Jan 2007: Catching Up

After a two month hiatus, it is difficult to catch up on a blog like this. We've posted a number of photos to show some of the highlights from the past little while. School is back in full swing now. The boys are enjoying their afterschool activities. Nash tried out for and got a part in the middle school musical, called "Flapper." He is excited about his part and is working on memorizing his lines and learning the songs. Apparently he is on stage for most of the performance. We look forward to seeing it. Grant is also in his school's musical. The elementary school is doing a performance of "Aladdin" and he is in the chorus. Grant and Nash have started taking violin lessons. Luke's after school activity right now is soccer. He signed up for and will start basketball soon. Mallory's personality is as big as ever. She continually cracks us up with the things she says and does. Last week in church everyone within 5 rows of her was laughing when she started singing "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

We'll try to be more regular about updating this blog in the future.

Here are a few photos from yesterday. They don't really have flower and garden stores here. They just have flower markets, which are just a series of stalls by the side of the road in several areas around town. We went yesterday to get some orchids and other flowers for around the house.

Jan 2007: Rock climbing wall

One Saturday we took the boys to the rock climbing wall at the mall. Luke is in the blue shirt on the left. Grant is in the white shirt in the middle, and Nash is in the orange shirt on the right.

While they were climbing, it started raining. Mallory sat in her stroller on the side under an overhang. She still felt like she had her shield her eyes from the rain drops that splashed on her (no, she is not saluting her brother).

It was a really heavy rainstorm, but like most storms here, didn't last too long. The climbing wall is protected by an overhang, as well, so the boys climbed for a while in the rain (I think that is Nash in the background -- in the orange shirt).

Jan 2007: Mallory

Jan 2007: Taman Safari & Luke's Tooth

While I was in Detroit, the boys were still off school. Heidi kept busy with the boys and Mallory. One day they went to Taman Safari with some friends. Here's a photo of them having some fun in the bumper boats.

Luke finally lost his 3rd tooth. He has been working on it for over a week. I'd often see Grant helping him, by reaching into his mouth and trying to pull it out. It caused Luke a lot of grief, and he was quite relieved when it finally came out.

Jan 2007: Dealer Trip to Michigan

I spent the week of January 8th with 5 of the best Indonesian dealers in Michigan as a reward for their sales achievements in 2006. We went to the Detroit Auto Show, to the Henry Ford Museum, the Rouge Factory tour, to a Pistons basketball game, to a local dealer, and we did lots of shopping (these guys loved to shop). For the first couple of days we were driven around in a limousine. Any time we were in the car for longer than 20 minutes, at least some of us fell asleep (none of us ever really got over jet lag). Below is a photo of us at the Ford display at the autoshow. It was a last-minute decision for me to go, and it was a bad time for me to go because things were really busy at work, but it was good to be able to go back to Michigan. On Saturday I rented a car and drove to Canton to see some friends and to see if "home" looked familiar.

Jan 2007 - Kansas City

At the end of December my boss announced that he was being promoted and transferred to Ford in the Philippines. His replacement had not (and still has not) yet been named, so he asked me to fill in for him, and accompany 5 of our dealers on an incentive trip to Dearborn, Michigan. I was able to come a couple of days early to meet all of my siblings in Kansas City for a birthday celebration for my Dad's 60th birthday. It was good to be able to be with everyone for those couple of days - I had thought I was going to have to miss the big event.

Dec 2006: Puncak 3

One day we went on a short hike around the valley and through the farm lands to the volcano observation station. It was absolutely beautiful to be walking out there among the fields of cabbage, peppers, onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. Apparently the volcanic soil is great for growing all sorts of things (yes, the largest mountain there in the area was formed by a volcano, but the most recent volcanic activity was in the 1970's, I believe).

Dec 2006: Puncak 2

Luke with his friends Gus and Daniel.

Grant and the jungle.

On New Years eve we dipped pretzels, cookies, bananas, etc. in chocolate.

Dec 2006: Puncak 1

We went to the Puncak area (mountainous area about 35 miles south of Jakarta) with two families from our church over the New Years weekend. It was so relaxing to be up there -- it was really cool up there, in fact at night it was almost cold. Our kids had a great time playing with the other kids, and it was really nice to get away from Jakarta for a few days. We played games, read, relaxed, swam (even though the pool was freezing!), and celebrated the New Year there.

Dec 2006: Creed's Birthday

I have had my eye on a chest like this since we moved here. It is called a Lombok box (from the island of Lombok, just east of Bali). It has something (shells?) inlaid into the wood, and they make all sorts of things out of it. Heidi and the kids got me one for my birthday.

Mallory looks less than thrilled to celebrate my birthday.

Dec 2006: Taman Mini Indonesia

One afternoon, Heidi, Mallory, and I went with my Mom & Dad to a place called Taman Mini Indonesia. It is a big park here in Jakarta with a bunch of stuff from each of the islands and regions from around Indonesia. They have buildings showing the architechture from each area. Above is a house typical of the style from the Padang area in Sumatra. Below is a Batak house from northern Sumatra. One of the homes had some water around the outside of it. I saw something swimming in it, and at first I thought it was a rat. As I got closer, I realized it was a bat. I couldn't believe my eyes, but we actually ended up seeing 3 or 4 more bats swimming in the water. It was pretty creepy, though -- we couldn't go in the house because there were too many bats in the roof. It was so loud from all of the noise from the bats, and I cannot begin to describe the smell. But, seeing the bats swimming in the water there was a first for me.

This is a photo of Mom & Dad in front of some homes from the Tana Toraja area of central/southern Sulawesi. Each of the cultures is so different from the others.

Dec 2006: Other Christmas Photos

Mallory putting her new doll to sleep on a blanket with a pillow.

Santa Clause brought a foosball table, which was put to good use during the holidays.

Dec 2006: Christmas Day

One of Mallory's favorite gifts - a Cabbage Patch doll.

Dec 2006: Christmas Eve

The day after we returned from Bali was Christmas Eve. We went to church in the morning, then spent the afternoon making last minute preparations, then we had dinner in the evening, read some Christmas stories, acted out the Nativity story, and then sang some Christmas songs, etc. It was a really nice evening, and we were glad to have my parents here with us.

The boys each left a note for Santa, along with some cookies and bottled water. I'm not sure why they didn't leave milk for him this year.

Dec 2006: Return from Bali

Here's Mallory getting a ride on the luggage cart from her Grandma -- in the Jakarta airport on our return from Bali. I think they only lost one piece of luggage this time, and it was Heidi's of course. Luckily they delivered it later that night.

Dec 2006: Bali - Dolphin Cruise

One morning Nash, me, and my Mom & Dad went on the dolphin cruise. You take an ocean raft about 45 minutes out to sea, and they find a whole bunch of dolphins -- we probalby saw 50 or 60. You've got to be pretty good to take a good photo of them jumping out of the water (I am not). It was great to see the dolphins swimming right by the boat, and then jumping out of the water.