All the Way Around the World

UN Day.

This year they had a parade of countries.  When the kids' country was called, they would walk out dressed in their special outfits and everyone would cheer.  It was cool.  There was a lot of pride for America.  I was happy Rhon and Dare walked out together.

Then they did the songs.

Dare played some drums.

And Rhon did some dancing.

Then all the kids came out for the encore.

Candy and Cheese

BA made a bookmark with her Halloween candy wrappers.

Which is super cool, but I mostly thought this was a pretty picture of her.

Crunch Berries

We are always exited when packages come from Walmart.  We are excited to get packages of any kind, but we know Walmart means. . .

. . . cereal!  We don't even want to think about what life would be like without cereal from America.

If only I could get these on sale.

For some reason, I was craving Hot Tamales.  So I ordered them online.  It is genius!  Even though I didn't get them for a week, and by then my craving was gone, I was still happy to have them.

Rain

It's rainy season!  Jakarta has the types of rains that will flood the streets in minutes.  It really comes down.  Sometimes if there is not much thunder and lightning, I'll let the kids play in it.  They get soaked in seconds.

Nerds.

I like the rain.  I like how it cleans the air, and keeps things cool.  I like hearing the thunder and the downpour on my roof.  The other night, the girls and I walked home from the movie theater in the rain. It was fun.

I don't, however, like the mosquitos the rain seems to bring.

Loophole Girl

Dare turned 9!

I can't believe another year has gone by already.  I feel like I just posted about her baptism.  She hasn't changed much.  She is still her happy, fun, active, always asking for things self.  On her birthday she went to school, and we went swimming when she got home.  Of course.  This kid would swim 3 times a day, every day if she could.  We had barbecue chicken for dinner, and cinnamon rolls for dessert.  Her request. 

She got rollerblades!

I don't do sleepovers, but I let Dare have a sleepover.  :)  Justification:  I only approved 2 friends, and I know both of their parents really well.  It worked.  It was fun.  Thursday and Friday were holidays from school, so they came over for dinner Thursday night and I took them ice skating on Friday morning.

I decided not to ice skate this time, so my pictures didn't turn out so well.  This is the best one I got of the girls on the ice.

Dare, Kathlyn, and Amelia.

Technical

Basketball ended a few weeks ago too. 

Dare's basketball worked more like a clinic than games every week.  But the last Saturday, they played multiple games.  Dare did so good!  One game she got like 18 points!

*****

BA and Rhon were in the same league.  And on the same team.  They would have a practice during the week, and a game on Saturday.  They both did so well too.  

The last Saturday was a tournament.  They played shorter games against all the teams (only three others).  Storm didn't have enough players, so Rhon played for them.  She was sad about it at first, but it turned out to be good for her.

Check out the height difference...

Here they are defending each other.

I'm glad they got to do basketball again.  I'm not sure if they'll continue on, or if it will even be a choice, but I hope so.  They had a good time, and it's fun to watch.

Slow Lane

Biggest snail ever.

Rhon and Dare told us there was a huge snail, and we went to check it out, but we were still surprised at what we saw.  It was easily the biggest snail we have ever seen.  We could see the trail of slime it left on the street.  And since it was slow (duh) we moved it off the road to avoid a fatal accident.  I'm sure we saved it's life.  

Much Pleasure

The boys drew Christmas trees...

Figgy Pudding

We put our tree up on November 4th this year.  A new record for the earliest by far.  I really wanted to get the holiday spirit started, and it seemed like a good way to do it.  No one in the house disagreed.  In fact, everyone was completely on board.  We also started listening to Christmas music just after Halloween.  It is an experiment.  Hopefully we don't get tired of all the decorations before Christmas even gets here!  So far I'm still excited and I feel like I have more time to enjoy and prepare.

Nutmeg

Soccer season ended a few weeks ago.  It was a good time.  Mads improved a ton from last year, and he was really fun to watch.  He worked really hard, and he did a great job.

At practice.

Mads got hit twice really hard with the ball.  Both times he was hit so hard it knocked him over.  Once was in the chest, and the other was in the face.  Both times he walked off the pitch, took a few minutes, and went right back out and played.  

He played for South Korea.

He always volunteered to play goalie.  The first time I was super nervous.  But he did so good!  I was really impressed.  Then all the other times he was goalie, I was just the regular amount of nervous.

What's This?

Halloween night was awesome!

G wanted to be a vampire for months.  There was no way I was talking him out of it.  I tried to get him to wear Mads' old Ben 10 costume, but he wouldn't even think of it.  I wish I could remember all the words to the songs he sings about being a vampire.  Writing them wouldn't do them justice anyway.  He did tell me that day that every color was his favorite except white.  Because garlic is white, and he hates garlic.

Victorian princess, Wolverine, vampire, football player, and pirate.

I bought Rhon's and Mads' costume online.  The other 3 I got tailored.  This Halloween it was a treat not to have to make any.  AND they turned out better than I could have ever done.  

I decided to dress up this year.  Ghost.

My little American neighborhood arranged for trick-or-treating and other activities that night.  A couple people opened their house up for crafts and yummy treats.  We did a haunted house in our garage.  I am sad to say I didn't take any pictures!  It was great though.  Rhon and Dare planned everything.  There was a dead guy, a tasting room, a graveyard, a scary clown room, and an autopsy room where you could feel a dead guy's insides.  It was a hit, and the girls had lots of fun.

The three youngest also went trick-or-treating in our full complex on the Friday after Halloween.  (The Indos are trying to do Halloween, but still don't get that you can have parties before the actual holiday, but not after.:))  BA and Rhon had a school party, so I figured we may as well put costumes on and get more candy.  It was an interesting experience.  One house gave out marshmallows.  Not individually wrapped, just a marshmallow.  It was fun.  And hot.  I'm looking forward to a cooler Halloween next year!

For Fun's Sake

I'm pretty sure I didn't take this picture, but I love it.

We carved pumpkins!  This was the first time since we left Utah.  :(  These pumpkins are sad versions of what we could get there, but we were happy.  And we carved the crap out of those little pumpkins!  Mads' is on the left, G's is on the right.  I only managed to get 4, but BA was kind enough to let the other kids carve their own.

They did not last long out there on our porch.  Heat and humidity = rotten jack-o-lantern.

The Only Place We Can Wear Jeans

During October break, I took the kids ice skating.  It was a good time.  I liked this picture because they all look like they are laughing.  Too bad BA is not in it.  She was there too!

Notes:

G doesn't want my help.  Big surprise.

Mads spends more time falling than skating.  Not because he's not good, but because he has no fear.

Dare can do anything well.

I may have a bruised tailbone for a few years.  Not my fault!

No Indonesians took our picture while I was on the ice.  If I left, the paparazzi flooded in.

Don't expect to order chicken, even if you are at a Kenny Rogers Roasters.

BA is a true friend.

Rhon is a true friend.

This mall has an Auntie Anne's!

G has fans everywhere.

Singapore

October 4-7

At the airport.  I forced the kids to pose.  At least Nate thinks it's funny.

Day One...

For breakfast, we had a traditional Singaporean meal.  It was soft boiled eggs seasoned with pepper and soy sauce, toast with coconut spread, and coffee.  Only we had hot Milo.  We are all now huge fans of the soy sauce and egg combo.

After a train ride, and a bus ride, we made it to the zoo.

We thought it was awesome (and scary!) that they had life preservers above the crocodile habitat.  I wonder if they've had to use them?

No one wanted to stand next to the statue with boobs.  (She's the one on the right.)

G liked navigating.

Then we went next door to the Night Safari.

We went a little early so we could have dinner before it opened, and they have a fire show right out front.  It was fun.  Our dinner was super expensive fried snacks.  Because everything else was even more expensive.

After you ride on the safari train, you can walk around.  They have a few other things to look at that the zoo doesn't have.

We saw some flying foxes.  We were in the habitat with them!  They were flying around us.  This picture is terrible, but we were that close.  It was crazy, and creepy.

Then we saw a show.  Could have done without the show.

Day Two...

On the MRT on the way to Chinatown.

Shopping in Chinatown.

Lanterns.

The Sri Mariamjman Temple.

We did not go in because it was busy.  The Hindus were celebrating something, but I'm embarrassed to say I don't know what.  There was a ton of people, and drumming, and food.

Then we went to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.  Which was close enough to be right next door to the Hindu temple.  Which I thought was awesome.  This was the first Buddhist temple we've been in.  It was very... gold.

Dried lizard, anyone?

More Chinatown.

Even though we'll be surrounded by Chinese shops in a few months, we still bought the kids something.

Then we went to a little market.  I haven't even seen live frogs for sale here in Jakarta!

Day Three...

We had a late start to the morning, so after having McDonald's for breakfast, we had a mid-morning snack...

Our favorite treat since visiting Chicago!  Love is messy indeed.

We made our way over to Little India.

As soon as I pulled my camera out, some lady told me I couldn't take pictures.  I don't know if she meant just right there, or everywhere, but I was scared to get told no again.  So I snuck the camera out quickly and took random shots.  I loved this gold shop ahead of Rhon.

This was the touristy section.  Before this, Nate and I got separated.  I was with Rhon and G, and he had the other kids.  Sometimes on this trip I would get left behind waiting on G.  So Nate got used to telling me where he was going to go.  He told me to go left at the main road, but I just went left.  Not on the main road.  So Rhon, G, and I got a really good look of the backstreets of Little India.  I've never felt more like I was in a foreign country!  I felt a bit uneasy.  There are no women anywhere.  And the men stare.  Everything was unfamiliar.  We weren't separated too long though.

Then we ate at the Tekka Centre.  It was delicious.

We got some interesting drinks.  G did not like the fresh coconut water.

Last but not least, we went to Singapore Botanic Gardens.  It was amazing.  Amazing.

Loved it.  It was so nice to have green space, and a place to run around.

The youngest 4 kids wanted to run around right away.

BA couldn't resist for too long!

We loved it here so much that if we ever go back to Singapore again, we'll just come here everyday.

We were so grateful for this opportunity.  Sometimes it can be difficult to live in Jakarta, and you just need a break, some time away.  And Singapore was exactly what we needed.  It reminded me a little of Chicago, a little of Paris, and a little of Hong Kong.  We loved the organization, and clean air.  We loved being able to walk along sidewalks, and pop into a store to shop and no one followed us around.  We were hardly noticed at all!  We loved all the yummy food.  It was wonderful.