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!)

Visitors

Here's a couple pix of folks that have stopped by our place recently...first, Elissa's closest friend here Liana :)

And then another family that we met when their father came over to talk with J one day. Their boys really took to Lij!
In the video the one little guy keeps saying "A-deck" meaning "little brother" - very cute.

Isn't it Ironic...

This is the office of animal husbandry, etc. so obviously it makes sense to house water buffalo as well...?!

J tries to explain in the video (when he says "cur-bow" he means water buffalo)

Since we're on an animals being in weird places theme, here's a video of a crab J caught under his motorbike...

And lest we have a post w/o Lij, here's a random funny pix (taken thru his mosquito netting) of him half out of his diaper...not sure if the velcro's going on our cloth diapers or he was messin' around before falling asleep!

Oh the Places We'll Go...

Once Elijah could finally sit up (enough!) on his own, we wanted to try him out in the Aceh version of a baby bike seat. He got his new to him Craig's List helmet all warmed up in his walker first ;)

We're not sure how he managed a gang sign pose in this one but it sure made us laugh!

Strap fascination first...

Here's a clip of Lij tooling around the house in his new helmet, trying to grab the camera.

We'd brought a water noodle over from the U.S. & J ended up using it as a buffer on Jah's new rod iron seat. He doesn't seem to bothered by the funky style ;)

Preparing to ride...

We're off!

And the video of E & e riding - we saw a babi hutan (wild boar) but couldn't catch it on the video clip...

Here J's trying to pump up this old bike's tires. We borrowed this from our friends w/ FHI here in Calang & Elissa rode this all while she was pregnant. Ended up that the tire went flat & so we rode VERY slowly together to try & get it fixed (never found a place).

Now E's upgraded to a bike that can hold Lij too on her jaunts into town. Since these pix/videos were taken, J had a mountain bike given to him from MAF friends when they left Aceh so we'll have to do a post from our 1st "real" ride together later!

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 :)