February Fun

I would have never expected it, but Omicron didn't make a huge dent in our lives in February.  Sadly the school went back to 50%, but since High School was only seeing half of the kids come to campus anyway, they let everyone who wanted to attend in person come every day.  Alex started doing a few days online each week. We were still able to get out and have fun with our friends instead of suffering through another lockdown!

We celebrated Katrice's birthday with a beautiful tea at the Fairmont.

The cutest way to deliver our food!

Happy birthday, Katrice!

The McCulloughs had booked a table at the newest and hottest restaurant in town and we were so excited to go to Tom's at the Langham.  We even met up beforehand and split up into a girls car and a boys car, because sometimes it's more fun that way!

We had the chef's table in the kitchen and it was pretty awesome.

The entire hotel and restaurant were beautiful and there were thoughtful touches everywhere, but I was pretty dang impressed with the ice cubes that said Tom's.

We split some massive steaks between the 8 of us and a few of the guys enjoyed the leftovers on the t-bones.

The whole gang together!

Even the lobby is beautiful.  We spent a little time wandering around after dinner.

There is no Super Bowl Sunday in Jakarta, but there is a Super Bowl Monday Morning pj party for anyone willing to get together at 6am for the big game!  The Americans were much more excited but we brought in a few newbies and taught them football watching protocol. We even allowed people to show up at 8:30am for halftime.

I LOVE that Jennie showed up in her dad's old referee uniform! We threw flags on one another all morning.

We had an amazing breakfast with pancakes, biscuits and gravy, real breakfast tacos, and of course chicken wings for the game. The pool for squares was paid up and our colorful pile of money went to several happy ladies.

When you really want to have a good time in Jakarta, you call in a masseuse as well! We took turns relaxing in his chair.

Sadly, this is going to be another year of goodbyes.  There was a mass exodus when Covid first started and then most people stayed put the following year.  The farewell events started early when Jennie's husband got a job in the US and they were heading out mid-semester. We had a booster hut brunch to thank her for her years of volunteer work.

Jennie was also my workout buddy with our trainer Uchin three times a week.  They kept me fit and sane throughout the covid years!

And one last fun Pokeeno with Jennie! She was the longest active member and after 10 years in Jakarta, she will be dearly missed!

At least I won a really awesome shirt that night to make the goodbyes a little easier.

Alex's big news for the month was that he got his braces off!  In just 13 months, his bite was corrected and he was pretty thrilled to be done.

I love this smile!!

We also got some adorable little parakeet babies.  We made it up to 3 and the biggest one was standing and growing feathers, until the mom had enough and turned on all of them one night.  So sad.

Making Lemonade

Right as we returned to Indonesia, Omicron gained a foothold and we knew it was only a matter of time until the next wave disrupted life in every way again.  Along with some fun friends, we decided to enjoy everything to the fullest for as long as possible!

Several of us had a fantastic private lunch at Henshin on the top of the Westin for Asha's birtday.

The restaurant opened just for us and served an amazing set seafood lunch. I already want to go back!

It was also a pretty cool view as rain rolled in and the skies opened up. We suddenly realized we could see the ocean!

Someone suggested another Happy Puppy night, and I'm never one to turn down that kind of fun.  With just a few messages, we quickly had a group of 7 fun couples ready to sing and laugh after dinner together. I'm so grateful for our tribe here that's always up for a good time!

I love all these happy couples making memories together!  Jennie (who swore she wasn't going to sing) and Chris (a natural on the microphone)

Katrice and Luke, who have fun everywhere they go

Jenny and Erik, who killed their duet from a Star is Born

The song list may change but some of the videos never do.  We had to sing some Garth Brooks with our favorite video and we were shocked that the Aussies and Kiwis had never heard Friends in Low Places!!

It was supposed to close at 9pm but we managed to talk them into letting us stay until 10.  Good fun with a respectable bedtime...what a perfect Friday night!

I love the rainy season orchids that are blooming everywhere.  These flowers at the golf course are my favorites.

It also seems to be kitten season this year.  I finally remembered to put cat food in my golf bag so I can help the sweet kitties around the course.

The other thing I enjoy at the golf course is spotting the monitor lizards.  Finally learned that they're called biawa and they're generally all over if you just look close enough.

It's been an odd rainy season with a lot more clouds than rain, but we've enjoyed some nice weather and beautiful sunsets.

Can't leave the kids out of the fun - we had a mom and kid's night when a lot of the guys were traveling and the middle schoolers ended up having their own karaoke in the living room!

The (Extra) Long Road Home

Ahh, the long trip back.  Made longer but a quarantine stop again.  It had gone up to 10 days and there was talk of 14 days, so when it went back down to 7 days, we had to be pretty excited.  Originally, Matt was going to travel separately and go through the UK for meetings, but Omicron cancelled all of that and we added him into our quarantine hotel.

All 12 bags were carefully packed and filled based on whether they were going to the hotel with us or straight to the house. We were thankful that the email visa verification had dropped so check-in went from 1 hour + to just over 30 minutes.

Our favorite photo changed so this will have to do for our farewell picture in Houston!

Our friends the Pavlas family were on the same flights and headed to the same hotel with us...it was fun having travel buddies!

It was our first time getting a family suite and pretty cool that we could open all the dividers and hang out together. Or close them when we needed some time away!

A nice little breakfast together before landing.  Pretty sure Ben didn't eat a bite and went right back to sleep.

With only a 3-hour layover in Doha and some great tail winds, this trip was a lot quicker and we were back in Jakarta before we knew it.

The airport was a breeze! We did all of our paperwork checks, PCR tests, immigration, and customs with almost no problem.  It was the last step that got us.  We couldn't actually leave the airport with a QR code for each person to enter quarantine.  There was a glitch with the hotel and they never issued Matt's and somehow lost two from the Pavlas family.  We were tired, hot, and grumpy, and really not in the mood to sort this out at the arrivals point outdoors.  It took about an hour and a half but we finally got everything working and they allowed all of us to continue to the Raffles.

Once we finally arrived and got settled in our home for the week, it was a great place.  Our connecting rooms each had sliding doors so they could turn into two small rooms, which was great for school and work.  But first - lots of relaxing and sleeping.

Ben had a nice, professional setup.

Alex got a setup in the bedroom which wasn't quite as comfortable but it worked really well.

I hid in my area and kept myself entertained.

No room for an exercise bike or treadmill this time, but at least I had youtube and hand weights.

We had friends recommend this hotel for the food and I'm so glad we listened.  Quarantine is pretty boring and the highlights of the day are the 3 times you open the door to a hot meal! The menu was awesome.  We did most of the set meals and they included things like duck breast and steak. We could order ala carte from the menu as well so the kids had lots of choices and we were really happy with every meal.

We got carts at each meal like this.  Fresh salads and pretty desserts!

Still a little cramped to eat all together, but it was great.  Breakfast had lots of fresh fruit as well.  Such a nice change from our last experience and disappointing boxed meals every day.

We spent a lot of time just watching life outside the window!

Finally, on day 7 we had our negative PCR tests in hand and we were ready to bust out of there!

Naturally, nothing can be that easy.  The hall monitor spent 15 minutes trying to get the elevators unlocked for us. And interesting to note - we had laughed about what an earthquake would feel like from the 17th floor and there was a 6.5 just a few hours later! Our friends still in quarantine in other high rises said it was pretty scary.  Maybe I don't want to experience that...

Back at home, we did PCR testing to get ready for school and the big reopening - the first day with every grade attending in almost 2 years!

We went straight to the McCullough's house that weekend to catch up with the friends we'd missed over the past month.

Reunited!

Make your own pizza night was a big hit!

And on Monday morning, 687 days from the last real day of school, ALL of the kids went back!  The moms celebrated together and had a great time....because we also knew it couldn't last. Omicron was just starting to gain a foothold in Jakarta so we made some bets on how long in-person school would last.  We can be excited and realistic at the same time!