Hello, Summer!

Our kids were a little lucky that summer came earlier for them.  Matt had training to do in London and it seemed like the perfect way to introduce the kids to Europe and tag along with him.  Sadly, work would call him back to Jakarta and the kids and I would keep going to the US.  But there were no sad faces on their last day of school!  Four days earlier than the rest of JIS!

Last bus rides of the year!  Have I ever mentioned how much I love that the kids are picked up and dropped off at our driveway?  If it's raining, the bus can pull into our garage.

After school, our maid Ayu had a traditional Indonesian plate for us to enjoy before we headed out and everything was delicious!

School's OUT!!

Just a few hours later, we said goodbye to our house for the summer and made our way to the airport to start our trip around the world.

The End of the Year

Our first expat assignment was during the baby/preschool years so life revolved around playgroups and naptimes.  I didn't realize how different life would be with the school calendar managing most everyone's schedules.  The expat women here in Jakarta are amazing and have welcomed me into so many activities and groups, but I'm learning that the end of the school year means saying goodbye to many of them moving on.  The past two weeks have been "lasts" in many ways, filled with goodbye brunches and dinners, and celebrating time with some of my best friends who are wrapping up their lives here. 

The last Tuesday tennis lesson with my friend Lesley, the very first person I met here because she came by the Kristal hotel within 24 hours of us landing to help me get settled.  She even showed up with some life-saving notes (like how you have to dial a zero in front of phone numbers, but since everyone knows that, no one tells you that) that kept me afloat that first week.  Jakarta will not be the same without her! 

 

Our last book club with fond farewells to two of the our members.

Our last Bible study and goodbye lunch for three of the ladies.

A great end-of-the-year bash at Andrea's house, which is perfect because it has a stage by the pool for the band!  

 

Our last bootcamp together, where we celebrated by cleaning the most dreaded workout off the mirror after we finally completed it.  Can't beat friends who can sweat AND laugh together!

While it's hard to say goodbye, I'll always cherish the time I've had with many of these women.  They are the real reason I love it here and don't lose my sanity on the off-day.  And lucky for me, Lesley and several others are moving to Houston, so it's not really goodbye...it's see you later.  

Ben is 12!

Somehow we blinked and our baby is 12!  How did that happen?!  This boy continues to amaze us.  It's been a challenging year - a new country, adjustment to middle school with all new kids, a couple of months of feeling pretty crummy healthwise. It's been wonderful to watch him grow and mature and so much fun to celebrate his big day (which turned into a week!).

Matt had to travel during the week so we kicked off the birthday a little early.  No Great American Cookie Company here so I had to try my hand at making my own cookie cake and, except for the boring icing, it turned out pretty well!  (I have since found food coloring and sprinkles so next year's will be better!)

 

Just a few gifts here.  Ben is obsessed with bajajs, so this was a great find at a bazaar for him.

His main obsession right now is computers and operating systems, so this was a pretty perfect gift!  He was so excited to build his own computer and get to do anything he wants with it.  I actually ordered it in December and snuck it back from Texas in a suitcase, so thankfully it's still right down his alley.

His last night as an 11-year old.  I still love sleeping pictures of the kids.  I also wonder if Ben will sleep with blinders his whole life?

Happy birthday, big 12-year old!  We had to change up the tradition of getting donuts before school because there are no Shipley's drive-thrus here and I don't have a car.  So instead I stocked up a day early and managed to keep most of the donuts away from the ever-present ants in our kitchen.

Instead of having a birthday party, Ben asked to go to Singapore so he could go do a few things that he loves.  He was thrilled to get to work on his laptop on the flight.

We went straight from school to the airport to Jumbo's for a pepper crab.

Staying in a hotel was fun as well because we generally have to get two rooms now and the kids think it's the most exciting thing ever to have a room to themselves.  Saturday morning, we went straight to the scooter stand and rented four rides to have some fun around Marina Bay.

It's the best way to enjoy the Gardens by the Bay.

Quick stop under a tree for a rain shower, then another quick stop for some mango ice, then we were back on the road.

We finally saw the wild otters eating some fish!

I love the view from Marina Barrage.  The weather worked out in our favor because the rain cooled things off but the sun came back out.  Later in the afternoon it poured for hours so we were thankful we'd already had our outdoor fun.

Alex loved this fountain but didn't realize that part of it was deep.  Poor guy had wet feet for the rest of the day!

The helix bridge is always interesting.

We ended up staying out for a couple of hours scootering around but we had to get one last fun picture before turning them back in.

 

Next stop - Subway!  Ben's favorite sandwich.

Then it was on to Sim Lim Tower and Sim Lim Square to check out electronic stores for the rest of the afternoon.  He was after a few specific pieces for his computer and found them both.

It was a great week celebrating Ben and a fun little family birthday getaway.  Definitely a perk of being an expat kid!  And the best part is that we'll celebrate some more when we get back to Texas.

Had to include this little gem...our taxi driver on the way back to the airport had a great sticker.  He said, "What if a passenger releases toxic gas and I lose consciousness?"  Can't argue with that logic.

BWA Ball

Charity balls are pretty big events here and all the different ladies' organizations host at least one a year.  Matt and I finally made it out to the British Women's Association ball and it did not disappoint.  Being our first ball, it took many trips to the tailor to get us ready, but it was pretty fun having clothes custom made (a big perk of living in Indonesia!).  Matt's tux turned out really well.

 

All the pretty ladies in the hotel club before going downstairs to the ball.  We didn't plan to be a box of crayons but we all chose bright colors.  These women have been my lifeline here this year!  Lesley, Andrea, me, Hope.

 

The show was pretty great, with several dance troupes, a comedian, a magician, and singers.  A DJ wrapped up the evening.

I have never worn so much makeup, but that was pretty fun, too.  Once a year won't hurt!

 

 
The wives at our table...

 

And the hubbies, minus one who had to catch a midnight flight to Switzerland.

 

After we got tired of the DJ's choices, we went downstairs to the bar Brats for a more local experience.  Very interesting crowd!

Matt and I, along with many other couples, had a little stay-cation and got a room at the hotel to stay for the night while our kids had a babysitter at home.  The next morning, all the kids joined us at the hotel to enjoy the cool pool and have a nice Mother's Day brunch.  It made for a pretty great weekend.

Jakarta is such an interesting city and full of contrasts.

Photo Dump

A bunch of random pictures...

We somehow made it through monsoon season without a single baseball rainout!  Several games had timeouts for lightning or heavy rain, but it always passed.  One night at practice, however, we were not so lucky.  It started pouring and did not let up.  I've always been impressed with how well with turf can absorb the rain and allow it to run off....

 

 
...but after 30 minutes of torrential rain, it finally started flooding.  That's when all the moms trapped in the stands decided to make a run for it through ankle deep water.  I think about 3" of rain fell in less than an hour.

Alex got a real trophy this year.  He took a fastball right to the inside of the thigh and had the bruise to prove it for over a week.

Alex LOVES art this year and after visiting the classroom, I could see why!  They've gotten to create some really amazing pieces.  We found his tile and brought it home in a little frame.

Miss Jen is one of his favorite teachers because she encourages his love of Battle for Dream Island (see the t-shirt?) in an artistic way.

Matt and I started playing Risk with the kids.  First time around, they took both us of out!  But there were still tears over the casualties.

Alex and I enjoyed a dinner together at the Playground, where all the seats are either swings or merry-go-rounds.

Our little rascal Kitty has several great places to sleep and a cozy towel on the shoe rack, but still prefers to sleep right on the shoes sometimes.

It was very cool getting to attend Aggie Muster with dozens of other Aggies in Jakarta.  A JIS teacher was kind enough to host at his house and it was great to introduce the kids to one of my favorite Aggie traditions.

Baseball practice ended early one evening when the kids all noticed flames on campus.

Not a good feeling to drive out at watch a building burn but no way were we going to hang around and see what happened.  It turns out it was an electrical fire in a middle school building where Ben had half of his classes.  The fire damage wasn't terrible but the water and smoke destroyed most of the classrooms and nearly all of the library downstairs.  Ben was hopeful that his field notebook from ESP was burned up, but the teacher had taken them all home to grade so no such luck!  We were so, so thankful that it happened at night when no kids were around and no one was injured.

We took advantage of a mid-week holiday to visit the golf course for the first time together.  Just a quick 9 holes at Pangkalan Jati, enough to practice and let the kids drive carts for a few hours, but not so much that we had to spend our entire day chasing balls!

The kids both finally wrapped up their baseball seasons.  Alex's team finished in 4th place out of 5 teams after losing a close game for 3rd place.  He had a great final game, though, and got a donut and muffin on the way out so he was a happy guy.

Ben's team finished in 1st place out of five teams in their division!  They played a really great game against a tough team to finish off a fun season.  It was a great experience here but we were all pretty happy to wrap up baseball and enjoy our last few weekends before summer break.