Gone Fishin’

Mommy and Daddy considered taking the kids to Carita Beach this last friday.  We thought it would be fun to play on the beach and also get a view of Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau, a famous active volcano in Indonesia).  It would have been a 4 hour drive to the beach (without traffic) so Mommy thought that it was not a good idea for a day trip.  We might consider doing a weekend trip to Carita Beach at some time in 2012!

Mommy found a place called Kebun Wisata Pasirmukti that seemed like a good place for a day trip.  It was about an hour’s drive from Jakarta.  The place is an agrofarm and has facilities for a variety of activities including fishing.  Daddy loves to fish and the kids had not been fishing in a long time.

We left about 9 am friday morning and arrived around 10:30am.  We paid the entrance fee and made our way around the farm/orchard til we got to the fishing ponds.  There were two fishing ponds stocked with different fish.  Daddy paid for 4 fishing rod rentals which included bait. 

We originally tried fishing for gurame (a good-tasting fish)  but were unsuccessful.  The fish did not seem to care for the bait we were using.  Daddy noticed that there was a lot of action at the second pond so we went over to try our luck at the other pond.  All the kids were able to reel in fish.  We caught a lot of fish over the few hours that we were at the pond.  We paid about US $8 to keep our lot of fish.  We threw back the smaller fish and kept the 7 largest fish. 

We had lunch at the local restaurant and then headed for home.  We even made it home in 1.5 hrs. which was a miracle since it was a friday in Jakarta and raining too!  Daddy conceded that it was a good idea not to go to the beach as we all had a fantasic time fishing!

It was a great day!  We even saw a water buffalo at the farm which was funny since Daddy had just said the night before that he was surprised he had not seen any water buffalo in the 10 months we lived in Indonesia.

 

Traffic jam even outside of Jakarta…we found ourselves in a sea of blue vans.

 

No luck catching any gurame fish.

 

Our little fisherman…the girls lost interest in fishing after awhile and were happier mashing up fish bait and tossing them into the water to feed the fish.

 

Reeling in a bawal putih fish…they have big teeth!

 

Not sure who caught the largest fish, but Daddy certainly caught the smallest!

 

Taking a break from fishing!

 

Our sweet little Nu Nu!

 

Daddy just enjoying being outdoors!

 

Checking out the final fish count.

 

7 bawal putih!

 

Heading back to the car.

 

We saw some fun things at the agrofarm:

“Sausage” tree

 

Some kind of large beetle that fell in the pond

 

Check out the lovely mouth parts…ouch!

 

Happy to be back in a tree instead of floating in the pond.

 

Water buffalo!

 

Views from the onsite restaurant

 

Three happy kids!

Sand Sculpture Festival

Daddy took a week off of work so we’ve been having fun just hanging out and doing a few things that are not too far from home.  Today we met up with some friends to go to the 1st Indonesia Sand Sculpture Festival in Sentul City.  It took us less than an hour to get there.  It was nice just to be able to get out of Jakarta for a little bit.

Sentul City was a really beautiful place.  There were lots of trees and flowers and no traffic.  We wondered if Jakarta might have looked like that once upon a time. 

The sand sculptures were very cool.  Of course, the kids lost interest in them rather quickly. Luckily, there were fun things for the kids to do. Daddy was nice enough to take the kids on some rides so Mommy could hang out with her friends and take some pictures of the sculptures.

We had a fantastic lunch at the food court…fried fish, kan kung, fried rice, gado-gado, mijawa, chicken satay, french fries, and more.  We stuffed ourselves silly.  We fed 4 adults and 3 kids a fantastic lunch with drinks for less than US $40. 

We had a really fun time today. It took us just an hour to get back even with the pouring rain so that was a miracle!  Mommy was afraid we would be stuck in the car for hours.  You just never can predict how traffic will be in Jakarta.  Mostly you expect it to be bad or worse but once in awhile, you are pleasantly surprised.

We love getting out of the city into the country…see the fun Volcano in the distance?





































Ha ha…we really love Indonesia…where else can you ride a “Ferrish” Wheel?

Circus

We took the kids to the circus last night.  There was one literally in our back yard.  We noticed a few weeks ago that there was a huge tent in the stadium parking lot that is just across the street from where we live.  Mommy thought it looked a lot like a Circus Big Top, and that is exactly what it was. 

The show Tarzan D’Mighty Circus was really fun. It was relatively small so we were able to see everything really well…even from the cheap seats.  We all enjoyed the show a lot!  Even Katelyn kept clapping her hands and saying how amazing all the acts were.

 

Excited about going to the circus!

Christmas

We had a nice Christmas.  We had church at 8am and enjoyed an hour long musical Sacrament meeting program. Afterwards we came home and attempted to take a family Christmas picture before opening presents.

“Attempt” at a family Christmas photo…lol.



The kids raided their stockings and opened their presents.  We spent the rest of the day enjoying being together as a family.





Legos were popular gifts for Daddy and Joseph.



My Little Pony was popular with the girls. They got a My Little Pony house too which Mommy got for a ridiculously great price. That in itself is a miracle in Jakarta where imported toys cost at least 50% more than they do in the U.S.



Santa made it all the way to Jakarta and brought all the kids Nerf guns and…



flashlights!


Mommy made out like a bandit this year with an ipad2 from Daddy!  Funny how everyone but Mommy is playing with the ipad…lol.



Later we went downstairs to the rec room to play ping pong.  The kids also like playing in the small ball pit.



It was a fun day.  Joseph said it was not the best Christmas because he did not get to go to Nai-Nai and Yeh-Yeh’s house and play with his cousins.  Oh…he also said there was no snow. It doesn’t snow that often in Texas, but it has on occasion and the kids remember that.  Unfortunately, there are only 2 seasons in Indonesia…wet and dry.  We are defiinitely having no problems keeping warm this holiday season.

Christmas Card

We wanted to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas! This will be our first Christmas without our extended family and close friends nearby.  We love you and miss you and are looking forward to seeing you next year in 2012!