our tour was going up to Victoria Perk to get a view of the city. Poor Danny had hives all over his body. Justin put some sun block on him that we had never tried before and he broke out and itched like crazy. Of course I didn't bring any benadryl with and keeping him from scratching was a challenge. We barely made it on the cable car and were standing in the isle on our trip up. I was trying to lightly tickle/scratch his hives when a woman sitting in front of us handed me some itch cream. What luck! We put it on (which was a challenge since we were going up a very long, steap hill/mountain but we managed to make it up there. Before the turn of the century the wealthy British families settled up there but there was no road to walk up so it would take the servants all day to walk down, get what they needed from the city, and then go back up. I don't know how they did it. Once up there we found a 7-11 and it had some cream that we lathered all over him. It helped within 10 minutes. Thank heaven for small miracles. The view was pretty amazing although it was very smoggy out.

Our guide showed us a photo taken from 1911 and almost all of the tall buildings were not there. There were a few small ones but you could see how industrialization has changed the face of Hong Kong. Many of the citizens have complained about the tall sky scrapers so the government said that no more new buildings will be built. Poor Disneyland. The owners bought lots of land to use for hotels and park rides but now it is just grass and trees. They can't expand.

The Oldest Temple in Hong Kong

This is the oldest temple in Hong Kong. Before going and burning insense you would hit the gong 3 times to anounce your presence to their Gods. We came on All Saints Day so there were people there who lit candles and burned insence. Danny didn't like the smell very much and was getting very restless so I took him outside and there was a little park area across the street that he played in. It actually looks pretty small from the outside but it really was a lot bigger on the inside.

Floating Resturant

Hong Kong was a lot of fun. We did so much and I'm having a hard time deciding what photos to put on. On part of our tour we took a boat ride and saw the junk boats or boat people (people who live on their boats and rarely get off) then we went to a floating resturant for lunch. It was really nice but Danny didn't like the food. We ate Dim Sum.

I'VE BEEN HACKED

Sorry if you received an email requesting money. Someone hacked into my email. It got everyone in my email, my blog, and my facebook accounts. You might want to change your passwords.

What's For Dinner???

Many of you know my aversion to raw meat. I'm not a vegetarian, I just hate touching or even looking at raw meat. Thank heavens there was a guy sitting between me and the tiger guy. It really was amazing. We got in a jeepney which is like a large military jeep but this one had metal bars on the sides and plexi glass and metal for a top for protection. The first time we rode around the tiger had just been fed so he wasn't interested in our chicken. The guy stuck his arm out the window so the tiger would get a whiff of the meat but he kept to went off by himself in the grass. Since the current tigers were full and got to roam around in the grassy area it was time for their nap and 2 other tigers to get fed. We waited in the jeepney while they changed tigers and this time when we came towards them he ate happily from the jeep in front of us and ours too. As you can see, there is a hole in the bars for the chicken and the guy's arm to fit through. Once the tiger gets part of the chicken in his mouth they close the hole and then he eats the rest while the guy's hand is inside holding on to the chicken.

Dancing Dogs and Rodent World

We saw part of an animal show while waiting to go on our Jeepney. There were several dogs that danced with each other and rolled on a barrel. One even jumped over bamboo to music, the philippine bamboo music

I didn't look inside I just walked past it. I don't like rodents or snakes or other little furry creatures.

Lion Around

Me and Danny just lion around doing nothing.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

MONKEY SEE

MONKEY DO

I especially loved this one because I call Danny my monkey all the time.

It's for the birds

Justin and Danny liked feeding the birds. You couldn't get me to do that with a 10 foot pole or for $50 or $100. Gretch, I guess you are braver than me.

Feeding a Tiger

Prior to going I had seen a photo of friend's kids playing with a tiger so I told Danny that we were going to do that. Her photo of them actually playing with the tiger was of them in Thailand, not at Zubic. The photo of them at Zubic was just with the tiger in the background. So, the whole time we were there Danny kept asking, "When are we going to play with the tigers?" It took me a bit to figure out that you didn't actually get to play with them. At the end we got a photo taken of us feeding a tiger. Danny was a little bit afraid of him but it was pretty neat.

Growl Like a Tiger

Justin's boss had some extra tickets to Zoubic Safari so we got to go. It is a neat place about 2 1/2 hours away where there is a small zoo but the cool part is the tigers. They have a wooded area where the tigers roam around and you go in a jeepney (an extra large jeep) with bars on the windows and then they feed the tiger through a hole in the bars. The tiger comes right up to the bars and eats the raw chicken. Thank goodness I wasn't next to the chicken guy. You know how I feel about raw meat.

Olive Fingers

When Justin was a little boy on Thanksgiving they would eat olives. They loved putting them on their fingers. Danny does too.

WALL-E Book

O.K. so I'm a very proud mamma. We went to Danny's parent-teacher conference and his teacher told me that he can read several 4 & 5 letter words. He had surprised me earlier in the week by reading something on a piece of paper but I never realized he could read this well. He always wants me to read the books to him. Every day he gets a book from his school library and brings it home. We read it a couple of times on the way home from school, at home, at bedtime and in the morning on the way to school. So, yesterday he got a WALL-E book from his school. I started reading it and asked him to read with me. He didn't want to so we compromised. I read it all the way through once and then he would do it with me. On the way home I read it once and we got half way through it together. I was so amazed. I had no idea the was this good. When Justin got home I had to show him off. He reads so well. I am so proud of him!!!

My Coke Bag

Eat your heart out Gretch!!!! I got this really awesome bag at the Bazzar. It was the only one they had but they did have a much smaller one with bottle caps as decoration not the labels.

Danny wanted to be in all of my shots so I took a bunch of him acting silly.

Body Smock

Today I went to the monthly Bazaar the American Women's Club hosts. I found this cute smock for about $7. About a month ago Danny thought his teacher told him that there are worms in yor intestines. It took a lot of convincing and an interactive website where we put the body parts in the right place before he agreed that intestines only LOOK like worms.

Recently Danny has been interested in the human body, especially boy and girl parts. Last night I was putting him to bed and he asked a girl body part question that I wasn't prepared for and so I called for Justin. We both sat there on his bed dumbfounded and a little bit tounge tied trying not to laugh. I can't wait for "the talk"--sarcasm. I'm hoping Justin will do it.

He really liked the smock. He asked me if girls have these same body parts.

I came up with some really bad puns. I lost my brain/memory (take it off of his head), intestines on my head.....(you figure that out) I give you my heart (took it off and handed it to him) I can't stomach scarey movies (that had a little bit more of an explaination) and a couple others I can't remember. I think his favorite part was at the very bottom of the smock. He asked where the bladder was and if the pee came out of the bottom hole.

When Justin got home he asked him what happens in each organ and he answered correctly. However, he laughed when he got to the intestines and proudly told him that was where the poop comes out of.

Imagine Me a Missionary

Today in church the Missionaries came to our primary for sharing time and told the kids what they do on their mission and what things they will need to do to prepare for a mission. Now..... the back story. Danny had been a pill during class time and right after the song ended he was grounded off of Wii. I will blame part of my bad mood on his classmates. I volunteered (I know, I know) to teach his class 3-6 year olds. The last few weeks have been difficult but I wanted to stick it out till they got a teacher or till school started for me (2 weeks, YEAH!!) Sunbeams act differently than CTR 4 and 5 and their attention span is even less than Danny's. I will say that he is getting better at that. THANK YOU SCHOOL!! Anyway, this week I threw in the towel. I told them that I couldn't do it anymore and that I was burnt out. Back to my story, well he refused to sit still and was acting like a real jerk so I grounded him. So, when the missionaries came around and asked everyone if they wanted to pick a card out of the box to show what you could do to prepare for your mission he refused. He told them that he didn't want to pick one and that he didn't want to be a missionary, never. Fast forward to the end of primary. The missionaries asked if anyone wanted a name tag "Future Missionary" and he wanted one. We came home and he put on what he called his "missionary clothes" and he looked so darn cute I had to snap a photo. He especially wanted to keep on the tie.

Ryan Is Here

Ryan is Here!

Ryan Petersen was born Septmenber 27, 2010 at 8:36 weighing 8.5 lbs and 21"long

Congratulations AMY AND JEFF and the whole PETERSEN GANG!!!!!

PETE BEST

Justin happened to be looking at the paper and saw that there was a Beatlemania concert here in Manila. Pete Best, the former Beatle drummer was the headliner and then there were 4 more local groups that performed Beatle songs. Justin called and got tickets which happened to be in the first row. There were probably 10 white people in the whole place including us and they were sitting in the first 6 rows. We went there with low expectations. We thought that the singers may have a "Long Duck Dong" accent but we were pleasantly surprised and didn't hear any accents. We arrived early and got to see their display room with the Beatles on magazines and record albums and action figures. Unfortunately, Manila time is similar to Mormon Standard Time and the concert started an hour late. The bands were pretty good and I caught myself singing along with a couple of them. Probably the best part of the night was when Pete Best came on. He had an open question and answer period where anyone could ask him whatever they wanted. One questions was if he made a million dollars on the Anthology dvds. Justin stood and asked a question. A microphone girl in go-go-boots (see above) came and gave him the mic. I tried to take video of him asking his question but I was standing on his side so I handed the camera to the go-go-girl. I had already turned on the record video and when she tried to take a photo for me she pushed stop but did get a photo of him. I realized what she did right away and thanked her and took the camera back. I did get Pete's answer though. Justin's question was

Danny just taught himself to dive. He saw Justin do it once recently and he decided he could do it too.

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership


This is a wonderful tribute to mothers and all that they do.

Danny's Quote of the Day

I'M THE GLUE THAT HOLDS THIS FAMILY TOGETHER!

A Lake within a Volcano within a Lake within a Volcano

The reason they call it a lake within a volcano within a lake within a volcano is because when it erruped in it created a creater that filled up with water around the volcano. Then, a later erruption created another crater within that volcano that then filled up with water and the top of the volcano was sticking out of that lake. This is still an active volcano that errupted in the late 1960's. If you look at the photo of the steam coming out of the ground you will see that the water down there is boiling due to cracks in the ground where the heat of the magma is felt.

The Volcano

Me, being the awesome person that I am, decided that since it was our first weekend here we should do something fun. So, I looked into some stuff and saw that there was a volcano about 2 hours away. The ride there was very interesting. Living in Makati city is very different from the countryside. No sky scrapers of course but there is lots of lush green trees and fields. We saw some rice patties and a lot of fruit stands. There was a lot of poverty there too. Many people lived in tiny aluminum shacks with livestock in our next to them. The people grew a lot of fruit and also corn 2 feet long. We didn't stop for any fruit but next time we go out on a weekend I want do that too. The drive was beautiful and at the end we had to go up and down a mountain to get to our destination. There were lots of locals holding signs for boat rides and the descended on the car and at times we almost couldn't drive without hitting someone. In order to get to the volcano we had to cross a lake. Then once across, we rode on horses up the very steep 4 km. mountain. Danny loved the horse ride and I was freaked out most of the time. I had some help balancing on my horse but on the way down, they switched people who were leading my horse and it was this tiny little girl instead of the man who we started with. Since we were going down hill she wasn't fast enough with the steep terrain and she let go of the rope and here is me, charging down the mountainside, leaning back trying not to fall off. It actually was a little bit fun because I felt like a cowgirl for a few seconds, then the fear took over and I couldn't wait for her to grab the rope again.

Our New Place

Our new home is very nice. All of the kitchen cabinets except for the one which holds the water heater were changed. Why??? I don't know. Our apartment used to be a 4 bedroom but recently they changed it to 2 and made another 2 bedroom next door. We've had several glitches, Sinks leaking, cabinets broken, the cable has issues, and most importantly, we don't have DSL. This is very annoying. We download at 1MB which is 20x slower than ours in California and half as slow as in Kuwait. Our Vonage still manages to work, however, I cannot make an outgoing call and the connection is spotty for incoming ones. Skype seems to work the best either with or without the camera. Hopefully, they are working on it. Our bathroom is beautiful and the tub could fit 4 people in it, 6 if they were Philippinos. Included in our housing is breakfast every morning which has waffles, pancakes, cereal, fruit and always several Philippino dishes with rice.

Also, we have a maid that comes every day and makes the beds, straightens up, cleans the bathrooms and washes dishes. It is so nice to not have to clean a bathroom. We also have a driver that takes us where we need to go. I'm glad that I can't drive. It is crazy here. Stop signs are more of an optional thing. Cars just turn whenever they want in whatever lane they choose to be in, not necessarily in a turn lane. Our driver, Noel, is very nice and always knows where he is going.
The church is about 3 blocks away and there is an English branch that was started up again about 1 1/2 months ago.

The only negative here is that the washer fits only about 2 days of clothes so I am washing the clothes every other day. The humidity is very high but the temperature seems to be only in the upper 80's. We are always sweaty but since Noel picks us up and drops us off we aren't in the heat for very long.

Woody

After a long day of flying. about 20 hours including the layover) we got home at about 1:30 a.m and we got unpacked and ready for bedtime. When Danny went into his room to brush his teeth Woody was sitting on his bed waiting for him. Grandma and Grandpa Hutzley got that for him right before our trip. I put it in our suitcase and shut it. I didn't think Danny would open the suit case because I told him not to and he is very obedient that way. I love that about him. Whenever he is playing Wii and I ask him to turn it off he does it immediately so I figured he wouldn't open it. I was fishing around looking for something while Danny was sitting on the floor near the suitcase and I opened it and he saw it. He had the biggest grin on his face and asked if it was for him. I told him yes but not until we get to the Philippines. Now he has a Woody and Buzz and he just loves them.


The other night I let him stay up late to watch Toy Story 2 so he needed to have Buzz and Woody with him.

At the Airport

We arrived at the San Fransisco airport nice and early. Because we were flying business class we got to go to the fancy-schmancy lounge. They served a few snacks and pop and some comfy seats to wait in till it is time to board. One neat thing was that there was a boarding Jetway right off of the lounge. Another cool thing about the plane was that it was a double-decker plane. We were on the bottom. I should have gone up but I didn't feel like it.
Including us, there were 12 people in business class, I don't know how many upstairs. The flight was 15 hours then we stopped in Hong Kong for a short lay over and then on to the Philippines. When we first got on the plane I had a panic attack. I don't know if you can see it in these pictures but each seat is in a pod. You are enclosed by walls in your own little area of walls except for a small opening. Thank heaven for Valium! From where I sat I could barely see Danny and only part of Justin's head. It was nice that the seats fully reclined into a bed but both Justin and I didn't get much sleep on the plane. It's been a few days and I still have Jet Lag. My body clock hasn't reset itself yet so I am going to bed late and waking up between 3-5 a.m.