Taman Mini

Mommy and Daddy decided to take the kids to a place called Taman Mini today.  I think the word "mini" is rather misleading since the place was huge!  There are full-sized replicas of representative buildings from the 26 or 27 provinces of Indonesia.  There are also all sorts of museums and other attractions.
We decided to go see the birds, reptiles, fish, and insects today. We saw them in that order.  The kids had a great time.  There was no way to see everything in one day.  Mommy had even brought swimsuits in case we had time to go to the Children's palace, playground, and swimming pool.  Daddy had thought it might be fun to catch an IMAX film.  But, after we saw the above-mentioned exhibits, the kids were super tired so we decided to head back to the apartment.  Daddy picked up some Burger King to go since everyone was so tired.
We had a fun day and definitely plan on going back to Taman Mini. There are lots more museums and other things to see and do.

Kids in front of the bird enclosure

Katelyn saw all the exhibits from the comfort of her stroller.

I spy a rat!!!


They just look innocent…remember Nigel from the movie Rio? Audrey just narrowly escaped being defecated upon by one crazy cockatoo. 


Hornbill…they’re so cool!


Cassowary from Papua


Reptile museum in the shape of a Komodo Dragon…cool huh?


The handler let us touch this Burmese Python.


Saltwater crocodile


Komodo Dragon…love that bifurcated tongue


Who wants to get eaten by a Komodo Dragon?




The kids love reptiles! Audrey especially loves snakes.


Sumatran Tiger…good thing he’s stuffed.


Touch pool at the aquarium


Whoa!  Look at that fish!


Piranhas! They are sort of creepy since they didn’t really swim around…they just kind of hovered…waiting.


At the insect museum…all sorts of very cool bugs in Indonesia.


Butterfly in the butterfly garden attached to the insect museum.

First Day of School

The first day of school for Joseph was last thursday.  He was not too happy about going to school that morning.  He seemed happier when Mommy met him at the bus stop after his first day of school.


The bus is gray this year.  Last year it was pink!


Before school.


After school.


Audrey’s first day of school was today.  Mommy and Daddy and Audrey went up to the school last Friday to meet her teacher and to see her classroom.  Audrey was so excited to go to school this morning.  She said she wanted to go on the bus with Joseph.  Our little girl is growing up so fast!


Audrey met her new teacher on Friday…seems very nice!


Waiting with Joseph for the bus.


Our little girl…growing up!


Still waiting…


Mommy and her girls!


And she’s off!

 
Audrey’s bus coming home from school is pink!


Successful 1st day of school!

Fun Day

On saturday, Mommy and Daddy decided to take the kids to explore North Jakarta.  First we went to Sunda Kelapa Harbor to see the old schooners. The boats look really old, but they are still in use.  It was a busy harbor where lots of cargo was being loaded and unloaded.

Next we decided to head to the old town of Batavia that is now known as Kota Tua (Old Town).  Batavia was the hub of Dutch Colonial Indonesia.

Fatahillah Square-cobblestone area lined with old colonial buildings

Old building that is now an art museum

Old Town Hall built in 1627

Sadly, most of the old buildings in Kota have either been torn down or are in really bad shape.  



We then headed to Glodok (Chinatown) to look around and get some lunch.  The kids really wanted some dumplings.  Unfortunately, we didn't find the right part of Chinatown that had the old temples and the traditional street markets where they sell skinned frogs, live bugs, and other interesting things.  We also didn't find any dumplings. We'll try and go again another time.  We did find a somewhat traditional street market where there were some food stalls and people selling fruits and other miscellaneous items. We stopped and had lunch at a place that was surrounded by food stalls.  As a whole, Chinatown was rather run down and very crowded.

We thought the kids would be tired after lunch, but they said they wanted to go to a playground.  Mommy had heard there was a cool pirateship playground in Ancol Recreation Park so off we went.

Daddy wanted to take a boat ride so we rented a boat and went for a 20 minute ride.

The guide caught the kids some jellyfish. We got to keep them, but we convinced the kids that they should stay at the park so we eventually let them go.

The kids loved the boat ride and kept asking to do it again.

After the boat ride, the kids wanted to look for the pirateship playground.  We finally found it, which is pretty amazing since Ancol Recreation park is enormous (300 hectares!)



It was hard to convince the kids that we should leave the playground and do some more exploring, but they finally agreed.  We came across a beach area and the kids got to play in the water for awhile before we headed home.  Good thing Mommy had brought extra clothes...just in case.

Mommy and Daddy had not expected to stay out all day, but we had such a great time.  We feel very blessed to live in such a beautiful country.  We have already had the opportunity to go so many different places and see many things.  We are trying to make the most of our time here in Indonesia since we don't know how long we will be living here.