Fresh Air

The air quality in Jakarta is pretty bad most days.  From the tallest hotel in the city, it's rare to see the volcanoes that are just 20 miles away.

 

It's an addiction of mine to check the air quality every morning...

...and then convert it into cigarettes.  Not a nice thought.

Because of that, it's pretty nice to get out of the city and get some fresh(er) air.  It's still a gamble because of traffic, but totally worth it for the green space.  I found some stables in Sentul that would take us on a "ride out" horseback ride so we jumped at the chance to give it a try.

The kids were very excited to ride horses but unfortunately, we got a shower just before we went out and were told that it would be too wet to go out.  Bummer :(

Instead, the kids and I just took a lesson in the covered pavilion.  It was interesting because I'd never ridden English style or taken a horse to a trot.

Maybe not exactly what we'd hoped for, but still good fun and experience on horses.

The kids were disappointed because they never got to steer the horses on their own but they loved being on horseback.

(We have since been back for a real "ride out" and we did indeed ride out of the stables...into a neighborhood...with each horse hand led by a groom the entire time.  You never know what you're going to get here!)

My golf ladies and I went back to Sentul to play 18 holes on a lovely day.  Again, a great day out of the city enjoying some fresh air and open spaces.  It's worth it to golf here just for the scenery.

This course was beautiful and had lots of flowers and landscaping, plus big wide fairways that were a little more forgiving to players like me.

My favorite hole was the one where you had to hit over the rice paddy to the green.

We'll remember this place if we have Weedding plans any time soon..ha!

 

Fun in 5E

Alex is having a great year in 5th grade and enjoying one last time through all things elementary.  Last week, his class had their overnight trip with one other class to Pasir Mukti, a meeting place and working rice farm in nearby West Java.  It was a great chance for the kids to get to know one another better and have some fun outside of the classroom.

They also met up with the local school there for a friendly game of soccer.

The highlight (for most of the kids) was some time in the mud pit.  Not pictured: Alex, who had decided he did NOT want to get all filthy.

Mud or no mud, it was still a fun night away sleeping with cabins with four other kids.  I love that the school has opportunities like this for the kids to try something new and become more independent.  

 My friend Hope and I are the room parents this year and we were invited to come meet the kids and read to the class.  Probably my last time to ever read to one of my kids' classes...sniff, sniff...

Not class related, but I love this picture of the kids and their friends at the mall.  Not much in the way of outdoor green space here, so when you want to see friends, it's usually at the mall.

Ahh, a lovely day in the Big Durian.  It's the driest time of the year and the pollution is pretty gross.  I'm really looking forward to the rain returning so we can see some clear skies again after everything is washed clean. 

Furry Friends

Our back yard is completely walled in and our stubby palm trees don't reach the top of the wall, so we were quite surprised one morning to wake up with a new creature running around the back patio.  He was obviously panicked and trying to come into the house through the glass (thankfully we'd locked the doors!) but we couldn't figure out how in the world it got into the yard.

When the sun came up, he took refuge in the trees and we got a better look at the little civet cat.  They are common here and are something like raccoons.

On the second day, he decided he liked the security of our couch.  Such a cute little guy!  But we were worried about him because he was so little and we knew he'd probably be missing his mom.  He did enjoy the bananas we left out for him but when the guard next door offered to pick him up for us, we happily accepted.  We released him in an empty yard close to ours where the mama civet had been spotted several times and thought that was the end of our civet adventure.

But....no.  Two days later, he was back.  Then another, then another!  Turns out mama civet can come and go by climbing the wall but the juveniles can't.  She was the one bringing them into the yard!

For several days, we had three living in the yard, eating our bananas and scaring me with their new and exciting sleeping spots.  I have no clue how they managed to scale the door frame and sleep at the top, but it was popular.  The two bigger ones spent the night here.

The little guy slept with his head hanging out like he was stuck!

So cute!  But again, a little creepy when he suddenly lost his footing and fell while I was swimming.  Thankfully, mama civet took them one by one overnight and has found a new home for her family.  We enjoyed the visit but prefer our back yard a little quieter!

Canggu, Bali

The second Friday of school was National Day in Indonesia, so we took advantage of the long weekend to jet off to Bali again.  This time we headed north to Canggu and stayed at a terrific little hotel right on the beach.  Breakfast was no small affair for us!

PNB was like a hidden gem.  It was by no means fancy but I haven't been many places where I could watch the ocean from my bed...especially when it cost less than a Comfort Inn in Texas!

What we were not counting on was cool and rainy weather!  It was probably still 78F or so, but it felt chilly and was a pretty nice change from endless summer.  Love the black sands of the beach here.

This hotel was far from the crowded tourist areas and the local flair was terrific.  Loved this bike decorated for the holiday!

We wandered into Seminyak to do some shopping and had to get a picture with the temple rooster.

Lunch at Ku De Ta is always great but it wasn't the best day to enjoy the pool.

A little rain never spoiled the beach for these guys! 

The local bar :)  It arrived every afternoon.

 Nothing beats a banana avocado smoothie by the beach!

We had the cutest little friend in the restaurant who was always happy to get a handout.

Ahh, the clouds cleared out Saturday evening for a beautiful sunset.

 This dog clearly doesn't obey signs.

Our last breakfast by the beach before we had to head back to the airport.  What a terrific weekend out of the city!

Pet Sitting

Alex's class has a pet hamster named Jelly (apparently Peanut and Butter met sad ends last year) and Alex volunteered to bring him home first thing.  Kitty was pretty interested in our new friend.

Snack time!

Part of the deal is that the student has to wash and change the cage and play with Jelly.  Alex took his responsibility very seriously and made sure we took lots of pictures for Jelly's diary as well.

He was a big fan of spinach!  He was a great little guest for the weekend but I've already said NO to a pet of our own about a dozen times.  We have enough creatures here as it is.

The pool has been warm(er) lately and lots of fun on the weekends.

 Derby duck came back out but is having some issues so his days are numbered.  He's had a good ride but I won't miss the beast in our pool!

Back to School!

It was an easy transition back into school this year because there were no big changes and both kids already knew some of their teachers.  We were impressed to see that the new elementary library was finished before school started and Alex was loving the new reading nooks.

The fish pond reopened as well now that the construction is done and Alex can't wait to walk this way every day.

Alex was super excited to get Mr. Murnane for grade 5 because he was one of the baseball coaches last year and he's going to be awesome.  It was nice to catch up at meet the teacher day before classes started.  The middle school doesn't have a meet the teacher but Ben's social studies teacher from grade 6 moved up to 7 and Ben was excited to have Mr. Allberry for homeroom and English this year.

Our bird Buddy proved to be a little (or a lot) louder than this house can handle, so we went back to his breeder and we spend some time looking for a new feathered friend on Saturday before school started. 

Jalan Barito is lined with little pet stalls and I think it's fun just wandering around and gawking at all the animals.

We agreed the bird should be smaller, quieter, interactive, and had to eat seed.  Turns out two cute cockatiels checked all our boxes, so we brought home Joey and Nick.

Nick is not the most social guy, but he can sing some pretty songs when he's in the mood.  Joey has been handled since birth and will call to us to come out of the cage and hang out.  She especially loves keyboards. 

Our new friends is a real sweetheart!

The boys loved on their new friends Sunday and then had to get up bright and early Monday to kick off a new year.  Buses come at 7am and they love to get outside a little early to play with Kitty.  The first day went off without a hitch and the kids were happy to reconnect to the friends they'd missed over the summer.  Here's to a great year!

While the kids were gone, Kitty took it upon himself to keep an eye on things out front.  He's such a cool guy.