Yay For AirAsia!

Even though I haven't been blogging much, I can't pretend that April never happened.  It was a big month.  Easter, Bali, and 2 birthdays.  And there are many other things I should blog about, but I didn't, and may not.  But I'm thankful to all my friends out there who still blog.  I just caught up on Reader (I had over 300 posts to read!) and you all inspire me to get my butt in gear and keep this thing going.  I'm going to go back, but not too far.

Bali.  Here it is.

We ate at Beard Papa's in the airport.  We may have eaten there because the name is so awesome, but when we were done, we realized it was a good choice because those cream puffs taste good.

"Beard Papa's!"

"Beard Papa's!"

This was our first time flying AirAsia.  It was awesome how you had to cross a busy street full of big trucks and luggage carriers before you got to the plane.  I wouldn't have been surprised people get on random planes all the time.  I'm not really sure how they keep track of everyone.

My first picture I took in Bali.  Yes, it's still Asia.

Bali is all about tourism, so the drivers constantly try to get you to stop at certain restaurants, and certain shops.  I'm sure they get some kind of commission for bringing people there.

Either way, we needed to eat, and a seafood meal right on the beach sounded fun, albeit very touristy.

It was not peak season for Bali.  So we were pretty much alone.

I let the kids take their shoes off and feel the water.

It was probably a bad decision because they were wet and sandy, and we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us.  Ah well.  Seize the day, right?

Our meal.  It was one of my favorite seafood meals of all time.  G was surprised to see the fish still in 'fish' form.  Dare ate a fish eyeball.

Maybe I loved it because of the scenery and company, but it was good.  That Balinese sambal was yummy.

Then we were off to find our villa.  I kept telling the kids to look out the windows and enjoy the new views, but they all said it looked just like Jakarta.  Well, it did near the airport.  Then we got to this... 

I can't remember what this volcano is called.  Bali is truly beautiful.

"Cook it!" - Rhon out the window to this guy.

You can imagine our joy when we saw a pig!  Well, maybe you can't.  In Jakarta, most of the people are Muslim.  Which means they don't eat pork.  Pork is expensive and I don't trust it most of time.  But in Bali, they practice Balinese Hinduism.  So bring on the pork.

When we got to our villa, we were greeted with coconut lime drinks!

Even better than that, we were greeted by our good friends from DC who came from Shanghai to join us.

The grounds.  I couldn't stop smiling.

The pool.  It didn't take long for the kids to make themselves at home.

Our villa at night.

Set

All the kids started tennis.

More to come...

Monday March 19th

Mads has moved away from water colors.  His new thing is to draw dinosaurs with colored pencils.  I even let him use my Prismacolors sometimes, but he's not allowed to sharpen them.  Nate got a new dinosaur book, and often draws right along side him.

Rhon is drawing too.  And Dare is wearing her leotard and busy moving from activity to activity.

BA is preparing for FHE.

St. Patrick's Day Lives On!

Green pineapple-banana smoothies.

Green crepes and rainbow fruit kabobs.

(I wish I had white plates.)

It was a great breakfast, but I couldn't help worrying that Indonesian food coloring was poisonous in large amounts.  We ingested a lot.

We survived.

We also had an awesome dinner of corned beef, potatoes, and carrots.  We also got a delicious loaf of soda bread from a friend.  We couldn't convince Nate to do his Irish accent that night, but he did stick grapes in his lips and scared us all with his weird faces.  We laughed.  A lot.

It's A McNight

@ McD's

McDonald's is McD's here.  When I first heard it, I thought I'd never call it that.  I'm an American!  We say McDonald's!  But, I now call it McD's.  It's fun, and it's a heck of a lot easier when the taxi driver knows what you're talking about.  Really, if I say, "Mau pergi ke McDonald's," they don't know what I'm talking about!

We get McD's delivered.  It's gross, yes.  But it's convenient and sometimes it feels a bit like comfort food.

I take G sometimes for lunch.  He always wants a Happy Meal, but he doesn't really want the food.  He'd be content to have one fry (yes, one single fry) and a soda.  And, of course, the toy.  The toys are usually a year or so behind.

The best part of the McD's by our house is the fact that they still have a big Mac Tonight guy on top.

Making Silver

The girls started to do plays again.  This time it was Rumpelstiltskin.  This time they had refreshments and blankets to order.  I think the theaters here inspired them.

Here, the fuzzy, white-bearded Rumpelstiltskin is turning hay into silver.  (We didn't have gold.)

The prince and princess.  And the baby they just saved from Rumpelstiltskin, who wanted to take her away.

I guess the baby eats the silver?

The ending was so funny that Mads spit his milk out all over the table.

Since then, we've also attended Alice in Wonderland.  No pictures.  But just as entertaining.

Big Friends Forever

I haven't written much about my family lately.  I'm so behind usually, and I'm always posting about pictures I take.  But some of my favorite posts from the past are the ones when I just talk about what's going on, or what everyone is up to.

So for an update...

BA is loving music.  And while I am still able to indoctrinate my taste of music, I love this new passion of hers.  She has always loved music, but it's different now somehow.  When I'm making dinner, I usually turn on music.  She will pull over a big comfy chair close to the speakers, get a blanket, get something to do like a Calvin and Hobbes book or something to do with her hands, and just enjoy.  She recently told me that it was the best place to be because she can also talk to me and smell the food.

Speaking of Calvin and Hobbes, all the girls have been loving it lately.  All those random books I've bought Nate over the years have never seen so much use.  The have been reading them over and over.  And of course, Nate gets involved in the fun.  I don't think the boys get it yet, but that's probably a good thing.  We don't want to give them any ideas.  I love that Dare studies the drawings.  She and Rhon love all the faces Calvin makes.

And speaking of music, as a family, we've been listening to A LOT of The Aquabats.  I think we've converted  all the families with young girls in the vicinity to being Aquabats fans.  The rest of the parents aren't thrilled, but I think it's cool.  All of the girls' friends are singing Hey Homies! and Shark Fighter!.  I have to admit, even though I've not been a huge fan in the past, this new album is really great.  It's awesome that all the songs have an exclamation mark.  In fact, I think they should tour here.  We deserve it for creating such a large fan base in Jakarta!  Also, CAKE has had a lot of play recently.

Rhon writes.  She writes stories.  It is so cool.  She recently wrote a story about a girl who loses her arm to a shark.  It was tragic but funny all at the same time.  It was exactly what I would expect from her.  She also has been playing basketball at recess.  This is significant because it is only her, her good friend M, and boys.  At first they told her and her friend that together they were as good as one boy.  Ugh.  It didn't take long for them to realize she could hang.  She was getting passes and making shots.  She and M are going to each other's houses once a week.  Rhon has never had such a great friend.  I'm happy for her.  Now she has two!  E has been joining them and they are an awesome threesome.

Dare started gymnastics.  I'm pretty sure she was created to be a gymnast.  It makes me proud.  And worried.  I'll worry more when she becomes more serious about it.  She recently borrowed a pair of rollerblades from our neighbor.  When she is home, she has them on.  Our house is perfect for rollerblading because of the tile and lack of rugs.  And she takes full advantage.  Rhon likes them too, so when she is wearing them, Dare settles for the Heeleys.  So she is always on wheels.

Mads paints.  Since he is satisfied with watercolors, he can paint anytime he wants.  In one sitting, he will paint 5-10 sheets.  He is becoming a great artist.  In fact, he asked me if he could bring colored pencils to church instead of crayons.  That made my day!  Crayons are great, but when you want details, they will just not do.  A lot of his creations lately have been computers, DSs, or iPods.  He will make them with a video game picture on the top and ask me if I want to play.  He knows what all the drawings of buttons mean, so I can't fake anything.

G's new obsession is X-Men.  He watches the show, pretends he is characters (mostly Evan), and tries to recruit his friends to play with him.  They mostly look at him like he's crazy.  Dare will play with him though.  She's awesome.  He also loves Scooby Doo.  He really likes going to his friend T's house.  Who wouldn't?  It's like a carnival over there.  Mads is his best friend.  Sometimes when he wakes up late and realizes Mads is already at school, he will sigh and his head sags for a while.  And Mads likes G just as much.  I'm happy they have each other.  Also, I can always count on G to go eat sushi with me for lunch.  He's a great sushi eater.

And Give Him What?

The other day when Nate came home from work, the kids attacked him with a joyful welcome.

It ended in tears for G.  I think his head got squished.  But you know it's a good dog pile when someone ends up in tears.

I know this isn't the greatest blog post ever, but what mom can resist taking a picture and journaling one of the happiest moments of her life?

Happy kids that love their dad = happy mom.

#6

T-ball is over.  Finally!  December break was in the middle of the season, so we had a 4 week break.  That made it feel like t-ball went on forever.  But now it's over.  Finally!

Mads had a good time.  Now, I'm not saying that's what he would have chosen to do Saturday mornings, but he had a good attitude.  And I think he learned stuff.

Snacks after the game.

 Mads got a couple of outs!  Once he got the hang of throwing, he was a great fielder.

Mads did a lot of dancing too.  And not just when something good happened, he just likes to dance.

He did a lot of playing in the dirt too.

The Phillies.

Mads was much happier with this trophy than the soccer one.  It still wasn't "golden", but he was pleased.  In fact, he carried it around the house for a couple days and, inevitably, the guy's bat broke off.  Now I have to find super glue.

Did I mention I was the coach?  I'm not going to say that's how I prefer to spend my Saturday mornings, but I tried to have a good attitude.  Luckily, I had a pretty good group of boys.  Most of the time they tried hard, and I think they had a good time.  I did learn my lesson though.  I am not likely to volunteer to coach again!

TMII

A few pictures from the last part of the Patch's visit...

Eating at the mall.

Making ginger cookies.

Pretending to want to hurt each other.

Besties.

We went to Taman Mini.  It was rainy, but the sky ride was an adventure.  : )

Salon and Fireworks

When we had visitors here in Jakarta, how could we not go get mani-pedis?  It is a Jakarta "must do".  So we took the girls out on New Year's Eve morning.

My girls are getting pretty used to the special treatment.  Hopefully they realize they can't keep up this habit forever.

This is Rhon's sad empty chair.  She decided not to come.  Every party has a pooper...

The obligatory picture of the finished product.

G fell asleep before midnight.  It was sad.  I tried to wake him, but it wasn't happening.

I have to explain the shirt he is wearing.  One day when we were away from our home, G decided to put his finger down his throat and make himself puke.  Luckily we had a friend nearby to loan him some clothes.  He hates wearing other kids' clothes.  He cries.  He rebels.  One time he chose not to swim over wearing a friend's swimsuit.  It's really weird actually, but I forced him to because he stank.  Then later my friend and I were shopping and I ran across this t-shirt.  It was a dollar and I thought it was funny.  I thought he would be happier wearing it than someone else's shirt.  He was, and to my horror, it has become one of his favorite shirts.  So please know that I do not love this shirt.  It was funny, but now it is lame.  I'm going to need to make it "disappear".

About 5 minutes before midnight we all went outside.  The fireworks were already going strong.  I bought the kids some horns and they waited patiently until midnight to make some noise.  And that they did!  They were awesome horns!  But we also had our traditional pots and pans.  It was nice to be able to hang out outside for more than just a few minutes because of weather. 

The fireworks were insane!  They started about 15 minutes early and lasted about 15 more minutes.  You can't see much in this video, but it's cool to hear what it sounded like.  Try to ignore my weird voice...