Anniversary & Bday Celebration

So mid-August was our 6th anniversary & E's bday so we decided to trek (& yes it ended up being more "trekkish" this time!) our way up to Banda Aceh (BA) for a change of scenery & a place to celebrate. We took a wrong turn @ some point (road signs are unclear or nonexistent @ this point!) & ended up taking the mountain route after a hard rain...wow.
Here we are sliding our way to BA...

Shortly thereafter a truck in front of us got stuck & a bunch of guys were out rocking it back 'n forth 'til it finally came lose.

With the rain, the river rose enough to cross the road @ one point.

Right after crossing the river we saw that a huge truck had gone off the road the night before in the hard rain. The folks gathered @ the spot said that the driver survived thankfully.

The next couple pix/videos weren't on this particular trip but also going to/from BA. Here's a big monitor lizard on the way to BA that J decided needed a little company.... unfortunately (or fortunately?) the lizard didn't share the same sentiments.


We saw these white water buffalo on one of our trips to BA. Can't decide if really their skin is pink or they just get sunburned like us, j/k :)

Once we arrived after our 7ish hr trip we enjoyed taking a little time for some R & R!

This was one of the few hotels that had a pool in Banda, so great for celebrations! At the pool there were these turtle statues all around - we thought it would be funny to have a family pix w/ them but E's covering "her" mama turtle in the 1st pix ;)


Tried to capture the fact that Elijah finally had enough hair to "mohawk" it but it's not super clear in the pix...

But a little more obvious in the mohawk video! We didn't realize how much Lij would like splashing around 'cuz we don't use baths in Aceh so it was a new experience for him...




Enjoyed going out to our fav restaurant in town (they serve Italian, pretty shocking!)
And Lij lookin' all coy 'n stuff :)

Lij @ E's bday dinner enjoying playing with his diaper cloth. Had just found out our good friends the Littletons had their 2nd son on E's bday, very fun! Forgot that we were filming sideways, oops.

Here's a random pix of Acehnese boats in BA, gotta love all the colors!

Here's Elijah enjoying a bit of mango juice @ the hotel restaurant.

As we headed back home right outside of BA we took a little stretch break before we hit the road that's too narrow to stop on...

Here we are about to get on a ferry on our way back from BA:

Jah enjoying himself making "bumpy rd sounds"

And last but not least, nursing break with a view :)