Snuggles

These are honestly some of my favorite times to catch on photo. I think they're some of Mike's favorite times as well.

Kampung Betawi

This last fall, I joined a group called the Indonesian Heritage Society. This group does many things to preserve the culture and history of Indonesia. One of the main reasons I joined the group was for Exploring! There are many groups of women that come together and organize outing to different places in Indonesia. I joined a group that only goes out once a month (due to my schedule and sweet children) but there are other groups that go out every week.

So far, we have been to a spice demonstration with Ibu Molina, an Indian woman who has lived here for over 18 years and taught us all about Indonesian spices and their uses. We went to Kampung Betawi (the Betawi Village) where we saw and tried traditional music and dance, foods, martial arts, and architecture. And most recently we went to Gunung Mas which translated means Gold Mountain, a tea plantation about 1 1/2 hours out of central Jakarta producing mostly black tea.

Here are some pictures of Kampung Betawi:

Betawi dancers put on a lovely performance for us, then taught us some steps. It was way harder than it looked!

A gentleman making Kerak Telor (egg crust). It's essentially a scrambled egg with powdered shrimp, onion, salt and pepper, and good old MSG! They cook it in a pan on a fire, then literally turn the pan upside down with the egg stuck to the bottom and cook the top directly on the open flame.

This brown stuff, is called Dodol. It is a kind of candy, that sort of reminds me of molasses taffy but it's more gummy like a gummy bear texture. These ladies stir it over the fire for 7 hours! It's thick and takes some serious muscle and leverage to stir with that paddle.

Indonesian children love having their picture taken, especially if you show it to them on your digital camera... that's some serious entertainment right there! These guys at the bottom were real posers!

Halloween

We attended a party hosted by the Key's family who has since moved away to Bangkok. We also held a primary Halloween party at our home where we did doughnuts on a string, a cake walk, a beanbag toss into plastic pumpkins, and a spider craft out of egg cartons.

Tanjung Lesung

We took a trip to the coast for 4 days when our boat trip to Krakatao (yes, the volcano) got cancelled due to bad weather. We had planned the boat trip with our friends the Prendergast's and we were all so disappointed that we came up with this plan very last minute. A teacher friend told us about it, and we booked it on the spot and left the very next morning. It was EXCELLENT!! The beaches around the island of Java are not wonderful but the water is fairly warm and there are shells everywhere which makes loads of fun for our little girls. It was a lovely get-away from the bussle of the city.

Behind Emma and Marion you can see a bit of the villa we stayed in, it had a pool and deck in the back then a huge yard space right down to our own private beach.

Children's Day

Every year, Chevron sponsors a large festival celebrating children. This year, our children participated by singing and performing a few songs on stage. It was a really hot day! Dallin was a trooper, though didn't relish the idea of singing songs on stage with a huge crowd of mostly unfamiliar indonesians. Eden, got heat exhaustion and was only able to participate for the first song. She was really out of sorts on stage. And when she came off stage she felt very pale and clammy...kind of freaky. Marion was a great performer, and she not only sang the big group number "We are the World" by Michael jackson, but she also did the Twist with her classmates. It was an interesting afternoon, we didn't stay long. My favorite was the imitation Mickey and Minnie mouse...AWESOME!!

Bintan Island

With Mike's job posting here in Sumatera, we get 2 R&R's a year, which means that we must take a week long vacation away from here in the fall and spring of each year. This past fall, we went to Bintan Island, where we stayed in a villa near the ocean at a resort called Nirwana Gardens. What a wonderful trip! We took an elephant ride through the jungle, rode the flying fox (huge zipline), archery, snorkeling, sailing, and played at the beach every day. Dallin and I spent one day in Singapore for an eye appointment. I miscalculated the timing on our return ferry so we had to spend the night there and wait for the morning ferry. While we were gone, Mike and the girls spent that day at the beach and got burned crispy. But other than those minor mishaps, it was heavenly!