Things that are different: Dry Season

Showing off our quickly drying laundry!

It's the tail end of dry season at the moment ...at least we think so.  Wet season is supposed to start around September, since it is an "ember" month.  In Indonesian, "ember" means BUCKET, get it?  So September, October (should be Octember, ha, ha), November and December are all bucket months....but so far no rain for at least 9 weeks here.

So this post is an ode to the dry season.....things we like, and things we don't!

NUMBER ONE THING WE LIKE (ABOVE PHOTO):  Dry laundry every day!  (During the rainy season, our laundry can literally hang around for DAYS before we finally fold it up a bit damp!)  The same is true about our dishes.  They air dry really fast these days.  We have a rule that we don't towel dry dishes here.  Did you know that most pathogens do not survive the air drying process?  Since our water quality here is very questionable, we've just made the decision to kill more germs by air drying.  The only problem is, during wet season, sometimes our cups stay wet for hours and hours!

NUMBER TWO THING WE LIKE:  Dry dust.  In my opinion, dry dust is better for playing trucks than wet mud, because it is a lot easier to clean off of a dirty boy and his clothes!  However, I could also say it is a number one thing I don't like, as the dust gets everywhere in our house.

Demonstrating the excellent play possibilities of dry dust

NUMBER THREE THING WE LIKE:  Patriotic Cheer and Sprucing up of the Neighborhood!  Indonesian Independence Day is August 17.  Since it is the only holiday that all Indonesians of all religions share, it is the most largely celebrated holiday of the year.  Traditionally, everyone spruces up their homes and keeps their yards clean and tidy for Independence Day. A lot of people even put fresh coats of paint on their gates and such.  It's also REQUIRED for every home to display the Indonesian flag....even the foreigners!

Indonesian flags in front of every home

The neighborhood display of 5 neighborhood flags, right next to the neighborhood list of rules/values

Freshly weeded and swept flower beds and gutters

NUMBER FOUR THING WE LIKE:  Red Tomatoes!  During dry season the tomatoes actually get enough sun and heat to turn red and ripe....while during rainy season we are often stuck with green, hard ones. 

Red tomatoes.  Still not as tasty as Walla Walla back yard toms, but good enough.

NUMBER FIVE THING WE LIKE:   Daily viewings of our local volcano, which is always covered in clouds during the rainy season.

Our volcano, Mount Merbabu (which means Ashy Mountain)

NUMBER SIX THING WE LIKE:  It's kind of like Autumn!  While we don't have autumn here, we do get a lot of leaf fall because things are so....dry....and so trees take the opportunity to change their leaves, as the local expression goes.  The bad thing about it is .....it's a lot of leaves.  Interesting, the Indonesians don't call them leaves once they fall.  They call it "sampah" which is garbage, and if we don't get our leaves cleaned up often enough, to them it's the same as just leaving piles of garbage laying around our lawn.  So, while it's fun for Jonathan to get to jump in the leaf piles, the truth is I don't really like this component of dry season.  I can't find a decent rake ANYWHERE ....here we just sweep our yards with a witch's broom.  

It's "Autumn" but it's still 85 degrees right now!

NUMBER SEVEN THING WE LIKE:  Frequent swimming!  There is a hotel nearby that has a nice pool and best of all they also provide free pick-up and take home service.  We all 3 can swim there for about $5 which includes towel and drink and transport!  During dry season we try to go every Sunday afternoon.  During the rainy season, it's usually raining at that time.  

Thank you to our Australian friends for giving us this very special pool walrus!

Now that I've accentuated the positive, I just have to share a few things that I JUST DON'T LIKE about dry season.

 NUMBER ONE DISLIKE:  Smoke!  Every day is burn day.  Since every thing is dry, our neighbors delight in burning their trash and leaves in their yard every day.  The smoke stays close to the ground and floats around and comes in the house.  Dave loves to keep the smoke out by turning on all of our ceiling fans to their highest settings....which keeps our house smoke free, but is kind of like living inside a hurricane.  Fortunately, no one in our family suffers from asthma, but many people really struggle with their respiratory system during this season.  We even know one woman who had to return home to the USA for treatment and healing because her dry-season related health problems were so severe!

NUMBER TWO DISLIKE:  Our yard has turned into a gravel pit.  We do have grass when it's raining, but all of our grass has now died to reveal.....this.  Now I know why our yard worker always uses a weed eater instead of the lawn mover he has access to.  To sift out all of this gravel would take 100 men with shovels a week to clear! 

Close up of our yard in September

Another result of the dryness -- large cracks in the soil, right in our front yard!

Savoring a small patch of green

I do have a lime tree and a hydrangea I am trying to keep alive by watering ....and thus there is a small patch of green in our front yard where some of the grass has been able to survive.  One day Jonathan crawled onto this little  patch and made up his own song....."I love grass!  I love grass!"  It made me remember this summer when he ran barefoot through the lush backyards of so many of our friends ....we couldn't even catch him most of the time! 

Neighborhood dust bowl----er----soccer field

The soccer field across the street from us has really turned into a dust bowl....we get so much dust when people ride their motorbikes or cars on it.  Or play soccer.  Or if a nice breeze comes through....

So soon the rains will come and I will have a whole new list of likes and dislikes to document and share with you.  Dust will be replaced by mud.  Dry laundry by damp.  Gravel pits by mold.   Stay tuned!

Sunny Days in Lebanon -- Summer 2012 recap part 3

In July, we spent several days at home in Lebanon ....it went far too fast!  Here are a few pictures of the good times!  Above:  Joshua gets his first bottle ....he didn't really know what to do with it.  To celebrate our 5th anniversary, Dave and I went away for a night.  What a blissful night of uninterrupted sleep!  Grandma Coral kept the boys, and poor Joshua wouldn't have anything to do with all of the milk I pre-prepared for him.  Sometime in the middle of the night Grandma convinced him to have some rice cereal to tide him over until we got home in the morning. 

Play with Grandma Coral is always fun!

The boys soaked up lots of love from family, including Uncle Gary and Aunt Lorri in this picture.

Playing with cousins in the backyard!

Playing with cousins again -- this time it's Jonathan's first experience on the trampoline!

Taking a cruise with an older girl ....this time it's cousin Emma!

While the boys enjoy their little red round bath "tub" in Indonesia, it's fun to take baths in America and enjoy a full stretch ...and room for more than one kid at a time!

We even got to have lunch at McDonalds with Jennifer's brother, Allan.

How nice to have some variety in the people who read books out loud to you.  Usually it's just mommy.

Variety in toys is a fun thing too!  We found the old Fisher Price Little People train set that Jennifer and Allan had as kids....still complete!  That was fun to play with as well as other toys that Grandma has collected here and there, plus some garage sale treasures we discovered ourselves!

Joshua is 8 months old!

Our little baby is 8 months old today, September 10!  He is a delight and we love him!  See for yourself!
(Had to split the video into 2 parts so it could upload.)

Since we returned from the US at the end of July, Joshua has really been working on his motor skills.  He has learned to crawl, pull up to a stand (holding on to something), cruise (take steps holding on to something like a couch), maneuver a walker at any speed and direction, and walk with help.  It's amazing to me how he's become a completely different person since he learned to crawl.  He can now make his own decisions about where he wants to go and what he wants to do (i.e. get in to).  He can hear me and find me anywhere in the house now.

He's also got 2 bottom teeth and is working hard on growing the 2 top ones also.  We've been using the Baby Ibuprofen for that a lot this week....thank goodness we don't remember the pain of teething as adults.  

He's also gained some new interests.....such as

....his brother's potty chair.  He makes a bee line for the bathroom and the little blue chair every chance he gets.  Now we have to be careful to keep the bathroom door shut and, as an extra precaution, the chair stored on top of the step stool. 

.....the shoe rack.  He's dumped the whole thing over about 10 times in the last week.  As of today, I finally figured out I could move the shoe rack into the  storage room behind a closed door.

.....the water dispenser.  It's such fun for a little one who is just discovering the world.....you push a button and get splashed!  But water on a slippery tile floor is no laughing matter.  So, yep, we've got to keep the kitchen door closed more often too. 

.....he's also become quite interested in electric outlets.  I'm pretty sure all of our outlets have some kind of safety protector on them, but we still have to train him to stay away.  He seems to be learning the meaning of the word "no" better than his brother did, though. 

Our new car! (Wink, wink) and Farewell to Bethany's Stroller

We're SO thank to have a new double stroller to increase our mobility here.  No, we don't have a car or even a motorbike....it's our choice to remain on foot.  However with two little kids it was SO hard to get around ....although Jonathan is strong enough to walk, he really can't go long distances very fast or without getting distracted. 

We purchased this Phil and Ted's Classic double inline stroller.  The little seat on the back pops on and off in about 2 seconds.....so easy.  The unsightly lump on the side is called a "Saddle Bag."  This stroller has made our lives so much easier and we are so thankful to have it!  Thank you SO much to Aunt Marlene and the Khor family in Singapore who made it possible for us to buy it!

I do have to say a world of farewell, however, to Bethany's Graco stroller, which we had to retire upon purchasing this one.  Bethany's stroller, a gift from my co-workers at Walla Walla Community Hospice, was a special gift of promise and hope.  It was given to me as a pink carseat/stroller set, which I exchanged for a gender neutral gray in hopes that someday I could also use it for a boy.  We took it to Spokane, where we would wait for Bethany's birth.  I remember Cousin Erica unpacking it with excitement and begging to put it together, which she did.  It waited, sparkling new, in the corner of the Salzl living room for the day when baby Bethany would come home and use it.  I don't remember how it ever got packed up and transported back to Walla Walla after Bethany passed away August 6, 2008....but none-the-less it was ready for Jonathan when he was born in November 2009. 

The first time we were able to use Bethany's carseat was when Jonathan came home from the hospital.  The first time we used the stroller was for a family walk at the Whitman mission when Jonathan was about 3 weeks old.  

I made me so happy to have some of Bethany's things used for Jonathan....an important piece of the healing process puzzle.  In the end, Bethany's stroller ended up traveling around the world and back twice and walking miles and miles both domestic and foreign.  It was used and abused.  I don't know how many times the seat got moldy and disgustingly dirty ....I became quite an expert at removing 12 screws to take off the seat and undercarriage so they could be bleached and washed.  I got a lot of satisfaction out of doing that....because it was a gift from Bethany to her brothers.  We also got to use it for Joshua for 4 months. 

A close-up of the final injury -- a snapped off wheeled jimmy-wired together by an Indonesian friend.

A few weeks before our summer trip this year, the front wheel popped off hitting a speed bump.  A friend of ours wired it back together enough to make the airplane trip home as we desperately needed to use it in transit.  Then we had to say good-bye forever. 

Thanks for letting me share.   

Fireman in training -- Summer 2012 recap part 2

During our days in Mount Vernon with Dave's parents, Dave got very excited about taking Jonathan to visit the fire station to see the trucks there.  They made a total of 3 trips to 2 different fire stations and were always welcomed kindly by the staff there who let Jonathan climb and touch and romp and have fun....as if the fire station was merely another playground! 

Joshua didn't get to go the fire station, but he did have fun playing with Dave's old fire truck from when he was a kid, a gift from  Grampa Glen during the Connell days.  I think this photo is one of my top 5 favorites from the whole summer!

What are little boys made of? A morning outside

A dirty little boy is really such a sweet sight!

I don't know how it happened, but while we were gone in America this immense collection of fine dust/dirt appeared in our driveway.  It is a perfect construction sight for little toy trucks and diggers to work.    Whenever he plays there, I have to give him a bath right away but the fun is worth it. 

I love the little foreman supervising in the back on his little pile of dirt. 

I brought Joshua's walker out and did some sweeping of leaves.  This time of the morning we have several shady areas to enjoy.  Joshua is doing great in his walker....he can do backwards, forwards, sideways and diagonally at will.  The research reports that walkers are associated with a slight delay in the development of motor skills....I can't say that we've noticed. 

Ah, I see the little foreman is taking a break now!

We also found a bird's nest in the yard today.  We find quite a lot of them actually, probably about one a week.  This one contained little feathers and moldy bird poo, which is a good sign that the babies grew up and flew away successfully.  We have found others that are new and empty (blown down by the wind before they had a chance to be used), filled with intact or broken unhatched eggs (sad), and saddest of all, filled with rotten dead baby birds (mommy bird didn't make it home to the nest.) 

So I thought you might enjoy seeing our outside broom and dustpan.  The broom looks like something a witch might use, but it is the typical Javanese yard broom.  They don't even sell rakes here.  The dust pan is a nice upcycled staple item iavailable at the local market.   Originally it probably contained palm oil. 

"-Merica" -- There and Back Again

I won't bother with any excuses as to how we've had a 4 month dead spot in our blog, because I know excuses would be a bother to read.  I'm sorry!  But to catch up, we traveled to America at the end of May and returned to Indonesia at the end of July.  Jet lag was horrible....there's just no easy way to help 2 small children adjust to a 14 hour time change.  However we had a wonderful time and made some great memories!  This blog post is dedicated to the experience of traveling with small children....

People asked me "How was the trip?"  I answered "Vomiting, diarrhea, and tantrums, oh my!" We had all 3, although no pictures of these events as we were busy dealing with it!  Here are some of the other fun details.....

When you are traveling with small children, it's best to travel as light as possible....ha, ha!  For carry-on luggage we had 2 strollers and 2 backpacks and 1 small roller suitcase.  It's still too much considering we had to somehow carry the 2 grumpy children also!  We found that during our layovers, we had to just choose a place to park and then stay there because lugging around possessions + children was not worth it!

For the most part, Joshua was a very jolly traveler and napped and nursed when he was supposed to.  His only problem was that he started in with diarrhea about an hour after our first international flight -- 4 poopy diapers in about 2 hours!  The diarrhea continued for about 10 days -- I'm pretty sure it was rotavirus. 

We almost lost Jonathan at the Jakarta airport.  I had gone to change clothes with Joshua while Dave shifted some of our belongings.  Jonathan was with Dave playing on this very cool airport golf cart.  When I came out of the bathroom, Jonathan had disappeared and Dave had just started looking for him.  Fortunately an airport employee quickly pointed him out "driving" an identical golf cart across the way.  This was our first trip not using Jonathan's safety harness so we learned to keep our eye on him at every second!  Uhm....I know....you'd think we would have learned that by now but he's gotten faster!

We had an eternal 5 hour layover at the Jakarta airport, during which Dave suffered a nasty ramp vs luggage cart vs shin collision and we made a difficult terminal change.  Here we are waiting for a microwaved snack at this little cafe.

 

The boys got a lot of love at the Jakarta airport.  Here Joshua is getting a handshake and a cheek pinch from the airport security lady.  

It's nice to have a travel companion!

We flew on Taiwan's EVA AIR line which we do highly recommend.  Tip to travelers:  If you ever have a choice between an American airline or an Asian airline, go ASIAN all the way.  The service is always superior.  This was our airplane!  Taiwan is obsessed with Hello Kitty and Eva Air has responded by commissioning 5 Hello Kitty jumbo jets!  Inside the passenger safety cards all have kitty ears, too!

 At the Taiwan airport there is also a Hello Kitty theme children's area complete with a pink playground and a Hello Kitty rainbow mini-amphitheater playing continuous Hello Kitty videos!

Soon after boarding, the stewardesses bring around toys for the kids!  Jonathan got a cool puzzle/construction toy and a sticker/color book with crayons!

Ah, it was so sweet!  Eva airlines has special children's meals!  Jonathan loved the spaghetti-- unfortunately his stomach said "No thank you" since he was eating at the equivalent of 2 am and it all came back up with great fanfare a few minutes after this photo was taken.

My sweet husband let me take a rest at the Taiwan airport while he walked with the boys.  This picture is priceless....  Shortly after this photo Jonathan woke up and had the mother of all meltdowns....it's better left forgotten, but I'm afraid I'll never forget it!

 An eternity later we arrived in Seattle and were picked up by Dave's parents.  Grandma Arlette immediately presented Jonathan with a copy of "Go Train Go" which we also have at our house.  He was so happy to see something familiar he kissed it!  It was Grampa and Grandma's first time to meet Joshua so hugs all around. 

Jet lag with 2 small children ...this picture says it all.  One sleeping baby on back, one grumpy toddler in front and a rather dark circled, aged, wan looking mommy in the middle!  But I will say our jetlag experience this year was better than last year thanks to Jonathan being a little more mature and me not being pregnant!

Fast forward.....sharing now two fun pictures from our return trip.  Our return trip was nice, actually.  Neither of the two international flights were full so we had a lot of room to spread out and run around which made all the difference in the world.