Celebration!

So fasting month is pretty important in these parts. The day before the big month began probably at least 100+ friends & neighbors took boats out to a little island in the bay where we live. It was our first all-day hang out event here in Aceh :)

Here's a pix from the trip over on one of the boats...

Closeup of Bunga (flower)- so cute!

And Syola being held safe by her Dad...

Video version:

Once we arrived, Elijah was fascinated by the feel of sand in between his little toes.

Here's Syola sleeping in a baby hammock.

Love this video showing how babies are rocked to sleep - she's speaking Acehnese :)

Here's a group a young guys that live nearby us...

We've known this one in particular (Ball) since we first moved here. He lost his father in the tsunami.

Our neighbor gal Ipa loved playing around the trees & vines & beach...



Here's a panorama of the shore starting with Ipa standing & watching & scanning across a pickup game of soccer to folks swimming, enjoying hanging out!

While Ipa's Mom held him, Elijah seemed to really want to meet another friend :)


Good Dad & Jah time too...

Breaktime to eat.

Lij & Mom pix!


A full day of connecting with folks - good memory :)

Front Porch Fun

Here's a set of pix taken from our front porch...

We have a gutter which is a little weird for folks here but the kids love it when there's a rainstorm! They race to the spout - here's 3 little gals that frequent our place :)

Here's another set of gals who come by often (almost daily) - lots of little girls around! (L-R Bunga (means flower), Indah (means beautiful), Syola (who's carrying her stuffed rabbit like women carry their babies here, head covering 'n all! & Ipa, our local tomboy :)

Here's Ipa's mom up way at the top cutting branches off with the girls looking on. Brave!

Oops!

Forgot to add the video for our most recent post 'til just now so if you already saw the pix, check out the video when you have a minute :)

Daddy's Little Helper

After Elijah poured dish soap all over himself & slid around the kitchen 'til Elissa could finally grab him we decided we needed a way to contain him a bit! J was so great & went to his friend's place (who also happens to be a carpenter) & used leftover scrap wood to make a gate that works GREAT! Whatta guy :)

Here Lij was wanting to see what J was doing with the drill...

And enjoying every moment along the way!

Final product-go Dad!

And a video to boot...

Elijah's 1st Bday!

So on Lij's bday (Sept 28) we were in the capital city of Jakarta to deal w/ visa stuff. Just before that point we'd been robbed & J's camera had been stolen. Our colleagues & friends Jon & April were great enough to take pix of our celebration at a beautiful mall nearby the guesthouse. Thanks J, A & Edai for celebrating with us while we were away from home!

We decided to go to Cold Stone Creamery 'cuz they give you a free ice cream on your bday if you signup to receive their online coupon. We were shocked they actually took the U.S. coupon in Indo but nicely shocked that is :) Cold Stone is setup in the mall right next to Krispy Kreme so J & A got him a doughnut for his cake & we got him an ice cream cupcake. Then we let the show begin...

We haven't been giving him anything w/ straight up processed sugar at all so his bday was quite a buzz for this little dude!

Although kinda confused at what that round thing may have been, he seemed to warm up to the idea quick enough.


Then he went for the cupcake which we didn't realize had a solid chocolate "puck" at the bottom.

When he got to the bottom he really didn't know what to do w/ himself but just indulge!

We found out that you can give your kid a bath w/ baby wipes when necessary...Happy Birthday Elijah!

Pea Pod

While we're eating Cinnabon equivalents, Lij gets pea pods:) He doesn't look too thrilled in the pix but the video tells a different story...

Cinnabon

Well thanks to U.B., Elissa tried her 1st Cinnabon about 20 yrs ago in Spokane, WA & has been a fav ever since. We actually had one real store (not a knockoff like can happen here - Papa Ron's for instance?!) here on Sumatra (hr flight from us tho) but it closed awhile ago. So, E found a recipe online for some really good equivalents...here's to all Cinnabon lovers out there!
(Oh yea, notice J's favorite cranberry hibiscus tea, also called Roselle tea. He 1st tasted it in Africa & we just found some in Indo after searching specialty stores all over the U.S. for 3 yrs- yes!)