Martin Family Travelers: 2009

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Rocking and Rolling out at Sea...

Check out this picture of a helo landing on our flightdeck while at Sea on our way back towards Japan...this day was rough and we were rocking so much that I got a severe headache and had to go lay down for a while...

God bless you all,

Eric from Sea

Friday, November 13, 2009

Pictures of my beautiful wife and our son in the Philippines at the Sampang Family Reunion.

Here is my lovely wife with her five other sisters in June of 2009. She's the lady in red, second in from the right. Isn't she a beauty? Yes, she is!
Her sisters names from left to right are:
Gloria, Ate Linda, Ate Willie, Ate Celia, Shirly (my bride), and Ate Mila.

Her's Lola, Nanay Simplicia Sampang, with the little ones at Victor's B-day party in the Philippines. AJ, our son, is the one who has been given rabbit ears by one of his cousins, the one on the far right with the big smile is his cousin, AJ is the one with Lola's hand on his shoulder.

Here are my wife's six brothers, with Mom. There names are from left to right are:

Kuya Junior, Kuya Dante, Kuya Nestor, Nanay, Randy, Kuya Zaldy and Reynaldo.

We're Traveling Again...

We're Traveling again...

Shirly and AJ visited the Philippines during the Summer of '09 for the First Bi-annual Sampang Family Reunion, while I was onboard the USS Tortuga (LSD-46) heading further south past Papau New Guinea to the Great Outback, to Cairns, Australia located in North Queensland, Australia. This is one of the few places on earth where a Mexican isn't someone from Mexico, but someone who lives anywhere south of North Queensland is considered a Mexican in Australian terminology.

Cairns (pronounced /ˈkɛərnz, ˈkærnz/,^[3] locally [ˈkeːnz, ˈkænz]^[4]) is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia. The city itself was named after William Wellington Cairns (the then Governor of Queensland). It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was discovered from Port Douglas. It later developed into a railhead and major port for exporting sugar cane, gold, metals, minerals and agricultural products from surrounding coastal areas and the Atherton Tableland region.

The information below is from Wikipedia and is about the place of my wife's birth, her hometown, and where the Sampang Family Reunion was held this past June/July 2009 in the Philippines.

The City of Koronadal also known as Marbel is a 2nd class city in the Philippines. It is the capital of South Cotabato province and regional center of region 12. According to the 2007 census, it had a population of 157,870.

Koronadal became a component city of South Cotabato in 2000, by virtue of Republic Act 8803 on October 8, 2000. In 2003 and 2005 the city was recognized "Most Competitive City" in the small-city category.and 2005 and 2006 the most business friendly city in mindanao.it is know called the "The City of Peace in Mindanao" with no reported bombings since 2000

Koronadal City will have its new city hall by 2010. it started its construction last 2007 under the administration of Hon. Mayor Fernando Quirao Miguel. it cost PhP 200,000,000 with 2 elevators & 5 floors. it is located in Brgy. Carpenter Hill. the old City hall will be converted to museum because it is the municipal hall of Koronadal for 58 years, and city hall of Koronadal for 9 years. rumors said that the old city hall will be converted to the City Jail

Koronadal City is the Regional Center of SOCCSKSARGEN^{[clarification needed]}. effective 2010. BIR, DPWH, DOFinance & CHED Regional Offices starts its constructions last 2008 and will end on 2010. for the full & firm implementation of Regional Center of SOCCSKSARGEN.