RWR BBQ party 28.7.07

The girls did this all by themselves...

They lined the pool fence with Frangipanis for the guests-so Martha! LOL

We had a blast of a party last weekend.......as I am sure you will be able to tell from the photos.

J has found a wig to wear to the Roaring 20's ball we are all attending; of course we all had to try it out (even the pig and duck!).





The chocolate fountain made another award winning appearance. It has more adoring fans waiting for the next tour to be announced.

Here we all are posing in my "Pondok Indah" (beautiful hut)

We are still alive and kicking.....

All is well, we have so much to talk about but no time to chat!
The first week back at school after a long break was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO tiring.
I have all these blog posts planned in my head.
I just need some sort of "Harry Potter" device to get them out of my head and onto the blog with a click of my fingers................

Size is not everything!

Australian Bliss...our front yard at home.
Jakarta Bliss... our Jakarta backyard

6000 square metres of gently rolling hillside in Australia, 15km from the CBD is wonderful........but with little kids it is not that easy to supervise.

Here in Jakarta we have an average 850square metres fully fenced block in which the kids can run wild.

At this age the kids prefer here!

This is Ben on the weekend helping Samino mow (they don't use power lawn mowers here, it is all rotary types). All the staff were watching Ben mow, but all thought I was a bit strange when I ran out shouting " shoes, put boots on him, SHOES".

This is Chelsea in her school uniform playing in the mud.......

Poor old Georgia was inside doing her homework...she did get to join in when it was time to wash off the mud in the pool.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Wow

The wait is over and it was worth it...

I have just finished the book and it was wonderful!!!!!

I am so sad it is over and hope that JK might do more!

Thank goodness a spoiler was wrong.

GJ's dastardly plan

GJ has been on the surface extremely good. He has lost nearly nine kilos and is looking trim, taut and terrific.
But I have uncovered his dastardly plan......at night under the cover of sleep, he has been secretly transferring those kilos to me, or at least 4 of them.
It has got to stop!!!!!! And he has to take this fat back from me NOW!
I can not use the excuse of the water here making my clothes shrink, the excuse is now GJ did it!
I miss my gym in Australia.
This weekend we are going to start looking around for a treadmill. Oh and GJ is going to take back some of his fat

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Oh my, we had a great time!!!

The girls and I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie, it was LOUD and action packed.

The girls were a little confused in parts as they haven't read the books but soon caught up.

A friend has sent over the audio version of the books. I am going to get Georgie set up with the books as well as the audio. Her reading level is high enough to attempt the book, it is just the size of it looks a bit scary to her.

The first movie came out when Chelsea was a toddler and she loved it, she would ask for "Hawee" at least 2 times a day. Most toddlers want Hi 5, Wiggles etc, not Chels or Georgie.

I don't know what it was that sparked the girls interest, but they both just love everything about Harry Potter, unusual as it is not a typical little girls things. Ben is not overly fussed with it either.

The new book comes out this weekend, I have had my copy preordered for the last two months, I won't be blogging much this weekend.

As we do for every movie we take along Hedwig with us, he enjoys seeing his family and friends as well!

Drive from Semarang to Bandung, Indonesia

This is just a few of the interesting things we saw on our big drive from Semarang to Bandung. Although it is only approx 370 km (200miles) between these two cities it took us almost 10 hours to drive there. This was the last weekend before Indonesian school holidays finished and I think every truck that was in the vicinity decided to travel this route as well.
We followed the coast west of Semarang until Cirebon and then we headed inland (south) towards Bandung. We had to climb up a mountain range, a very busy mountain range, a mountain range with an endless supply of kamikaze truck and bus drivers.
The scenery was breath taking, which is just as well as if you watched what was happening on the road you would turn into a blubbery mess.......



GJ had his first go of driving in nearly seven months. I think our driver, Yadi was very shocked when GJ told him to move over. I love the photo of Yadi in the front holding a map....Yadi doesn't read maps- ever, his way is to stop and ask for directions.
Ben was having a great nap, but his poor little head was being jolted around so we kept propping/wedging his head up with soft toys.

Regency Club, Hyatt Regency Jogjakarta

We are home, safe and sound!

It was nice to get home.

Sarinah and Samino had organised fresh bread, milk and flowers for us. I organised a HUGE pile of washing, not a very fair trade!

The kids are tired, VERY tired. They are having fun playing with all their toys today while I organise all our photos.

This photo compilation is from one of our nights at Jogjakarta . For some reason a pulling face contest started........too many horderves?

Mount Merapi, an active Volcano

Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi in Indonesian language, is a conical volcano in Central Java, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. Its name means Mountain of Fire. It is very close to the city of Yogyakarta, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1700 m above sea level.

Several of its eruptions have caused fatalities. It was erupting from 1992 to 2002, and a particularly large explosion killed 43 people in 1994. It began erupting again in 2006, and scientists believe a large eruption is imminent. In light of the hazards it poses to populated areas, it has been designated a Decade Volcano.

Mt Merapi was smoking all while we were in Jogja.... GJ was fascinated by it and spent ages on the roof top terrace of the Hyatt with the kids watching this Volcano. I took these photos from here, photos from other vantage spots were so hazy that the volcano was obscured.

If the sky was clear the open air foyer of the Hyatt perfectly framed a view of Mt Merapi.

Hyatt Regency Jogjakarta, five days of family bliss....

We arrived in Jogjakarta on Sunday in the late afternoon and started to search for a hotel…..after an hour and a half we were still searching…..
We went at first to the hotel GJ usually stays at here in Jogja, the corporate rate for an up market room is around 600 000RP ($90). There were two adjoining rooms available but they would not budge from 1 300 000 per room (about a total of $390 /night). It was their loss, the extras we pay (ie food, massage a wine or two etc) usually are VERY profitable to hotels.
The panic was setting in when we had the fifth No Vacancy news and we decided to try the Hyatt in desperation….oh my goodness we found Nirvana. In Australia we could not afford a family stay in a Hyatt resort but here with the residents rate we could!
We stayed in the Regency Club section which gave us entry to the Regency Club for continental breakfast and evening cocktails and hordervers. At 5pm we would arrive for two hours of lounging next to the bookcase and games cupboard. White wine was delivered regularly and the kids kept bringing over a selection of hot and cold, savory and sweet canapés…..Only one night was it not enough for the kids so we had a room service pizza delivered.
I could not fault the staff and service at the Hyatt Jogjakarta, everything was perfect.
On our last night we had the “Romantic Dinner” package in the out door temple, we unromantically took all the kids with us. GJ had spotted this previously, oh it was a “blow your knickers off” moment LOL.
The temple was Borobudur inspired and was lit with candles and discrete garden lighting. We were in the middle of a large garden with a tranquil pond next to us. We had our own waiter who waited in the shadows down the path to ensure perfection. The food was delicious, the setting magnificent and the night was still, balmy and star filled. GeorGeor was an excellent photographer on the night and also made a small movie ( I will have to work out how to blog it ).
The whole building was themed around Borobudur, the golf course looked good and next time GJ will bring his new clubs.
The kids have crowned the pool the best EVER. It had a huge twisting water slide which landed in one of the many pools.
We originally only booked in for 3 nights but soon extended for 5 nights. The Hyatt Jogjakarta is probably one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in. It is much better than the Hyatt at Bandung but that is a whole other story and they are working really hard to redeem themselves at the moment.

This is the five of us having our romantic family dinner. You can see the temple in one of the daylight shots. I think that it was the first time they had ever served childrens meals in the temple LOL.

These are just a few shots of around the hotel and pool

The end is near.....

Only 24 hours left of our holiday......

Then I will have a whole week at home to write blog posts and sort through nearly 1000 photos. We have seen SOOOOO MAAAANNNNNY wonderful things and I want to get it all down on the blog for the kiddies future.

I was down loading the photos into groups and had the idea to put all the groups together....instead of getting lots of enlargements I am going to get this printed poster size- doesn't it look awesome (Benny's new word!)

Solo (Surakarta), Indonesia

Wednesday was touring around Solo. I think we were having a overwhelmed, daggy day after the splendor of Borobudur. We didn’t find anything really exciting in Solo besides a playground, supermarket and a really nice café (can’t remember it’s name but they have one at Cilandak and Kemang and throughout Java) for lunch. Most of the different hotels we are staying at offer only Indonesian style food which is great for GJ and I but not so interesting for the kids,
The kids were ecstatic to spend 30 minutes in a playground while we went to the supermarket! The local kids were having fun practicing their very good English skills.

We found our way to the road side shop that sells these bamboo animals. GJ had found these on his first trip to Solo and had spent so much time telling us about them that we had to go back and purchase a family….
We now have two adults and three kid ducks as well as a friendly pig…….
We went through two security check points on our way back to the hotel and startled the guards every time to the kids glee! When they opened up the back there was a cute pig and a big duck! The same happened at our hotel when we went to get our shopping out.

BTW I have told Yadi (driver) that next time we go to Pondok Indah he is coming with me as he is a SUPER SHOPPER. The back of the car is filled with bags of souvenirs he has bought for his family.

Most public places in built up areas of cities have check points as you enter the property and check cars. The driver talks to the one guard and takes a ticket, another guard often uses a mirror on a stick to check under the car and another guard opens the doors and waves a detector/wand inside and checks the boot. After you are cleared you can proceed. It sounds very alarming as I type this, but its not, its just standard.

It is nice to be able to get the internet these last few days and stay in touch. We have received all the alert warnings as well as advised emailed out from the Australian Consulate. There is not much in the papers here about the revised travel warnings and alerts. We are out of Jakarta BUT Mt Merapi is smoking, the tectonic plates are moving and there is many things that could get us. We are having a wonderful holiday, Life is for living!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Borobudur, Buddhist Monument, Java, Indonesia

Today was the day to see one of the wonders of the ancient world, the Buddhist temple of Borobudur.
This stupa was built over 1200 years ago and has the most amazing ambiance.
We showed out kitas (residency paperwork) and got in for the local price and were clever enough to hire an English speaking guide. Danny took us through and explained all the steps to enlightenment as well as explaining the meaning behind some of the friezes. Danny also did a great job of avoiding the crowds. We are in Indonesian holiday season, on the weekend apparently 20 000 people went through each day!
(Tip: Friday is Muslim prayer day and is the quietest day to visit)
There is so much meaning and symbolism in every nook and cranny which I could not begin to repeat. All I can say is it is one of those places that you must visit in your life time.
I can add it to the list of wonderful places of worship that I have visited
Westminster Abbey
Notre Dame
Istiqlal mosque
Stone hedge
I will think of more later……

I will not even begin to mash the English language with my flowery descriptions, just look at the photos and plan to visit one day…….



The kids were, as usual a star attraction at the top of the temple, there was a queue to take photos of the girls. By the time we climbed to the top (quite steep) Ben was hot, tired and hungry and would only still for occasional photos. The girls were troopers and set up camp at the top and just smiled for everyone. The surprising thing today was that allot of people wanted to photograph me (a fort*******wash your mouth out/ 30 something well padded bottle blonde Aussie mum) LOL. I was a Hollywood starlet!

Look at me, look at me, LOOK AT ME!!!!!

What do you think?

Isn't it just perfect?

I am so happy with my new look.

Jules at Everydaymommy is a talented designer with years of experience and has created this new look just for me.

If you are using a feed reader to view this you have to come and see the new look.

You can see other examples of Jules great work here.

Thank you Jules, it is Wonderful!!!!!!