Back in Jakarta

Well, we survived our trip back to Texas and are now back in Jakarta.  The kids did amazingly well on the trip.  We got lots of positive comments from other passengers about how well-behaved the kids were.  Mommy is very proud. It literally took us 2 whole days to get back to Jakarta.  There was no crying, tantrums, or meltdowns.  The kids really enjoy traveling.

We had a great time in Texas visiting family and friends.  It was a fast and furious trip to try and see as many people as we could.  We literally put a good 1500 miles on our Mazda 5 in the 2.5 weeks we were in Texas.  Sadly, we still missed seeing some of our dear friends and family.  Mommy thinks that maybe next year she might consider bringing the kids for the whole 2 months of summer vacation.  We'll see.

We are happy to be back in our apartment.  Mommy is looking forward to not traveling for a little while.  We will try and enjoy what is left of our summer vacation.  School starts in 1.5 weeks! 

Our world travelers!

Ready

We are getting ready to go back to Texas for a couple of weeks.  Guess what we found at the store this week...Dr. Pepper!  The kids were so excited.  Nothing like a nice cold can of Dr. Pepper to remind you of Texas :)

Mommy also got out the suitcases yesterday so she could start packing.  Look who fell asleep in the suitcase...guess Audrey is really ready to head back to the Lone Star State!

Too bad Mommy and Daddy can't just put the kids in checked luggage...ha ha.  We are excited about heading back for a visit, but Mommy is not excited about all the long layovers.  Hopefully the 3 little munchkins do well.  We've flown alot, but we've never had 7 and 9 hour layovers before.  Our 25 hr. trip is now going to take closer to 40+ hrs...should be interesting! 

Conversation With Audrey

We are leaving this coming saturday to fly back to the US for a 3-week visit.  Mommy was talking with Audrey and this is how the conversation went.

Audrey:  When I go to Texas, I am NOT coming back to Indonesia.
Mommy:  Why do you want to stay in Texas?
Audrey:  Because Texas is so beautiful!

Ha ha...spoken like a true Texan. 


We are all very excited about coming back to the US.  We have lots of exciting events.  Daddy's sister is expecting a new baby any day now so the kids will have a new cousin.  Also, one of their cousins is getting baptized later this month.  We are all very excited about being back in Texas!

Crowds

So Mommy and Daddy were warned not to go to local attractions on weekends or holidays.  We decided to take the kids to the zoo on wednesday, an Indonesian holiday.  Mommy thought, sure, there will probably be more people there, but it's a huge zoo, how bad could it be? 

This is Ragunan Zoo on a holiday.  I assume it must be the same or similar on weekends.

There were people everywhere...on the main roads, on the walkways, even on the lawns.  It was very crowded!

Despite there being people everywhere, we still had a good time.  We walked around and saw some of the animals including local species like the Komodo Dragon.  We had lunch at a local food stall at the zoo before heading home.  It cost us a little more than US $2 to get into the zoo.  Now that's a great deal!

Siblings

Katelyn refused to get in the group picture, but Mommy was able to get a few cute pictures of Joseph and Audrey.  Those two are the best of friends...sometimes :)

Taman Safari

We got up at 5:30am this morning to get ready to go to Taman Safari, a wildlife park in Bogor, Indonesia. It's supposed to be a 1.5 hr drive from Jakarta. We left around 6:45am and arrived about 9am. That's actually pretty good time considering traffic around here.

Daddy bought some bananas and about 8 bundles of carrots before entering the wildlife park. We ended up with most of the bananas and 1 bundle of carrots by the time we left. The kids had a great time feeding the animals.

We've been to safari parks before, but this one was really good. You get to get really up close and personal with all the animals...including predators like lions, tigers, and bears. They had separate areas for the predators so that they did not have to be in cages. People are advised to roll up their windows in the predator areas of the park...for obvious reasons. The park itself was like a zoo except that you could drive your car through. We saw all sorts of fun animals.

The park is really huge. The drive thru part is only one portion of the park. They have an amusement park area, a water park, free animal shows, places to eat, and all sorts of other fun things. We will have to come back again. The kids were so tired after a couple of hours. We ate lunch at Safari Fried Chicken...a KFC knockoff and saw an elephant show. Mommy and Daddy got the kids some souvenirs and then we headed home.

It took about 3 hours to get home, which was also not too bad considering how bad traffic can be in Indonesia. We left the park a little after noon. We got home around 3 pm. We all had a fun time at the park and look forward to going there again in the future.

Entrance to Taman Safari

Kids posing near some tour buses

African cows eating carrots

Hard to get a good shot of the kids sitting right next to them in the car

Llama eating carrots

Overzealous Kudu looking for carrots

Lions, and tigers, and bears...oh my!

Zebra

K and the Kangaroo

Daddy and A

3 little monkeys

4 monkeys plus Mommy and Daddy

Very large monkey statue

Last day of school

Last day of school at Pattimura was thursday.  Mommy and the girls caught a taxi up to school to have one last snack time with Joseph and to help celebrate Ms. Shanty's birthday.  All the parents were invited but apparently Mommy and the girls were the only ones to show up.  Our driver is off on thursdays and fridays which is why we had to get the cab.

Getting a cab was actually rather difficult since it was around 8am...during rush hour.  It took us a good 10 or 15 minutes to hail a cab.  After we got one to stop, it was the same story...Mommy asked the driver in Indonesian if he knew where Pattimura Elementary school was located.  He looked confused.  Mommy told him that it was a school.  He said he knew where it was...he didn't.  Indonesians don't like to say that they don't know something so they tell you that they know.  We got to the school eventually. Mommy really needs to learn the word for u-turn or other way :) 

We got a couple of pictures of Joseph with his teacher and the teacher's aide.  His teacher Mrs. Gamage is leaving Jakarta.  This was her last year of teaching here.  She is going back to her home country of Sri Lanka.  She is a really good teacher and loves the kids.  We will all miss her.  Joseph said it was so sad that Mrs. Gamage was going away and never coming back :(

Snack time



Joseph and Mrs. Gamage (wish he would smile for pictures)

Joseph and Ms. Shanty (a little better on the smile)

Katelyn on the playground equipment...she loves going up to the school

So getting home from the school is a little tricky.  It's difficult to hail a cab around the school because the way some of the roads are here in Jakarta.  Some of the roads will have medians although both lanes of traffic are going the same direction.  Around the school, a lot of the taxis seem to travel in the middle lane so you can't hail one because they can't cross over the median.  You also can't catch a taxi in the middle lane. We ended up crossing over to the other side of the road and walking a ways before being able to get a taxi.  Luckily, the driver knew how to get us home.

Can Mommy just say that we really love having a driver and car.  It really makes life alot simpler.  Mommy will have to blog about this incident in another post, but one night we could not hail a cab because it was friday night and it was raining so we ended up walking back to the apartment from one of the malls. 

Anyway, back to the original topic.  So, school is finally over and summer vacation is officially here!  We are so excited about going some fun places with the kids.  Mommy will probably take the kids to the zoo again since Joseph didn't get to go last time.  We are also planning on going to Taman Safari (wildlife park) and a few other places.  In July we are headed back to the U.S. for a 3-week visit.  It should be a fun summer!