Moving On from Middle School

JIS celebrates the milestones so well.  Sadly, Ben missed his Moving On ceremony at the end of 8th grade, but it made Alex's all the sweeter.  It was the first time in two years that we attended a big event on campus and it was a wonderful afternoon.

Alex's group of friends ready to finish up their middle school days! (photo credit to another mom who was able to coax everyone to stop for a picture)

I was only allowed one photo at the table and then Alex left with me to go see the rest of the party.

There was a really nice party area set up on the middle school patio.  It was great to see kids and parents we hadn't run into in years.

Ben did wander through to check out the festivities and steal a cupcake. I know he would have loved this when he finished 8th grade.

How is it possible that our baby is ready for high school?! And he's suddenly almost as tall as we are??

There were two ceremonies by Learning Community, so ours had about 100 kids.

Alex with Noah Bohnen, the principal, who I've only met at Waterbom in Bali!

The slideshow with baby pictures and current pictures was a lot of fun for parents and kids alike.

Landon, Alex, and Alex

They are so fortunate that they all met and became friends in 5th grade and made it all the way through middle school together!  I'm so thankful Alex found friends that were living in Jakarta for many years as well. Landon's family is packing for a local move right down the street from us (yay!!) and ran across this picture from 2017.

On to High School for this guy!  We are so excited to see him stretch his wings next year.

Sadly, Ben is about to say goodbye to one of his besties when Tate moves next week.  Such is the life of an expat kid.

BWA Gala

Just a week after the Dutch ball, the BWA hosted their gala at the Mandarin Oriental.  It was not the huge dinner show with 400-500 people, but it was a really fun cocktail night for about 125 lucky enough to get tickets before they sold out.

We finally got to enjoy some kind of ball with the McCulloughs! They missed out on so much fun because of covid.

The photo props were endless fun.  The theme was the Queen's Jubilee and I don't think she's ever had such a wild night!

I packed my handbag so well for this night.  Mask (boo), raffle tickets, and an extra pair of shoes so I could take off my heels this time for the dancing!

Dinner was light and not a sit-down meal, so we were all happy to move next door and rest up for a few minutes before the dancing started.  Naturally, I had to bring the guest of honor with us.

You can always count on a BWA event to have a fun dance floor.

The queen is such a saucy lady!

As luck would have it, both Matt and Erik had just arrived on Friday from Europe, so when the party shut down after midnight, they were both ready to go to Bats and keep dancing! Jet lag worked in our favor for once! Jenny and I were not about to say no and we were still all smiles at 2am. Another night to remember and record late nights two weeks in a row!

Dutch Oranjeball

Finally, after Idul Fitri and Mudik (when people travel home for the holidays) when covid cases didn't spike in Jakarta, we finally got to have some expat fun like the old days! The Dutch ball was first up with an absolutely amazing Roaring 20's night at Cafe Batavia.

Jenny hosted the party car on the way to the event and we were already having a lot of fun on the road.  Since several husbands were traveling, we made this a girls night and our group kept growing.  We finally ended up with two tables to accommodate our 16 lovely ladies.

Cafe Batavia is one of the original Dutch colonial buildings in Kota Tua (Old Town).  It's been around since the 1830's and I was so excited to finally visit.  It was the perfect place for our night.

Our wonderful group of fun ladies!

Dinner was served upstairs and it was impressive.  We ate for hours!

The tables were gorgeous but maybe a bit hard to talk across??

We had a silent and live auction, raffle prizes, and fun at the photo booth, then the party moved back downstairs for us to dance off all the food we ate!

It has been 2 years since we had anything even close to this!  A dance floor full of people letting loose and enjoying the moment.  

When our tired feet couldn't dance any more, we finally walked back out to the car and naturally had to stop so Alice could pet the cat she found.

These streets were packed when we arrived but clearly there is still some sort of curfew because it was scary empty when we left. We still managed to attract attention as we navigated the cobblestones in high heels.

The survivors! I can't remember the last time I got home past 1am...it was a much-needed fun night out on the town and a step back towards normalcy.

Our 16-year Old!

It doesn't seem possible, but our firstborn is 16! Sadly, no trip to the DPS just yet for his driver's license, but it didn't stop him from celebrating all weekend.

First up, a tomahawk steak dinner at Le Quartier.

Scary how short I'm getting in my own family!

On Saturday, we had cake and gifts because Matt had to fly to London that evening. Ben got some new x-box remotes and a new ipad, to be delivered when we arrive in Texas in June.

On the big day, we had a big bacon breakfast and he had a few friends over to hang out.

Amazing gifts from friends who have access to Amazon!!

 Ben, Pierre, Tate, and Noa

And one more cake for good measure! Our friend Amanda made him an awesome cake, complete with Chevy truck.

Every year, it's tough to believe this is the same tiny baby we held.  It's amazing to watch him grow and mature and turn into this funny, polite, thoughtful, and talkative young man. Ben is such a blessing to our family!

The Longest Goodbye

Pam and I were pretty inseparable before Covid.  We said goodbye to our third musketeer Andrea and started making plans to reinvent life here without her, then we both evacuated when the pandemic hit.  Due to many different circumstances, her family stayed in Canada for two years and never returned, even though their house and belongings were still here.  It always gave me some hope that she would come back and we could enjoy life here together again!

It wasn't meant to work out for us to live here together again, but at least Pam and her family are moving to Houston where I'll be able to see her regularly! And I was super excited that she was able to come back for a few days to pack up her house.  We had a big list of lasts for her to finally say goodbye to her life in Jakarta.

First, a walk, a coffee, and a picture outside of Andrea's old house.

The all-important pork buns at GIOI, which was closed for over a year and I actually hadn't had one since the last time Pam and I were there together!

I was so excited to golf with Pam!  She was incredibly patient to put up with me while I was learning and it was so much more fun to play when I could actually hit the ball. Alice joined us as well for a fun morning.

Can you tell who spent the last two years in Canada and just left the snow?

Naturally, there were a few trips to the spa and one last cream bath at Jamu.

The best buffalo chicken wings in the world at the American Club.

One more Sunday brunch...

...and one last chocolate martini at the Dharmawangsa! Even the ladies that had never met Pam or only met her once turned out to wish her the best and share some laughs together.

I made my peace a long time ago that Pam wasn't coming back, but I'm so thankful for the bonus days to reminisce, laugh, and make a few more memories here together.  Now a reunion in Houston is just around the corner!

We also got to say farewell to Julie Washburn, a friend I've known for years here but only recently spent a lot of time together.  She is on her way to Manila, which happens to be where a few of my other friends are headed soon.  Looks like we may hopefully get to have a reunion in the Philippines one day as well!

 The goodbyes are tough, and we're not done yet for this season of leavers.  But every one makes me so thankful for the people we meet here whose paths cross with ours for months or years. That's what makes the expat life so special.