Photos: September 2006 - kids around the house

I don't think this picture needs any explanation.

Mallory will often go into her room and close the door, then she'll sing songs, read books, sit in her chair, etc.

I was just going to take a picture of Mallory, but she decided it would be fun to play peek a boo.

Here's Grant & Mallory in front of Mallory's bedroom window.

Luke and Mallory made a "fort" out of pillows.

Photos: Scotland Trip, August 30 - Sept 6, 2006

Standing in a field of Heather on Arthur's Seat

In front of the main gate of Stirling Castle

Jen and I with Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Palace in the background

Holyrood Palace. The Queen stays here a few times a year.

Edinburgh Castle on the hill with the Scottish National Art Museums at the bottom of the picture.

Letter: Scotland Trip, August 30 - Sept 6, 2006

I left for my trip to Edinburgh on 30 August and returned on 6 September. It was such a wonderful trip. I was so happy to meet my friend Jen Deem there who flew in from Michigan. Believe it or not, our flights landed within 20 minutes of each other. It was perfect timing.

Unfortunately, my suitcase was not in Edinburgh when I arrived. I had very long layovers in Singapore and also in London so I didn’t understand how one suitcase couldn’t make it. I went into the lost baggage office and talked to them. They had information that my suitcase made it to London, but didn’t seem to make it to Edinburgh (a short 55 min. flight!). I thought for sure it would be at the B&B by that evening since there were several flights from London that day. Boy, was I wrong.

I met Jen and we got on a bus and followed the directions to the B&B, one that was highly recommended by Rick Steves. It was very close to downtown and Arthur’s seat -- a perfect location. We dropped our stuff off…I should say Jen’s stuff off and met the owner of the B&B, Liz. She was fantastic. She was so friendly and hilarious and always gave us suggestions of where to eat…which we found even funnier since all of her suggestions were the exact ones Rick Steves has in his book. Now we know where he gets his ideas!

That day we walked all over. We found the city to be very beautiful and the Scottish people to be so laid back and friendly. Everyone we met smiled and talked to us and cracked jokes. I think that’s pretty rare in a lot of European countries. We really enjoyed it.

We loved walking up and down the Royal Mile, the old part of the city that goes from the castle down to Holyrood Palace. We toured the castle and went on a walking tour of the old city. It’s amazing to me to see how old the buildings are.

We went home that night only to find out my luggage still had not arrived so we walked to a huge department store (their version of a super Target…yes I loved it) so I could get some things. Because of the new limits of carry-on baggage that had been imposed on British flights, I was not able to carry anything with me except my passport, iPod, phone and a book. I had nothing, not even my cameras, so off we went to the store. Liz assured us it was much better to walk than to ride the bus and was ‘a wee distance’ down the road. We soon came to find out the Scottish definition of a ‘wee distance’ always means at least a mile!!! We were worn out and my feet had blisters from the shoes I had by the time we returned.

The next day was spent going to Roselyn Chapel and hiking up Arthur’s Seat…another Scottish ‘wee distance’…it was a HIKE not a walk which we had been told!!! It was great and the wind at the top was so strong we had to hold on to a cement pillar at the very top with all of our might! We were laughing so hard. It was beautiful to see the entire city.

We spent the rest of the day touring Holyrood Palace and walking around the city. We went to the statue of Grayfrier’s Bobby and walked around the cool cemetery where he is buried along with his owner. We came home exhausted hoping to find my luggage, but still nothing. Liz had spent a lot of the day calling the airlines and the airport and the delivery company for me. She was very frustrated because she hadn’t been able to talk to a single human; my same experience from the day before. That night I had just fallen asleep and Jen knocked on my door at about 11:00pm saying, “Heidi! I think your luggage is here!” Sure enough, it was there. They aren’t sure where it had been for almost two days, but I didn’t care. I was just happy to have clean clothes and cameras!

We went on a tour of Mary Kings Close which is an area of the original city built in the 1500’s. In the 1700’s they built a city hall over the top of the street. Everything down there has been so well preserved. It was very interesting to see the actual wallpaper on the wealthy apartment walls and the original plaster on the walls dating back to the 1500’s!

We went through the art museum on Sunday and then found the church. We also went to some fireworks that night. It was so cold!!! I thought I was going to freeze to death, but enjoyed every minute of it. It was nice to be cold for once. The fireworks were set off from the castle. It was an amazing setting.

We spend a good part of Monday in Stirling, a 45 min. train ride from Edinburgh. We toured Stirling castle and looked around the beautiful valley where many of the famous Scottish battles took place. It was so serene.

It was such a great trip. I came home with books about Mary Queen of Scots and a yearning to learn more of the history of that place. The weather was a little rainy for only a couple of days. It was fun to walk through the city and hear the bagpipe players. We didn’t have the guts or desire to even attempt to try haggis. I have nothing to prove. HE HE HA HA! I definitely would love to go back. Scotland is a wonderful country with very friendly people. I was thankful that Creed allowed me to go and cover the bases while I was gone with the school open house, soccer practices and games and everything else.

Photos: 15 Septmeber 2006 - Emmanuel Foundation 2

I gave an award (towels, dish soap, dishes) to two ladies who took 2nd place in the cooking contest.

We handed out fruit to the kids.

And we helped give out food (soup, rice, and bread) to the parents. This foundation collects left-over buffet food from about 10 of the high-end hotels in Jakarta and distributes it to the 8 kampung (or neighborhoods) they work with.

After we finished we went to eat lunch (we had brought food for everyone to eat) on the steps outside the local mosque, the largest in this particular area of Jakarta.

Photos: 15 Septmeber 2006 - Emmanuel Foundation

On Friday, September 15th, the whole Ford office spent the day working with the Emmanuel Foundation (a foundation we support with vehicles). We went with a dozen or so people from this foundation to one of 8 neighborhoods (they called them slums) they work with, providing education about water treatment, food preparation, health, etc. We planted trees in and around the streets, helped distribute food and medicine, provided some entertainment, read stories to the kids, etc. Here are a few photos from the day:

Reading stories to the kids.

Distributing medicine.

Planting trees.

The crowd of kids being entertained by Ford employees.

No Indonesian event is complete without a song or two or ten. One of our employees opened the day singing a song - I don't think too many people heard her, though.

Letter: 27 August 2006

Krakatau

We’ve had two public holidays recently – a week ago Thursday was Indonesia’s Independence Day, and then Monday, August 21 was a Muslim holiday (I think it was the celebration of the ascension of Mohammed). Because the boys didn’t have school and I didn’t have to work, we decided to go to the island of Krakatau. I had heard about this island from other people and we finally got around to doing it. I got a referral for a boat and called several days in advance to make a reservation. We had a arranged for 4 other people from church to go with us, so on Monday morning we all got up early and left Jakarta at about 5:30 and drove 2 and a half hours west to the west coast of Java, then about an hour south down the coast to the marina.

We set out in a decent sized boat (just big enough for 10 people plus 3 crew) for the hour-long trip to the island, which is right in the middle of the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. Krakatau is (was) a volcano / island that erupted in 1883. I have been reading a book called Krakatoa (the incorrect English version of the name) about the eruption. Before 1883, Krakatoa was an island with 3 separate volcanic craters – I think the height was about 2,700 feet. After the eruption, all that was left of it was about ¼ of the island on the southern side (more on that later). The rest of Krakatau exploded into the air and/or sunk back into the sea – I think the experts rank it at about the 4th or 5th worst volcanic eruption on record. About 35,000 people were killed because of the eruption – most of them because of a huge tsunami & flooding on the shores of both Java and Sumatra. The volcanic activity didn’t end in 1883, though. It continued on beneath the sea until in 1930 a new island – in the same spot as the old Krakatau – started forming, this one technically called Anak Krakatau, meaning child of Krakatau. Today the island/volcano is about 1,500 feet, and growing at a rate of 5 inches a week, or something like that. After the hour boat ride we landed on the black sand shore of Anak Krakatau and started the hike to the top. We walked through a few hundred meters of forest, and then the trail quickly turned to small black rocks & sand (I’m no geologist, so don’t quote me). We reached a plateau about half-way up, and then most of the group continued on to the top. At the top was a big crater (a couple of hundred feet across and about a hundred feet deep), with a bit of smoke coming from the sides of the crater. The fumes were pretty bad and it was really hot. Nash and I were glad we made it to the top – it was really hot out there, being in the open (no trees) and hiking on the dark rocks, not to mention the fact that it is a somewhat active volcanic island.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia article about Krakatau.

Another link to a SDSU website about Krakatau.

We made our way back down to the beach and darted across the hot black sand beach back to the boat. We went over to the island called Rakata, which is about 2 miles away from Anak Krakatau. Actually, Rakata is the only remnant of the original Krakatau. It is interesting because it basically looks like half of a volcano, cut in half – the entire north end of the island is a steep cliff that goes up to a point. The rest of the island blew up in the 1883 explosion. We stopped briefly at a sandy beach so that a couple of people could go into the trees on the island (yes, also deserted) to change into their swimming suits, then we went to a small coral reef on the east side of the island for some snorkeling. We headed back to the marina at about 2:00 or 2:30. Luke slept for about half the boat ride bike. I was surprised that he was able to sleep, though, because the boat was bouncing a lot and we kept getting sprayed with salt water. He didn’t seem to mind, though. All in all it was a great day – something we had looked forward to doing for a while.

Everything Else

The boys are in full swing with school. Nash starts Track & Field today and will have practice three days a week. He had to run a timed mile for PE last week. They make the students run it at the first of the year and then they have to run it again mid-year to see if they’ve improved. Nash ran it in 8 minutes. I was impressed. He’s never had to run a mile before, so I think Track & Field might be his thing. He’s pretty excited. His PE teacher told him that he had nothing to improve on. I think he’ll do well.

We also bought him a ¾ size violin last week and it fits him much better. He is in one of the orchestras at school and will enjoy it, I think. He’s doing well on the violin and seems to be a natural. He spent a lot of the weekend teaching Grant, who is so excited to learn how to hold the violin and bow and how to make a nice sound.

Grant is so excited to play the violin; he couldn’t get enough of it this weekend. When he went to his beginning strings class after school, there were only 4 students. If it stays that way, he will get a lot of personal instruction, which will be good. He’s very anxious to start playing songs.

Luke is enjoying grade one. He has a great teacher and some good friends in his class. He’s still reading up a storm and gets so excited to go to the library. He has signed up for some after school activities and is waiting to hear which one he gets (some activities have limited availability). He and Grant start soccer this week with their first game on Saturday.

Mallory is talking, talking, talking. One of her favorite things to say is ‘Muppet’s punny (funny).’ We bought season one of the Muppet Show while we were in Utah and she loves to watch it. She loves to walk around and sing, often with a toy for a microphone (whose daughter is she?) and she climbs on the piano bench to play and sing. She has quite a sense of humor. We can’t get her to eat much, though. She has abandoned all her ‘favorites’ for breakfast and resorts to nothing, or cookies. Nice.

Creed is in heaven with our cook who makes cookies on demand. She has made 4 or 5 batches in the past two weeks! She is always surprised when she comes in the kitchen in the morning to find them gone. Creed will call me during the day to tell me to ask her to make a certain cookie recipe. I’m getting very embarrassed asking her every other day to make cookies!

I leave for Scotland on Wednesday and will return on the 4th. I am excited to see that country. I’ve heard so many beautiful things about it. It will be a fun trip.

We were in the mall on Saturday and we discovered two fabulous things!!! Krispy Kreme is opening a store in Pondok Indah Mall just 5 min. from our house!!! They also just opened a Cold Rock ice cream store (the Australian version of Cold Stone) in the mall as well. Well, I was beside myself and said to Creed, ‘Okay, with the discovery of 4 lb bags of C&H powdered sugar in one of the grocery stores (I could never find it last year) and Krispy Kreme and Cold Rock, what more could a girl need? I am content here. I don’t need to move.” We laughed. Nothing like food being the main focus or your life…tee hee hee!

We had the branch pot luck at our home yesterday. The pot lucks have been happening in the branch for quite awhile and is usually hosted by a member of the branch presidency once every two months or so. It’s nice to have everyone over and get to know people in that kind of environment. Because of the layout of the branch, everyone lives quite a distance from each other, we don’t get to see each other much so being able to socialize with one another outside of church is great. The branch is getting larger though and I believe we had about 80-90 people here yesterday! Quite a house full.

The interesting thing I saw this week on our drives around the city….a man driving his motorcycle with 5 children piled on and another man driving with a huge air conditioner tied to his motorcycle! I don’t understand how they do it.

Photos: 21 August 2006 - Krakatau

A shot of Nash right after we left the marina, with the shore of Java in the background.

About 45 minutes later, our first view of Anak Krakatau. Notice the trees at the bottom of the island, and then the path that angles up to the left to a small plateau, with another path that angles up and to the right to the summit.

There was a small hut on the island with about 8 people - most of them employees of the Indonesian forestry service. We stopped there for a few minutes to change into our shoes and to have something to eat before we started our hike. We had to pay an "entry fee" of about $10 (for the group), and 2 of the guys walked to the top with us as our guides.

After walking through the forest for a couple of hundred yards the trail quickly turned to dark, coarse sand and the vegetation disappeared.

At the top of the first ridge there was a small plateau.

Nash and I went with most of the rest of the group to the top. This is the best photo of the crater in the background - dark red rocks/soil, with patches of yellow, orange, or green rocks. Several of these spots also had smoke or steam coming out.

Nash and I on the edge of the crater, with a view behind us in the direction of the island of Sumatra.

Grant and Luke didn't go all the way to the top. Luke spent his time writing his initials on the hill with rocks. In the background on the horizon you can see the silhouette of the small seismic monitoring station.

Here's Nash squinting in the sun with a mouthful of food, but this is the best shot of the island of Rakata - the only surviving part of Krakatau that erupted in 1883. Rakata is about 2 miles away, just to give you a sense of the size of the island that disappeared in the eruption.

The three boys on a tree branch in the forest on Krakatau.

Luke snorkeling in the water on the eastern shore of Rakata. You can see some of the coral in the water beneath him. It was a pretty good reef - lots of large coral, and quite a few fish.

Photos: June 2006 - Bali plus Luke

Heather came for a visit to Indonesia in June, and she and Heidi went to Bali for a few days.

Here are some rice terraces in Bali near Ubud.

This last photo is a shot of Luke with Spencer Powell playing pool at the farewell party for our good friends, the Powell's, who left Jakarta in June.

Photos: June 2006 - Hong Kong Disneyland

Then Heather flew back to the US with Heidi and the kids. On the way, they stopped in Hong Kong for a few days, and went to Hong Kong Disneyland for one of those days, which happenned to be a very rainy day (a total understatement).

The Chinese love Westerners. Did we know these women? No, but they really wanted to be in our picture! Heather was taking the picture and laughing so hard.

Photos: July 2006

Mallory and Gabe.

Luke and Isaac at the firing range.

Fourth of July morning with Bret's kids.

Mallory with her friend, Louie.

Mallory loved it when Louie licked her face.

Photos: July 2006 - Aspen Grove - Aspen Follies

Megan, Truman, Hannah, Rachel, Matthew & Luke.

Nash in the bucket, ready to be filled up with water.

Mallory & Rachel.

Luke getting ready to launch his rocket.