August stuff

On Indonesian Independance Day, we headed out and had dinner at a historic, traditional Indonesian restaurant in the old city. This country is only 71 years old, so their independence is still highly celebrated-  but sadly, because of covid there were no celebrations this year... 

I found it hilarious that while walking to the restaurant, we passed by this iconic American restaurant-

When we met up with my sister for our last visit in Cali, she chose A&W since it was so American! 

Macy's been on a smoothie kick, and adding dragon fruit makes them so naturally beautiful-

When we moved in, we talked about painting one of the walls in our awkward outdoor room with chalk paint... but then we evacuated. So, one day we went out in search of chalk paint- which we thought would be very difficult and get lost in translation. But guess what? It didn't!

We got to go to Macy's middle school for a drive through celebration to pick up supplies, wave to her teachers and pick up her highly coveted trumpet-

Check out this crazy tall sunflower in our backyard-

Eve & Brian's daughter Josephine had her 1st birthday the end of October. We missed it, and then moved across the country only a couple weeks later. Well, just before we moved, they gave us a party favor- sunflower seeds to plant... well, those got thrown in a suitcase and brought to Jakarta with us and this summer, Brian decided to plant them and 3 grew! It has been so fun sharing the pictures with Eve and Brian. 

Brian and I escaped for a date date- massages followed by happy hour with a beautiful city view-

Tate's recess break in the backyard one day- 

This may have been the same day that Brian played in a 45 hole charity tournament- and walked it all! He left at 4am and was home at 8pm, met some new friends and won some cool prizes. 

Never in my life did I think I would walk into a bank wearing sunglasses and a mask. I started laughing on my way there and sent this picture to Brian-

Crazy days we are living in indeed...

We were playing a game with the kids (Fake News) and the card on the bottom right came up and reminded me so much of a picture we took back in 2007 of Brian's dad on the beach in Monterey that I just had to see them side by side- 

The gym at the club is closed, but they've lugged down some equipment and left it under a covered pavilion for us to use. I used to hate working out even in the air conditioned gym! But no excuses right? It may be hot and humid with the feels like temp usually 100, and I'm covered in DEET to keep the mosquitos away while I sweat buckets, but at least the view is nice- 

Some things that I'd missed while gone... 

The beautiful flower blossoms that are EVERYWHERE, which looks especially lovely up against the opposite hard ugly concrete- 

Crazy construction practices- check out this house-

We see them use a lot of bamboo here, but these are small logs/big branches. Is it scaffolding or all framed up? 

What's more concerning in the picture below- all the low overhanging wires or all the containers on the back of this minibike?

With plenty of time on my hands, I decided to try a new bread recipes- pita bread, and it worked!

Some even separated and had a pocket in the middle to fill-

Tons of garlicky homemade hummus and pesto has been being made by me also... 

Macy looks so creepy in Brian's funny mask- 

I started a new little craft that I'm really enjoying called Needle Felting. This is what it should look like when complete- 

The start of mine-

Not too bad right? I'm happily pleased with it. And I am almost done, but don't want to finish it because well then it will be all over and I am enjoying it so much that I want to savor each hour I work on it. And I like to just see it laying around honestly- 

We also got to host a small dinner party for Brian's New Zealand and Brazilian work counterparts which felt fun and somewhat normal!