We have the best sunsets here!
Enjoying the beauty with Daddy.
This is Albert. The pig we caught.Saturday, June 27, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Oink, oink!
Well, I did something today that I never thought I would do. I caught a pig. Really. There is a little baby pig living outside our neighbors house right now, just for a month or so, and when we were driving back from the pool, Emma noticed that It had pulled free of its rope and was walking around loose. So, the kids went over to try and get it. The pig however, was not cooperating. So they requested more help. Garth and I went down to assist. The kids named this little guy Albert, and even though we were enticing him with bananas, he would not come. It was quite comical. Cale would corral him when he started going the wrong way and the kids and I would try to grab him as he ran by. Garth was taking pictures. Finally, we all trapped him and I was able to grab him, barely. What a feisty thing! It was great fun! One of our security men was trying to help us as well and he got quite the laughs from watching the six of us and our antics.
Yesterday we did something fun as well. We had our own Olympics with three-legged races, pillow sack races, egg games, etc. We have also started going through a Science experiment book. I want to try and do all of the experiments before the summer is over. Sophie wants to be a scientist when she is older so she is keeping track of all of her observations in a notebook. She has even set up her own lab. Every morning after breakfast she informs me, “Mom, I am going to my lab.” Also, the girls and I have been painting a mural in their room. I let them draw most of it and then we all painted it. I love how it adds their touch to an otherwise boring room.
The kids and I keep asking Garth for a dog while we are here, and he says NO. And he is probably right. With the main school road in our backyard, it would be easy for a dog to get hit. We have already had two of our cats get run over. But, now, after today, I have a new idea. Maybe he would let us get a pig…
Love you-
Rachel
Yesterday we did something fun as well. We had our own Olympics with three-legged races, pillow sack races, egg games, etc. We have also started going through a Science experiment book. I want to try and do all of the experiments before the summer is over. Sophie wants to be a scientist when she is older so she is keeping track of all of her observations in a notebook. She has even set up her own lab. Every morning after breakfast she informs me, “Mom, I am going to my lab.” Also, the girls and I have been painting a mural in their room. I let them draw most of it and then we all painted it. I love how it adds their touch to an otherwise boring room.
The kids and I keep asking Garth for a dog while we are here, and he says NO. And he is probably right. With the main school road in our backyard, it would be easy for a dog to get hit. We have already had two of our cats get run over. But, now, after today, I have a new idea. Maybe he would let us get a pig…
Love you-
Rachel
Bodysurfing
I am such a geek! Really, I am on the inside. I am lucky that there is not a camera following me around all the time. The reason I am saying this is because I was just thinking about something that happened when we were in Bali. Remember when Garth was sick and I took the kids to the beach without him? Well, I saw Wyatt trying without much success to body surf, so I thought I would show him how. (it is a relatively easy thing if you do it right.) I saw a really big wave coming and was going to use that wave to coast into shore. However, I failed to notice how shallow the water was that I was standing in. I told Wyatt to watch as I caught the wave. There was NO coasting involved in my body surf. The wave slammed me onto the sand and ripped my body quickly up the beach to shore. Of course all of the kids were watching me and didn’t want to laugh until they knew I was ok. (How nice of them!) I had SOOOO much sand in my swimsuit that you could see it in heaping mounds under there. I was not hurt, and yes, I did find it funny. Later when we went home, I realized it was all worth it when I heard Wyatt say, “Dad, you should have seen Mom body surfing. It was so cool!” Now, What’s a couple buckets of sand in your suit compared to a statement like that? Ha ha ha.
Moral of the story: Always check the depth of the sand before you throw your body into a wave!
Love you-
Rachel
Moral of the story: Always check the depth of the sand before you throw your body into a wave!
Love you-
Rachel
We are back!
We are back in Sentani safe and sound. That is always a crazy trip flying through the night and with the time change and all you land feeling like you need another vacation! Haha. Anyways, we arrived and fell right to sleep. Once I woke up I was hit with how different my life is here compared to Bali. There was lizard poop on my pillow, someone had been here while we were gone and there was unflushed stuff in the toilet, eggs rotting in a bowl in the kitchen, eating in instead of going out, etc. etc. It was so fun to be spoiled for awhile though. I feel very fortunate.
Garth is finally feeling better from that flu. It was pretty awful. Now Cale has a cold. Otherwise the kids are settled back into a nice routine. It is fun for me to be a family here and only have to think about our family. Making meals for 6 is a lot easier than 16.
Cale said some funny things the other day. He and Garth were out at a construction site. After awhile Garth said it was time to go and Cale yelled to the dozer driver, “Have fun with your mother!” And yesterday he asked to smell the gas from Garth’s motorcycle and I told him it was not good to smell that. HE looked at me and said, “I am only going to smell it Mom, not eat it.”
Well, hope you are healthy and well.
We love you all-
Rachel
Garth is finally feeling better from that flu. It was pretty awful. Now Cale has a cold. Otherwise the kids are settled back into a nice routine. It is fun for me to be a family here and only have to think about our family. Making meals for 6 is a lot easier than 16.
Cale said some funny things the other day. He and Garth were out at a construction site. After awhile Garth said it was time to go and Cale yelled to the dozer driver, “Have fun with your mother!” And yesterday he asked to smell the gas from Garth’s motorcycle and I told him it was not good to smell that. HE looked at me and said, “I am only going to smell it Mom, not eat it.”
Well, hope you are healthy and well.
We love you all-
Rachel
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Well, we just got word from the lady watching our cats back home that one of them was hit by a car and died. It was either pregnant Gypsy or Sophie’s kitty Joy. She said it was one of the black and white ones. So I haven’t told the kids yet as that will be awful news.
Garth is still feeling quite terrible. Keep praying for him. We have a flight out at 2:00 am back to Sentani. Pray for the kids as that is a difficult time to wake up and travel.
We did have a nice last day here. The beach in the morning and a relaxing lunch of sandwiches. Then some hang out time in the room (we have cable here, a luxury the kids have not had since last year when we went home to America!) Then we took a walk outside by the golf course so the kids could look for golf balls, and now an early bedtime, so hopefully they will get 5 or 6 hours before we have to leave for the airport.
I will email you all when we get to Sentani and let you know how the flight went.
Love to all
Rachel
Garth is still feeling quite terrible. Keep praying for him. We have a flight out at 2:00 am back to Sentani. Pray for the kids as that is a difficult time to wake up and travel.
We did have a nice last day here. The beach in the morning and a relaxing lunch of sandwiches. Then some hang out time in the room (we have cable here, a luxury the kids have not had since last year when we went home to America!) Then we took a walk outside by the golf course so the kids could look for golf balls, and now an early bedtime, so hopefully they will get 5 or 6 hours before we have to leave for the airport.
I will email you all when we get to Sentani and let you know how the flight went.
Love to all
Rachel
Have you ever eaten at Bubba Gump’s? We ate there the other night for the first time. It was so yummy! I had a salad with real lettuce and cheese. My taste buds were so excited. It was the most American restaurant we have found yet. During the meal though a man came around and purposefully dumped water all over the floor-not sure what that was about.
Today we took the kids to the beach. There was a fantastic wind blowing through so the heat was so much more bearable. We built a sand house with a bed for each of us and Sophie built a kitchen. Wyatt and Emma built a dam around so the waves couldn’t knock the house down. Cale was on sanitation control and was in charge of cleaning out all of the seaweed. That poor kid. He fell this morning on the stones on the way to breakfast and smacked his face. Now he has a fat lip and a bruised nose and a cut on top of his lip.
Our hotel room is in an unfortunate spot. The lot next door is in construction and the crew is working late into the night. The spot lights tend to shine right into our rooms along with the bang bang bang and occasional shout from the mega phone. But other than that we are really enjoying ourselves. There is lots of fresh fruit every morning for breakfast and little donuts-which Sophie seems to inhale.
Tonight we are having dinner with a wonderful Indonesian lady and her little daughter. That should be fun.
Hope you are well.
Love you bunches
Rachel
Today we took the kids to the beach. There was a fantastic wind blowing through so the heat was so much more bearable. We built a sand house with a bed for each of us and Sophie built a kitchen. Wyatt and Emma built a dam around so the waves couldn’t knock the house down. Cale was on sanitation control and was in charge of cleaning out all of the seaweed. That poor kid. He fell this morning on the stones on the way to breakfast and smacked his face. Now he has a fat lip and a bruised nose and a cut on top of his lip.
Our hotel room is in an unfortunate spot. The lot next door is in construction and the crew is working late into the night. The spot lights tend to shine right into our rooms along with the bang bang bang and occasional shout from the mega phone. But other than that we are really enjoying ourselves. There is lots of fresh fruit every morning for breakfast and little donuts-which Sophie seems to inhale.
Tonight we are having dinner with a wonderful Indonesian lady and her little daughter. That should be fun.
Hope you are well.
Love you bunches
Rachel
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
More Bali Days
I am sitting outside watching the kids swim, waiting for Cale to finish his lunch, and we just saw a man bungee jump with a motorcycle. That was crazy! The motorcycle was strapped to the cord with him and he kept revving the engine so you could really hear it. What a hoot!
Yesterday was Wyatt’s birthday as you know, and he asked if we could have McDonald’s again for lunch. The hotel said that they would deliver so I asked the front desk clerk to call in our order. I had it written down. Seven meals and seven drinks (that way Garth and Wyatt could split one extra). Somehow we ended up with seven meals and 12 drinks. This morning Garth ordered three eggs for breakfast and wound up with 6. I think they have a hard time with numbers here.
It was fun to be at the mall last night when the sun was setting and sit on the steps with the kids and watch the waves come in from the ocean. Wyatt had a really nice birthday – I wondered if he would miss doing presents or having a cake but he did not. He had some money saved up from doing chores and found a vendor selling mini electric guitars (a toy, not for playing). He was able to barter the guy down from rp. 145,000 to rp. 50,000 with a case. So he was so excited about that.
Emma changed her answer from the other day when I asked them what Bible character they would like to be. She changed from Mary the Mother of Jesus to Jael, the lady who drove a tent peg into that bad guy’s head after she lured him into her tent. That is quite a different answer. She is so funny!
Today is Monday and we are really enjoying this leisure schedule. Our days have been going something like this: Wake up whenever, eat breakfast at the hotel, hang out at the pool, Cale goes down for his nap with one of us and the one at the pool with the other kids, then we make sandwiches and have a picnic outside. When Cale wakes up we either do the pool or the beach, then clean up, catch a taxi to go into town to shop and eat. I feel so spoiled. And to tell you the truth, I have been feeling really good physically. Ever since the doctor from the States said to double up on my medication I have been feeling so much better. Yahoo! I haven’t felt this good since January.
Tonight a family whose kids we have in the hostel wants to take us out to eat. And tomorrow we are going to a waterpark here called Waterbom. Sounds like fun? Join us!
Love you all
Rachel
Yesterday was Wyatt’s birthday as you know, and he asked if we could have McDonald’s again for lunch. The hotel said that they would deliver so I asked the front desk clerk to call in our order. I had it written down. Seven meals and seven drinks (that way Garth and Wyatt could split one extra). Somehow we ended up with seven meals and 12 drinks. This morning Garth ordered three eggs for breakfast and wound up with 6. I think they have a hard time with numbers here.
It was fun to be at the mall last night when the sun was setting and sit on the steps with the kids and watch the waves come in from the ocean. Wyatt had a really nice birthday – I wondered if he would miss doing presents or having a cake but he did not. He had some money saved up from doing chores and found a vendor selling mini electric guitars (a toy, not for playing). He was able to barter the guy down from rp. 145,000 to rp. 50,000 with a case. So he was so excited about that.
Emma changed her answer from the other day when I asked them what Bible character they would like to be. She changed from Mary the Mother of Jesus to Jael, the lady who drove a tent peg into that bad guy’s head after she lured him into her tent. That is quite a different answer. She is so funny!
Today is Monday and we are really enjoying this leisure schedule. Our days have been going something like this: Wake up whenever, eat breakfast at the hotel, hang out at the pool, Cale goes down for his nap with one of us and the one at the pool with the other kids, then we make sandwiches and have a picnic outside. When Cale wakes up we either do the pool or the beach, then clean up, catch a taxi to go into town to shop and eat. I feel so spoiled. And to tell you the truth, I have been feeling really good physically. Ever since the doctor from the States said to double up on my medication I have been feeling so much better. Yahoo! I haven’t felt this good since January.
Tonight a family whose kids we have in the hostel wants to take us out to eat. And tomorrow we are going to a waterpark here called Waterbom. Sounds like fun? Join us!
Love you all
Rachel
Is Spiderman in the Bible?
How is your Thursday going? Any street bullies? We didn’t have any today-Yahoo! This morning after breakfast we took a long walk on the beach looking for shells, jumping the waves, and watching all of the crabs dig holes in the sand. Cale kept making “snow balls” (his words), really balls of sand to throw in the ocean. After a fun morning at the beach, Garth took Cale to the hotel for a nap and the kids and I played in the pool: Marco Polo, swam laps and we did water aerobics together. When Cale woke up we all grabbed a taxi and went in to Kuta to a Giant grocery store (they have those here!) and we went to ACE Hardware! We wanted to pick up a bunch of stuff that we could use for lunches by the pool-bread, deli meat, peanut butter, etc. I was so happy to see deli meat. You cannot get that in Sentani. Then we found a table outside and had a yummy picnic, did some more shopping and had a few laughs. The vendors in Bali are rather pushy. They will do anything to get you into their store. Over and over they say things like, “Come on in, great price, buy this watch…) The kids know that we just politely say “No thank you “ again and again. This afternoon with one persistent vendor, Cale said “No,” and after he kept bugging him, Cale replied, “I already told you ‘No!’” One lady kept grabbing Sophie’s hair and asking to braid it, Sophie finally replied, “No, can I braid your hair?” Then the lady left.
Tonight we had dinner outside by the pool-it was quiet and so peaceful. While we were waiting for the food I asked the kids, “If you could go back in time and be a Bible character who would you want to be?” Emma said Mary the mother of Jesus, Wyatt said David, Garth said Elijah because he never had to die, I said Esther, Sophie is still thinking about who she would be and Cale said he wanted to be Spiderman. When I told him that Spiderman was not in the Bible, he changed his answer to Batman.
Tomorrow is Wyatt’s birthday and he gets to plan the day. That will be fun.
Until then-Love to you all
Rachel
Tonight we had dinner outside by the pool-it was quiet and so peaceful. While we were waiting for the food I asked the kids, “If you could go back in time and be a Bible character who would you want to be?” Emma said Mary the mother of Jesus, Wyatt said David, Garth said Elijah because he never had to die, I said Esther, Sophie is still thinking about who she would be and Cale said he wanted to be Spiderman. When I told him that Spiderman was not in the Bible, he changed his answer to Batman.
Tomorrow is Wyatt’s birthday and he gets to plan the day. That will be fun.
Until then-Love to you all
Rachel
Bali Days
Hello from Bali. Today is Wednesday and we just got back from Kuta where we had a mini Sentani reunion. There were 18 of us at Pizza Hut-yummy! Then drinking smoothies by the beach-what a treat. While we were sitting there, Cale looked up at the moon and noticed how it was reflecting off the clouds and remarked that the “sky was dirty.”
Yesterday we went to McDonald’s where Sophie ordered chicken and rice-isn’t that funny? The rest of us were so excited to have McDonald’s after not having it for a year, but not Soph. Before we got there, we walked out of our hotel and looked for a taxi. We found one coming out of another hotel, and climbed in. Not 300 feet later, three Indonesians walked out in front and blocked the road so that we could not go. They owned a transport business on that street and did not want us to use any other company for taxi needs so they wouldn’t let us through. So, the taxi driver told us he would be waiting around the corner and pick us back up there. We got out and walked right past those men, around the corner to our taxi. The kids were like, “Wow, real life street bullies.” It is nice to be able to go on a taxi ride for 45 minutes and only pay $8-but strange how they can be so possessive. Don’t mess with their street.
I am off to bed. My head will be full of dreams of Garth punching out those bullies-(he could have taken them.) Snicker,snicker.
Love you all-
Rachel
Yesterday we went to McDonald’s where Sophie ordered chicken and rice-isn’t that funny? The rest of us were so excited to have McDonald’s after not having it for a year, but not Soph. Before we got there, we walked out of our hotel and looked for a taxi. We found one coming out of another hotel, and climbed in. Not 300 feet later, three Indonesians walked out in front and blocked the road so that we could not go. They owned a transport business on that street and did not want us to use any other company for taxi needs so they wouldn’t let us through. So, the taxi driver told us he would be waiting around the corner and pick us back up there. We got out and walked right past those men, around the corner to our taxi. The kids were like, “Wow, real life street bullies.” It is nice to be able to go on a taxi ride for 45 minutes and only pay $8-but strange how they can be so possessive. Don’t mess with their street.
I am off to bed. My head will be full of dreams of Garth punching out those bullies-(he could have taken them.) Snicker,snicker.
Love you all-
Rachel
In Bali!
We are here! It was a long day, but we are finally in Bali. Yahoo! It was tough this morning saying good-bye to the people that we will never see again. It was especially hard for Wyatt and his best friend Eddie. They are moving back to Iowa tomorrow. Then on the way to the airport, Wyatt got stung by a bee right next to his eye. That is all swollen and red. Then our flight was delayed so we got off to a slow start. As we were boarding the plane, Garth noticed duct tape securing the cabin door-that is reassuring, isn’t it? But now it is 7 o’clock at night, the kids are all in bed after spending time at the beautiful pool and at the beach along with a yummy dinner…bliss.
We have deliberately not planned a lot of activities while we are here. We want to completely relax. I wish you all could be here with us chatting by the pool. And you could sing the Bali song with us- “We are going to Bali, we will fly up high, so pack your bags and get your stuff, it’s time to say Good-bye!”
I am finally feeling like the whirlwind is gone and the dust is settling. The end of school is absolutely crazy with a house full of school kids-all needing to get different things done. We will have a full dorm next year with 6 boys and 6 girls. There are new hostel parents coming the end of June for the other hostel so we will be helping them “learn the ropes.” Our cook, Ibu Poppi has told us that if we are staying another year that she will stay too. So we will not be losing a cook.
On an entirely different note, please pray for Garth’s Mom as she is not doing well with her chemotherapy. She will not be able to return home and is being transferred to a nursing home. Pray for her as I know she is discouraged and for the family as they have decisions that need to be made. Thanks.
Those of you that prayed for our trip today, thank you. The kids did fantastic. Cale had no nap on the plane and had a really good attitude. They are so thankful and excited about this time together as a family and I praise God that we are able to be here. Sometimes in the hostel it is hard to get good quality family time. It seems like there is always someone who needs you elsewhere. But this time here is just us and it is so precious.
Love you all
Rachel
We have deliberately not planned a lot of activities while we are here. We want to completely relax. I wish you all could be here with us chatting by the pool. And you could sing the Bali song with us- “We are going to Bali, we will fly up high, so pack your bags and get your stuff, it’s time to say Good-bye!”
I am finally feeling like the whirlwind is gone and the dust is settling. The end of school is absolutely crazy with a house full of school kids-all needing to get different things done. We will have a full dorm next year with 6 boys and 6 girls. There are new hostel parents coming the end of June for the other hostel so we will be helping them “learn the ropes.” Our cook, Ibu Poppi has told us that if we are staying another year that she will stay too. So we will not be losing a cook.
On an entirely different note, please pray for Garth’s Mom as she is not doing well with her chemotherapy. She will not be able to return home and is being transferred to a nursing home. Pray for her as I know she is discouraged and for the family as they have decisions that need to be made. Thanks.
Those of you that prayed for our trip today, thank you. The kids did fantastic. Cale had no nap on the plane and had a really good attitude. They are so thankful and excited about this time together as a family and I praise God that we are able to be here. Sometimes in the hostel it is hard to get good quality family time. It seems like there is always someone who needs you elsewhere. But this time here is just us and it is so precious.
Love you all
Rachel
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