Sentimental Journey, Part 3

Part 3 of our sentimental journey was a trip to Pangandaran, our favorite beach!  We enjoyed a GREAT hotel, just across the street from the beach (we could hear the waves breaking while sleeping at night)!   We enjoyed kelapa muda (young coconut, straight from the coconut itself)...

Boogie boarding (yes, that is MOM boogie boarding...8 months after a heart attack and double bypass surgery)...

building sandcastles...

more boogie boarding (it only cost $1 for unlimited use!)

more sandcastles...

Joel and Green Bear...

Aaron...

Seth...

seeing places we remember from 30 years ago...

football on the beach...

more football...

sunsets...

 more sunsets (this is taken from our balcony)...

monkey forest (who are these monkeys?)...

Joelmonkey...

Sethmonkey...

Aaronmonkey...

becak rides...

and many many more fun things!  What a great few days at the beach!

Sentimental Journey, part 2

What a blessing to get to worship in Jatijajar with one of the groups from MANY years ago!  We had such a great time. 

Pak Karta, still a comedian!

Even the boys enjoyed meeting the villagers and playing with the kids afterwards.  The older kids said Aaron looked like Justin Beiber!

Dad preached!

He had his own amen corner!

Ibu Mustari



Sentimental Journey, part one

For Spring Break we took a sentimental journey to Jawa Tengah (Central Java)!  This is where Mom and Dad spent 16 years and where Jana grew up.

Rice paddies along the roads and mountains in the distance.  Who doesn't love a scene like that!?

Street signs of familiar towns!  We're getting close!

Mom and Ibu Nyo, who still lives two doors down from our "old" house!

Mom and Ibu In, who stills has a large shop downtown!

We could barely recognize our old house!  So many renovations!  But the current owners welcomed us in and let us have a look at all the rooms and reminisce together!

Our street!

We got to see lots of old friends.  This is Pak Untung and his wife.


Joel tries out one of my childhood favorites...GREEN Fanta!

More friends.  Ibu Satiman with her grandchild on the left and Ibu Parno on the right.

Pak Satiman entertained us with some Javanese praise songs he sang for us.

Gombong, from Mom and Dad's hotel window

Traditional Javanese Home

Off to Central Java

Today we are headed to Central Java.  Dad is already there.  He took a train on Wednesday.  This morning the rest of us will load up the car and head that way.  The GPS says five hours, the memories of years past say 10 hours.  I hope it's somewhere in between!  We plan to spend time in Gombong where I (Jana) grew up.  Then we will head to the beach for a couple of days (our favorite vacation spot when I was growing up) before heading back.  The computer is not coming with us, so I won't update again until next Wednesday or Thursday.  Have a great week!

Days Seven & Eight

Tuesday was school for the boys and a day "on the town" for the adults.  Who do you think had more fun?  It was a late night for Seth and Aaron who had LOADS of homework.  While they worked on that, Dad busied himself packing... 

EARLY this morning (Wednesday), Kris took Dad to the train station.  Dad took off for Gombong, the tiny town we lived in for 16 years.  He took a 6 hour, $17 trip in "eksekutif" class.  I saw the ticket, so I know it was $17.  I am anxious to hear if the other parts were true (was it really only 6 hours and was his seat really "eksekutif"?? :)

We will drive down in the car on Friday and meet him there.  I told him to get us a room at the Holiday Inn or some ritsy hotel.  Do you think they have one of those in Gombong???  Perhaps we should just be happy to have a bed and a private toilet??

In the mean time, we are enjoying a relaxing day.  Well, again, us adults are.  The boys are back at school taking tests and gathering more homework!  This school stuff really cramps our style sometimes!!  Ha ha!

Day Five & Six

On Sunday, we enjoyed worshiping at an Indonesian church.  After that we went to eat at a nice Thai restaurant.  Yum!  Here is a cute couple...

And here is what the boys and their friends did while waiting for our food (lined up and played ds games!  Kelley boys are the three in the middle).  We returned home in time for Sunday naps for all the adults!  Woohoo! 

Day 6 was super busy.  It was Monday and the boys went to school.  Then Mom and I worked on a presentation, translating into Indonesian.  Dad went exploring on his own, he loves doing that!  Kris went running.  Then we all met up for lunch at a nice hotel.  After that, Kris and I went off to take language evaluations at our language school.  Then Kris headed to a meeting at the boys' school while Mom and I headed out to a ladies' program.  It was so much fun!  Mom spoke about her experience of a heart attack last July and how to live a more heart-healthy life.  She broke out with her Indonesian and did great!  The ladies loved her!  Here is a picture of mom and the ladies who came.

And here is me playing with a little boy that was there with his grandmother.  He was a cutie!

Day Three & Four

First day in Bandung.  Boys to school.  Out to eat at one of our favorite nearby restaurants that serves all sorts of noodles and a yummy soup.

After lunch we head to the boys' school for Sports Day.  Here is Seth, taking off to run an obstacle course.  Both Seth and Joel won the obstacle course race.  Their team (the RED team) won!

 That night Lola & Papa gave the boys hats/shirts and real Rawlings baseball gloves and balls!  Woohoo!  Thanks Lola & Papa!

And now for a rousing game of Carcassonne!  Joel bought this game and taught it to us.  It is lots of fun!  We stayed up LATE to finish the game and then all went to bed exhausted!

Day Four is LOLA'S BIRTHDAY! 

We took Lola and Papa to one of the many malls in Bandung.  They are amazed.  Not quite the Bandung they remember from before!