A Few Furry (& not so furry) Friends

So this post is dedicated to the ever present animal life around our home, some more amusing than others! One morning E saw a cow in our backyard that had gotten into our neighbor's trash can. Wasn't long before a quick back scratch put this guy on his way to a trash can lid free day.


Here's a video of an especially friendly goat that ate a mango seed of ours like a piece of candy...

So these next pix aren't exactly around our home but rather on the way up the mountain to the village where we're working - here's J's foot in the middle of an elephant footprint.
As well as our friend Arifik's hand...great guy.
Wouldn't want to leave out the pix of the motorbikes in this spot where it looks like the elephants were dancing...


This pix was an attempt to capture a new find for us - lizard eggs in the keyhole, oh brother.
While visiting our teammates Jos & Yuli & their new son Alden, we got a chance to show Jah some cute chicks. Why do we feel our life is like one big petting zoo...?! Ha :)

And a couple videos to fill in the details...



Since we're on the "animals on the porch" theme, thought we'd post our fav animal clip in awhile:

In the cows (slight) defense, here's a quick clip of what a storm looks like (hence they run to our porch!)

Jakarta

So after Bangkok we had to return to Indo's capital for 2 wks. to process our new letters of permission to stay. Here Elissa is trying to help Elijah sit up for his "oh so cute" pix :)

Now that we were official 'n all, we were able to get our driver's licenses...w/o a test, hmmm. And yes, there's 3 cards - don't worry Lij wasn't able to pass the hoops too, just J has to carry a separate car & motorbike license.

After waiting @ the license bureau, Lij had his naptime on the go...

We stayed at a team member's home during this time. They have this great bird that loves people. Here's E's trying to balance the bird & Lij continually leaning in to get a closer look, hence the "crained neck look!"

We took a trip to the local mall & Lij needed a nap so we used our Indo baby carrier as a portable darkness maker yet again...

Afterwards we caught a couple clips of a kids celebration day there @ the mall, too cute. Evidently these little guys had a basketball theme going on for their dance...

The teens on the other hand were...well, teeny.

Saw this sign in the mall & had to snap a pix:

With our "longer" stint in Jakarta, we finally started figuring out the busway, a big relief to our wallets.

While in Jakarta, we found out our friend Edo had passed away in a motorbike accident. Here's his wife Lois with their 1 yr old little girl at his burial site.

Here we are on the way to the hospital after Jah had thrown up quite a bit - why the pix you may ask? We were stuck in traffic & about to go crazy...! Here's to more of the "real" side of life!

Elijah also began learning how to sit in a high chair during this time - use #248 of our Indo baby carrier, tie Lij into the high chair. (clearly he's not that thrilled)

And to finish off, here's Lij all smiles & then gets startled by a noise & has a quick change of thought...

Final Thailand Pix/Videos

Ok, so this'll be a longer post but it'll finish up our time in Thailand. We've been on a little bit of a hiatus from good internet so are trying to catch up on some blogging while we're out of Aceh...heading back in later today!
We caught a 3D movie which Jah seemed to enjoy as well even w/o the glasses:


Luke & Levi - Jah wanted to say a quick "hey" as he saw this "Thomas" shirt which reminded us of you!

Found a fun pillow which Lij had to feel...

Sticky rice & mangoes is one of our fav Thai treats - here's what it looks like when sold on the street :)
Went to SE Asia's biggest market, just up the street from the guesthouse where we stayed. J & Jah enjoyed looking @ the puppies of course.

We came across some Thai guys playing bluegrass..what in the world?!

And this dude was painting a shoe in the "art district" of the market.

Here's a 360 view of the market...

Here's our transport when we left the market:

Had a little downtime in our room as well where Lij enjoyed his new book from the Stables - thx so much guys!!!
And a salmon meal out - Thailand has some pretty amazing, cheap food.

After our meal, we caught a couple minutes of Jah playing & a few laughs! :)

We heard a place called "The Train Restaurant" had great Thai but wanted to capture some of the inside for our train-lovin' pals :)

A quick clip of the train station across the street after we finished dinner (a little weary by that point) ;)

Enjoyed running into our friends Dave & Jim unexpectedly!


And leaving Bangkok back for Indo:

Back to Thailand

So in order to pickup our new visas, we had to return back to Thailand. Here's a few pix/videos of the 1st time we've flown out of our town to the capital of Aceh (Banda Aceh) as a fam.

Pretty soon after takeoff we flew over "our" bay - there's a little island in the video clip - that's the one that shows up in all our pix of the bay from our home with the island out to sea...

Here's a look out the window of the 9 person plane we flew out with:

We turned our papers in right away & then it was just a waiting game 'til we could head back to Indo. We decided to make the most of our time in Bangkok beginning with a trip to the grocery store...hmmm, veggie cereal.
We couldn't believe our eyes, Reeses!

And the world's smallest ice cream cone...
What an appropriate name.

And trying dragonfruit, yum!

Happy Father's Day J!

Love you Daddy!

Plus the Videos...

When we last posted we didn't have the internet "umph" to post some of the videos that went along w/ the pix...so, here they are!

Lij in his walker...

Lovin on his favorite (well, only) stuffed bear - thanks Aunt G!

Yet another adventure of J wrangling wild beasts around our home...ok, maybe it's just a big lizard.

And lizard catching part 2...

While home we took Lij up to the village where we're working. Here's the car ride up (notice the safety measures to keep Jah's head semi "in place" during rough patches in the road :)

We hung out in the village chief's home for a bit, here's a clip of his daughter's room while she & her friends hung w/ Lij.

And last, but certainly not least, his diaper explosion episode (lest we forget the not so exciting parts of our day)

Home Again Home Again

So our friend Jeff K came from VA to check out the possibilities of partnering with the work here. It was great to get to hang out with him & we're so thankful he hauled a whole suitcase full of stuff for us - thanks Jeff! Among the stuff was a baby mosquito net 'Lij is modeling for us here on our front porch with J.
We've had a couple "firsts" in the mean time - a new walker...
Asleep on the job...As well as more solid foods bringing a whole new aspect to our lives ;)

Heading Home...

So after our stint in Jakarta waiting out the elections, we headed separately back into Aceh. J went ahead of E & e 'cuz we had a guest coming in from VA. Elijah & Elissa stayed the night in Medan & 'Lij got himself a little stuck...

And here's the pix after he gained his freedom :)

Waitin' Out Election Time in Jakarta

So there was some unrest in Papua @ election time but not in Aceh thankfully. We got a few video clips & pix in the mean time - in no particular order:

Caught him about a day after he learned to roll over...
We grabbed a bite to eat & Lij tried his new flip technique on the bench seat...(pix taken from under the table)

He did a little better in the chair:

E enjoyed her heart-shaped foccacia...welcome to the big city of Jakarta!
Our friend Becca says we don't post enough "real" pix so we tried to simulate what it looks like when we're angry w/ each other but we ended up laughing & the flash in the pix kinda hides us...o well, we tried.

Also while we were waiting to head back to Aceh E met up with a friend who used to work in Aceh also, now working as a teacher in Jakarta. E went & met up with a couple of the classes there who decided to help raise $ for Aceh - fabulous! Here's our friend Meisi & her hubby-to-be Fabi.
And here's Meisi's class w/ E, Lij & Meisi in the middle...

Made a trip to the grocery store & saw an orange almost as big as Jah's head - hormones much?
We thought this brand of diapers was particularly funny - the kid on the pack looks so excited but the name brand is "GOON" go figure.
One final pix w/ J feeding Jah during our few days in Jakarta.

Great Wall Marathon

So tomorrow, Saturday, May 16, 2009 E's sister running a heck of a marathon - we're so proud of her - go Crissy!

Dam Break in Jakarta

Right before we got to Jakarta there was a huge dam break that was reported to have killed over 100 people & made thousands homeless. Here's some of the footage J took while he & others with our sponsoring foundation were trying to assess the needs to see how best to help.

From Bandung to Jakarta

So here's our train trip down to Jakarta - had the privilege of riding w/ one of J's former Dalat teachers, Tommy Tompkins.


While we were in Bangkok our visa was supposed to get finished in time for us to pick it up but there was another delay so we decided to return to Indo...it could be days or months before it was ready. We'd already spent a couple days in Bandung (earlier post) & then headed to the capital (Jakarta) which is where we found out it was granted & were seriously in shock since this has been over 2 years in process!

So, we ran & got our pix taken Indo style (red background) - 'Lij was so cute letting J hold him in place for the shot. Afterwards we celebrated @ Chili's since the only one we know of in Indo is right around the corner from the guesthouse where we were staying. In the last pix J's trying to show the huge amount of cheese that was on the nachos he ordered & then explains w/ the video too. Is this normal in the U.S.? We were totally grossed out by the gobs of cheese & salt...shnasty!

Happy Mom's Day E :)

Back to Indo...

Due to some unrest in Aceh leading up to the elections, we were given advice to return to Java first & wait out the elections there. We flew into Bandung to spend a couple days with good friends from our 1st yr in Indo - here's pix from visiting Pak Bandi's home (his grandkids pictured).

We enjoyed staying with Arief & Poppy, our former homestay family. We tried to lay Lij on a couple mats for sleeping but he slipped down...& kept sleeping!

We have a "Jalan Tikus" (Mouse Trail literally but means "shortcut") that we like to take in between Arief & Pak Bandi's...

Leaving Bangkok

After our 2 conferences in Bangkok we headed out the next evening. We spent that Saturday having fun as a fam - here's Lij sportin' his new sunhat & glasses.
We couldn't pass up the chance for one last Thai meal - pad thai & mangoes 'n sticky rice - yum!
We made a quick run to the Bangkok Zoo & saw these...overgrown guinea pigs?

Got a couple quick video clips of some animals...hippo, bear & our personal fav was the monitor lizard 'cuz he was just running wild in the zoo, funny thought.



We ended our zoo run w/ a fam pix by the monitor lizard's pond.

On our Bangkok to Malaysia leg we found yet another use for our Indo baby carrier cloth...tying the arm of the plane chair up so it doesn't smack Lij in the head when there's turbulence...& just enuf left over to cover his face to make it darker.
During our layover in Malaysia, Elijah made a quick friend who was a little camera shy.
Followed by a nap - thank goodness for diaper cloths, aka "portable darkness makers"
Lij enjoyed his rice cereal on the 1st part of the trip from Malaysia back to Indo followed shortly thereafter by a snooze w/ Mom :) This was one full 24 hrs!

Little Elijah Big Chair

Lil E's 1st Elephant Ride...

Well our 2nd conference began w/ a bang when the conference hosts had a baby elephant brought in. Here our friends Andy & Tyler got to celebrate Andy's bday Thai style.
Here's J handing Jah up to our friend & coworker John.
We thought it was such a great pix to have the youngest & the oldest in our org riding @ the same time :)
This guy drank straight from the guesthouse hose...
By the time it was our turn to ride, this baby elephant was worn out so we got a pix sitting beside him instead of on him - poor guy!
Here Jah's sportin' his 1st "muscle shirt" which shows the Thai way of getting around - "tuk tuk."
During this 2nd week of meetings Elijah also enjoyed some fun time playing with other foreign kids that live in Indo too - we can hardly wait 'til he'll be running around together with 'em!
And here's the video....would love to get your comment on whether you can see this or not? We've had a few folks say some of our videos aren't working...

And finally here's Jah hanging out on a couple chairs during the meetings - a familiar sight day in & day out - he did such a fabulous job just playing by himself thru it all!

24 hours...

Our 1st conference ended on a Fri nite & the next one began Sun nite so Sat morning we hopped in a van with two other couples, Matt & Abbie & Andy & Tyler & headed to Hua Hin for our 24 hour break between meetings...! Since we'd gotten such a great deal during our time w/ M&D D we decided to head back to the same great place we'd been earlier.

Here's Elijah again strapped to the van seat...he slept most of his way to the beach :)

So once we arrived we got settled in...Lij has had a fascination w/ his hands for about 2 months now.

Had fun eating @ a little cafe by the ocean that night...

Abbie on the left & Tyler on the right - great ladies!

Of course there was lots of pool time...



Great kiddie slide + no lifeguards = great time! ;)


Andy & Tyler brought along their underwater camera so we got some good laughs w/ that.



Jah's 1st slide...






Here he is hangin out Jah style...

One final video, our personal fav - the guys all going down the slide screaming like girls ;)

Our 24 hrs ended w/ an Asian specialty...chicken satay @ the poolside cafe.

Thanks you guys -we had a blast, looking forward to next year :)

400th post...

Wow, somehow that feels memorable! Actually there are a couple memorable things in this post like remembering the week when Elijah began "real" food, got his 6 mo shots & us having a good time w/ friends....

So the REAL reason we went to Thailand was for 2 wks of conferences-we just decided to tag on time w/ Mom & Dad D since we were going to be there anyways. Most of our days were sitting @ desks either studying the given text, talking through issues or coffee breaks. However, we had a couple nights off & had a chance to hang out w/ some friends in similar work.

Here's dinner out @ an Arabic cafe...


We had a free afternoon so we spent it getting Jah's 6 mo shots...he didn't cry for the 1st one, what a guy :)


Well after the Dr. visit we took the sky train to meet friends for dinner. Elissa tried to video our ride but the 1st train was too full so we got a clip of our failed efforts to ride;)


So that night we headed to a night market there in Bangkok & found some fun sights along the way...here's J & Jah on a big wooden elephant in honor of Dad D's collection...


J & our friend Andy had fun @ an antique shop w/ swords.

We couldn't find anywhere to change Lij so this cart had to do.

And the video to boot...

This video shows the carts in action...

And the carts weren't the only thing gracing the streets of Bangkok that night...

Here we are heading to the supermarket to find baby cereal for Elijah - we'd planned on starting him once we returned to Aceh but Jah decided otherwise...



J & Jah enjoyed a quick dip on the last afternoon of conference #1. J was done studying but E still had a bit to go & was jealous of that fact(!)esp since Lij had his 1st babysitter this wk & we were excited to spend any spare moments w/ him.


The last night of the 1st conference was a cultural show...here's a dance from the Philippines.

Sister Pool #3

This was the last of the 3 pools we visited, at a golf resort... we felt like celebrities for a few days, so fun :) Here's a little cave we hung out in to keep from getting too much sun.



Here's Elijah hanging out on his ever present Indonesian baby carrier...what a fabulous idea! We use this piece of cloth for so many things like a place for him to lay, shade, seatbelt...if anyone would like to order one, let us know (very economical to boot!)

We enjoyed a nice lunch @ the pool cafe...Elissa especially enjoyed her burger, complete w/ shell-tipped toothpicks...a far cry from life in Aceh, guess that's why it's called vacation ;)






After HH we headed back to the guesthouse in Bangkok, here's 'Lij on the bed lookin all chipper 'n stuff ;)

A farewell pix as Mom & Dad D headed back to Cambodia - what a great time we had together - thanks M & D!!!

Surf's Up!

This was Elijah's 1st time in the ocean...even though we live by the ocean we'd been so busy while home we hadn't taken him yet!

To Market to Market to Buy a...

One night in HH we decided to head to the local night market...but 1st we grabbed a quick bite @ the nicest Pizza Hut we've ever seen.

We thought this shirt @ the market was pretty hilarious.


Here's a quick clip of the night market...there was one table of thrift items which we hadn't seen yet in Asia - most folks aren't wealthy enough to be able to get rid of useable clothes just to pick a different style...

One of our favorite finds was this little bunny...Happy Easter everyone :)

Sister Hotels...

One of the nice things about where we stayed was that hotel had 2 other "sister" hotels in the area where we could also swim @ our leisure...what a nice concept, leisure :)
We decided to try out a baby float for Elijah that we'd found...he seemed to love it!

'Lij enjoyed lounging on the chairs in between the 2 sides of the pool...one of the few spots of shade around.


Today was the day that his feet found his mouth...& he hasn't seemed to stop since!

Fun in the...Shade

Our days began with a yummy buffet breakfast...

Didn't realize what a blast we'd have trying to keep Elijah out of the sun @ our hotel pool...lots of laughs :)
J had gotten a new lens for his camera he wanted to try out.


Gotta love those lounge chairs!


'Jah enjoyed his 1st bath in a bathtub...well, kind of...had to get all that chlorine off!

There was a little cafe next to our hotel that just happened to have a baby elephant swing by when we were there...
So we fed him some sugarcane & then he was on his way...'Lij's 1st elephant up close, he didn't seem to be overly alarmed :)

We spotted moonlight on the sea followed shortly thereafter by a sleeping baby.

Onto Hua Hin...

So to recap...we went to Mom & Dad D's home in Siem Reap, Cambodia, then to Bangkok for medical checkups, etc. & then for a vacation w/ M & D in a beach town outside Bangkok called Hua Hin. The CAMA rep there in Bangkok got us really good rates on a nice hotel, we were spoiled for a long weekend & loved it!

Here Elijah's Paw Paw was enjoying holding him in the car for a bit...
But 'Lij enjoyed most of the trip "tied" down to the seat...no car seats here!

Here's dinner our 1st night in HH - the hotel restaurant had quite a few mosquitos...thank goodness we brought our $3 mosquito tent for little E :)

So J decided to try octopus @ the little dinner cafe - here's a pix for those that can't see the video below...


And some good guy bonding time between 'Jah & his Paw Paw in the hotel room...or is that Elijah's mouth just bonding w/ Dad D's knee, we're not too sure.

Oops!

Well, we just found some other pix from our time in Cambodia so here's J & 'Jah waiting in the KL airport for our 7AM flight into Siem Reap, Cambodia where Mom & Dad D live...

This is a quick clip of Mom & Dad D meeting Elijah for the 1st time :)

One night we went to their favorite Vietnamese restaurant in town...

...which had an aquarium J & 'Jah liked watching.


Here Mom D & Elijah spend some time reading the newspaper on their couch.

Fun pix with Grandma & PawPaw!

Here's the outside & inside of one of the Vietnamese schools Mom & Dad are working with.
J had fun playing with a few of the little guys :)

Water Water Everywhere

We enjoyed going to a mini version of Sea World while in Bangkok w/ Mom & Dad D - here's a quick pix in the food court before heading in...(notice Elijah trying to show off his belly) ;)

The Thai McD's in the food court was priceless...

"Ocean World" in a huge mall in Bangkok, pretty unbelievable.

We passed by right when it was stingray feeding time...tried to get the fam in the video but was too dark @ the end.

These last 2 pix are of fun fish displays they had...where folks could stick their head "inside" the aquarium & a fridge aquarium to boot.

Was fun to see this penguin up close...
OK, we have a few other videos...maybe too many...at least the grandparents will like 'em ;)

Arriving to Thailand

So evidently there's things called "travelators" which J had seen but E hadn't...are these in the US? Anyways, E had fun w/ e on their ride in the Bangkok airport while we waited for Mom & Dad D to arrive.

Here we are in the airport "limo" as E & e ride backwards on our ride w/ the Drummond Srs. to the guesthouse in Bangkok.
We had a couple days in Bangkok to get Elijah's 6 month shots, a checkup on E's wrist & do a couple fun things before heading to a beach near Hua Hin. We watched "Slumdog Millionaire" after our appointments - Elijah sat patiently through the whole thing, whatta guy.
We enjoyed a snack at an Oldies Cafe & just hanging out.
Here's Dad D & 'Jah as we ate lunch on Sunday before heading to the beach.

From the Beginning

So we 1st went to Siem Reap, Cambodia where Mom & Dad D live. We actually had just planned to meet them in Thailand for a break before our 2 wks of meetings in Bangkok but the Indo immigration guys went on vacation & we couldn't process our visa in time to stay in Indo 'til meeting up w/ the Sr Drummonds in Thailand. So...we left Indo a few days earlier than anticipated (which was stressful) but were really thankful for the extra time for Lij's 1st time meeting his Grandma & Paw Paw!
Elijah was tuckered from our travels to Siem Reap and slept like...well, a baby.
Here he is hanging out in his chair in Grandma & Paw Paw's kitchen first thing in the morning.
This next pix is from a special treat we found in SR - Swenson's! 'Lij tried a strawberry there & loved it...such a treat for us to have Swenson's :)

These power lines are about 100 meters from Mom & Dad D's place...pretty unbelievable.
Here we are waving goodbye to Mom & Dad D as they leave on a bus for the capital. We met them in Bangkok the next day. With our initial tickets (before knowing we'd have to leave Indo a couple days early) it was cheaper for us to fly out of SR than the capital city so we hung out in SR one day just as our fam.
We ate Mexican that night - here's Elissa holding little E while he gnaws away @ his pacifier - we think he's starting to teeth...

We had a little mishap w/ 'Jah's pacifier, gross...

The morning we left SR we were awaken super early w/ what turned out to be wedding preparation - the video's dark towards the end as Elissa goes outside in the wee hrs of the AM.

Hua Hin Mall

Well, this post is completely out of order with what's been going on but it was easy to post so here's to ease...in the last few weeks we've visited Mom & Dad D at their home in Cambodia, come to Bangkok together to vacation in a beach town called Hua Hin & now are back in Bangkok for a couple wks of conferences. Here's a snapshot of a bit of our time together in Hua Hin - oh yea, Happy St. Patty's everyone ;)

We totally had fun trying shoes on Jah...too bad they were like $40 - what in the world?!
"Herb powder to stop bad smell from feet & body" hmmm...
Elijah's beginning to reach his feet up to his face these days so Mom D had the great idea to buy a "foot toy" for him - which he loves, thx Mom & Dad D!

We happened to see this store on our way out of the mall - w/ decor from scenes in Mongolia...as well as the Mongolian symbol on J's wedding ring...very fun.